Nursery Rhymes and Truth or Dare

March 26, 2014


Hello, Writers,

Happy Spring Break to those of you who are enjoying a week of no school.  This week I am working with two year olds, which of course is challenging but I am surviving!

Hope that everyone is having a great week. Thank you to all the members who were able to make it!

Here's what happened last night:

Warm-ups

As a writing warm-up, we chose from prompts below and wrote for ten minutes:

1.    Mascara

2.     Surgery

3.     Houses vs. Apartments

4.    Last three books you read and something about each of them.

After a few of us shared our warm-ups, we introduced ourselves, shared good news and started our critique session.

Critique overview from March 25 CCWW

Matt Y. started the session with humorous tale in which characters are mistakenly declared deceased based on assumptions.  Members enjoyed the humor and tone of the piece. Robert O. continued by sharing more of his "The Furry Writing Group"  story.  Members enjoyed the playful and argumentative dialogue in the piece.  Thomas E. shared another chapter of his story from Mia's point of view.  Members thought that the chapter left more questions that still need to be answered and are looking forward to hearing more.

Kaitlyn S. continued her piece about Bethany and her encounter with werewolf like creatures.  Members commented on the honesty and humor woven throughout the story.  Connie W.  then read Nursery Rhyme Truth or Dare.  She cleverly combined the two prompts in a story exposing the true meanings of some of our favorite nursery rhymes.  She dared members to look up the meaning of their favorites. Members enjoyed the sometimes scary but interesting history.

Cameron S. shared a poem in which the main character was confined to a white room.  Members thought the rhymes worked well as well as the mood of the piece.  Richard N. shared a chapter in which Dodge and Vicki shared a meal.  His descriptions worked well and members could relate to the feisty communication between the characters.  Sherri S. shared a piece in which a love triangle landed one character in the hospital.  Members enjoyed her characterization and the use of descriptions like "cartoon dust".   I, Lisa C. finished the session with "Rhyme Town Meeting", a prompt-based piece.  Members were given parts to read and seemed to enjoy the humor and the use of several nursery rhyme characters.       

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Great writing, everyone!

Links of Interest

Non-fiction checklist

Here is a good checklist for non-fiction writing. If you’re thinking of freelance writing for newspapers, magazines or the web, you might check it out.

More here:  http://writerseditorsnetwork.com/checklists-for-nonfiction/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=checklists-for-nonfiction

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Prompts for Tuesday, April 1st  

The first prompt is April Fool's day. The second prompt is fake it til you make it. You’re free to write in any genre you like (fiction, drama, non-fiction, poetry, etc.). If you’d like to bring a WIP (work-in-progress), please do.

Please keep pieces to 1500 words or less and bring copies if you can.

~ Lisa C.

P.S. If you’d like to participate in the Spoken Word Poetry Festival at the Callahan Branch Library at the end of April, please let me know.