Prompt Post: Why Do You Write?

Below is the response to a recent writing prompt. Please remember, all prompts written at writing group are done in a limited period of time. All writing is raw and unedited.
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Why Do I Write?

Once I had a passion for writing. I always loved to read but the thought of holding a book in my hand with my name on it filled me with desire.

As a teenager I took a creative writing class in school. I made friends with my classmates and we began to write together. We would take turns writing parts of a story. The results were actually pretty hilarious.

In that class we had to journal and I have continued to do that to this day. Life is a struggle, life is frustrating. Journaling helps me get my thoughts, fears, angers and desires out of my head and down on paper.

When I became ill and unable to return to working outside the home, I took an old story I had written as a teenager and re-wrote it. Then I wrote another story. The ideas were plentiful. I had the passion, the drive, and the time to, perhaps, make my dream of becoming a published author come true.

I joined a writing group, met with award winning authors, agents, other wannabes like me, and took writing workshops. I was encouraged and motivated.

And then something happened. I'm not sure what. The passion suddenly dissipated. I don't know whether it was because of negative critiquing I received, life's interference, doubt, fear, or my illness. Something cranked the parking brake and the passion died.

I still like to write, still want to write, but can't seem to push myself to make the effort to get back to those two abandoned novels.

But I still hope....

HWG Meeting March 5, 2017

Discussion surrounded the upcoming Open Mic Night (name to be confirmed) on April 20th at the Orangeville Public Library. Harry Posner will be the M.C. while Diane Bator will be our featured speaker. An official email account has been sent up for the Headwaters Writers' Guild (hwg5.writers@gmail.com) to be used as a contact email and for registration for the upcoming event. Four members in attendance verbally registered for the event; they will be sent a confirmation email.

Diane is now working at Theatre Orangeville. She informed us that they are now selling tickets for A Literary Pairing - a fundraiser for their New Play Development Fun - organized by Nancy Frater, owner of BookLore in Orangeville. This 2-night event consisting of five authors takes place on Tuesday, March 28th and Tuesday, May 16th, beginning at 7pm at The Opera House. Tickets are $25 for one night or $40 for both. Diane will forward a poster when she has it.

As leader this week, Nancy encouraged us to consider why we write as a prompt (or to take another prompt from the bag).

Why do you write? Have you always wanted to write? When did you discover that writing was important to you? Do you call yourself a writer? Natalie Goldberg suggests that if you write you should call yourself a writer.

How did you become a writer? What steps did you take? Did you join a writing group, and did that help you? Did anybody mentor you?

When did you start writing? Did you have any challenges and what were they? Some people start pieces and then never finish them. What problem do you have? Do you have a solution?

What do you prefer to write? Do you believe that writing is your calling or purpose? Do you write for the money or do you do it for the joy of it? Do you journal to discover who you really are? What motivates you? What hinders you?

Have you read a book that helped your writing?

Do you record your dreams as prompts for your writing? Many authors glean ideas from their dreams? What methods do you use?

If you stopped writing, what would help you start again?

All are encouraged to share their writing from the above and other prompts on this blog.

Five members brought two books for the Blind Book Exchange. Ten members were in attendance so every member got to take a wrapped book home to read and, we hope, review on this blog.

The next meeting is Sunday, March 19th.

Judy will be leading.

Becoming A Writer

Becoming a Writer

By Nancy Rorke

If it weren’t for my second mystical or near-death experience (NDE) on February 23, 1996, I don’t imagine I would have started writing again. Creativity hadn’t been a part of my life for over thirty years. While lying unconscious on the floor of St. Timothy’s Church with severe abdominal pain for over twenty-five minutes, I visited Heaven. I had an encounter with beings that I call the Holy Ones. They told me they would heal me, but, I had to return to my life on Earth because I hadn’t completed my mission.

Ever since my first NDE when I was three, I always wanted to return to Heaven. This time, I agreed with them that my mission was important enough for me to stay on Earth. Immediately, there was a gentle force that put me back in my body, and my eyes opened against my will. I saw Joe, my husband, wearing a coat. I was confused that I was in church. I thought I was in my bed and had been dreaming of Heaven again.

