IWSG, Ray Bradbury, Being Thankful

Posting the First Wednesday of every month, the Insecure Writer's Support Group, is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. YOU can sign up HERE to participate.

Every month a question will be posed that may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. You can write about anything that relates to your writing journey.

Let's give a warm welcome to our co-hosts:   PK Hrezo, Cathrina Constantine, PJ Colando, Kim Lajevardi, and Sandra Cox!

This month's question is: What is your favorite writing craft book? Think of a book that every time you read it you learn something or you are inspired to write or try the new technique. And why?

I love Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury. I have first edition (1990) copies in both hard and paper back. I used to do an occasional blog post called "Titles to Write By," the idea for which came directly from Bradbury's book.

Back in August of 2016 I wrote this post, which I'm sharing part of here, because 1) I'm lazy. 2) It's appropriate.

Titles to Write By

"Titles" is an occasional blog post in which we play with a single word and turn it into, what else, titles! Afterwards the object is to pick one of them and write a little something.

It was Ray Bradbury, in his book ZEN IN THE ART OF WRITING, who taught me about making lists of words and turning them into titles. If you haven't read it I highly recommend it.

For no particular reason today's word is: 

Olympic

Well, there is a reason for using Olympic. One is that I've watched more of the Summer Olympics this year than I ever have in the past. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because there's been nothing better on TV. Whatever the reason, it's been a delight to see so many records broken, so many gold medals won. The U. S. women's gymnastic team,  the women who won gold in the relay race, watching  Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky swim for gold, all were awesome. And lastly, getting to see Usain Bolt win his 9th gold for Jamaica was icing on the cake.

So, here are some titles to write by using the word Olympic and its various variations. 

Sunrise at Olympus Mons
Say Olympic Enough Times and it Starts to Sound Funny
Olym Pic, Photographer
Olympia: The Winner Who Limped to Victory
Olympic Hurdles Writers Face and How to Hurdle Them
A Visit to Mount Olympus: How I Survived The Gods
The Olympic Garden
The Olympic Heart


Her heart leapt, an Olympian sized pole vault, when he leaned in and whispered, "I love you."

***

Being Thankful

Today I'm thankful for

MORE RAIN!

I am also VERY thankful that hubby is doing much better. I was more than a little frazzled last month, but things are settling down and we are both breathing easier. 

Thank you, everyone, for all your kind words last month. 

What are you thankful for? What's your favorite book on writing? Have you been watching the Olympics? Do any of my titles inspire you? Care to share some titles of your own?