Dictionary Fun

What? What's fun about reading the dictionary in the middle of summer???  


Yes, it can be fun. Honest. I'm not kidding. Words and definitions are weird and wonderful. 


Try this: 


Find a dictionary. Maybe it's a beat-up old dictionary you've had around the house for a while. Or an online dictionary. Or a small paperback dictionary you carry around in your backpack.


Pick a letter at random. Let's say "t." 


Find five words under the letter "t" that you don't know the meaning of. I found T-zone, tabard, traduce, tole, and tinea. Read the definitions, just for fun.  


Pick your favorite word and write a story about it.  (Tinea means ringworm--ooh, don't want to write about that.) I picked tole. That means "painted, enameled, or lacquered tinplate used to make decorative domestic objects." (That means "objects around the house.")


What if a boy walks into an antique store and finds an old pot made of tole? And what if the antique store owner warns the boy that anyone who puts water into that pot will cause something bad to happen? What if the boy doesn't believe him? What if he buys the pot, takes it home, and fills it with water?


What could happen next? 


The dictionary is a treasure trove of ideas....even in summer!  

We're Having a Heat Wave

Hot enough for you? 


Most of the country (except here in the Pacific Northwest) has been sweltering under a heat wave.


If you have any energy left to write, use the hot weather in a story you're writing.


How did the heat wave make you feel? Sticky, grumpy, happy, sweaty, or thirsty?


What did you wear? Flip-flops, sunglasses, a baseball cap, and your favorite shorts with the dolphins on them? 


Did you stay inside and play video games? Or did you bike to the beach and build a sand castle? 


What did the heat wave smell like? Suntan lotion, chlorine, and hot asphalt?


What did the heat wave taste like? Grilled hot dogs, fudgicles, and watermelon? 


Try using sensory details from the heat wave to create a scene in your story that sizzles under the sun.


And stay cool!  

Little Free Library

So how's your writing going over the summer?

Not so well? Summer brings a lot of temptations that take us away from our writing--like swimming, running through the fire hydrant, and eating ice cream (which I wrote about in my last post). And, of course, trips to the library. 

Which brings me to the Little Free Library I came across the other day when I was walking.  

Have you seen these? Little "libraries" are popping up all over the country. This particular library was made out of old keys, bottle caps, and can lids, which shows that reading and recycling definitely go together. It was filled with children's books, which made me even happier. 

The motto of the Little Free Library is "Take a Book. Return a  Book." This seems like a great way to exchange books, and that got me thinking. What if we used that same motto for writing? "Take a Story. Return a Story." 

In other words, what if you and a friend write a story for each other over the summer? You would "take a story" from your friend, and "return a story" to him or her. 

Or how about if you write one chapter, and your friend writes another chapter? Over the summer, you can exchange chapters or stories and create your own "Little Free Story Library." 

If you have old keys, bottle caps, and can lids around--or other fun objects--try decorating a box to create a place to put your story library. 

Don't forget the ice cream. That's a summer distraction I will never give up. 

Wacky Ice Cream

It's summer, and that means...ice cream!


We may not be able to eat five scoops of ice cream at once, but how about naming five new ice cream flavors? Say good-bye to plain old vanilla and chocolate. Here's your chance to be creative.


Naming things is one of the funnest parts about writing. Let your imagination go crazy. Think about a hot, sizzling day, and come up with five exciting, over-the-top, wacky names for ice cream flavors. 


While you're imagining licking one of those deliciously goofy ice cream cones, try using your exciting new names in a story you're writing. 


Here are my wacky flavors. What are yours?


1. Star Light Strobe Light Strawberry
2. Polka-Dot Packs-a-Punch Pistachio 
3. Five-Alarm Fire Fantastically Fabulous Fudge  
4. Chill Out, Man Chillcolate
5. Razzie-Dazzie Rambunctious Raspberry 


Now excuse me. I think I hear the ice-cream truck outside.

Inspiration from a Box

On May 21 I posted about having an Idea Box. That's where you put objects inside a box, and when you need an idea for a story you reach inside and...voila! You have an idea. 


Today I'm thinking outside the box. Literally. I bought some stacking storage boxes for my study, and as you can see, they're covered with pictures. Each day I look at these boxes, but I don't feel inspired by them. Today I do. 


The pictures include a pair of gloves, chess pieces, a cat, a shovel, Christmas ornaments, garden shears, a screwdriver, a pair of pliers, a dog, a doll, a scuba mask, a sewing machine, a shirt, a pair of pants, a hammer, and the following types of shoes: tennis, T-straps, and high heels. 


Wow. That's an interesting assortment of stuff. Why did I feel inspired to really look at the box today? That's how inspiration works. We can't predict when or how it will strike. We just need to be open to it. It's everywhere, even on the side of a box. 


What if it's a magical box someone left behind when they moved? And when someone else opens the box, a pair of talking tennis shoes jump out? Followed by a scuba mask, a hammer, and a sewing machine? And they're all complaining about being left behind? 


Here's my challenge. Find an object in your house that you see every day. It may be a lamp, your kitchen table, or a pillow. Let yourself get inspired. See something magical about that object, and write about it. 


And if you write about my box and all the objects inside it, don't forget to put the lid back on. 

Editing and Weeding

Yesterday I worked in the yard. I'm not exactly what you would call a gardener. Here in the Pacific Northwest with our abundant rain we have to keep vegetation from taking over, so I'm mostly a weeder.


As I was digging out poor defenseless green things yesterday, I thought about how weeding is like editing. Or editing is like weeding. Huh?


We've seen gardening analogies with writing before. We plant the seed (get the idea), we fertilize and water (write the story), and we watch (wait to hear from an editor.) But what about the editing step? How is that like weeding?


Editing is an important step to create finished pieces of writing. Some of us (like me) love editing. Others (like some of my students) don't. Which kind of writer are you?


Either way, think about what we do when we weed a garden: 

• We get out our gardening tools (our paper, pencil, or computer where our story is written).

• We get rid out of the weeds that don't belong there (unnecessary words). 

• We take care around the young, tender plants we encourage to grow, giving them more water and fertilizer (the necessary words).

• Finally, we look over the garden to see how it all fits together (our story). 

Here's a weeding/editing exercise, and you don't even need gardening gloves! 

Take a story you're working on. Get out your "gardening tools" and look for unnecessary words, phrases, or sentences. Are there words that can be deleted? (Weeded?) Are there words that should stay and be pumped up? (Given more water and fertilizer?) Can you look over your story to see how it all fits together? (Your garden?)

A weeded garden is one that can grow, and the same for your story! 

Repetition

My husband loves crows, and I love the writing of Margaret Wise Brown, so her poem "Those Crazy Crows" is one of my favorites. The poem uses repetition in a fun way. Watch the 3rd, 5th, and 7th lines:


"Those Crazy Crows"


Those crazy crows on ragged wing
Fly over the woods
They never sing
They screech and they scream
But they never sing
Those crazy crows
They never sing 


"They never sing" is the line that repeats (with a slight variation in the 5th line). The repetition makes me think about flying. And isn't it true that crows don't sing? They caw and croak--not exactly what we would call singing! 


Try writing your own 7-line poem using repetition in the 3rd, 5th, and 7th lines. Here's mine:


"Those Silly Cats" (because I also love cats)


Those silly cats with glossy fur
Jump over the chairs
They're just a blur
They fly and they skid
Oh what a blur
Those silly cats
They're just a blur