Afterwards, I couldn’t remember what I had promised to do. I became obsessive about dying and living. I thought I had been sent back only to say good-bye to loved ones. Three months later, in a book store, I asked the Holy Ones for help in picking out a book. I was shocked by the answer.

***

I taught myself to read when I was two years old. When I was ten, I told my little sister that I read so much because I needed to learn how to write. Ever since I could remember, I always wanted to become an author. I believe that most children know their mission or calling but sometimes lose their memory before they are teenagers.

 In school, I excelled in English lit, creative writing, and history. At the beginning of grade ten, I asked my English teacher, Mrs. Palmer, to look at the short story I had written over the summer holidays. Two days later, she told me that the head of the English department wanted me to join the grade thirteen writing club. After a few meetings, I was intimidated because I was four years younger, and I left. I stopped writing when I graduated from high school.

Since my first NDE, I have conversed with my great-grandmother, Isabella. When I was thirty-eight, she contacted me through another psychic. She said that my parents were wrong. I was supposed to go to university and become an author and write numerous books. At the time, I hadn’t written anything in twenty or more years. I still didn`t write.  

***

Now three months after my second NDE, while in the book store, I asked the Holy Ones for help in selecting a book. They led me to purchase Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way. I was shocked because I wasn’t an artist. But, thank God, I took their advice. At home, I realized that it was for writers too.

Cameron believes that creative dreams are sometimes stolen by the negative comments we hear about our art or artistic personalities. Her major steps are writing three sheets of daily morning pages, having an artist date once a week, and writing affirmations such as I am willing to create.

            Without Cameron’s book, I never would have started writing again, and I certainly would not have been published. Presently, I am editing my non-fiction book about my NDEs.

             I wish I had never stopped writing. When I write, I am happy beyond measure. I feel joy in every pore of my body. Just for a short while, it feels like I have returned home.

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Posted on behalf of Nancy Rorke

   

Pillow Dreams

At writing group we are given a list of prompts and 10-20 minutes to write. The idea is to just write. The result is a raw, probably unfinished piece of work. Below is what I wrote at group recently. This is very raw. I revised nor added nothing.

The prompt: What if your pillow collected your dreams and you could plug it in to your laptop and watch them over and over again?

Pillow Dreams

By Mary Patricia Bird

I awoke at 3 a.m. in a hot sweat. I had been dreaming. I know you should write down your dreams immediately so as not to forget them, but I was more concerned with my moist clothes and dry mouth. I changed my pajamas and got a drink of water, then I climbed back into bed and immediately fell asleep.

When I awoke in the morning my mind was blank. The dream had completely disintegrated from my mind. Frustrated, I sat up and stared at my pillow. It was a new pillow, one I had just bought the day before. I was just now noticing a black cord sticking out of the pillow case. I pulled on it but it didn’t budget. Upon further examination I realized it was actually attached to the pillow, the end a USB connection.

Curious, I grabbed my laptop and plugged the USB into it. Strange images appeared on the screen – colourful squiggly lines which eventually faded into darkness.

Like a movie, a scene began to appear. A tree, and then another tree, and then another. I was staring at a dark forest. It wasn’t just any forest though. It was familiar to me. I became mesmerized as I “moved” through the forest until I reached a clearing where an old cabin stood.

“Oh God,” I moaned. This was a scene from my dream. As it came back to me I felt sweat trickling down between my breasts. If this was my dream I knew what was going to happen. I tried to focus, to stay put, not moving, but the cabin grew larger on the screen as, obviously, I approached it.

My heart began to quicken and I brought one hand to my chest, the other to cover my eyes slightly. I didn’t want to look but at the same time I did.

A hand, my hand, reached to open the door. It was as if I was playing in a virtual reality game, but I knew this was no game and it was not going to be fun. I still could not remember exactly what lay behind that door but my mind and body were telling me it wasn’t good.

Should I hit the escape button? Unplug the USB? I couldn’t do it. I had to see, had to remember.

As the door slowly opened I walked inside the dusty old one-room cabin. My heart raced harder, my breathing quickened, my eyes widened in shock and fear………

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Time’s up. How will this story end? I don’t know. How would you write the ending to this bit of flash fiction?

