Friday Fun

Here is a website with 70 different creative writing prompts, to lighten up the end of your work week!

TheBlob.org

The latest issue of Della Donna is out - I hope you will go look :)

For writers interested in networking and meeting other writers in your area, check out the groups at Meetup.com.

Yesterday I received my copy of the debut issue of Lachryma Publishing's new literary journal, "Modern Songs of Lament." They have published my short story, "Hot Chocolate and Sympathy," in the issue. Very exciting. When I have some time I am going to sit down and read through the entire thing because many pieces piqued my interest as I leafed through.

Most of you know I write for Estella's Revenge, the kick-assiest book zine there is. Well, Andi and Heather, the literary mavens who run it, have designed a reading challenge for 2008 called "My Year of Reading Dangerously" (see sidebar). The point is to read all those books you've always wanted to but have been too intimidated to pick up. I am joining in with them for some months since they constructed a list, but I added my own for other months. I am mostly intimidated by length and nonfiction, but I am really looking forward to reading these!

Check out the Challenge Blog for details on joining in.

Poet #1: Sappho

Her work is outstanding. I have really enjoyed reading it and I have been inspired to write some succinct poems, some of which call out to gods and speak back to myself, in her style. Here are some of my favorite lines of hers:

"Without warning
as a whirlwind
swoops on an oak
Love shakes my heart"

"You may forget but
let me tell you
this: someone in
some future time
will think of us"

"When they were tired
Night rained her
thick dark sleep
upon their eyes"

I subscribe to Jill Badonsky's monthly newsletter on writing, The Muse Is In, and this month's edition contains an interesting piece on suggestions for journaling.

Muse Trysts: Special Journalers Unit

Adding a Creative Twist to your Journal Writing:

• Write lists (they help your mind think with more creative resourcefulness.. always leave room for more ideas to be added to your lists so that your subconscious continues to work on them.) List ideas: a list of how you can make journal writing more YOU, a list of themes you'd like your life to take on, list your gripes, resentments, fears and peeves then write a segue at the bottom, "I now release these and make room for inspiration."
  
  
• At the bottom of your journal entry write a quick review of its highlights as if you were a book or movie critic.
  
  
• Write an entry recording your day as if your life were living exactly the way you'd like it to go.
  
  
• Write about yourself in the third person. e.g. "She had no idea what she was going to write but she began anyway."
  
  
• Write headlines about your life: e.g. Woman Moves to Vintage House in Urban Neighborhood: Redefines Peeling Paint as Shabby Chic. Then see how your journal writing goes.
  
  
• Write a How-To Article… How To Get Through The Day Today. How To Work With A Boss Who Is Bonkers. How To Forge A New Pathway In Life. And then proceed to make a list of how-tos that relate to the title.