Category: Writing

Poet Maya Angelou 

I read this quote by Maya Angelou and thought I would share it with you.

realstylenetwork.com

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. – Maya Angelou

Is there an untold story within you?

Maya Angelou was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.

Wikipedia

30 Creative Writing Prompts For National Poetry Month

 

April is National Poetry Month

In honor of National Poetry Month, we’ve curated a number of creative writing prompts to help you cultivate your own poetic ritual. Try one prompt each day for the month of April in service of building a new routine, or skip around to the poetry prompts that inspire you most. I’m committed to following my own advice and will also be writing one poem a day using the thought starters below for creative fuel. 

Creative Writing Prompts to Spark Your New Writing Practice

  1. Describe your ideal day, from morning to night. Where are you, what will you do, and who will you spend your time with (if anyone at all)?
  2. Write a poem about your favorite food using all the senses.
  3. Write a ghost poem inspired by a song lyric or line from a book you love. That is, take the original sentence and use it as the first line of your writing. Then begin adding to it until you come back to the beginning and erase the first line that inspired all the subsequent lines — effectively making the inspiration a ghost.
  4. Describe your favorite color without naming it. Or, imagine your color aura and describe that.
  5. Come up with your six-word memoir. (Fun fact: did you know that a one-line poem is called a monostitch?)
  6. Walk the reader through a place you can’t wait to visit again, sharing all of the sensory details that make it like paradise to you.
  7. Write about your life if you lived in a different period in history. For example, you wake up and it’s 1970, what’s the first thing you’d do?
  8. Confront your fears and write about what scares you most.
  9. Select a piece of art and write an ekphrastic poem about it — that is, a poem that describes the work of art (sculpture, painting, drawing, performance, film, or photograph) in effusive detail.
  10. If you were to host a dinner party, who would you invite, dead or alive? What meal would be served, how would the table be set, and what conversations do you imagine would take place?
  11. Think of a trip or commute you’ve taken many times. Jot down your observations and memory of said journey and recreate it for the reader. Then decide what’s more important to you, the journey or the destination?
  12. Find an object in your home that brings you joy and tap into why it’s so meaningful in a descriptive poem.
  13. Think of someone you had a miscommunication with and explore what would happen if you said everything you wanted to say.
  14. What’s your favorite month and why? Orient it in the season as part of your description.
  15. Write about the emotion you experience the most and list out what situations, people, or things make you feel that way.
  16. Where do you come from? Start a poem by exploring and defining your origin story.
  17. Describe a recent dream of yours in vivid, fantastical detail.
  18. Explore what you’d say to your 13-year-old self, or another pivotal age from when you were younger.
  19. Write about what it’d be like to encounter a long-lost love, years later.
  20. Manifest future you with a poem describing who you’ll be in 5 or 10 years.
  21. Think of the happiest day of your life and write about what made it so magical. Can you capture that feeling in poem form?
  22. What lessons have you learned from your elders and ancestors? Write about the ones that still show up for you today.
  23. Think about all the cities you’ve lived in. Pick one to write about that’s had a lasting impact on your identity.
  24. What’s a youthful memory of a time you were reckless or misbehaved? Write about that experience and what you may have learned.
  25. Identify your alter ego, or someone totally opposite of you and write a poem from that point of view. What would they do that you would never dare?
  26. What is one of life’s biggest mysteries you wish you had the answer to? See if you can come up with an answer in your poem.
  27. Write a poem about a beloved character in a book, movie, or show that you adore.
  28. Personify an inanimate object (such as a crystal, a postcard, or vintage scarf) and tell its story. Where all has it gone before it made its way to you?
  29. Turn something mundane, like a grocery list, into a poetic writing exploration. How can a few creative adjectives and alliterative details make it shine?
  30. Pick someone you’re drawn to, even a stranger on the street or in a coffee shop and write what you imagine they’re like in real life.

Article by Alison Ives for Brit+Co©

 

April Fool’s Day Writing Prompt

 

April is the month of showers or fools. Students and teachers will typically take their spring break during this month.  But not you.  You will be busy with April Fool’s Day prompts.

Here is a writing prompt for each day of April that  can be used as straightforward writing assignments, warm-ups, or journal entries. Feel free to use and modify these as you see fit.

 

Writing Prompt Ideas for April

April 1 – Theme: April Fool’s Day
Have you ever been ‘fooled’ successfully by someone on April Fool’s Day? Have you ever fooled someone else? Describe the experience. Note: Your answers must be appropriate for a school setting.

