Clowns and Romance

The last time I was at the library, I picked up Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher in an effort to get the kiddo to read something new.  Plus, Jim Butcher is one of my favorite authors.  I told the kiddo the author was challenged to write something based on the ideas of Pokemon and the Roman legion – two things my kiddo loves.   

On Monday night, I had a friend over while I was helping the kiddo get his reading log done.  I told my friend the same story about how the book was written and she thought it was pretty neat.  Somehow, the conversation turned into a challenge of our own.

Each of us now has to write a story in a week based on two ideas chosen by the others.  I ended up with Clowns and Romance.  This is how my thought process went after I was given my topics….  Clowns, really?  I hate you guys.  I hate clowns.  Hey, maybe my romance can be about killing clowns.  Alright!  Let’s write!

I haven’t written the story yet.  It will probably happen on Saturday or Friday night.  Whenever I get the time to sit down and write.  But I love the idea of throwing two completely different ideas together and getting a story out of them. 

Write: Exercise from The Poets Companion

One of the first guides to poetry I read (outside of school) was The Poet's Companion by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux.  After all these years, I still remember that it was a great book that helped me get going in poetry.  Recently, I received the book from Paperback Swap and started reading it again.

At the end of each chapter are a list of questions/exercises to get you thinking about poetry.  The authors call these, Ideas for Writing.  Lots of 'guide' books use this technique, and I think it's a great one. 

The exercise I chose to do last night was about writing an instructional poem.  Take the steps to something you know how to do and turn it into a poem.  I've felt like I'm missing something in my poetry lately, I'm not opening up the poem.  So this exercise is a great one to work with. 

I've got the steps down but I don't think I'm conveying the emotion I'm looking for yet.  I feel it, because I'm writing it, but I'm going to have to let it sit for a day or two and reread it. 

Do you have any exercises to ease you into writing?  How do you open up a poem?

Write: Words are Hard

Words are hard.  You know, writing things down on a blank page, putting one after another in some semblance of order.  It's hard.  There are books and books and books that tell you how to do so, how to pluck words out of the air and create an idea.

I think I might start picking them out of a dictionary.

Jim Butcher, one of my favorite authors, came up with his second series of books on a dare.  He said good authors could take a bad idea and make it good, so he challenged someone to give him two random ideas and he would right a good story.  He was given Roman soldiers and Pokemon.  Out of those, he created the Codex Alera.  In my opinion, they are great books.

I think it's a great exercise to take random words, random themes, and put them together as a writing exercise.  It gets the brain matter working and the thoughts flowing together. 

So here's what you can do.  You can either cut out words, pictures, or themes from a magazine, internet printouts, books, etc, and keep them in an envelope to pull out when you need to.  Or, if you don't like to plan and/or loose your envelope (do you get the feeling that's happened to me?), grab a book off the shelf, flip through the pages, and stick your finger on a few words.  There you go.

Now go write already.

Write: Out of Bounds

Exercise:  Think about one of the two questions below.  Take ten minutes to answer in the form you choose.  It could be poetry.  It could be an autobiographical story.  Or it could be a sci-fi piece set two hundred years in the future.

What does it mean to be a woman out of bounds?

or 

What are the boundaries hedging women in place?

I am a woman.
I will not be forced into a corner.
I will live, love, and laugh
a woman.
I will raise children, raise a roof,
and raise a fuss at the glass ceiling.
I will not allow myself to be fenced in,
forced to fit, or faint at adversity.
I am a woman.

Write: What Do You Have?

Exercise:  Set ten minutes to look around you, noticing the items and things that surround you.  Make a list of those items.  Once you are done with your list, go back and quickly right down an association for each item.  Write what it means to you, a spark of meaning, a correspondence, a moment of memory. 

Take another ten minutes and choose one item to include in your writing.  It could be the associations with the item.  Or the item could be a random item in the room.  Or the item could be the whole of the writing.  Just write.

TV - too much time
Lamp - light in darkness
Couch - worn
Coffee table - survivor
Plants - growth
End table - sturdy
Gnomes - spirits
Bookshelves - knowledge
Handmade mug - welcoming home
Child's art work - pride and beauty
Unpacked boxes - procrastination, old life

The shelves are overflowing.  Two layers of paper on top of each other, two rows of books on one shelf.  Each occupant is snugged against it's brother with care, lovingly worn at the corners and binding.  Each one has a story to tell, a voice of their own. 

My fingers glide over the bindings, following the flow of letters.  This one, this one was great.  That one made me cry.  And that other one, that's the one that kept me laughing all night.  Each story is a piece of my own.  Each piece a thread in the tapestry of my life, and your life, and the life of those yet to come.

Down beneath it all.  Beneath the titles and the authors, beyond the characters and settings, underneath everything, runs a joining thread.  The same stories play out over ages and civilizations.  But each is unique in the trappings and characters, but they all run together in the end.

Write: Haiku You!

Exercise:  Write a haiku according to the rules of the form.  Set your poem out into three lines of five, seven, then five syllables.  Place your poem with a seasonal word and try to include a cutting word which creates two separate but united elements.  

Share your experiment!

Cars rush on asphault,
Never stopping to sightsee,
Flowers fill the ditch.

Write: At Dusk

Exercise:  Think about dusk during summer.  Do you look forward to a break from the sun to get ready to go out and enjoy the cooler weather?  Do you mourn the loss of another bright day?  Do you give thanks that the heat has broken?  Or are you grumpy about mosquitoes?

The heat breaks at dusk.
The lighted numbers on the bank sign
decrease into something manageable
but the night is still soaked with seat.
The vapor condenses to a rolling fog
and the humidity smothers like a blanket.

Write: In the Land of the Free

The Fourth of July is Independence Day here in the US.  A day when we gather and give thanks for those men and women who have kept us free.  We also honor our forefathers who wrote the declaration that is the basis for our country.
In this age of political ups and downs, it's hard to keep faith in your country.  But we have to keep in mind that the country is not the politics.  This country is set up to support the many different peoples and beliefs.  When two people can shout at each other over what it means to be free, that is what our country is about.  When two people can scream at each other over a difference in religion, politics, ethics, or interpretations, that is what our country is about.  We don't have to like each other, we don't have to agree with each other or the government.  We can be as free and judgmental (unfortunately) as we are brave enough to be.

Exercise:  Write about the phrase "The land of the free and the home of the brave" and see what you come up with.  The entire phrase does not have to appear in your writing, nor does it have to stay in that order.  


The American dream is currently a nightmare.
A house, a yard, kids
has been replaced with
more and more money,
success, and fame.
This land of the free
is slowly gaining ground.
A nation not dependant
on amount and size
A home of the brave
who stand up and see
and share and care
about their neighbors
and planet.

Write: Ray Bradbury Exercises

I was going through some old high school stuff this weekend and ran across a packet that we used in English.  We read Dandelion Wine by Raymond Bradbury in tenth grade, I believe, and did some exercises on 'how to keep and feed a Muse.'  I figured the exercises would be great for my Write post.  Plus, what better place than a blog about being Mused? 

I'm going to have to reread the book before summer.  It's awesome.  As much as I've always wanted to try to make dandelion wine, I don't think it's possible anymore unless you live in the country.  Everything here gets sprayed like crazy.

On to the exercises!