Weekday Challenge:
Each Monday at 10:00 AM Eastern Time, a one-word prompt will be posted on our home page. The chosen word will come from the Merriam Webster's Online Dictionary. For the Trifecta Writing Challenge, we will always use the THIRD given definition. Please note the definition—we’re likely asking you to use the word in a different way than you typically do.
You should write a creative response using the given word. You must use the word, in its correct form, in your response. Your response can be no fewer than 33 and no more than 333 words.
We're looking for creativity, thoughtfulness, and attention to detail. Be artsy; be creative; stretch yourself. Write until your fingers bleed. We want to see your guts spilled out on the page.
Each Monday at 10:00 AM Eastern Time, a one-word prompt will be posted on our home page. The chosen word will come from the Merriam Webster's Online Dictionary. For the Trifecta Writing Challenge, we will always use the THIRD given definition. Please note the definition—we’re likely asking you to use the word in a different way than you typically do.
You should write a creative response using the given word. You must use the word, in its correct form, in your response. Your response can be no fewer than 33 and no more than 333 words.
We're looking for creativity, thoughtfulness, and attention to detail. Be artsy; be creative; stretch yourself. Write until your fingers bleed. We want to see your guts spilled out on the page.
Reading about this reminded me of Ray Bradbury's writing process, which helped him write 1,000 words a day for most of his life. I did a review of his process in The Five Day Writer's Retreat, this quote is from his collection of essays 'Zen And The Art of Writing'.
p. 79.
Dandelion Wine, like most of my books and stories, was a surprise. I began to learn the nature of such surprises, thank God, when I was fairly young as a writer. Before that, like every beginner, I thought you could beat, pummel, and thrash an idea into existence. Under such treatment, of course, any decent idea folds up its paws, turns on its back, fixes its eyes on eternity, and dies.
It was with great relief, then, that in my early twenties I floundered into a word- association process in which I simply got out of bed each morning, walked to my desk, and put down any word or series of words that happened along in my head.
I would then take arms against the word, or for it, and bring on an assortment of characters to weigh the word and show me its meaning in my own life. An hour or two hours later, to my amazement, a new story would be finished and done. The surprise was total and lovely. I soon found that I would have to work this way for the rest of my life.
Dandelion Wine, like most of my books and stories, was a surprise. I began to learn the nature of such surprises, thank God, when I was fairly young as a writer. Before that, like every beginner, I thought you could beat, pummel, and thrash an idea into existence. Under such treatment, of course, any decent idea folds up its paws, turns on its back, fixes its eyes on eternity, and dies.
It was with great relief, then, that in my early twenties I floundered into a word- association process in which I simply got out of bed each morning, walked to my desk, and put down any word or series of words that happened along in my head.
I would then take arms against the word, or for it, and bring on an assortment of characters to weigh the word and show me its meaning in my own life. An hour or two hours later, to my amazement, a new story would be finished and done. The surprise was total and lovely. I soon found that I would have to work this way for the rest of my life.
So, my challenge for you is to take Trifecta's word, and apply Bradbury's word association process to it. Take arms for or against the word, bring forth an assortment of characters, and see what story might come of it.
So, a past Trifecta challenge:
1a : the measured or measurable period during which an action, process, or condition exists or continues : duration
b : a nonspatial continuum that is measured in terms of events which succeed one another from past through present to future
c : leisure <time for reading>
2: the point or period when something occurs : occasion
3a : an appointed, fixed, or customary moment or hour for something to happen, begin, or end <arrived ahead of time>
Good luck!
ROW 80 Check In:
So my goal was very simple: write at least one blog post or article each week day.
And surprisingly, I kicked ass!
Wednesday I did a post for Personal Fitness Base Camp (PFBC) and my ROW 80 check in.
Thursday I turned the PFBC post into an article for automatic submission.
Friday I wrote up two blog posts for 100FD for next week during my lunch break, and then when I got home I did a link round up for both PFBC and 100 FD.
On Saturday as an extra I filmed two new videos for my websites (okay, so I filmed like 100, but only 2 were any good! I've just got a new digital SLR camera and my brother was teaching me how to use it. I'm going to make a bloopers reel because some of it is hilarious.)
And today I've done a PFBC post and then this. So I really think I nailed that goal.
Let's just see if I can keep it up next week!
By the way, I've now got my very own YouTube channel! There are only three videos up at the moment, but check them out if you want a bit of a laugh :D
And if you want to be first to find out about more of my videos, why not subscribe?
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