It's All Downhill

From the writing prompt: “I never stole your bloody car!” I wrote the following story.

It’s All Downhill

By Clare McCarthy

            I could feel my face turn crimson as I roared at the old man, “I never stole your bloody car!”

            In actual fact, I had recently purchased Newt Lymbuner’s 1929 Model A Ford Roadster from him for what I thought at the time was the extravagant sum of forty-nine dollars. I had been saving all of my earnings from that summer’s jobs to purchase my first set of wheels. 

            You might think that I had committed a crime to pay an old man such a measly small amount for one of Henry Ford’s creations. But what you may not realize is the fact that the old man had bought the vehicle used and had driven it to work daily for twenty-one years. Thus, when I bought Newt’s Model A, it had been on the road for almost all of the eighty-nine years that Newt had been alive.   

            The number of miles travelled in all of those years can create a good deal of wear-and-tear on any piece of machinery. For the forty-nine bucks that I paid Newt Lymburner for his chariot, I had to replace a dead battery to get the car running again. All five tires (and that includes the spare) were worn as smooth as a baby’s backside. The brakes were in such bad shape, it took me five miles of dragging my feet just to get the old roadster to stop. The suspension was worn so loose, at times the front end would shimmy and shake, as violently as a Hawaiian Hula Dancer, with a bad case of nerves. 

            So, as you can see, I didn’t get much for the forty-nine bucks that I’d forked out for Newt’s roadster. Maybe the old man was the real thief in the deal when he charged me as much as he did for his worn-out vehicle.

            But all of this avoids the real reason why Newt thinks that, “I stole his car!” At the age of eighty-nine, Newt Lymburner lost his driving licence, because dementia had settled in. He had forgotten completely that he had actually sold the car to me only yesterday. 

            I understand that back in 1942, Newt in his roadster had even courted and proposed to his late- wife Nellie.  

            Sad, isn’t it?

            Besides parting with his beloved chariot, and all of its related history, the old codger has lost a host of cherished memories along with it as well.             

