Collect favorite words. Write them down.

Writers get to have favorite words. It’s one of the perks of being a writer.

Favorite words can happen because you like the meaning — hug, light, watermelon, fun. Favorite words can happen because you like the sound — sizzle, pumpkin, baloney.

The ultimate favorite words are the ones where you claim both meaning and sound as a favorite. These words are special to collect.

possibility
serendipity
gumption
copious
lyrical
bubble
spin
up

If you don’t have a favorite words list, now is the time to begin one…or many. Keep them in notebooks, phones, sticky notes, and the back of napkins. Don’t be surprised when your favorite words start popping up in your writing. When we deem something special, it often gives back in magical ways.

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grab an image for your blog

Use one of these images so we can find each other…and you can invite others to share their stories with us!

Offer an invitation to others.

I’m joining an open community of writers over at Sharing Our Stories: Magic in a Blog. If you write (or want to write) just for the magic of it, consider this your invitation to join us. #sosmagic

Characters have an inside story. Tell yours.

All of us always have two stories happening — the one that is happening on the outside and the one that is happening on the inside. It is natural to tell the outside story — those events that are happening around us — when we write the stories of our lives.

But, let’s not forget the rest of the story…the inside story — the thoughts and feelings that are happening inside our heads and hearts.

Write a small moment from your life and make sure to tell both the outside story and the inside story. Tell the story of your thoughts and feelings as the events unfold.

Open your blog and write a post. It doesn’t have to be a scene from your life, it can be a poem or a photo of page in your notebook. Just write!

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grab an image for your blog

Use one of these images so we can find each other…and you can invite others to share their stories with us!

Offer an invitation to others.

I’m joining an open community of writers over at Sharing Our Stories: Magic in a Blog. If you write (or want to write) just for the magic of it, consider this your invitation to join us. #sosmagic

Open your arms. Wide. Wider.

We know that writers must pay attention. It is with open eyes that writers notice things the rest of the world scurries past. When we see the ordinary and the small, then magic brews. This week, let’s consider living with wide open arms, too.

Fling open your arms, and you will find your heart stretches a bit.

It is this heart stretching that is good for us, as writers…as humans. If you are looking for some inspiration to write, consider going outside and flinging your arms open. Feel the heart stretch. It might help if you allow your head to tip back and close your eyes. Think of a time when your heart stretched. Share the story.

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grab an image for your blog

Use one of these images so we can find each other…and you can invite others to share their stories with us!

Notice small things.

Make a list of 7 things you have noticed. Review your list and challenge yourself to notice even smaller things. Perhaps you noticed the dishes that need hand washed. Look again and learn to notice the way the soap bubbles crackle with tiny rainbows.

The world is full of ordinary moments and when noticed, they become special. Small things are magical. Writers notice the small things that the whole wide world bustles past. Train yourself to pay attention.

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grab an image for your blog

Use one of these images so we can find each other…and you can invite others to share their stories with us!

(These have been updated with the new URL and are a higher quality.)

It isn’t important why you stopped. It matters why you begin.

There are good reasons for quitting things, but sometimes the important thing is to begin…or to start again. You could lament all the reasons why you don’t write. Some of them are valid. Many are reasonable. Most are understandable.

None of them are important.

Spend some time thinking about why you write (or want to write). Doodle a web or make a list. Map your heart or pour out a poem. Spend some time thinking about why you want to write.

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This isn’t a challenge or a competition. This isn’t something we track. This isn’t something to join, which means it isn’t something to fail. 

This is simply an invitation. 

An invitation for those who discover the magic of stories because you write.

An invitation for those who know the magic of stories because you used to write. 

An invitation for those who want to know the magic of stories because you imagine being a story collector and sometimes you imagine being a writer. 

An invitation for those who wish they could know the magic of stories, but feel like there’s never a story to tell. This is especially an invitation for you.

we write on blogs.

If you don’t have one, start one. If you don’t know how, Google: “How to start a blog.” You will figure it out. 

If you have one, but you don’t remember how to find it, start a new one. You did it once, you can do it again.

If you have one, but people have used it as a way to hurt you, I am sorry about that. It stinks. You can open it again, but you don’t have to. Start a new one…and use a pen name or a nom de plume, as they say in France. (That’s what writers call a fake name, but pen name or nom de plume sound so much more whimsical. If you’ve had people hurt you through your blog, you deserve some whimsy in your life.) 

You have one, but you think that part of your life is over. Stop being silly and go open a post box. You will be surprised how much comes back to you and soon you will be wondering why you ever stopped. 

You have one, and you use it to join all kinds of writing communities. That’s awesome! You can share it here, too.

Just accept the invitation…and open a new post box.

Did you know that the letters in SOS do not stand for anything? It’s not an abbreviation, it is just three capital letters that stand together as an international code for “extreme distress.”

Perhaps making an SOS blog is a bit dramatic? It’s not meant to be dramatic.

For a long time I thought the magic of story came from stacking words. Recently, I realized the magic of story happens when a story is released into the world and it wraps around someone’s heart. The magic pulses when that someone lets the writer know the story mattered.

It used to only happen to writers with books, or to people who gathered together in a private writing group. Then blogging opened the floodgates for the magic of story to reach across space and time. Ordinary people could write about ordinary stuff and it touched others. Comments were surges of magic as we found connections from one life to another.

As time marched on, online lives changed and blogs became part of a sales funnel or a conduit to propel people into understanding or action. Story collections became snippets on Instagram or SnapChat. The magic waned, at least for some.

Which is why an SOS is being released into the world. It’s time to reconnect by Sharing Our Stories and letting a little magic to surge in the world.