Friday, May 11th, 2012
 On this date in 1934 a huge dust storm sent 350 million tons of silt and topsoil catapulting eastward from the Great Northern Plains, some of it reaching as far as New York and Atlanta.
The reason?
When the plains states were settled in the mid-1800s, the land was covered by prairie grass which kept the ground moist and kept soil from blowing away during hot, dry times. When farmers began plowing the grass under to plant crops, the soil dried and had nothing to keep it from blowing away.
Worse, the U.S. involvement in World War I in 1917 created a huge demand for wheat, and farmers plowed under more and more grassland, thanks also to a new invention: the tractor. Farmers continued to plow after the war, as even more powerful tractors came on the market. (In the 1920s, wheat production increased by 300%, glutting the market by 1931.)
In the early 1930s, a severe drought caused crops to die, and wind to carry the dust from the fields. Storms increased yearly until 1934 when the number of them decreased, but the severity increased, causing the worst dust storm in history on May 11. The New York Times reported, dust “lodged itself in the eyes and throats of weeping and coughing New Yorkers,” and even ships some 300 miles offshore saw dust collect on their decks.*
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Write a poem, essay or journal entry about being unexpectedly caught in a storm.
- Write about being caught in a dust storm, wind storm or any kind of storm other than rain or sleet or hail. Was it a small storm, or a large one (affecting your town or the entire state)? Did you need to seek shelter? If so, where?
- Write about:
- biting the dust
- dusting it up, or dusting it off
- gathering dust
- when the dust settles
- dry as dust
- dust bunnies
Theorize about how something we’re doing today could unintentionally cause a catastrophe such as the dust storm of 1934. What would we need to do to prevent it? How could we fix the problem if we don’t?
Would you ever consider being a storm chaser? Why or why not? What do you think the risks would be? What do you think the rewards would be?
Scientists risk their lives chasing tornadoes in hopes of learning about them. What do you think these scientists are trying to find out? What do you think the benefits will be for society if scientists find these answers?
I’ve seen the dust so black that I couldn’t see a thing,
I’ve seen the dust so black that I couldn’t see a thing,
And the wind so cold, boy, it nearly cut your water off.
I seen the wind so high that it blowed my fences down,
I’ve seen the wind so high that it blowed my fences down,
Buried my tractor six feet underground.
Well, it turned my farm into a pile of sand,
Yes, it turned my farm into a pile of sand,
I had to hit that road with a bottle in my hand.
~ From the Dust Bowl Blues, Woody Guthrie
“Charge it to the dust and let the rain settle it.”
Write about any other natural disaster, such as a tornado, a landslide or avalanche, a tsunami, or an earthquake.
Write about a storm that personally affected you in some way. What kind of storm was it? How did you get caught in it? What were the consequences?
Write a story where a storm is the inciting incident. (The inciting incident is the action or event that sets in motion the central conflict of the story.) Or, write a story in which a storm plays a major role.
Write about:
- the calm before a storm
- the eye of the storm, or being in the eye of the storm
- weathering the storm
- stormy weather
- any port in a storm
- a storm is brewing
- storming out of a room
- taking something by storm
We are the voices of the wandering wind,
Which moan for rest and rest can never find;
Lo! as the wind is, so is mortal life,
A moan, a sigh, a sob, a storm, a strife.
~ The Deva’s Song, Sir Edwin Arnold
Good Luck!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* Quote from History.com’s May 11 entry.
Image Credit: A dust storm strikes Powers County, Colorado, in April 1935. Image: Library of Congress, FSA-OWI Collection, Repro. Num. LC-USF343-001617-ZE DLC.
Sunday, April 29th, 2012
- To start a new project.
- To complete a project.
- To recharge your writing batteries or find your Muse.
- To relax or rest. To catch up on your reading. To gain a fresh perspective.
- To reward yourself for what you’ve accomplished so far.
- To be alone to write.
- Or, to be among fellow writers with whom you can discuss ideas, get feedback, or bask in the support of like-minded people.
- To evaluate your skill, your projects or your deadlines.
- To organize your manuscript(s) and prioritize.
- To write in a focused space without the interruptions of your daily life.
Friday, April 27th, 2012
 April is National Poetry Month. How did we get to the end of it without having a single poetry prompt?
