Jump Write In

After I graduated from college with my first bachelor’s degree I went to visit my mother in California.  Tears welled up in my eyes as she took me into her office and opened her keepsake trunk.  She gently pulled out a large, yellowed piece of paper and handed it to me.  When I unfolded it, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that what she had kept hidden away for many years was the first story I had ever written. After my visit, I took it home, had it carefully framed and it now hangs on my wall above my writing space, a constant reminder of my writing origins. When I wrote that story, I was six years old and had written most of my words the way they sounded:

Blackie flew on a tree. It was poysn ock. Blackie got etchus all ovir.

For today’s writing warm up, write about the first story you wrote. How old were you? What grade were you in? What was your teacher’s name?  Who was your best friend at the time? Rewrite the story now, adding more action, description and details to the story, OR write a story about the little boy or girl who wrote the story. Enjoy a walk down memory lane.

Have fun!

Until next time,

Walk in beauty, write life with passion!

I am a big fan of sci-fi television shows.  So I thought today we’d try stimulating our imagination toward the weird and exciting adventurous other-world hero’s journey.  You become the hero, embarking on a quest of some kind, to accomplish whatever your imagination conjures up.  Here are a couple of  opening scenarios to choose from:

1.  Imagine yourself as a child, climbing a tree in the backyard.  You hear a noise below you and quickly scurry down to find out what it is.  Your best friend is standing under the tree looking disheveled and harried when you reach the ground.  Asking him or her what has happened, you both hear a noise behind you.  Turning around to face the trunk of the tree, you see a door suddenly open and light pouring through.  A hand with nine fingers appears and reaches toward you and your friend.  Curiosity gets the better of you and you both move toward the hand, which is now beckoning you closer while you hear a child’s faint whisper pleading for help coming from beyond the doorway somewhere.

What do you and your friend do next?

2. You are a ham-radio operator and decide to take advantage of your day off work to play on the radio.  It is the time of year when the biggest skips are reportedly occurring and you want to find out what the furthest distance of contact is that you can make.  As you turn the dial, and call out, you suddenly hear a high pitched screech come through, then a frantic voice speaking in a strange garbled language you don’t understand.  Suddenly you hear plainly that same voice yelling the words “STARSEED TRANSMISSION!”  What happens next? What do you find out about this strange radio signal you’re receiving and what adventure awaits you?  Have fun!

Until Next time,

Walk in beauty, write life with passion!