One Spark

Writing ideas are everywhere. An idea can take
the form of a poem.

Homeless

During a wet twenty below
Loud Mattie,
Wobbles down the street
In an attempt to get warm.
Clutching her bottle of wine.
Which cloud her memories of life.
Each muscle becomes numb
As she cuddles any steam vent.

Measured Dream

Dash of education,
Pile on culture,
Pinch in courage,
Ounce open mind,
With ton of hard work.

Game

Look around the room you are sitting in.
Write down the name of whatever your
eyes saw first.

Cartridge first jumped into my eyes,
actually ink cartridge.

I am going to work with the word,
cartridge. Turn each letter into a
word. Use the first words that comes
to mind.

C becomes call
A bounces into apple
R melts into range
T turns into Trevor
R equals Reilly
I sneaks in
D rolls out dark
G means gone
E points to empty

Use one or all the words to get your
creative juices flowing. Start writing.
It does not matter what path your
writing takes.

My words are: call, apple, range,
Trevor, Reilly, in, dark, gone, and
empty.

A story idea follows.

Trevor and Reilly stormed into
the dark, empty house. All four
burners blazed on the range.

"Mom." Trevor clicked on
lights.

"She not here," Reilly said.

My idea can emerge as a short
story, or book length project.

I spun the words into a free
verse poem.

Two boys
came home
dark empty
cold house
calling mom
who was
nowhere to
be found

There are no limits to where
the word game will take you.

Tap It

You look at your fingers on the desk, and
outloud said, "I'm out of subjects to write
about."

There are endless topics to explore.
It does not matter if history facts
excites your curiosity, law stimulates
your brain, or a fascination with the
care of animals paws at you. Simply,
tap it.

Gather information about it from
a local library, or search engine
like Google.

Not long ago, for example, I
stumbled across some interesting
town names.

Cookie, Oklahoma
It was rumored a store owner
gave a child a cookie, and the
young child called it cookie-
town. So, residents kept the
name.

Intercourse, Pennsylvania
There are speculations that
two famous roads met there,
or language use during the
early days formed its name,
or it centers around a race
track.

Story Idea? Essay? Non-fiction/
fiction? Any or all information
can be turned into ideas.

My story idea: A pampered
child cried if not allowed to
have a cookie after dinner
until grandmother spent the
month.

An essay, perhaps, on how
the village Intercourse,
Pennsylvania fellowships.

What is repeat offender?
Read over your answer, and
then pull-out an essay, or
chapter start.

Do you have a pet? Like a
particular animal? Write
about it. Let your imagination
run free. Edit later.

In conclusion, there are no
shortage of topics waiting
for you to tap.

Pharmacy At Mt. Pleasant

I called the pharmacy for a second refill on a
prescription.

"They not goin' to pay for it. You had a thirty-
day supply."

"They? I paid out of my pocket."

"They will pay in 'bout three weeks."

"I have six left. Is it possible that I wasn't
given the whole supply?"

"Ya betta go find 'em. Ya ain't pay out yer
pocket."

I insisted payment came out of my pocket.
I called my health care agent. I was told
payment was filed, but reversed. So,
records show payment was made.

Question: Would it had mattered if
my condition was life
threatening?
I wondered if the pharmacy did not
give me the full prescription, where
was the rest of it? How many others
have had their medications stolen?

However, possible story ideas swirled
around my mind.

One male employee kept a diary
of what actually happened to the
missing meds. They were sold on
the street. A fellow employee
found out, and he was murdered.

An essay, perhaps, on how the
pharmacy's employee lied about me
paying cash for the prescription.

This is proof writers have access
to ideas from living life.

Plot Plop

Plot is the action that keeps readers wanting
to know the story's end. It is the structure, or
how the problem is solved.

A character almost succeeds, but some
unseen force or person creeps in to
frustrate him/her. The character is
forced to try something, anything
else. Efforts to reach the desired goal
must be no less than three times.

If you allowed a character to have
no conflict, heightened suspense then
your plot plopped.

Critique Your Work

You look at the title, and said outloud, "Yeah,
right."

You can critique your own work. Once you have
written it, take a few days away from it. Read that
book you wanted to, visit and call relatives/friends,
or work on a new project.

You will return with a fresher eye, see
mistakes that you could not have during the
writing process.

Make sure to read outloud. Does that
sentence you have just read make sense.
Does it bring vivid images to the mind.
Grammatical error? Run-on sentences?
If yes, fix it.

Your Writing Place

Have you a comfy writing place? A spot just for your writing time.
It does not matter where. It can be the attic, basement, corner
of the apartment, or kitchen table. You can always change
where you write. The important thing is to write.

Take the telephone off the base, turn cell phone off, and
write to fulfill your dream.

Never Without One

Keep a pen, pencil, and notebook with you at all times.
Some prefer a recorder. Why? You never know when an
idea will pop out at you.

Have you ever saw an ad, read a book, or thumbed
through a business proposal, and then felt you
could have done a better job?

Never steal a plot, plan, or idea. However,
you can take an idea and let your imagination
run away with it. See what you come up with.
The next best thriller?

You Can Write Too

How? Pick a time during the day or night just for writing.
It can be two, three, or four hours per day. It doesn't
matter as long as you put words down. Get the flow
started for that poem, chapter start, or essay. Make time
to fulfill your dream.