Visual Prompt - Abandon Building
Photo by Natalya Letunova on Unsplash
Welcome to Free Write Day!
I will be adding an image every week to free write with.
It is a practice to allow your mind to wander creatively into new stories.
Set your timer for 5, 10, or 15 minutes and keep your hand moving!
Write whatever comes to you. Shut off the editor.
Have Fun!
Ideas I am pulling from this to get you started, or if you are stuck.
For this height, I could see
I was searching for myself here but found
There are so many memories of life here
Visual Prompt - Music in the Woods
Photo by Xavier von Erlach on Unsplash
Welcome to Free Write Day!
I will be adding an image every week to free write with.
It is a practice to allow your mind to wander creatively into new stories.
Set your timer for 5, 10, or 15 minutes and keep your hand moving!
Write whatever comes to you. Shut off the editor.
Have Fun!
Ideas I am pulling from this to get you started, or if you are stuck.
I followed the sound I heard in the woods
There was an ex of mine I lost once
On my walk today next to my house
Visual Prompt Free Write - Drink
Photo by Charles "Duck" Unitas on Unsplash
Welcome to Free Write Day!
I will be adding an image every week to free write with.
It is a practice to allow your mind to wander creatively into new stories.
Set your timer for 5, 10, or 15 minutes and keep your hand moving!
Write whatever comes to you. Shut off the editor.
Have Fun!
Ideas I am pulling from this to get you started, or you are stuck.
This magic drink makes its own glass…
If I were to drink this what would happen…
Since ____ have taken over, we must drink like this…
As I sat there waiting for her, I wondered if this would be worth it…
Five Minute Friday - Strong
I never asked to be strong, and there are many times throughout the day when I question how strong I really am. I have been told many times I am strong because it was a hard time. That is what people say to you “You will make it because you are strong.”
Maybe I never wanted to be strong but felt like I wasn’t given a chance. What do we even consider to be strong in our world?
I wonder…
Is the person who says they are struggling mentally strong or
The person who refuses to have any type of emotion the strong one?
Is the friend who is always there for you even when their world is falling apart strong
Or
The friend who leaves without a word because they know they are too broken?
Can the one who breaks themselves to fit into society the
Or
The one who breaks all the rules society gives them stronger?
Is the mom who stays at home with the kids the stronger
Or
The mom who continues on with a career?
Are we only as strong as our circumstances allow
Or
Are we as strong as the stories we tell ourselves?
In this blog I have taken 5 minutes with the prompt word and above is my free write.
Free Write - Man Chair Field
Photo by Jordan Koons on Unsplash
Welcome to Free Write Day!
I will be adding an image every week to free write with.
It is a practice to allow your mind to wander creatively into new stories.
Set your timer for 5, 10, or 15 minutes and keep your hand moving!
Write whatever comes to you. Shut off the editor.
Have Fun!
Ideas I am pulling from this to get you started, or you are stuck.
This was the chair my father loved…
The stars are amazing on a night like this…
Since society collapsed, we live a different way…
As I sat there waiting for them, I wondered if this would be worth it…
Monday Mug 26
This week flew by much like all the weeks in my life lately. So many things have happened since I last checked in with you. There were beautiful things and events that have been very difficult, so sit down with your mug because I have some things to talk about.
The Farm
Things on the farm have been in high gear as it is Spring which seems like a busy time long with Summer. But we had to put improvement projects off because of the constant rains. We did sort cattle, and in the process, I was almost taken out by heifer.
I was safely on the outside fence with a hole in it, but we really didn’t think anyone would try to jump through because the hole was barely big enough for a cat to fit through. Well, we had a pretty wild heifer, and she didn’t like being moved from one pasture to another, so she jumped through the fence right at me. Now I tried to get the cow to go back in the holding pen at first but then realized being trampled by a cow wasn’t worth it that day.
We also have a calf we call Houdini that keeps escaping in new ways almost daily. I was outside talking on the phone at dusk and saw a calf down in a field it shouldn’t be in. I thought it was our neighbor’s calf. After asking my brother about I realized it was, in fact, our little escape artist. My brother and I walked down to the field and searched for him in the growth around the creek. We looked for about an hour seeing places where he had gone trying to track him from location to location. To no avail, we didn’t find him.
As we came back up the hill, our homes sit high on top, surround by our cattle. There was Houdini in the field eating grass like everyone else. He is such a trickster. Both of us rolled our eyes and slowly trekked back up the hill.
The Plants
Yes, I want my plants to have their own section. I have picked up gardening over the last few years. I worked in a garden center for a while, and my mother has always loved plants. It took me quite a few years, though, to get into it myself.
