Take a Monday Afternoon Happiness Break!

Read the poem, enjoy the poem, and listen to the poem.  It's a shorty, but it's good advice!

"Happiness"

Close your eyes

Take a breath

Breathe love in

Let loose the rest

The Friday Free For All: Finally some new writing!

No, I haven't stopped writing poetry over the past week, I'm trying to mix things up.  I don't forget, however, that this blog was originally dedicated to my creative writing, and my poetry in particular.  So this Friday I give you a brand new piece.

I don't know what it's like where you live, but us northeastern states are positively frozen right now.  Most of us only venture outside when absolutely necessary, and even then for the shortest amount of time possible.  I'd be able to get to and from the car a lot faster if there wasn't ice all over the place, but I do the "frozen ground shuffle" at a pretty nice clip, if I do say so myself.

Given these circumstances, it's unsurprising that the cold has seeped into my poetry as well as my bones.  Therefore, this week's Friday posting is my latest work exploring how to make a breath of nearly subzero sound poetic.  Let me know what you think!

"A Frigid Breath"

One sharp, shallow breath

A single sip

Of freezing air

Shocks the warm, moist airway

With immediate

Crystalline constriction

Breath halts

And only the faintest wisp

Is visible

Hanging slender

In the night air

Before dissipating

In a slight swirl of a breeze

The tongue does not escape

Metallic crystals form

As the frigid air

Sweeps down the throat

A sputtering, raspy cough

Expels the fiendish freeze

As the sanctuary of warmth is sought

Writing Wednesday: Writing Prompts to Get You Started

Happy Writing Wednesday!  Last week I went over my first useful tip for getting started: free writing.  This week’s tip can be used in conjunction with free writing or you can apply it all on its own.  This week I want you to try out writing prompts.

These aren’t hard to find.  At all.  The easiest way to find them is Pinterest.  They’re all over the place there.  Just do a search for “writing prompts” and you’ll find pins, boards, and entire accounts dedicated to them. Don’t go search now.  You’ll get sucked in and emerge 3 hours from now thinking you’ve gone through a worm hole and lost all that time.  Which you kinda did.

If you want to find some writing prompts that won’t drag you down the rabbit hole of “ooo, look at that! And that!  And THAT!!” I’ve gathered a few links to stand alone sites that provide you with easy ideas to get started writing without stealing your soul a few hours at a time.

Daily Prompts:

These sites give you a prompt a day. 

http://www.daily-writing-prompt.com

This site has multiple daily prompts, different genres to choose from, and an extensive archive of previous prompts if none of today’s prompts strike your fancy.  The plethora of choices at this site can be a bit overwhelming and distracting, but not quite on Pinterest’s level.

http://www.writersdigest.com/prompts

These are user-generated prompts, and the site isn’t updated daily, but there are still some very good choices here.  If you include this site in your rotation of sources without relying on it daily, you’ll still get a good, steady stream of ideas.  This site swings to the opposite end of the spectrum from the first!

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/

Right in the middle lies this site, which is truly a site for daily prompts.  One day, one prompt.  The ideas are archived, so you can look back if you’d like, but you’ll still find just one prompt each day.  It’s the perfect balance, in my opinion: a steady stream with one new idea every day.  It’s not a here and there publication, and it’s not overwhelming you with tons of ideas every day.

https://dailypost.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/365-days-of-writing-prompts-1387477491.pdf

Here’s an option if you want to check out one place, then go off the grid for a while.  It’s a .pdf of daily writing prompts to last you for a year.  No extra links.  No ads.  Just 365 prompts.

Like I said before, these prompts can be used as a jumping off point for a free write or they can launch you right into a writing session, if you find one that really sparks your interest. 

If you’re trying to get into the habit of writing on a regular basis, which I would advise, don’t wait for “the one” to appear.  If you spend too long looking through tons and tons of potential prompts you’re likely to become overwhelmed and miss a good one.  Don’t be afraid to settle down and just start writing.  You can always go a different direction later, or you can go back and start all over again.   The idea is to get writing, you can fill in the details along the way down the line.

Did I miss any of your favorite prompting sources?  If you have any others, I’d love to hear about them!  Let me know in the comments section and I’ll be sure to check them out for myself and add them for other readers too!

Monday Morning Pick Me Up: Online Pet Therapy Photo Doggies for Anthony

Okay, I was totally ready to pick out my happy-happy-joy-joy poem for your Monday Morning Pick Me Up, but I came across this incredible Facebook event that is so worthy of attention (and full of adorableness) that I just had to share it with you and give it a plug as well.

There’s this teenager in Arizona named Anthony who’s fighting leukemia, and one of the few things that makes him feel better during chemo is the pet therapy visits.  When the therapy dogs come in, they really help him feel so much better.  Unfortunately, the dogs can’t be there daily or if he’s feeling crappy at night or just whenever he needs a pick me up.

Fortunately, someone wonderful came up with the idea to crowd source Anthony’s pet therapy!  A Facebook event was created: https://www.facebook.com/events/1005474049479538/?ref_notif_type=plan_mall_activity&source=1 It’s a public event, and you just go on and post a picture of your dog, where you’re from, and a nice message.  If you’re like me, you’ve tortured your pet with plenty of crazy photos, so you’ll have plenty to choose from.  And if you’re not a canine lunatic like myself, you can always take a pic of your dog or send in a pic of a family member’s dog, etc.

Bottom line: you’re helping at least one sick teenager fight a difficult fight, and as this goes viral, you’re likely helping many others as well.  The event has already made the local news.  http://www.fox10phoenix.com/story/27757782/2015/01/04/call-for-online-pet-therapy-goes-viral-to-help-valley-teen-battling-cancer  Maybe YOU need the pet therapy (you did click on the Monday Morning Pick Me Up), in which case, click away!

Here are a few adorable pooches: