Shall We Play a Game?

I like to brainstorm. You?

It's a simple way to kickstart creative thought, to exercise a writer's most important muscle.

And so let's play a game! Let's brainstorm as many greetings and salutations as we can.

What words or phrases do you use? What about your characters?

Get creative!



*A loud round of applause goes to the first person to correctly identify the movie from which I pulled the post title. (If my sister is reading: Jill, you don't count. :P ) ETA: I'm adding a hint. It's from the 80's. Think computers.

Meet Liv

Remember the sentence prompts I did a week or so ago? (You can see my answers here.) My friend Turkey took it to a new level, filling in the blanks as a character from her new project would. (I'd link, but the talented turd doesn't maintain a blog anymore. Hint hint. I'm lookin' at you, turk.)

It's a super way to brainstorm, and it helped me figure out whether my main character and plot (and sub-plots too) are developing as I need them to. I think I'm headed the right direction.

Here's what Liv would say...

Outside my window... I see the February winds blowing. They kick up thoughts about my thirtieth birthday, just around the corner.

I am thinking... about my mother again. Why’d she have to send that letter? And why now? I’ve been fine without her, for all these years.

I am thankful for... Aunt Therese and Uncle Rye. If not for them, if they hadn’t taken me in so long ago, where would I be today?

From the kitchen... comes the smell of just-brewed coffee. Hot as it is, though, I know it won’t be enough to warm me through.

I am wearing... the locket I told you about, the one that was my mother’s. I promised myself I wouldn’t, that it would stay tucked away. But now it hides beneath my sweater, so no one will question its existence. I’m still getting used to how it feels against my collarbone; so heavy, like it’s filled with the past.

I am creating... a new me—the real me.

I am going... to the hospital later.

I am reading... a pamphlet I picked up at the doctor’s office. Maybe it will answer some of my questions.

I am hoping... for the best. I just wish I knew what to expect.

I hear... the phone ringing, but I won’t answer it. I'm too busy soul-searching.

Around the house... are the things I’ve had all my adulthood. But I really wish I had something, anything, that used to be my dad’s.

Plans for the weekend... may upset my best friend. Someone else – someone I didn’t invite – is going to join us for dinner.

I think I'm pleased with where all this leads me.

Would an exercise like this help you? What would your MC say?

***

And it's not too late to turn a letter into fiction! Get your entry in before midnight CST tomorrow, for a chance to win James Patterson's Sam's Letters to Jennifer.

Good luck!

Tweakin' The Goals

Is anyone getting tired of talk about goals yet? I'm almost wearing myself out...

The forums at AbsoluteWrite.com, which I've been a part of since September, prove to be an unending network of supportive friends and colleagues. They also serve to push me (and really, all of us collectively) to greater heights with writing. There's a particular thread that's purpose is to note monthly goals, thus holding us accountable for what we accomplish within a (roughly) thirty day time frame. Up until now I've been too intimidated (and scared) to post there, but I got a wild hair last night and set myself up for some things I want to do in January. They are:

1) Add 10k (or more) words to my WIP
2) Brainstorm an idea for my next column (it's quarterly and not due 'til March-ish)
3) Query another local paper about a column similar to the one I already write
4) Submit to at least two anthologies (ie. Chicken Soup and the like)
5) Submit to at least three magazines

Is it common for writers to have so much on their plate? I feel like maybe I'm setting myself up to do too much, but I really do want to chase after all these dreams. And there won't be any better time, right?