The prompt this week was inspired by a trip taken by MJ Nordgren. She described covering over a rise in her car and seeing before her a wide sweep of brightly colored flowers, a field of bright red poppies alongside a field of vivid blue Bachelor’s Buttons. It was so lovely, she had to stop and reflect upon it. Thus our prompt this week is:
As I was coming over the rise I saw…
The amazing prolific writer and educator, Jami Gold offers a wide variety of Worksheets for Writers in Excel spreadsheets, documents, and Scrivener templates. We’ve mentioned this collection in our NaNoWriMo articles and tips. These are precious gems you need in your writing toolbox.
These forms are essential for developing and writing your book, be it fiction or memoir. These worksheets and charts will help you structure your story, develop characters and scenes, and gives you a checklist for all of the things you need to have to make your book a success.
Download these and save to a master toolbox folder for your writing on your computer. To use them, make copies and rename them to the project you are writing as well as the date. You will use many of these over and over again for everything you write.
The following is inspired by our Prompt-a-Month program. The prompt for this past month was “garden.” This deadline for this month’s prompt, “dance,” is July 31, 2016.
This is contributed by our Writers in the Grove member Gretchen Keefer.
Allie groaned as she rolled over to shut off the alarm. Through her slitted eyes the gray light of early dawn filtered in. “Why did the alarm go off so early?” she wondered. This was too early for a summer morning. Yet there was something about today….
As she stretched and tried to open her eyes more fully, she heard movement in the kitchen; then the back door closed. “Grandmom.” Allie jumped out of bed. Today was the day she was supposed to help Grandmom take her produce to the farmers’ market. The vegetables had been packed last night, but Grandmom wanted to pick the flowers fresh this morning. Hastily pulling her shorts, shirt and sandals on, Allie hurried out to the garden.
Grandmom greeted her with a warm smile. “Good morning. I’m glad you could join me today. Isn’t it a lovely morning!”
Allie wondered how Grandmom could know this was a lovely morning when the day hadn’t even begun yet. Grandmom was always cheerful, which was one of the special things about Grandmom that Allie liked so much. Yawning, she took the scissors Grandmom offered and tried to pay attention to her instructions. Pick the blooms that are just opening, cut the stems at an angle and put them directly into the ready bucket of water. As they worked, Grandmom hummed familiar tunes or told Allie interesting facts about some of the flowers. Occasionally she would remind Allie to cut the stems a bit longer, so people could arrange the flowers as they wanted to, or to leave some of a particular plant for the bees, which were already starting to buzz around the fragrant blossom. (more…)
The Eighth Annual Northwest Book Festival is at Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square on July 30, 2016. Hours are 10:00AM to 5:00PM. The festival is free to the Public. Willamette Writers and other writers and arts groups will be represented.
As a reminder, Lend an Ear, Come and Hear is July 9, 2016, at Plum Hill Winery in Gaston, Oregon. It begins at 10:30AM and goes to approximately 1PM.
Local writers submitted their four-minute readings and we have a fabulous collection of short stories and poems this year. Local authors will be selling their books, and the pizza wagon will be available for food. We are very grateful to Plum Hill Winery for once again providing such a beautiful outdoor venue. And their wine is pretty awesome, too!
You can find more information and details in our announcement and on the Lend an Ear, Come and Hear site.
The Forest Grove Senior and Community Center is closed this Monday for the Fourth of July Independence Day holiday. We will be meeting at the home of Anne and Ralph Cuellar in Forest Grove, Oregon, at the normal 9AM. Please bring folding chairs and a potluck meal for lunch, if you are able to stay.
If you do not have the address, please contact MJ Nordgren or use our contact form.
Thanks to them for their generosity to open their home to us.
The next in our prompt-a-month series for our Writers in the Grove members in July is:
Dance
The deadline is July 31, 2016.
Check out the guidelines and instructions for submissions in the announcement, and we look forward to your creative writing submission. The submissions will be published throughout August.
The prompt today is:
water and light
Ever wonder how long it takes to travel?
This is more than an answer to “Are we there yet?” It is a challenge that faces ever writer when their character leaves the comfort of home or work and must travel to another location.
If traveling by foot, how long does it take? By car? By bus? By train? What about by horse? The time spend traveling across the same difference changes with the mode of transportation.
The folks behind The Writer’s Handbook found a chart that answers some of these questions if you are considering traveling by horse, sea, foot, or pigeon. This is a great tool to add to your writer’s toolbox.
Another travel time chart to keep in your writer’s toolbox comes from Lapham’s Quarterly.
What about calculating for traffic congestion? It might take you 30 minutes to get to Portland, Oregon, in the middle of the day, and 3 hours to travel the same distance during rush hour. There is much to think about when you take your character traveling.
Here are a few more examples:
Other tools to help you estimate travel times include:
This is just the tip of the travel time iceberg. What about travel by train? By skateboard? By bike? By helicopter? By skiing? By air balloon?
It’s your imagination traveling with your character. Add their travel type and estimates to your writer’s toolbox as a guide to help you estimate travel times.
Glimmer Train Press is accepting original short stories through the rest of the year by August 31, 2016:
The two sisters, Susan and Linda, have been producing Glimmer Train Press since 1991 are open to just about anything fiction. They pay out our $50,000 a year to writers through their various contests and publishing fees. The copyright is retained by the author, and they will accept previously published work, as long as fewer than 75 copies have been sold.
This year, they’ve announced that they’ve expanded the number of months submissions are open to only emerging writers, allowing more new writers to get an opportunity. They’ve also increased the first place prizes in every category.
Literary short fiction works are to be original, and comply with their content guidelines with accompanying reading and submission fees. Prizes range from $300 – $3,000.
Check their submission calendar for more information and deadlines.
Writers in the Grove 