            Who, or what, then was the real thief here in this story?

~~~~~~~~

Posted on behalf of Clare McCarthy

Meeting Notes and Prompts February 18, 2017

At the next meeting (March 5th) we will be holding a Blind Book Exchange. Each attendee should bring two books wrapped in wrapping paper, newspaper, brown paper bag, comics, whatever. Anything that makes the book unrecognizable. Both of your books should be wrapped in the same paper so you know which books are your's. You don't want to end out taking home your own books.

The purpose of this is two-fold. One, to possibly introduce each other to new writers and/or genres. Two, we would like reviews of these books to be posted on this blog.

If all goes well with this Blind Book Exchange, we will arrange another one and expand it outside the group.

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Prompts:

1. What if your pillow collected your dreams and you could plug it in too your laptop and watch them over and over again?

2. My spouse made me coffee this morning and winked at me when he/she handed me the cup. I've never before been more scared of a drink in all my life.

3. I believe there comes a time when everything just falls in line.

4. She was grateful to be living in her very own version of happily ever after.

Keep in mind the possibility of future publication when writing from prompts this year.


"There is freedom in being a writer and writing. It is fulfilling your function. I used to think freedom meant doing whatever you want. It means knowing who you are, what you are supposed to be doing on this earth, and then simply doing it." - Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down The Bones

Next Meeting with Blind Book Exchange:

Sunday, March 5th, 1:30pm, Leader: Nancy

Meeting Minutes - January 22, 2017

Members of the Headwaters Writers' Guild are encouraged to attend this event. Everyone in Orangeville is encouraged to attend.

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The HWG received the following email:

My name is MJ Moores and I am the Event/Vendor Coordinator for the Writers’ Community of York Region’s (WCYR’s) THE BOOKSHELF. This love-of-reading event is a not-for-profit endeavor created to fill a programming gap noticed across the GTA with regards to book selling opportunities in the Spring and early Summer months.

The 2nd Annual Bookshelf event will be held in conjunction with the Newmarket Farmers’ Market on Sat. May 13th, 2017 in the Community Centre. Local authors will be given the opportunity to read some of their work during this event.

In addition to vendor and author reading opportunities, we will have draws, spot prizes and a genre-based scavenger hunt for all ages. This year’s author readings will take the form of an “open mic” for the 14 available 10-min. time slots to be drawn for. Any author/vendor interested in having their name entered into the draw needs to register for a table
before the end of February 2017 and have contacted the Readings Coordinator (see online).
 
We also have in place an extensive advertising plan that covers a wide range of social media, online news outlets & event calendars for York Region, print news, radio, and TV.
 
It is our goal to establish a firm footing for this new book event with the goal of bringing in Readers and book lovers. We want to reach active York Region readers (and beyond!) to nurture a formidable venue to celebrate Canadian Authors and Reading.
 
Currently, we are looking to invite local indie authors, small presses, local book stores, and reading/genre-related craft people to participate in our vendor room. I hope you’ll consider attending and/or passing this invitation on to another potential participant.


WE OFFER THE FOLLOWING RATES: [all tables are 6’ in length]
FULL-TABLE - $30 (great for established indie authors with more than two books, & non-book vendors)
INDUSTRY DOUBLE-TABLE - $50 (perfect for writing groups w/publications, small presses, indie book stores, & large non-book vendors)
A $5 DISCOUNT is available to any returning vendor (discount option available when you register and check out).
 
Please visit our website at http://thebookshelf.wcyork.ca for more details, and to see the vendor room layout.

The group suggested that since we have several published authors, we might want to consider purchasing a table or two as The Headwaters' Writers Guild using HWG funds. We are inquiring as to whether only book vendors are able to participate. We believe someone selling home made jewelry, for example, may also participate. This needs immediate attention.

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A discussion was had as to whether the group would consider publishing a book as a writing tool consisting of prompts of different forms. This will be discussed again at future meetings.

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Congratulations to Sonja for leading the meeting for the first time. She did a great job. Her preamble and prompts are below:

Thrillers

“Thrillers deal with the really big subjects: death, violence, cruelty, good and evil. They are often all about important moral and ethical dilemmas. They invariable raise the question of nature versus nurture, heredity versus environment, and whether people are intrinsically good or bad.” Julie Parsons, (author of Alpha Wave, I Saw You, and numerous detective novels)

P.D. James, English detective novelist of Death Comes to Pemberley and the Adam Dalgliesh novels, says that the most dangerous emotion of all is not hatred but love. The thriller allows us to see the viewpoint of the villain and how he or she justifies their actions and beliefs.

Emotionally driven, a thriller requires the hero to foil evil. It is an “impossible mission” that puts the hero in terrible danger.

Different types of thrillers include, psychological, crime, paranormal, medical, legal, espionage (spy stories), and romantic.

Using the prompts below, imagine the villain of the story and write from their point of view. What do they love? What is their motivation in the scenario presented? What is their ultimate goal and the plan to achieve that goal?

Alternately, write the beginnings of a thriller using any of the prompts.

Prompts

1.       They said it was a miracle she survived the fire that killed her entire family. What they didn’t know was that death followed her, and he wasn’t done yet.

2.       Everyone thought she’d died from a heart attack, until they discovered the puncture wounds on her throat.

3.       The scribe’s apprentice discovers a hidden drawer in the library and realizes his master is not the man of God he thought he was.

4.       She went into the elevator alone and was never seen or heard from again.

5.       It always happens when he’s alone in the car.

6.       She was excited about having made a friend at her new school, until she learned that no one else at the school had ever seen or met her friend.

7.       The last surviving member of the Seven Crows lodge knew it was time to tell the secret he had guarded for so long.

8.       The exotic flower pressed between the pages of her book was proof that he was still alive, and now she knew where.

9.       His imaginary friend “Johnny” had always been a lot of fun, until one day Johnny brought another friend with him.

1.   She was working late, putting the final touches on her speech for tomorrow’s reveal of the corporation’s new product, unaware of the assassin outside her door.

The next HWG meeting is Sunday, February 5th, at 1:30pm at the Orangeville Public Library, Mill Street location.

Clare will be leading.