WFMAD Day 23 – Earthquake edition


I had a great run today. On that great run, I thought of the PERFECT WFMAD blog post. I shuffled home, ate, showered, and headed out to run a few errands before I sat down to write. Somewhere in the middle of the errands, there was an earthquake. No, I did not feel it, though several people in my area said they did. (For the record, my kid in Brooklyn, and my kid outside of Philly both felt it rather dramatically.)


As I write this, damage and injury caused by the earthquake seem to be minimal. Since that’s the case, I’m using it.


(I’ll write the blog post I thought up while running tomorrow, as long as there is not another earthquake.)


image from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake


Ready… Make sure you have a clear path to the doorway, in case another earthquake hits and you need to flee. You can finish your fifteen minutes as soon as you are safely settled outside.


Set… “I by no means rank poetry high in the scale of intelligence – this may look like affectation but it is my real opinion. It is the lava of the imagination whose eruption prevents an earthquake.” Lord Byron


Today’s prompt: Does your story have any earthquakes; some huge, unexpected, and potentially devastating? If not, brainstorm a list of potential earthquakes; a car accident, a divorce, cancer diagnosis, etc. that mght completely upend your character’s life. You probably won’t use this in your book, but it is a useful exercise for getting to know your character’s inner life better.


OR
What kinds of emotional or physical earthquakes have you survived? How does the way you feel about it today differ from your reaction when it happened?


Scribble… Scribble… Scribble…