I have some hanging baskets I planted before mother’s day. I planted marigolds which I’m not too fond of the smell of, but I love the bright yellow and orange. The other baskets have geraniums in them, and I have found geraniums do well in these baskets.
I still have a lot I need to plant, but I haven’t chosen the flowers I’d like to see this year. If you have suggestions, leave them below. My indoor herbs are doing well. I have lavender, sweet mint, and cilantro. I haven’t done herbs inside previously, but this has been a cool spring, so I thought I would give it a try.
The Writing
There are so many things to share. I have been attending a writing meeting at least once a week since January it has helped me a lot this year. It is structured and helps ease my mind when listening.
I have been sharing my very rough free writing with people. This has been something I never thought I would do. I have insecurities like any writer. I recently came across an article about doubt in The Writer magazine. I am also reading Jeff Goins’s book You Are A Writer.
The article shared these ideas about why a lot of writers have self-doubt. It was refreshing to see that even professional writers have doubts and deal with different fears that all of those in the field deal with. One of the doubts that stood out was negative feedback can make a writer lose interest in writing. The comparison game was also an aspect talked about in the article. I have been guilty of this in the past until my writer friend started telling me how she would go over a poem or story multiple times to see what jumped out and how it worked. Seeing how a story worked is more productive than envy.
I have learned Jeff Goins’s book so far is being a writer is all about practice. It is not the first time I have heard this advice. It is the way that people demystify the world of art. Whether this is dance, music, writing, or art, to name a few disciplines, the general conciseness is that many people are thinking that you have to be talented to be a writer. In real life, though, most people have found it is a lot of just practicing and repeatedly writing to improve your skills. I have enjoyed the book so far because he is very straightforward and tells you how it is. I appreciate the honesty.
Until the next mug, just write.
(This blog has affiliate links, and as Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.)
Five Minute Friday - Middle
I'm in the middle of a mess in my mind. My thoughts are being diced into fine herbs lost in a saute of worry. While I grab for these thoughts, like an angry dog trying to stop the water coming out the hose. I look around, longing to see my friends' hope and understanding in these days ahead, but I fear they have lost their way back to me. I walk from room to room, pacing, waiting for my mind to heal to feel something else besides numbness.
I settle in the middle of my bedroom floor while the sun rays warm me before the rain comes. I stare out the window to watch the trees dance in the wind of the approaching storm. I could never understand why these moments felt like seconds in comparison to the years of pain I endure.
There must be something wrong with me. Somewhere in the middle of my life, I made a wrong turn. I chose the wrong path. My mind filled with every bad thing in my world. Some….something is wrong me with me. No matter how bright the sun shines on me, the coldness floods in.
Chills begin to form, and my body shakes from head to toe. The middle of me is full of darkness, waiting to escape into the world. The black haze whispers things out of me to where the darkness lies. But the pain will not leave me because, at my core, I am darkness. I am the night. I am death.
In this blog I have taken 5 minutes with the prompt word and above is my free write.
How Often Should You Write?
Do you need to write every day or not? This is the big question at some point and time a lot of writers out there ask. I think the better question is, really, what does your writing mean to you right now, and what do you want it to be in the future?
Is writing your therapy?
Did you write because someone said you were good and it was nice to be good at something?
Have you decided to be the best-selling author?
Do you want to just be published in a couple of places?
Always wanted to write the book stewing in the back of your mind?
Do you see now how it is hard to answer that question?
I think it is easy to say yes, write every day no matter what is happening. Writing daily is a great way to get practice, play, and your voice to really come there. There are so many benefits. You can also get larger projects done faster.
Something to consider if you feel like writing daily isn’t sustainable all year to pick challenge months for yourself. I do this through writing communities such as Camp NaNoWriMo, StoryADay, and NaNoWriMo in November. During these times, I plug into the community and report daily to push myself. For the rest of the year, I stick to a different schedule.
My other schedule flows better with my daily life and the obstacles I am faced with. When I look at my life and some of my friends’ lives, writing daily maybe just isn’t always in the cards. Our lives might be overwhelming with illness in families or the busy season at our jobs. There might be children or other people that need us just a little bit more right now.
In the end, I think either path can be significant. You shouldn’t beat yourself up for what course you are choosing. We are all different. No one writes the same way at the same time. Experiment to find out what works for you. Just remember to make time for yourself and your dreams. Even if you only get 5 minutes, just write.
Free Write - Pineapple Party
Photo by Pineapple Supply Co. on Unsplash
Welcome to Free Write Day!
I will be adding an image every week to free write with.
It is a practice to allow your mind to wander creatively into new stories.
Set your timer for 5, 10, or 15 minutes and write!
Have Fun!
Ideas I am pulling from this to get you started are….
What if you threw a party for the fruit in your life?
