MySixWriMo Day 5

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I’m saving today’s allotment of creativity for the writing, so let’s get straight to the prompts.

From Robert Lee Brewer at Poetic Asides:

For today's prompt, I want you to write a poem about a landmark. It can be a famous landmark (like Mount Rushmore or the Sphinx) or a little more subdued (like the town water tower or an interesting sign).

I decided to make Sunday hubby’s choice day. Here’s what my husband picked from The Writer’s Book of Matches (Writer’s Digest Books):

Over the course of one week, a rural woman notices that several items have disappeared from her clothesline.

Write 6 sentences. Share if you want. I’ll post mine in the comments later. Have fun. Be brilliant. Be brief.

MySixWriMo Day 4

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Ah, the weekend, with all its writing opportunities, obstacles and distractions...

So far, I’ve grown two worthy 6’s. One has blossomed into a nice microfiction. The other has a promising bud. I'm even telling myself that if I exercise some restraint, I might be able to prune the extended metaphor disaster of Day 2 into something worthwhile.

Now to today’s prompts:

From Robert Lee Brewer at Poetic Asides :

For today’s prompt, I want you to pick an animal; make that animal the title of your poem (in our case, 6); then, write a poem (6). You could be very general with your animal title (“Bees” or “Lion”) or specific (“Flipper” or “Lassie”). You could even be very silly with something like “Tony, the Tiger,” I guess (that tiger on the cereal box).

Or, if you prefer, here’s today’s selection from The Writer’s Book of Matches (Writer’s Digest Books):

“It’s always the quiet ones, you know?”

Instructions are as usual. Share if you wish. I’ll post mine in the comments later. Let me know if you’ve unearthed any diamonds. I’ve got ideas about what we can do with them…

MySixWriMo Day 3

We’re off to a great start. Let’s keep going.

Here’s today’s prompt from Robert Lee Brewer …

Take the phrase "The problem with (blank)" and replace the "(blank)" with a word or phrase. Make this the title of your poem and then write a poem to fit with or juxtapose against that title. For instance, you could have poems with the titles of "The problem with government," "The problem with advanced mathematics," or "The problem with bipolar penguins." You know the drill: have fun, be creative

Our selection from The Writer’s Book of Matches (Writer’s Digest Books) celebrates the creative potential of the US economy:

“I’m sorry. Your position is being eliminated.”

I’ll post my six in the comments later. Post yours in the comments, email them to me, or hide them under your mattress. Happy writing, everyone!

MySixWriMo Day 2

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The creative fun continues. Your mission: write a 6 sentence story based on one of the prompts below.

Here’s today’s prompt from Robert Lee Brewer …

Today, I want you to write an outsider poem. You can be the outsider; someone else can be the outsider; or it can even be an animal or inanimate object that's the outsider. As usual, get creative with the prompt and don't be afraid to stretch the limits.

And our selection from The Writer’s Book of Matches (Writer’s Digest Books)…

You’re secretly in love with your best friend’s wife, and you suspect she feels the same way.

I’ll post my meager effort in the comments later. Post yours in the comments, email them to me, or keep your gold for yourself. Up to you. Good luck and good writing, one and all.

MySixWriMo Day 1

Today marks the official start of MySixWriMo, an entirely unsubsidized, unauthorized event that I made up on a whim. MySixWriMo invites participants to write a 6 sentence story based on a daily prompt. Six Sentence stories are inspired by the form created by Rob McEvily at his blogzine, Six Sentences.

We'll use prompts provided by Robert Brewer, who hosts the April Poem a Day month event at his blog, Poetic Asides. (Poem a Day is an event sponsored by Writer's Digest.) In addition, I may also post another prompt from The Writer's Book of Matches, published by Writer's Digest Books.

You may email your finished 6s to me or post them in the comments section here if you want to be held accountable, but sharing isn't required. This is strictly for fun.

Today's prompt from Robert Brewer at Poetic Asides:

For today's prompt, I want you to write an origin poem. It can be the origin of a word, person, plant, idea, etc. Have fun with it.

And the prompt taken from The Writer's Book of Matches:

"She checked out last night."

I'll be back later to share my own 6 sentence interpretation. Good luck, everyone!

MySixWriMo

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I’m a sucker for NaNoWriMo. It’s how I brought Folly into the world. If I had it in me (and knew my husband wouldn’t divorce me), I’d do NaNoWriMo every month. So when I heard that Writer’s Digest was doing their April Poem a Day (PAD) marathon again, I felt the creative fires start to stir. I love a trumpet call to recklessly create. Just thinking of it made the words flow juicy in my mouth.

Then I remembered: I’m no poet.

Creative chick that I am, it occurred to me that I do write in a form that bears some resemblance to poetry. Yes, you know what I mean. The mighty Six.

Sixes are these amazing little micro stories, dense with image and metaphor and emotion. They’re the brain child of writing pioneer, Robert McEvily. Rob is a creative thinker and a true friend to struggling writers. You have something to say? Rob wants to hear it.

But in my opinion, the Six form itself is Rob’s greatest contribution. The form of the Six is so tight, the content can't help but burst free. The story lives outside and between the sentences. Sixes knit themselves together in the reader’s mind. The more understated, the better, just like haiku. To write a good Six, you need to invoke feelings and pictures. If you write a great one, it will read like a poem.

So, my challenge for April: to visit Robert Brewer’s PAD blog and use his prompt to write a Six every day. Out of the thirty, there’s bound to be some winners. I’ll post those worthy of public consumption here for you to enjoy/mock/tear to shreds.

One last bit of business: all journeys are more fun when shared. If you want to MySixWriMo with me, give a holler. I'd love to have the company.

A Star Is Born!

Yep, we're already planning the next play :)