Writing Promt: What If?

What if you could change your age by snapping your fingers? What age would you choose? What if you could only change your age three times?

Word of the Week: Assail

ASSAIL (uh SAYL)

• verb: to attack with vigor

We hid behind the garden fence and assailed passing cars with rotten apples.

Now write!

Use the word assail in a freewrite exercise. How many synonyms can you generate? How about antonyms?

Weekend Warm-Up

You wake up one morning and have suddenly lost your eyesight.

What happens that day?

How did you lose your sight?

Spit and Polish: Imagery

Authors rarely use the sense of taste in descriptions because we have such limited taste experience. Our tongues can only taste a limited range (sour, sweet, salty, bitter).

Describe the taste of a favorite food.

Now, think of something that you would not normally eat (and it doesn't have to be food). Describe the taste. (use your imagination, not your tongue)

Writing Prompt: Killer Quotation

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."

• Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

What do you think Twain meant by this quotation?

Use the quote as a prompt for freewriting.

Writing Prompt: What If?

What if all electronic devices stopped working at the same time? What would happen?

Word of the Week: Bemoan

BEMOAN (bi MOAN)

• verb: to lament; to mourn about

While standing on the ledge outside his office window, the stock broker bemoaned his recent losses.

Now write!

Use the word bemoan in a freewrite exercise. How many synonyms can you generate? How about antonyms?

Weekend Warm-Up

You are sitting at a table. On the table is an empty glass.

What was in the glass?

How did the glass get empty?

Was it empty when you sat down?

Spit and Polish: Imagery

A writer can appeal to the sense of touch with descriptions of an object's temperature, its texture, or weight. Even explaining what type of material (metal, wood, plastic) can help with touch imagery.

Write about how the following items feel:

• a basketball
• a favorite pet
• a food that you dislike

Writing Prompt: Killer Quotation

"It's a sure sign of summer if the chair gets up when you do."

• Walter Winchell (1897 - 1972)

What do you think Winchell meant by this quotation?

Use the quote as a prompt for freewriting.

Writing Prompt: What If?

What if you were the only person to decide what shows were broadcast on TV? What would you choose? Why?

Word of the Week: Cringe

CRINGE (krinj)

• verb: to shrink back with fear; to cower; to be servile or suck up in a horrible way

Igor cringed everytime the mad scientist yelled at him for dropping the jar that held the genius's brain.

Now write!

Use the word cringe in a freewrite exercise. How many synonyms can you generate? How about antonyms?

Weekend Warm-Up

Do you remember your favorite toy as a child?

Write about that toy as if it came to life when you were away.

Spit and Polish: Imagery

Some consider the sense of smell our most nostalgic sense. Certain odors can conjure past memories in vivid detail. Think about a scent that has strong association for you. Describe the scent and the emotions/memories it conjures.

Writing Prompt: Killer Quotation

"We all learn by experience but some of us have to go to summer school."

• Peter De Vries

What do you think De Vries meant by this quotation?

Use the quote as a prompt for freewriting.

Writing Prompt: What If?

What if there were no police to enforce our laws? (i.e., the laws still exist, but no one is paid to enforce them)

Word of the Week: Dissuade

DISSUADE (di SWAYD)

• verb: to persuade not to (the opposite of persuade)

The driver's ed instructor dissuades reckless driving with color slides of car accidents.

Now write!

Use the word dissuade in a freewrite exercise. How many synonyms can you generate? How about antonyms?

Weekend Warm-Up

Write a letter to the person you were ten years ago.

Spit and Polish: Visual Imagery

Most people receive the lion's share of their sensory input from their eyes, making visual imagery very important.

Think of a common object, maybe something with which you interact each day. Describe how that item looks to someone from another country/planet. This person/alien has never seen your object before.

Writing Prompt: Killer Quotation

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

• Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

What do you think Twain meant by this quotation?

Use the quote as a prompt for freewriting.

Writing Prompt: What If?

What if stores encouraged people to steal?

Word of the Week: Congeal

CONGEAL (kun JEEL)

• verb: to jell; to solidify

A layer of grease congealed into a white mass when we put the stew in the refrigerator.

Now write!

Use the word congeal in a freewrite exercise. How many synonyms can you generate? How about antonyms?