I spent the weekend with my daughter Meredith in Montreal, Canada. The stated goal of the trip was to watch the Philadelphia Union soccer team play the Montreal Impact, but it wound up being (as all good trips do) much more complex and fun.
WRITING NOTE – Travel is very, very good for your Muse. The change of scenery and stimulation feeds your soul and fills your well. Writers are very sensitive to language and I believe that being exposed to a foreign language stimulates your brain, too.
Not only did we watch the game (Philly lost, despite our loud and raucous cheering), but we got to explore the site of the 1974 Olympics, visited a tiny part of the that city’s great Botanical Garden, rode the subway, mangled a lot of French, ate poutine, and a grilled cheese and duck sandwich, drank a little wine, and enjoyed a divine lunch in an outdoors garden courtyard.
The best part was sharing it with my daughter and laughing constantly. We came home with the need to schedule another get-away weekend immediately!
And now it is back to writing!
Today’s Quote
“Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.”
― Jane Yolen
Today’s Prompt: For fifteen minutes – without stopping – you will write about all of the ideas and characters and feelings and memories and dreams and people that you want to write books about for the next fifty years.
NOTE – I find this easier when I am playing music very loudly in my headphones. The noise helps drown out the cackling laughter of my Inner Bitch who makes fun of me when I dream big.
Scribble… scribble… scribble…
Is it strange to say that I love the concept of the Inner Bitch? Such a good way to describe the nasty no-you-can’t voice in my head whenever I try to write. I’ll have to try headphones.
It’s true about travel! I was in Ireland for a month earlier this summer and I’m still grieving it — I’d found a little cafe to write in and when I didn’t feel like doing that, there was a grassy waterfront area you could sit on, looking out onto bunches of swans and their cygnets. Harder to write now that I’m back home, for some reason.
I’m loving the Jane Yolen quote, especially as it’s the Olympics right now and I keep being all inspired by the way they’ve trained for their sport and dedicated so many hours to practicing. So I suppose I will be doing your prompt! Loud music included. 🙂
The look on this cat’s face is priceless! The Olympics is on my mind this morning as well. I used my 15+ minutes to write about someone offering gold bars to any Malaysian badminton player who earns a gold medal. It got me thinking about whether/how I would change if someone offered me the same incentive.
OH that image of the cat had me and my team of baby swimming instructors in absolute stitches!
Very timely blog on the Olympics too! 🙂
Who knew I had so many great book ideas inside me? Now, to live another fifty years to write them all!
Thanks, Laurie, for another fun prompt. Glad you had a lovely getaway with your daughter. (Clearly, the best kind.)
I’m going to be starting college this month as an English major and this has really helped get me back into the groove of writing. Thank you so much for doing this it has been very fun so far!
I am really enjoying these exercises. 🙂 Thank you for doing it! http://www.clarklori.com/?p=237
Great prompt! At first I didn’t think I had many ideas except for the ones I had already abandoned (Curse you, Inner Bitch!), but then I found some new inspiration. Thanks!
Great post. I am on a slightly different path but I am scribbling. Will do this prompt soon. Am writing haibun and haiku.
Perfect. I needed this today.
This writing prompt helped me make a huge breakthrough in my writing. I’ve had several ideas for books in the thinking stage. As they transformed into written word they expanded and unfolded like a butterfly coming out of a chrysalis. Drying off my wings and almost ready to fly with the ideas.