Snippets #1
An unedited bit of a scene after a bit of chatting about writing.
Hi everyone! Grab your favourite caffeinated beverage and let’s talk about writing for a moment.
As I said in my welcome post, I love words and I love telling stories. Lately, though, words have been eluding me. It’s been hard to get my first drafts finished. So, with a solid morning routine working for me, I added “prompt writing” to the list.
Every morning, I get up and get my coffee and breakfast, then I sit and read while I eat. Or, I did read. I finished the books I was reading and finding something else to take their place is proving difficult. I’m sure I’ll find something soon! After I’m done my breakfast and the chapter in my book, I do my devotional reading and write in my journal. My journal is like a diary, just a handwritten record of my thoughts and ideas each morning. Sometimes I write a few sentences, sometimes I write a page or two; it depends on the day and what’s going on in my life at the time.
And then it’s time for prompt writing.
Several years ago, when I first did prompt writing every day, I found my prompts via Livejournal communities. This time, I started with some prompts from the Rogue Writers Discord server, as it was RAWR (NaNoWriMo replacement) and daily prompts were being posted. After November was over, I found WritingExercises.co.uk and there are lots of options for generating prompts.
All I do is flip open my Moleskine notebook and note the date and time and where the prompt came from, add the prompt itself if possible (pictures are meant to be printed and stored in the notebook pocket), and then I fill the page with words. If I’m nearly done the scene then I’ll continue on to the next page, but if I don’t think I’m close enough to the end I just finish my sentence and call it done.
After prompt writing, my day can really get going and it’s great.
I find that this routine helps set my day on a good, positive track. It raises my mood and inspires me to do the things I need to get done, and it makes me feel like I’ve done some good work first thing in the morning. (That’s important for an ADHDer who struggles to start tasks.)
This week’s snippet comes to us by way of a prompt from WritingExercises.co.uk and is a Random First Line prompt. I hope you enjoy it and I look forward to your comments!
She sat in the chair, staring into space, while the kids charged around upstairs, yelling at the top of their voices. She would have to intervene soon, but for now...
For now, Shauna thought as she took a sip of tea from the mug she cupped in her hands, I’m just going to enjoy this feeling.
She set down her mug and picked up the letter again. It had been hastily scrawled on a piece of unlined paper, the rows of words crooked and haphazard. Dan's handwriting had never been particularly legible, but a lifetime of experience deciphering the marks he made allowed Shawna to read what he'd written easily.
“Shauna, I don’t have much time right now, but wanted to let you know myself that I’ll be able to come home soon. I know it’s been too long, but this situation is nearly done and then we’ll be together again. I hope the kids are well and nobody has killed each other yet. All my love, Dan.”
She smiled at the joke about the children. She and Dan had five: Ben, age 7; Stuart, age 5; the twins, Betty and Susan, age 3; and Bobby, aged 18 months, who’d been born just before Dan was called away from them.
A piercing shriek cut through her thoughts then, and Shauna rose to deal with whatever tragedy had just befallen her daughter.
Dan was coming home!