So you love fruit this much?
If a pineapple was to talk to you what would it say?
Monday Mug 25
Hello, my writer people! I am so happy to be back. It never seems to fail that my February goes by so quickly each year. This year I lost a couple of weeks to the bitter cold, snow, and ice. There are many things to do on a farm in this type of weather and none of it in a heated area. I am sitting here with my mug of coffee because now it apparently puts me to sleep. (I never saw that one coming.) Though I think this speaks to the lack of sleep in my world lately.
Something I want to talk about tonight is the things we once used, which might work again. No, I’m not telling you to get back into that lousy relationship, so don’t go there. I am talking about planning. I’m a bit obsessed with planners and all stationary. I had using this daily planner for a couple of years now to keep my stress levels lower. When I saw a day at a time, it was wonderful because I was just focused on that day. It kept me more in my present moment.
However, I started to put some of my daily tasks off to the next day, not realizing how full the next day was. I realized this year I needed to go back to a weekly planner to make sure I wasn’t overloading myself. A planner I used to love and use often was a passion planner, but I had a couple of bad experiences. I was too picky when it came to size and bleed-through. There was nothing else on the market that would meet my needs, so I got a passion planner this year, and it was amazing! There was no bleed-through with my zebra highlighters. I absolutely love it, and I continue to feel more accomplished!
My writing is going great right now because I am taking the pressure off myself to be perfect. I have decided to come back to the art of playing with writing so my inner child can have some joy again. The scheduled I am on right now is writing every other day for 10 minutes to an hour. The writing I have been doing has been all prompt-based as of late because of the isolation I am still living in. When I was going to the office and out in society daily, many events sparked ideas for me, but I find prompts working for me now. I get these prompt through Instagram and share a lot of what I find on my page. You can find them here. I finished The Artist Way, and I felt so much better as an artist.
Writing groups I am involved in right now are Story A Day and a Patreon group for Tammy B. In both of these groups, I am learning from other writers and learning about writing in general. Tammy’s group has great education around publishing, being a writer, and fun prompts. Story A Day had conversions about what is going on in the short story world and focused on community. It is nice to be able to answer questions and to ask questions. There is so much knowledge out there, and it is nice to bounce the information off other writers. I would recommend anyone not in a writing group or who doesn’t have writing connections to reach out and find some.
The big event I am attending this month is going to the AWP Conference virtually. I was so excited about going to this event in person because it was scheduled for my state this year. However, I am even more excited about the virtual option because I won’t miss a word of what is being said. I hope you are having a great year so far, and like always, just keep writing.
(This blog has affiliate links, and as Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.)
Five Minute Friday - Design
There are so many purses I have designs for, but I have never made them because of the sewing needles aspect. It makes me wonder how I was designed are there pieces of me that needed to come with me, but I couldn’t fit. Even now, I still don’t know what I am designed to do. I could be an excellent clutch for someone. Maybe I am an overnight bag or a long-lasting piece of luggage.
I sit feeling unmade, always feeling like there should be something more happening in my life. Yet, in the same breathe, I’m grateful for the simplicity of my life as a trusted black leather purse. I see myself as suitable for work and play no matter the time of day. I carry in me all the things that people want but sometimes forget they have. They go off to buy a new black bag thinking it would better than me. They always keep coming back to me, though, because I have the perfect strap length, and I’m not too big and not too small.
There are times when I wish I could take the designing wheel to make myself have beads, feathers, or a fun underlay cut out because so many people feel the design of a black bag is blah. In fact, I only own one, and though it is perfect, I find myself grabbing anything else to bring color to my life instead of old black.
My mind is complex and thrives on more knowledge as well as a balance of rest. I wish to be designed to do the ultra runs of life but keep finding resistance and that my mind will not allow me to go headstrong in one way. I’m forever bound to love everything.
In this blog I have taken 5 minutes with the prompt word design and above is my free write.
2021 Word of the Year
Have you made any goals this year? They can be a pain in the butt. I know that I have often had to wait until after the start of the new year to even figure out any type of goals. I usually am still hanging around in the previous year's lingering feelings and take a fair amount of self-loathing to the page. I do this because I am really critical of myself and because it just feels like my normal after not accomplishing my goals from last year.
However, in 2020 I was disappointed that of my plans, December had been flushed down the pandemic toilet. I decided to look to the future for some inspiration. So before I reached halfway through December, I thought how I don't want to feel like this again next year, and I was throwing around my word of the year. I have picked a word of the year for a few years now, something to keep me focused.
Throughout 2020 I had accomplished a lot of self-processing because months and months of alone time will do that to a person. I realized there were a lot of ideas about myself that I didn't create but believed anyway. I had a lot of hang-ups when it came to writing. (I know everyone does.) This was different. The lies in my head were so bad it was blocking every bit of creativity I was suffocating myself when it came to writing.