 

Please complete your April Fool’s Day writing prompt quickly because there are 29 more prompts waiting for you to complete in the month of April.   No hurry though.  Just complete them in one day.

“April Fools”.  Just do one a day, like the pill.  

April 2 – Theme: World Autism Awareness Day
Use #LightItUpBlue to share your experience across social media and help light the world up blue this April!
OR  International Children’s Book Day
International Children’s Book Day encourages reading and promotes the love of books for children.  

 

The publisher Scholastic, Inc. compiled a list of the top 100 children’s books of all time. Readers voted for the top five (5) selections: Charlotte’s Web; Goodnight, Moon; A Wrinkle in Time; The Snowy Day; Where the Wild Things Are. Do you remember any of these books? What’s your favorite children’s book? Why?

 

April 3-Theme: Tweed Day
William Magear “Boss” Tweed, was born on this day in 1823. Tweed’s claim to fame was being convicted of graft and corruption while serving as a U.S. House of Representatives and a New York State Senator. He was exposed because of political cartoons that were drawn by Thomas Nast that pictured him unfavorably. What political issues today are the subject of political cartoons? Try your hand at drawing one.

 

April 4 – Theme: Keep America Beautiful Month
What are your feelings about littering? Have you ever done it? If so, why? Do you think that the punishment for littering is too light or too heavy?

 

April 5 – Theme: Helen Keller 

 

On this day in 1887: The tutor Anne Sullivan taught Helen Keller the meaning of the word “water” as spelled out in the manual alphabet. This event is dramatized in the play “The Miracle Worker.” Keller became deaf and blind after a childhood illness., but she overcame these obstacles to advocate for others. Who else do you know advocates for others?

 

April 6 – Theme: The North Pole was “discovered” on this date. Today, research stations relay information from the top of the world on the changes in the Earth’s climate. What questions do you have about climate change? 

 

April 7 – Theme: World Health Day
Today is World Health Day. What do you think the keys to a healthy lifestyle include? Are you following your own advice? Why or why not?


April 8 – Theme: April is National Garden Month
Do you consider yourself an inside or outside person? In other words, do you like to hang out in your own home or spend time in nature? Explain your answer.

 

April 9 – Theme: National Name Yourself Day
Nick Harkway is credited with saying, “Names aren’t just coathooks, they’re coats. They’re the first thing anyone knows about you.”
In honor of National Name Yourself Day, go ahead and give yourself a new name. Explain why you chose this name.

 

April 10 – Theme: National Sibling Day
Do you have a sibling or siblings? If so, what is the best thing about them? The worst? If not, are you happy that you are an only child? Explain your answer.

 

April 11 – Theme: National Mathematics Education Month
Celebrate mathematics and statistics, both of which play a significant role in addressing many real-world problems: Internet security, sustainability, disease, climate change, the data deluge, and much more. Explain three reasons why learning math is important for everyone.

 

April 12 – Theme: Space Shuttle Columbia First Launched
Would you ever consider being an astronaut? If so, explain why and where you would like to visit. If not, tell why you don’t think you’d like to be one.

 

April 13 – Theme: Scrabble Day
Sometimes, the two word combinations in Scrabble (Hasbro) can be high scoring such as the points given for these examples:: AX=9, EX=9, JO=9, OX=9, XI=9, XU=9, BY=7, HM=7, MY=7
Do you like to play word games like Scrabble? Why or why not? 

 

April 14 – Theme: The Titanic Disaster -1912
The Titanic was billed as an unsinkable ship, but it struck an iceberg on its first voyage across the Atlantic. Many saw the fact that it sunk as an example of what happens in extreme cases of hubris (arrogant pride). Do you believe that people who are overconfident and arrogant will always fail? Explain your answer.

 

April 15 – Theme: Income Tax Day
The 16th Amendment that created income taxes was ratified in 1913:
The Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
What are your feelings on taxes? Do you think that the government should take a higher percentage of money from the wealthy? Explain your answer.

 

April 16 – Theme: National Librarian Day.
Celebrate a librarian that you know from elementary, middle, or high school.
Visit the library today, and make certain to say hello and “Thank you” to all of the librarians.
April 17 – Theme: Daffy Duck’s Birthday
Daffy Duck is a character foil to Bugs Bunny.
Do you have a favorite cartoon character? What characteristics make this character a favorite?

