PEN TO PAPER: Look At The World Around You
It’s pretty drab in Seattle right now. Grey skies, drizzle, drizzle and more drizzle. When I walk my pup to the view of the water, the clouds and fog are so thick, that on many days there is no view. This can be a downer, but if you think like a writer you can put your environment to work, even on the darkest of days.
There are always interesting things to write about. Look close. Go on a walk and watch as steam seeps out and rises from under the deck of the house you pass, notice the twisted trunk of the Italian Plum tree and the moss that creeps and covers it’s limbs. Feel awakened by the cool air that chills your sinuses each time you breathe. Be grateful for the splash of unexpected color when a blue jay drops onto the sidewalk in front of you and then flits away.
Go beyond your first reaction to the day and go deeper. Even when it’s bright and beautiful, really look at the world around you. I’m not the best at this. I tend to walk and listen to my audio book or think to myself, but sometimes it’s a way to appreciate the little things, and an even better way to start off a writing prompt.
WRITING PROMPT 1:Take a walk in your neighborhood. Look closely at everything and everyone that you pass, and then come home and write about it.
WRITING PROMPT 2: Look out your window. Describe in detail what you see.
WRITING PROMPT 3: Monica stormed out of the house, down the street and…
PEN TO PAPER: Reach Out
…And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
but what stands before us
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first
we must first put our differences aside
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another…
– Amanda Gorman (excerpt from “The Hill We Climb”)
Today I’m talking poetry, something I know nothing about. I appreciate it and occasionally make an effort at it, but that’s about it. And I really like it as way to start a freewrite. In fact, after hearing Amanda Gorman read her poem “The Hill We Climb” at the Presidential Inauguration, my writing partner Jenny and I, were inspired to write poetry. Read the “The Hill We Climb” in its entirety to get inspired for today’s writing prompts, and then take a deep breath, and go…
WRITING PROMPT 1: What inspires you? Write a poem about it.
WRITING PROMPT 2: Put the word UNITED at the top of the page, then write.
WRITING PROMPT 3: Grace wasn’t a poet, but she sat down at her desk, pulled out a pen and…
LIFE INSPIRED FITNESS: Happy Hill Day
I’ve talked about how I like doing stairs. It’s a good way to get a workout in a short period of time and the set near me has a beautiful view of the city.
Yesterday I ran (okay maybe jogged is the right word) to a spot where I planned to do a few sets of stairs and run some hills. Well as I was doing my slow warm up jog, I came to a hill and it was so hard to go up it that I stopped and walked. And let me tell you, the hill was not steep!
I’m not sure what it is for me, but it’s easier to go a shorter distance at a faster speed, even up a hill, as opposed to a longer distance at a slower pace (except walking). That’s probably why marathons don’t sound very fun to me. The crazy thing is, last year when I saw the RedBull 400 Race, where you run 400 meters straight up a ski slope, I thought, wow that looks awesome, I want to do that! My family thinks I’m crazy, but it’s on my list of things to do. Wait, did I just put that in writing? Yikes!
Anyway, a short fast run is more to my liking. So even though I couldn’t even jog up the hill on my way to run hills, when I got to my chosen hill/stair spot, I sprinted (this may be an exaggeration) right up the hill, five times, with a couple sets of stairs in between.
Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, we are all so different, and we have different likes. Likes that even change and grow over time. So celebrate the things that you love and get out there and do them. And if you feel like it, find […]
PEN TO PAPER: Fingers To Keys
It’s been a while since I’ve written by hand. I wrote the first draft of my memoir, Back On The Court, by hand. At least a majority of it. I wrote it in journals, the cheap black and white ones that college students get for class notes. It worked great, because as I transferred the writing from the notebooks to my computer, I edited the work. I even felt that I was more creative when I was writing by hand.
Now I write almost exclusively on my computer. Maybe I’m just lazy, or maybe it’s because it’s so hard to keep up with my thoughts when I write by hand. Or it could be that because my writing is so sloppy these days, I can’t read half of what I’ve written. I’m not sure, but even though I do enjoy writing by hand from time to time, other than some freewrites, I stick to writing on the computer these days.
In the end, I think that you should do what works best for you and which ever helps you to get words on the page.
What method do you use when you write?
WRITING PROMPT 1: put these two words at the top of the page, I WRITE, and then put your pen to paper or fingers to keys and go for it.
WRITING PROMPT 2: Pick the method that you use the least, and write a few paragraphs that might be used in a piece that you are currently working on.
WRITING PROMPT 3: Emily closed up her laptop, looked at her blank notebook and…
Meet Sonya
Meet Sonya
Sonya Elliott’s memoir, Back on the Court: A Young Woman’s Triumphant Return to Life, Love & Basketball, is her story of finding hope in the wake of tragedy after she and her fiancé were hit by a train. She blogs about writing, basketball, and life and is currently working on a Young Adult Novel and a Non-Fiction Coaching book. Stories of her career as a fashion model are woven through her memoir, as both the Soloflex and Easy Spirit Shoes commercials were filmed during that time period, and this unique and intriguing business continues to be a part of her life.
Sonya played basketball at Eastern Washington University and was a starter for the Big Sky Champion team that went to the 1987 NCAA tournament. She coached for almost 25 years and was voted Seattle Times Coach of the Year, Seattle Officials Women’s Basketball Association Coach of the Year, and twice voted Metro League Coach of the Year. She loves the game of basketball and is thankful, not only for her husband and kids but for her ability to continue to get back on the court.
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PEN TO PAPER: An Eggcellent Day
What does Easter mean to you? For me it’s about spending time with family, decorating eggs, searching for eggs and eating good food.
When I was young, we always had some pretty intense Easter egg hunts. I wasn’t always a fan, because for some reason, I could never find as many eggs as my big brother. Fortunately as we got older, the hunts became a parents vs. kids event, and let’s just say I’m surprised we didn’t find a few eggs, weeks later, by smell. My brother and I hid one egg at the bottom of the flour bin on the top shelve of a kitchen cabinet. That’s crazy.
When my kids were young we had egg hunts, but it was the decorating that got intense. A heated competition developed with our neighbors that lasted for years. My husband was always the winner, at least in his mind. The rest of us […]
PEN TO PAPER: Car Craze
Wow, cars bring up a lot of memories for me. My first car was a gigantic white Buick Electra with a 455 engine (that means fast). It was white with a black top and velvety wine colored electric seats. Man, I had some adventures in that. Then came my reddish-orange Opal Manta, I loved that little pumpkin seed. Then I started my Volkswagen run with a VW rabbit, diesel. It was a nice car but it blew a head gasket going up the steep hill just west of Spokane. Next came my first real car, meaning the first one I bought myself , my red-hot sirocco, wolfberg addition. That baby took me back and forth across the state of Washington a million times, probably a bit faster than it should have, especially since the speed limit was 55 MPH at that time. Then came the love of my life (next […]
PEN TO PAPER: Working Together
The focus of my basketball coaching book is how to build a strong team. How to get players to work together. This concept is so important on the basketball court but it’s also important in life. There are so many times in our lives when we rely on others and our ability to work together, so I thought it would be a perfect place to mine our thoughts for writing this week.
As usual, I will list three related prompt ideas and you can choose which calls to you, use them all or make up one of your own. The key is to simply write.
Write on!
WRITING PROMPT 1: Together we can…
WRITING PROMPT 2: Alone I can’t…
WRITING PROMPT 3: Nora called them all together and…
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