Tag Archives: writing prompt

What’s on my bookshelf? If You Can Talk, You Can Write

First of all, I love short chapters.

Thank you, Joel Saltzman, author of If You Can Talk, You Can Write [1993]—50 chapters squeezed into 190 pages.

And he practices what he preaches, as Saltzman might as well be playfully preaching to us over coffee in the kitchen.

Three of my preferred chapters:

  • If You Don’t Know What to Say, Start Saying It
  • Write About What Matters to You
  • But It’s Not Even Close to Perfect

My favorite Saltzman quotes:

  • “What’s needed is entitlement, the firm belief that ‘If it interests me, it interests others.’ “
  • “All you have to do is learn to stop rejecting your thoughts and start writing them down.”
  • “…you can adopt a much saner, more productive point of view: PROGRESS, NOT PERFECTION.”

Saltzman also weaves in short anecdotes, pop quizzes [Ten questions you can’t get wrong], and valuable quotes from other writers, including:

  • “In every work of genius, we recognize our own rejected thoughts.” —Goethe
  • “If the result of something I do is that someone feels 10 percent less crazy because they see someone else thinking what they’re thinking, then I provide a service.” —Albert Brooks

This is one of about a dozen books I would snag from my shelf in case a fire broke out at home. [If it wasn’t already been planted in my back seat box of writing stuff…]

What’s on my bookshelf? The Writer’s Idea Book

From my bookshelf, The Writer’s Idea Book by Jack Heffron, published in 2000. [Note: There is also a 10th Anniversary Edition.]

It’s broken down into four sections: Bending and Stretching, Exploring, Finding Form, and Assessing and Developing.

To quote the author: “…the tone of the book will vary, from high-minded to playful to downright crabby.”

I really haven’t come across the crabby parts, which sound well worth tracking down.

Heffron–an accomplished writer and editor [Writer’s Digest Books, Story Press, and currently copy director at Barefoot Proximity in Cincinnati] provides over 400 different prompts to nudge, shove, cold-cock the reader into some fertile writing territory.

Some examples:

  1. A Day in the Life of a Writer. In this mindfulness exercise, “Your goal here is not to develop material for a single piece, but to plump your notebooks with ideas and details.”
  2. “You’re very old. You’re on your death bed…Family and friends gather around you. What do you tell them about life? What advice about living do you offer them?”

Apologies to the ‘absolutes’ police: With this book, you’ll never have nothing to write about…ever.

What’s on my bookshelf? The Writer’s Idea Book

From my bookshelf, The Writer’s Idea Book by Jack Heffron, published in 2000. [Note: There is also a 10th Anniversary Edition.]

It’s broken down into four sections: Bending and Stretching, Exploring, Finding Form, and Assessing and Developing.

To quote the author: “…the tone of the book will vary, from high-minded to playful to downright crabby.”

I really haven’t come across the crabby parts, which sound well worth tracking down.

Heffron–an accomplished writer and editor [Writer’s Digest Books, Story Press, and currently copy director at Barefoot Proximity in Cincinnati] provides over 400 different prompts to nudge, shove, cold-cock the reader into some fertile writing territory.

Some examples:

  1. A Day in the Life of a Writer. In this mindfulness exercise, “Your goal here is not to develop material for a single piece, but to plump your notebooks with ideas and details.”
  2. “You’re very old. You’re on your death bed…Family and friends gather around you. What do you tell them about life? What advice about living do you offer them?”

Apologies to the ‘absolutes’ police: With this book, you’ll never have nothing to write about…ever.

First Date Woes…

Writing Warmup for April 4

First Date Woes

The porch light was flickering.

Ditto my hopes for a vibrant social life.

Still, I knocked. Three times.

Silence. Should I have added a fourth? Or would that have been pushy? Or seem too desperate?

Should I have brought my therapist with me?

“Good evening.” Date Enders Images serial killer look reduced

I did a full-body flinch and spun around. “Geezus!”

“I’m sorry. Did I alarm you?”

“Alarm me?! How about scare the–”

He issued a cold, blank stare.

I rolled my shoulders to release the tension. “Do you always teleport on a first date?”

To be continued…

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Props Week: Recipient #2–The Creative Penn

I created a two-minute tour of Joanna Penn’s impressive work. [Again, no ulterior or profit motives. Just wanting to share online wealth with my site’s visitors.] Here it is…

 

Writing Warmup #137: “You’re on the air! Say something!”

I gripped the microphone and looked at the producer who whirled one hand around the other.

microphone-and-hand cropped

“A hamster wheel?” I thought.

My armpits were spritzing.

Oh-yeahhh! A referee’s signal for traveling.

My thought process? Glacial.

The pounding on the window was one hint.

The scrawled message of Keep it moving!!!!!! on the back of the pizza menu was another.

Geez, though, did he really need six exclamation points?

“So,” I said into the mic. “How ’bout those Yankees!?”

 

Writing Warmup #151: What the heck, no one was looking…

Yeah, yeah, yeah, all those wisenheimers spew about character being what you do when no one was looking, but this was different.

It was just a book, a silly book. And it wasn’t even written in English. So who really would miss it?

I only needed to make it to the end of the block, trade it for cash, and I’d be on my way.

avoid-suspicion-sneaking-around-after-dark-864