I like poetry, but I’m not a good judge of what makes a poem good. I prefer the Dr. Seuss rhyming kind to free verse — and I think anything “… bouncy, flouncy, trouncy, pouncy,” is, of course, “…fun, fun, fun, fun, FUN!!!” *
I like Shakespeare’s sonnets, e. e. cumming’s clever words (more for how they’re laid out on the paper than anything else), Shel Silverstein, and Dante. I like dark and angsty, abhor maudlin and sentimental, and enjoy a really good sci-fi poem which makes me think.
My favorite poem is Invictus, by William Ernest Henley, introduced to me by my best friend in high school. (Hi, Charlie!)
I’d much rather a friend introduce me to a poet than to find him on my own: it’s both a ringing endorsement and a shared memory…
How do you like to find your poetry?
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Write a poem about:
- a family secret
- an old love
- a weird fact or obscure trivia you know
- a cherished memory
- your favorite food
- Write a poem at least 50 words long using only one-syllable words. Mix it up and try using only two-syllable words or three-syllable words.
- Randomly pull 10-15 books off your shelf and write down the titles. Use as many as you can in a poem.
- Write a structured poem using a structure you’ve never tried before: haiku, sonnet, sestina, villanelle, etc. Here’s a link to 12 kinds of structured poems and how to write them.
- Write a poem in which the form contradicts the content.
- Write a poem that starts with a one word title, has two words in the first line, three in the next, and continues by adding one word per line.
- Poetry through reduction: take a piece of junk mail and cross out some of the words to create a poem. Start by eradicating some words, see how it reads, then whittle them down more and more until you have a lean, focused poem. Do the same with a page of text from your favorite author, a newspaper article or a magazine essay.
- Write a poem based on a famous work of art, a photograph or snapshot, or the view from your window.
- Journalers and essayists: What is your favorite poem? Why? Or, turn it around: what is your least favorite poem and why? Or, write about types of poetry? What is your favorite type? Least favorite? Cite examples to back up your statements, or write snippets of your own to do so.
If these aren’t enough, here are a few other prompts I’ve written which touch on poetry:
Good luck!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* Words from the Disney Tigger song.
Friday, April 20th, 2012
 I’m heading out today for some research at the Baltimore Zoo.
I LOVE the zoo. It’s been a long time since I’ve been, and I’m really looking forward to it.
My favorite: the snakes. But I also like the primates, too. And the giraffes, and the hippos. The lions, the tigers…
Oh, who am I kidding? I love it all, but especially, the snakes.
I’m sure you can imagine where today’s prompt is going? You guessed it: it’s about zoos and animals.
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Imagine visiting a far off planet. [Class M, if you will.] and you find the most unusual animals. Write about which one is your favorite and why. How do you have to care for this animal? How does it live? What does it eat? Could you bring it back to earth? How would you manage that?
- Me, Tarzan. You, Jane. (I really mean that the other way around. But if I’d written it that way, it wouldn’t have been half as effective!)
Imagine you — or a character in one of your stories — has been raised by animals. Describe life with these animals from early infancy on. Caveat: you can’t choose apes. Bonus points if you don’t choose wolves.]
- If you’re journaling, write about the best (or worst) time you ever had at a zoo.
- Another journaling prompt: write about an encounter with an animal that really sticks in your memory: have you ever been bitten by a dog? How about peed on by a toad? Tell us what happened.
- If you’ve never had an encounter with an animal…pretend. What would it be like to be a veterinarian? A lion tamer in a circus? A scuba diver who investigates invertebrates?
- Write about your encounter with an imaginary animal, such as a unicorn, a dragon, a werewolf or the phoenix.
- Imagine you are the one locked up in a zoo. Someone cares for all your needs. People stare at you all day. How do you feel? What’s the best part? The worst? In an animal zoo, the animals are given toys and their special habitat to make it more palitable to them. What does the zoo provide for you?
- What if you could understand the language of the animals? What would they say to you from behind their bars at the zoo? Do they like being there? Do they want to return to their natural habitats? What do they like or dislike about being in the zoo?
- What if all the animals in the world were locked up in zoos? Keeping pets is forbidden. Only farm animals are “free.”
- What if only all the “frightening” animals are collected and locked up? Which animals would those be? Why?
- Pretend you are Dr. Seuss’ character Gerald McGrew. Like him, what would you do, if you ran the zoo?
Good Luck!
