Tag Archives: journaling

Weekly Writing Prompt — August 12, 2015 Edition

August 12, 2015Weekly Writing Promptartists date, journaling, morning pages, NaNoWriMo, sketchbookadmin

Writers!

Artist’s Date Alert: Sketchbook Project is here in Seattle. Several of our members, including myself, participated in this. You can see it beginning tomorrow night through Saturday. Olympic Sculpture Park, 2901 Western Ave – Seattle, WA 98121, August 13: 5:00 — 8:00pm

August 14-15: 11:00 — 3:00 pm. More details here: https://www.sketchbookproject.com/events

I also wanted to share with you that I did a little experiment this summer. I didn’t journal for nearly a month. It was terrible. My creativity was off. I was cranky. Once I started doing my morning pages again, I felt better. If you want to ground your writing life and feel the creative rush, do your morning pages. Don’t know what those are? You need to come to a writing cafe or an upcoming workshop to find out! If you’ve been good about doing morning pages, good for you! You could try your own experiment, except I would say, don’t skip more than three days, instead of three weeks. You’ll see what I mean.

Today’s prompt is about patterns. One of my favorite novels is Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. My husband just returned from a massive ten days amongst his Hacker Tribe with back-to-back conferences in Las Vegas. They talked a lot about patterns and he brought me home all these pattern cipher quizzes and the like. Also, yesterday while on my own personal artist’s date, I began to see patterns I hadn’t noticed before. Clearly the universe is speaking to me. So your prompt is about patterns. What patterns does your protagonist notice, or the antagonist notice. Do you want to wax romantic in a poem about patterns. Just take that word and run with it. Write non-stop for 30 minutes.

As a reminder our dates for workshops with their descriptions are below:

September 16: NaNoWriMo Prep Workshop 1:
Have you always thought about writing a novel but don’t know where to start? This month SnoValley Writes will discuss: How to find a topic and develop it into a plot. Where characters come from and how to get them to do what you want in your novel. How to make time to write in your already busy schedule. And how to do it all in 30 days or less.

October 17: NaNoWriMo Prep Workshop 2: This month SnoValley Writes welcomes you to meet with us to sign up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) Meet your Snoqualmie Valley Region Municipal Liasons (MLs). Ask your questions about the NaNoWriMo website, how to plan your novel, etc. and get answers from other writers – some who are starting their 8th NaNo this year. We’re here to help you get started and give you info on local events coming in the 30 fabulous days of November!
As always the workshops are at the North Bend Library Meeting Room from 10:30 a.m. to Noon.

And now your moment of Writing Zen:

“All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.” ~Bruce Lee

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What did you Write today?
~Casz

Casondra Brewster
Moderator/Founder
Sno Valley Writes!
Helping Writers Reach New Literary Peaks Since 2008
http://www.snovalleywrites.org
Check us out on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SnoValleyWrites

Weekly Writing Prompt — April 30, 2014 Edition

April 30, 2014Weekly Writing Promptjournaling, leader, mentor, motivator, new energy, prompter, spring, sunadmin

Writers:

I would be a bad prompter/leader/mentor/motivator (whatever you choose to call me) if I told you to do anything but go outside and soak up the sunshine today. Although, I aim to misbehave most days, today, I shall be good.

Go get some sun. Take an old-fashioned paper journal and your favorite pen along. Find a quiet spot and do your morning pages (even if it’s 6 p.m., Takako). Write about the sounds you hear, what the freedom of just being does to your imagination. Go with it. Don’t think it’s stupid. Don’t worry about if it’s good. Just write.

Report back to me about what happened.

Don’t forget out next workshop is May 13th. Put it on your calendar. 6 p.m. North Bend Library Meeting Room.

And now your moment of Writing Zen:

“Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.” ~Robert H. Schuller

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What did you Write today?
~Casz

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron

Weekly Writing Prompt — July 3, 2013 Edition

July 3, 2013Weekly Writing Promptcleaning your desk, desk of life, journaling, tackling an undesired task, writing work session, Writing Zenadmin

Writers:

Happy Summer!

For those that missed the messages over last week: Writing Work Sessions are on suspension until the autumn. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Also, if you’re wanting to get involved in the booth for the Festival at Mount Si, please contact Vicky, her Email is in the “to” line.

Okay, now that the administrative minutia is over….

It’s time to clean our desks, both literally and metaphorically. What do we keep on our physical desk and the desk of our life that we don’t need? What’s something that needs our attention but has languished in a desk drawer, or worse, right on top?

Today’s prompt is to clean our physical desks. Take 15 minutes and clean off the space where we “work.” Once it’s neat and tidy (not perfect — we want progress, not perfection), then take a few moments to write in our journal about any task, project, situation that needs our attention. Perhaps the journaling will give us motivation to actually tackle the project. Perhaps if solutions were unknown they can become known. Regardless, figure out what’s draining our creative energy and patch that hole with a bit of introspection and journaling…then maybe, action. Yes?

Get to cleaning!

Now your moment of Writing Zen:

“Literature — creative literature — unconcerned with sex, is inconceivable.” ~Gertrude Stein

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What did you Write today?
~Casz

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron

Weekly Writing Prompt — April 17, 2013 Edition

April 18, 2013Weekly Writing Promptjournaling, looking for a mentor, mining our lives, weekly writing promptadmin

My day (Wednesday) was co-opted by all the BE-A-RESPONSIBLE-ADULT-type things. Add to that oversleeping and the day was away from me before it even started.

So, your prompt is late. Things always happen for a reason. I’m guessing you needed extra time, too.

At any rate, I need to remind you all that the April 23 Workshop has been cancelled due to a special event at the North Bend Library.

Our next session is May 14 where we will be mining our lives for great writing material. I went to a terrific workshop last Sunday, which serendipitously dealt with the same thing — so now I have even more ammo to help you all. As we get closer I’ll ask you for RSVPs. Just put it on your calendar now. Following the 14th, our next Workshop will be May 28.

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Today’s prompt:

As you have been aware, oftentimes, I pull from my own journey in my writing life to help push you all along. This week I’ve been reflecting on my time with SnoValley Writes!. What I discovered is that its time for me to find a writing mentor. When I was back at University, I naturally had some mentors in my creative writing and literature professors. But, I’ve been out of Uni since 2011. I miss that mentoring. Although, I derive a great benefit in the form of inspiration and motivation from all of you, I’m seeking a very personal relationship with another, likely more experienced writer.

So I’ve been journaling about hoping that person appears. I want you to do the same. I want you to journal about a need in your life. It doesn’t have to be writing-focused, but it could be. You decide. What’s your most pressing need? Journal about it. Put it in the hands of the universe (God, Allah, Buddha, Odin — whatever is your bent).

Then watch for synchronicity. Ask yourself each day how and where perhaps things are moving in the direction of having that need met. Keep journaling about it. At our writing workshop session on May 14, let’s talk about it.

This exercise should take you about 5 minutes a day until May 14. Dig deep. Find that need. Talk to yourself and the universe about fixing it.

*****

And now your moment of Writing Zen:

“Journal writing is a voyage to the interior.”
― Christina Baldwin

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What did you Write today?
~Casz

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron