Writing Prompts - Proverbs and Adages

Collect common proverbs, adages, favorite quotes, or one-liners. Change them in some small way and write about it for 5 or 10 minutes.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

A penny saved is a penny spent, unless you leave it with the cashier, in which case you haven't spent it, you've given it away. But if you didn't leave it with the cashier, if you put it in your pocket what then? What can a penny buy? Nothing that I know of, not these days. So why bother saving them? You'd have to save at least a hundred to be able to buy much of anything. And by the time you've saved up a hundred pennies, well then...you have a dollar. And a dollar can sometimes sound a lot, so you may as well save it. So then we go back to old Ben Frank's original adage. Yes...a penny save can indeed be a penny earned. But is it worth it? That's up to you.

CRITTER! Part Three

On the last Sunday of every month way out on the West End of St. Thomas, (nearly 30 minutes from our house and about 10 or 12 miles away) at a place called Bordeaux, there is a farmer's market.

I took Critter.

Here he is with O'Neal Pennyfeather, also known as Breed, a farmer and artist who comes over from St. Croix every month. Breed was most kind. When he heard Critter's story he graciously agreed to have his picture taken with him. Those mangoes Critter is sitting among are the best tasting I've ever had. (We bought a dozen.) And look at the size of those star fruit to the right!

From the farmer's market we stopped by the Texas Embassy.

(You thought I was kidding didn't you?)

On Monday June 28th, which was also my birthday. My sister and I took Critter to The Butterfly Farm.

We learned all kinds of things about butterflies. Like: moths make cocoons, butterflies make chrysalises; that every chrysalis has some gold on it,

some more than others;

that monarchs are the only butterfly that can be found world-wide because most everywhere has some kind of milkweed on which they lay their eggs; that the nectar butterflies live on, because of sunlight, is actually about 4% alcohol, so butterflies, when you see them are pretty happy; that rain forest butterflies sip only on fermented fruit nectar while all other butterflies sip only on fermented flower nectar; and most amazing of all, when a caterpillar becomes a chrysalis, the caterpillar completely disappears. It literally becomes a puddle of DNA filled liquid in the bottom of the chrysalis and it is out of this liquid the butterfly is made. Miraculous.

Unfortunately The Butterfly Farm has been hit hard by the down turn in the economy and is closing its doors the end of this month. It's very sad as one of the things they have been doing is hatching a releasing native butterflies that were nearly wiped out in the late 50's and early 60's when they used to spray for mosquitoes with DDT.

I'm glad we got to visit.

Writing Prompts - The What-if Game

We all know this one.

What if I don’t get what I want? What if I do?
What if I couldn’t smell?
What if I went on a trip?
What if I knew someone who died in an act of terrorism?
What if there was no such thing as chocolate?
What if tomorrow morning the sky was bright green?
What if it started to snow in the middle of summer?
What if you met someone who had never owned a pair of shoes?
What if Ciderella's glass slippers had been shattered?

What if, what if, what if….is an endless series of questions you can ask about yourself, about the world around you, or about characters in a story.

Writing Prompts - Pattern-Breaking Questions

I've listed some of these in earlier posts, but here are a bunch of them for you to play with.

Answer these pattern-breaking questions and make up others

1. Imagine a particular flower, such as a rose. What sound does it make?
2. Name your favorite song. What does it taste like?
3. What color is love and why?
4. What odor does fear have? What is the odor of hate?
5. What is the sound of a lemon?
6. What are the sounds of silence?
7. What is the color of silence?
8 What does war taste like?
9. If the color blue could move, what would its movements be like?
10. What sound does your favorite color make?
11. What color are you/were you in school? out of school?
12. What kind of car are you and why?
13. What kind of tree are you and why?
14. What kind of noise does your brain make?
15. What time of day are you?
16. What kind of shoe are you?
17. If you could be any room in your house, which room would you be?
18. What kind of tool are you? What kind of instrument are you?
19. What city are you?
20. If you could create anything expressing yourself, what would it be?
21. Are you a pencil, pen or keyboard? Why?
22. Pick an emotion, what does it look like?
23. What kind of animal are you and why?

Add some to the list!

CRITTER! Part Two

Critter was very excited to see all the historical buildings in down town Charlotte Amalie.

Fort Christian, built in 1671, is being renovated. Critter had to content himself with looking at it through a fence.

From Fort Christian we went across the street to Emancipation Gardens, named for the day when all the slaves in the Danish West Indies learned they had won freedom for themselves by their own efforts, through revolt and passive resistance.

Next up was Royal Dane Mall where some of the finest rock and brick work done by the slaves can be seen.

Of course he had to see where the greatest of the Impressionist Painters, Camille Pissarro was born.

He liked Market Square, but was shocked to learn that a quarter of million slaves were bought and sold here.

Critter asked me about my favorite place in town and I told him it had to be Enid M. Baah Public Library, a place I went to almost every day after school. It’s hard to see him, but he’s there, in the middle of the center arch at the top of the stair.

Here’s a close up.

He was curious about the two baobab trees in Roosevelt Park. I told him they were anywhere from 300 to 400 years old, probably grown from seeds brought over from Africa by the slaves.

Next up was Blue Beard’s Castle. Although it’s named after the fearsome pirate, Blue Beard never lived on the island. This is one of two watch towers (the other one is called Black Beard’s Castle) build by the Danes.

The Danes meant them to protect the harbor and town. Just to prove it, here’s Critter next to some of the cannons. Arg!

Here’s our guy looking over the harbor.

Last but not least, here’s Critter taking a look at the world largest cruise ship. He wasn’t all that impressed, because as you can see, not even this ship is big enough to contain the joy that is Critter.

Stay tuned. More is yet to come!

Writing Prompts - Objects

Make a list of objects, any object: a tree, a cup, a hair brush, a rock, a flower. Pick one and describe it in 10 words or less. It does not have to be a complete sentence.

Example:
Her hair was a tangle of golden threads.
The hibiscus glowed liked a tropical sunset.

Or, write about it for 5 to 10 minutes. What does the object bring to mind? What emotions, memories? What does the object feel like, smell like? Write about them.

Writing Prompts - Interview

Interview yourself, your male half/your female half. Interview a parent, a sibling, your inner child. Interview a villain, a monster, a mythological being, a god. Interview the characters of your story or the characters from stories you have read. How fun would it be to interview Toto, say, or Robin Hood and Maid Marian? Ask them personal questions about themselves, the who, what, why, where, when and what if questions.

Sally: So Cat, we first learned about you when you came barging into the house and raised havoc, scaring my brother and me half to death....
Cat: Yeah, that was a ton of fun.
Sally: But what we want to know is, where did you come from?
Cat: Herethereandeverywhere.
S: Can't you be a bit more specific?
C: Well I could. But I won't. Let's just say I'm originally from the same place as Thing One and Thing Two.
S: Can you at least describe this place for us?
C: Oh it's a wild and crazy place, non-stop fun. Crazy lazy trees, flowers with polka-dots, animals with yellow and purple stripes. You know, whatever you can think up, it's there.

S: And what about Thing One and Thing Two, where, when, how did you meet up with them?

C: I found them under a rock, little roly-poly things that just seemed to want to tumble and jump and run and play. Dad thought they were a hoot. Mom wasn't so sure, but she warmed up to them.

S: So you do have parents?
C: Oh sure, sure and they're still alive and well and just tickled pink with my success.
S: Yes, you are kind of famous aren't you? Do you think fame has affected you? Changed you?
C: Fame change ME? MOI? Not in the least.

S: If you could give one piece of advise to everyone in the world, what would it be?

C: Oh that's easy, HAVE FUN!