Wednesday, April 18th, 2012
 The new Broad Universe podcast is available, this one focusing on “changelings and transformations.”
BroadPod “Rapid Fire Readings” feature five or six authors reading for five or six minutes each from their work.
Authors included in this month’s podcast are Carol Berg, E.F. Watkins, Daniele Ackley-McPhail and Anne Wilkes, and of course, me. I’ll be reading from Selk Skin Deep.
Selk Skin Deep was published in Bad Ass Fairies 3: In All Their Glory (an anthology of stories about fairies, which harkens back to their roots. You’ll find no Tinkerbelles in the bunch).
Selk Skin Deep was inspired by the true-live tragedy of the explosion on board the U.S.S. Forrestal, an aircraft carrier which exploded off the coast of Vietnam in 1967. My story is about Cade Owen, who joined the U.S. Navy trying to alleviate the boredom from his nearly immortal life. Cade is a selkie – a shape shifter who is both man and seal. In Selk Skin Deep he learns about sacrifice, and what it means to be human. It’s my tribute to U.S. Service Men and Women.
Listen to the Broad Universe Podcast here.
If you’re not into podcasts, I’ve made the first five pages of the story available via PDF. Here’s a link to the Selk Skin Deep excerpt.
Friday, April 13th, 2012
 Names are important.
They provide identity, reveal the culture or interest or nature of the namer.
They’re a source of embarrassment. Or pride.
They can cause all kinds of conflict.
I went to school with a woman whose grandmother had strict policies for naming the kids in the family. When her daughter was pregnant, she demanded the child be given an ethnic name.
Many arguments ensued, with my friend’s mom steadfast against the idea, but the grandmother eventually got her way. Little wonder that our professors were often surprised when Heidi’s name was called from the roster and a black woman responded to the question.
Well, the grandmother never stated what kind of ethnic name she wanted.
In my latest manuscript, both main characters are saddled with untenable names. The girl is named with a religious moniker — thanks to the nuns at the Catholic hospital where she was born, and the male lead is given a “family” name.
(I can hear a lot of folks groaning now.)
My first beau had such a name, and it caused him all kinds of embarrassment. Luckily for my character, like my boyfriend, his embarrassment is a middle name…
Here’s Your Prompt:
- You have moved to a new county, and the laws state you must change your first name if you want to reside there permanently. What do you change your name to? How does this new name reflect who you are?
- Write about name-calling.
- Someone is saying your name…
- Some to the fascination of a name surrender judgment hoodwinked. ~ William Cowper
- He was also known as…
- My grandmother called me by this name.
- Write a story about a culture who believes names are all-powerful. Children are not named at birth, and choose their own when they are ready. They never reveal these secret names. How do people refer to each other? How do they choose the ‘names’ they go by in every day life?
- A name is a kind of face whereby one is known. ~ Thomas Fuller
- Open a phone book at random and drop your finger down on a name. Write about that person or business. What does the name inspire?
- I do beseech you, (Chiefly, that I might set it in my prayers,) What is your name? ~ William Shakespeare, the Tempest. Act III, Scene 1.
- Write the essay (or a journal entry, or a letter to your children…), “I was named this because…”
Good Luck!
Sunday, April 8th, 2012
 Happy Easter!
We spent the day yesterday doing ‘Eastery’ things, including dying eggs and watching an Easter Egg hunt.
My sis made a fabulous coconut cake and we’ve already busted into it this morning. (I’ve also been into the potato salad. Shh, don’t tell Mom.)
We had Easter Dinner last night, so this morning we’re having a huge breakfast before everyone gets on the road to drive home.
Hope everyone has a terrific day!
Friday, April 6th, 2012
One of the big criticisms of fantasy fiction is ‘dining’ scenes. They often become the joke of the story, and it’s those scenes that are discussed as clichéd in reviews, no matter if they’re a key scene that the entire plot hinges on.
Three dwarves walk into a tavern…
See what I mean? Hard not to make a joke out of it.
But I’ll argue until I’m blue-faced that dining scenes are necessary to make the fiction realistic. And if you want to argue some more, I’ll state that these scenes are just as clichéd, if not more so, in other genres:
- the engagement announcement made at dinner (in any genre)
- the discussion of other worldly food (especially those slimy, living foods consumed by bug-like creatures) in science fiction novels
- the ‘let’s have a polite chat over dinner’ (but you know someone’s going to get killed) in a western or gangster story
- the cozy, steamy, dinner for two which escalates into a torrid love-fest of unusual positions and food in usual places
Your job with today’s prompts is to create a scene, a poem, a short story or vignette that is about food or dining, but isn’t clichéd.