 

April 18 – Theme: Evolution
On this date in 1809, the botanist Charles Darwin passed away. Darwin had proposed a theory of evolution for living organisms, but there are other things that evolve, for example, technology, music, dance. Respond to his quote, “In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”
What do you notice that has evolved in your lifetime?

 

April 19 – Theme: National Poetry Month
In honor of National Poetry Month, write a poem using the tanka format. The tanka consists of 5 lines and 31 syllables. Each line has a set number of syllables see below:

 
  •  Line 1 – 5 syllables 
  •  Line 2 – 7 syllables 
  •  Line 3 – 5 syllables 
  •  Line 4 – 7 syllables 
  •  Line 5 – 7 syllables
 


April 20 – Theme: Volunteer Recognition Day
Pay tribute to someone who volunteers or (better yet) volunteers to help others. You will find out that the benefits can be fun and camaraderie. What could you volunteer to do?

 

April 21 – Theme: Kindergarten Day
Research shows that students who learn more in kindergarten are more likely to go to college and earn more. What skill(s) did you learn in your kindergarten class that help you today?

 

April 22 – Theme: Earth Day
Take the Earth Day quiz from the World History Project website.
What are specific actions that you and your fellow students could take to help protect the environment?

 

April 23 – Theme: Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was born on this date in 1564. His 154 sonnets can be read, analyzed, or used for Reader’s Theatre. Turn one or two lines from Shakespeare’s sonnets into a dialogue. Who is speaking? Why?

 

April 24 – Theme: Time Travel
Recent reports claim to supports time travel. Why might physicists be interested in time travel? Maybe because we want to test the boundaries of the laws of physics. If you could travel back in time, to which age and location would you go? Why?

 

April 25 – Theme: DNA Day
If you could determine the sex, eye color, height, etc. of a child in advance by using genetic advances, would you do it? Why or why not?

 

April 26 – Theme: Arbor Day
Today is Arbor Day, the day we are to plant and take care of trees. Joyce Kilmer started his poem “Trees” with the lines:

 
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
 

What are your feelings about trees? Explain your answer.

 

April 27 – Theme: Tell a Story Day
Write a short story about a funny event that occurred in your or your family’s past.

 

April 28 – Theme: Astronomy Day-during Dark Sky Week
Download, Watch, and Share “Losing the Dark,” a public service announcement about light pollution. It focuses on the dangers of light pollution on a dark sky and suggests three simple actions people can take to help mitigate it It can be downloaded for free and is available in 13 languages.

 

April 29 – Theme: Film Genre Thriller.
Alfred Hitchcock died on this date in 1980. He was one of the most influential filmmakers in the genre of horror or thriller.
What is your favorite thriller or horror movie? Why?

 

April 30 – Theme: National Honesty Day
Honesty is defined as fairness and straightforwardness of conduct; an adherence to the facts. Does this definition apply to you? Do you consider yourself an honest person? Why or why not?

Source:  ©thoughtco.com/April-writing-prompt

 

A Toolkit for Managing the Anxiety of the Publishing Process

While writing may bring us joy, it may also bring us doubt, fear, and burnout. Here, Mazey Eddings has created a toolkit for managing the anxiety of the publishing process.

From going on submission with my first book, A Brush with Love, at the start of the pandemic to debuting during supply chain disruptions and a brand-new viral variant, I’ve had quite a few sleepless nights of panic in the process. But if therapy has taught me anything, coping works best when you have a strategy, and I’ve compiled five tips that have helped me over this chaotic year. I hope they can help you too!

Get the group chat going

I’m part of a group chat that’s aptly named: Anxious Debuters 2022. And we talk every. Single. Day. It can be particularly helpful to develop that type of connection with people in a similar writing spot on the publishing timeline as you, because it’s amazing how similar experiences—and the anxiety they induce—can be. But, whether it’s fellow debut authors, seasoned book veterans, or your mom and her neighbor Susan, finding a group you feel safe to reach out to in the anxious moments is so comforting and valuable.

Celebrate the highs with ferocity

Putting a book into the world is a hectic process, and your attention is regularly pulled in a hundred different directions. With so many moving pieces, it can be easy to barrel through the victories and forget to slow down long enough to celebrate. Take a pause! Revel in every moment of joy!

Whether it’s a DM from a reader saying your story resonated with them, or a soft moment of rediscovering a line you wrote and loved, to something huge and exciting like making bestseller lists or selling rights to a film producer, revel in each one with unabashed excitement. You’ve worked hard for this! Don’t let the wins pass you by.