Then a dear friend asked me to The Artist's Way again because the first time, I didn't complete it, and while it has taken me longer than the typical 12 weeks, it has been worth it. Chapters of the book changed my mind about writing about how I saw it. After creativity trama in college, it was about damn time. I had a billion stories inside of me that I had been holding back because of the hurtful things I had to endure when I was just starting out. In some ways, I wish this book would have crossed my path 15 years ago.
However, this is all leading back to my word of the year. It wasn't some quiz I took online, but I was really thinking about what 2020 had been for me. It was a time when I was coming back to myself and finally reading all the stories I had been telling myself. So I thought about balance for this next year, but I have always been a clumsy person. Freedom seemed great, but I felt like I was already free. I realized how many other voices in my head I allowed to get a say, which is why I turned to the word centered.
2021 is about listening to myself again and seeking out spirituality in ways I haven't allowed myself to explore in the past. It is for me about writing about who I really am and who I want to become after peeling back the layers of lies that well-intentioned people told me. Can I tell you if you go down the road of picking a word, a quote, or phrase for the year, it will be challenged?
I literally was challenged for the first 14 days of January. When I hit day 15, I woke up from my fog, and I got to look at how completely uncentered I was. My life had revolved around an individual who then ghosted me. It was in shock, and I saw my total lack of healthy boundaries. So, lesson one of 2021 was to figure out what boundaries even are and stick to them.
I'm excited to see where centered takes me after this month. Whatever you have decided to do for the new year, I hope it makes you happy. If for any reason, you think you have missed the boat in goals or a word of the year, you haven't. The best part about life is you get to make up rules about these things to be what you like. Pick a new word for the year if you find the last 28 days haven't felt quite like your word; change the world every six months, every quarter, or month if you like. It's your life. Pick a path and start living it.
Instagram Bio - Writer's Edition
Since this is for beginners you might be wondering if you need an Instagram at all. I'm going to say you do because there is an Instagram writing community, just like in the Twitter world. There are some great friends you might like to meet, and encouraging words are not far behind.
Suppose you are wanting to reach as many people as you can. In that case, you need to be sure you are running your social media accounts on as many platforms as you feel comfortable on and can keep up with. Do not start an Instagram and let it sit. Followers don't fall out of the sky unless you are a celebrity.
1. Your Handle (@mewriter)
Make your handle your name, your name +writer, or a variation of this combination.
Examples:
anniesmithwriter
anniesmithwrites
annie_smith_writes
This is how people will identify you in feeds on Instagram.
Keep this in mind.
2. Your Name
Fill in the correct name, such as the one you want to be known by.
If you use a pen name, this is where you put it.
One thing to think about…
Go by the same name on all your social media sites. This helps followers not to be confused if they follow you on multiple socials.
3. Your Name | Title
You have your name in there now, I want you to, but this | line in the same section where you typed your name. This is a title of whatever you want to be known for. Keep it short!
Examples:
Annie Smith | Poet
Annie Smith | Editor
Annie Smith | Publisher
Annie Smith | Coach
Annie Smith | Author
Annie Smith | Blogger
Annie Smith | Romance
Annie Smith | Humor
Annie Smith | Sci-Fi
Annie Smith | Ya Fantasy
If you are unsure what this extra Title should be, it can be added later.
4. Bio (150 characters)
As a potential follower, I want to know who you are as fast as you can. You are already telling me, as a potential follower, a story through your posts, but what do you think is crucial for me to know?
Another way to see this is it what is a theme that shows up in your writing?
How are you trying to help people?
My best advice on how to get a feel for what to write if you are hitting a brick wall is to look at other writer's bios.
Things to think about :
Some writers use emojis.
Others choose to use whole sentences, phrases, or single words.
Link other accounts they might blog or regularly write for.
Use differnt fonts (this can be googled)
Don't copy them word for word, but you can get an idea of what to do.
Don't be afraid to change up your bio as time goes and you change.
5. Links
If you don't have LinkTree, you need to stop now and go sign up. I'm not kidding. I don't promote it unless I use it myself. LinkTree is a program that gives you a link to use in your bio that can send your followers to more than one link which huge link!
LinkTree Links:
Blog
Published Works
Books to Sell
Your Twitter account
Website
Newsletter
Classes
If you are like, no thank you LinkTree, you only get one link, so you better make it count.
One link option:
Website
Published Book
Social Media Account (you are on more)
Newsletter
Blog
Class
Don't forget to test all of these links after posting them, so you know they work.
These are just a few tips to get your bio ready to go as a new Instagram writer. Next week will feature more social media tips for writers.