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Write about one of these things:
- hunger
- simple dishes
- eating alone
- forbidden fruit
- temperamental chefs
- eating alone
- a family meal
- a holiday dinner
- family recipes
- Someone yells from off in the distance, “Come and get it!” You hear the klaxon sound of the triangle, bell, or digital tone if you happen to be aboard ship.
- These are the ingredients…
- Use the five senses (taste, touch, smell, hearing, sight) in your writing, but focus on one of them; for instance: the smell of fresh-brewed coffee; the site of lush, colorful fruit, the taste of something hot and spicy, salty or sweet; the sound of crunchy cereal, or fries sizzling in grease; the feel of salted nuts or buttery popcorn when you lift it out of the bowl…
- “Sustain me with raisin cakes, Refresh me with apples, Because I am lovesick. ~ Song of Solomon
- The refrigerator’s full, but there’s nothing to eat…
- The cupboard is bare…
- A pie eating, ice-cream eating, hot-dog eating, you-name-the-food-eating contest at the local fair
- Write about the guy standing on the corner who “Will Work for Food.”
Good luck!
Friday, March 30th, 2012
 Spring has sprung!
And it’s not always sweet. Anybody live around those horrible Bradford Pear trees?
(They’re native to China and Korea and were brought to the states in the 1900s. As far as I’m concerned, they should have kept them!)
Spring has me thinking of gardening, so today’s prompt is all about planting, sowing, and tending.
Here’s Your Prompt:
Friday, March 23rd, 2012
 Monday, March 26 is “National Make Up Your Own Holiday” day.
(This is another one of those oddball ‘national’ days that has no basis in fact. It’s supposed to be supported by the “Wellness Permission League” of which I can find no verifiable data on the intranet. Although, I did find this self-typed news story which mentions the League.)
Sometimes it’s an easy thing to create a holiday: in ancient Rome, conquering generals arrived back at the gates and were often rewarded with a day of celebration in their honor. No brainer.
When you’re creating a holiday as part of world building in your story, it may not be so easy (unless some general arrives at the city gates…)
Keep in mind: Not all holidays are a cause for celebration. They may be a cause for mourning. Others may be celebrated differently in different places. St. Patrick’s Day is a case in point: in the U.S. celebrants eat Irish Food, drink green beer and party. In Ireland, St. Patrick’s day for some is a solemn affair made up of church-going and prayer.
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Consider the reason for your holiday. Is it based on a military event? A national movement? A religious miracle? What time of year did the event take place? Was the ensuing event a local one? Does it remain so, or has it grown? What is the history of the celebration?
- How is the holiday celebrated? A reenactment of the original event? (Fireworks on July 4th) A religious service or blessing? Do celebrants wear anything special to celebrate? (Green on St. Pat’s.) Are traditional foods eaten? (Hamantashen) Prayers said? (Novenas) Parades held? (Ticker tape for welcoming home.) Are there any special props needed to celebrate, or which show observance? (Decorations.)
- Does the holiday include any human or animal sacrifice? (Disclaimer! We’re making up a fictional holiday here, not practicing it. Do not sacrifice any humans or animals in the creation of your holiday, please.)
Sacrifice has long been associated with celebrations. We keep the symbolism of sacrifice in our modern celebrations: burning candles, giving something up (Lent), donating money or time, etc.
Does your holiday include any other kind of sacrifice?
- Is the celebration held inside a building, or outside in the open air? (Time of year will likely have something to do with this choice.)
- Are there special symbols, writings, speeches, holy books, etc.
- What is the exact date of the holiday? Is it the date the event happened, or the birth date (or death date) of a principal participant? Perhaps it’s the date the event was thought to occur (if the celebration comes into being years or decades after the ensuing event.)
- What governing faction decided there would be a holiday? Why? What gives them the right to declare it such?
- Are there people who don’t celebrate this holiday? Why not? What happens to those people (if anything) if they choose not to participate?
Good luck!
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Photo Credit: The U.S. Army – West Point Asian Pacific American Observance Celebration. These guys look like they’re having a blast!
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