Consume media that brings you joy

Whether it’s reading, TV, movies, or any other form of art, engage with things that make you happy. Burnout is very real in creative fields, but taking the time to ingest things that make you happy can replenish the creative well and keep you excited as you create your next work.

Take a (small) break from reading in your genre

Comparison is the thief of joy, and it can be very tempting to lose the love of reading and writing by comparing your work to others in your genre. Avoid this at all costs! Consider taking a step back from your genre, just for a bit, and allow yourself to read in a varying subgenre or completely new one. Shifting the lens can help you get out of your head or offer fresh inspiration, and reading of any type strengthens you as a writer, which also helps to restore confidence when you’re feeling a little shaky.

Find a hobby (and embrace being mediocre at it!)

The path to publishing can create an odd head space. It’s the monetization and commercialization of art, and combining those two often-at-odds pursuits can cause a lot of your self-worth to be tied up in both sales and perception. I think it’s so important to find a hobby that you love—whether it’s something creative like collaging or playing music, or something totally opposite like running or kickboxing—to combat publishing anxiety. Bonus points if you aren’t amazing at your hobby!

There’s so much pressure for people to reach levels of success or skill when participating in something, but I suggest doing things for the simple joy of doing them. I’m objectively awful at dancing, (my boyfriend has ample video evidence to prove it), but it’s something I love to do and something I turn to when writing stress gets high. We don’t have to perfect everything we do, we just need to enjoy the process of doing it.

By Mazey Eddings for Writer’s Digest©

Source: A Toolkit for Managing the Anxiety of the Publishing Process – Writer’s Digest (writersdigest.com)

Writing Fiction: Sometimes the Story Writes Itself

Writing fiction can be like dreaming, coming from our subconscious. Cheryl A. Ossola suggests writers need to get out of the story’s way. 

Writing a novel is a mysterious process. Authors are often at a loss when asked why they made certain choices, or where an idea came from. Sometimes we say we don’t remember, but often we don’t know. We plan story arcs and POVs, but sometimes we can’t explain what happens in the evolution of a novel. In these instances, characters and conflict rise from our subconscious. Sometimes we say the story writes itself.

I believe novelists do their best work when they get out of the way of their stories, which is why I zeroed in on an article in The Atlantic in which Andre Dubus III, author of The House of Sand and Fog, says that “good fiction comes from the same place as our dreams between making something up and imagining it,” and he favors the latter. “You’re making something up when you think out a scene, when you’re being logical about it,” he says. “You think, ‘I need this to happen so some other thing can happen.’ There’s an aspect of controlling the material that I don’t think is artful.”

This kind of rigidity in storytelling can block the deviant bursts of creativity that yield some of the most brilliant writing. These bursts come not from planning but from a freer kind of creative process that takes us to unexpected places. One way writers describe this abdication of control is by saying their characters hijacked their story. By this they mean these fictitious beings aren’t toeing the story line; in fact, they’re trampling on it. At such times we can ignore their nudges, or we can let imagination take us beyond the limits of linear thought.

I’m speaking from my own experience too. In writing the first draft of my novel, The Wild Impossibility, I was stuck in the murky middle when my protagonist, Kira—hanging out in the California desert like a sullen teenager on a family trip—got herself, and the story, unstuck. I knew how things should end up for her, but I hadn’t figured out the middle ground. Mumbling, “What the hell are you doing there, Kira?” I put words on the page until the circles I was writing in opened and became a through-line. Why? I had stopped trying to fabricate Kira’s trajectory and focused instead on who Kira was and what she wanted. I withheld what she wanted, of course, which was a controlling act. But it was in letting Kira direct my thoughts—in other words, imagining being her—that the action fell into place.

Other characters are downright pushy. Designated as walk-ons, suddenly they’re clamoring for supporting roles. In The Wild Impossibility, Dustin was one of these. He was to be no more than a means of transport for Kira, who hired this young man to squire her around the desert valley while she traced her family’s past. Soon Dustin took control of more than the wheel, butting into scene after scene until I realized that the flat character I’d envisioned was in fact an essential ally for Kira. The character he became changed the story profoundly. He was my facilitator, the key not only to the novel’s building action but to Kira—her weaknesses, her humanity, and ultimately her strength.

