If you’ve been playing along with my lists this month you should have:

1. A list of 10 Band Names
2. A list of Things Found in a Drawer

Today we’re going to make a list of titles. They can be short story or novel titles. These should be made up.

~Amber

For today’s exercise, put in the following five words into your novel, or poem. Good luck!

Extravagant, spoil, rush, twist, and height.

-Huushi

I’m writing this post on a day when our projected low temperature (after wind chill) is -47 Celcius (that’s -53 Fahrenheit). I despise the cold at the best of times, but on a day like this… I let my daughter stay home from school because I didn’t want her waiting at bus stops and I canceled an important appointment I had so I wouldn’t have to go outside.

I worked out, had my breakfast and then put on my coat and shoes and filled my bird feeders.

That’s right. I wouldn’t go out for an important appointment, I let my daughter miss school and I still went outside when it was so cold the air was physically heavy, to feed chickadees and sparrows.

It helps that filling the feeders only takes a couple minutes, but still, I think it says a little something about me, too.

What about your characters? What would make them go out in the cold? What do they really, truly willing to be be uncomfortable for? Or, if we take the idea a step further, to suffer or die for? What would they run into a burning building for?

Write a story or poem which includes a wickedly cold day or a winter storm. See how your characters react to it, and find out what (if anything) they are willing to open the door for (or to… dun dun dun!).

~Rhonda

I’m late in posting Monday’s exercise. Earlier this month you made a list of 10 bands. Now make a list of 10 things you’d find in a drawer.

~Amber

We’re back! I hope everybody’s holidays were good. Now that we’re all refreshed and (hopefully) rearing to go, try to put these five words into your novel or poem.

black, moody, cold, petulant, and feral.

Good luck!

-Huushi

If you could relive your junior high or high school years what would you do differently?

Pick three or four things and write a letter to a younger brother, sister or friend about to enter junior or high school giving them advice based on your expiriences and what you’d do differently. Make sure you give them enough details to really make your point.

(For non-Canadians junior high is grades 7-9 and high school is 10-12… or 13, depending on your province)

Exercise adapted from an essay topic suggestion in “The Writing Process” by John M. Lannon and David B. Parson.

~ Rhonda

Just testing the cross-posting settings.

~Amber

You can ignore this post. I’m testing the cross-posting feature to make sure it’s still working.

~Amber

Happy New Year!

December was kind of a slow month due to the holidays and recuperating from NaNoWriMo. Now that it’s January it’s time to jump back onto the writing wagon.

Today’s exercise is a really simple one to start things off. (And it will come back around later.)

Make a list of 10 band names.

As always, feel free to share your work or leave a comment that you did this exercise.
~Amber

Amber asked me if I’d like to do a prompt every other week and I said sure. That means you’ll still be seeing my name up here now and then. I hope you’re not too disappointed

In trying to decide what to do I thought back to some of the prompts I enjoyed the most in the past and which received the biggest responses. One of those things was the ‘Roll Your Own Story’ type prompt. Looking at the calendar provided the perfect subject for this one.

The idea is simple. Get a six-sided die and then roll it four times, once for each category below. Each category has six options so each die roll will correspond to one of the options. Voila. Once you’re done rolling you’ll have a random writing prompt that is sure to help get your creative juices flowing.

Genre:
1- Speculative
2- Literary
3- Humor
4- Mystery
5- Writer’s Choice
6- Childrens

Character:
1- Dog
2- Teacher
3- Cookie/Candy Cane
4- Parent
5- Child
6- Writer’s Choice

Verb:
1- Lost
2- Found
3- Wished
4- Died
5- Transformed
6- Writer’s Choice

Holiday:*
1- Christmas
2- Hanukkah
3- Kwanzaa
4- Writer’s Choice
5- New Years (any culture)
6- Solstice

I left things quite open and that was intentional. I didn’t want to box anyone in, in fact, that’s the opposite of what I was aiming for.

Please feel free to share your rolls and/or stories with us

If you need a random number generator there is one here. It’s the one I always use. It’s not better or worse than any others, but clicking that link would save you a google search

*If I missed your favourite holiday I apologise, I only had room for 6

~ Rhonda