Early on I had a plot problem whose solution needed to be true to a time and place tainted by xenophobia and racism. How could a teenage girl in Owens Valley, California, and a boy imprisoned at Manzanar, a World War II Japanese American internment camp, find a way to be together? A fence surrounded Manzanar, as did surveillance towers housing armed guards. The boy couldn’t get out and, with one exception, the girl couldn’t get in—which doesn’t make for much of a love story. My research had yielded no plausible solutions, so I set off for Manzanar National Historic Site.

I’d planned to go alone, but my then-boyfriend tagged along. Manzanar lies east of the Sierra, where trout fishing is big. In our motel room was a fishing magazine. My boyfriend read it. In it was an article about a new documentary film called The Manzanar Fishing Club. The “club” was a group of intrepid prisoners who slipped under the fence at night, fished the Sierra-fed streams all day, then sneaked back into the camp after dark. A possible solution, but I needed to know more.

Once home, I checked the movie listings. The Manzanar Fishing Club was playing at a theater nearby. It was the last night of the run, the last show; the film started in less than an hour. I went. And, along with rich source material, I found a way for my teenage characters to hook up. The love story I’d envisioned could happen.

What did happen on that trip to Manzanar? The principle of quantum entanglement appears in my book—could it be possible that my characters and I became entangled, enough so that they could nudge me toward what I needed? After all, the complex emotional and cognitive process of writing a book deserves more than a rational explanation. The melding of ideas, thoughts, language, memory, observation, creativity into a story rich in character, complex in action—it’s magical. When we stop writing self-consciously and follow the paths that open in front of us, we let our novels become what they really are—small miracles.

Story by Author Cheryl A. Ossola

Writer’s Digest (writersdigest.com)

April Writing Prompts

New York builders​

Persuasive task:
This is how buildings were made in the past. 
Is this a safe way to build skyscrapers?
Compare it to the way skyscrapers are built today.
Which is the best option?
Convince your audience to take on your opinion.

Narrative task:
Write a story to discuss how these men ended up here.
Is it safe?
What happens when they need to get off the steel bar?
How did they get there?
Why are they there?

Mystery Cave

Persuasive task:
Try and convince someone to either go into or to not go into the mystery cave. 
What adventures or dangers might await them?
What should/shouldn’t they?

Narrative:
Write a narrative story about this cave.
Where does this cave lead to?
Where is it located?
Why would someone enter it?
What are they looking for?
What happens once your character goes inside?
What adventures/ dangers might await those who enter the cave?

Ladder in the sky

Write a narrative story using this image as your prompt.

Think about it
Where does this ladder lead?
Who is climbing the ladder?
What is at the top of the ladder?
Why was the ladder created?
Does the character climb the ladder?
Does something climb down from the ladder?
How did the character find the ladder?
What is special about the field the ladder is in?
Who does the character meet at the top of the ladder?

Dangerous road sign

Write a narrative story to using this image as your prompt.

Think about it
​Will you write a narrative from point of view of the travelers or the monster?
Where does this road lead?
What is the dangers on this road?
How does that affect people who drive on the road?
What are the monster’s feelings about people driving on the road.

Spy Mouse

Write a narrative story to using this image as your prompt.
​
Think about it
What is this mouses story?
Why is it there?
What happened to lead it to this moment?
Who does the mouse work for?
Why does the mouse need the cheese?
Does it safely steal/ retrieve the cheese?
What is the problem in this story?
Who is the villain?
Who is the hero?

Giant dog

Write a narrative story to using this image as your prompt.
​
Think about it
Why is the dog so large?
Is the dog being friendly or aggressive?
How does the person feel?
What caused the dog to be so big?
​What caused the person to be so small?

Clever prompt ideas from Two Teachers One Blog

Christmas Brainstorm Activity

By By Sue Watson for Thought.co

Christmas lessons and activities are great motivational techniques. Some of the best activities in an inclusional classroom include brainstorming activities. When you provide students with the opportunity to brainstorm, you are actually using differentiated instruction. Brainstorms work well for gifted learners, mainstream learners and disabled learners.

More Brainstorming:

6. Why is Christmas special to you?

7. How many different Christmas songs can you think of?

8. How many words can you find using only the letters in the word Christmas?

9. List all your different memories of Christmas.

10. Think of all the different things that happen at your house at Christmas. (Types of decorations, visitors etc.)

Brainstorms can be in writing or done in small or large groups in the classroom. All students have the chance to feel successful during brainstorm types of activities.

Thanks to: Christmas Worksheets and Christmas printables (thoughtco.com)