invitations (blog) – Page 6

open invitation no. 51: spring

Be inspired by spring.

I think words are fun when they can mean different things. Check out all of the definitions for spring.

Move or jump suddenly or rapidly upward or forward.
Originate or arise from.
The season after winter and before summer, in which vegetation begins to appear, in the northern hemisphere from March to May and in the southern hemisphere from September to November.
A resilient device, typically a helical metal coil, that can be pressed or pulled but returns to its former shape when released, used chiefly to exert constant tension or absorb movement.

[Definition from a Google search.]

The invitation today is to be inspired by “spring.” If you need more ideas, the Merriam-Webster definition is even more in depth, including to pay, as in “I’ll spring for drinks,” and many others.

*Remember, you don’t have to accept this invitation…but I do hope you will accept the invitation to write. Sharing our stories is magical.

PS—I started a Facebook Group for the #sosmagic community. Join here.

write

Open your blog and write a post. Just write.

Reply to this post, jot a note and paste your URL.

comment

Comment on other blogs. Soak up the magic that will find you.

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.

Give a pause.

Pauses in writing, just as in life, are a beautiful thing. How might you add a pause to your writing? Here are some of my favorite ways.

Use ellipsis…or sometimes informally called dot-dot-dot. This word stems from the Greek word, élleipsis, meaning to leave out. First graders often use this convention to build suspense. When first graders learn how the ellipsis gives pause and makes the reader wonder what’s going to happen, they begin using it all…of…the…time…
Write a one sentence paragraph. It is no surprise that I love the one sentence paragraph. One reason to use it is to give the reader pause.
Leave white space. Did you know this is called interstice? (I didn’t either until Christy Rush-Levine started her blog: interstice.)
Add a photo. Using a visual to break up the text will allow a pause in your writing. elsie is the queen of this technique.

*Remember, you don’t have to accept this invitation…but I do hope you will accept the invitation to write. Sharing our stories is magical.

PS—I started a Facebook Group for the #sosmagic community. Join here.

write

Open your blog and write a post. Just write.

Reply to this post, jot a note and paste your URL.

comment

Comment on other blogs. Soak up the magic that will find you.

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.

open invitation no. 49: sunset challenge

Capture a sunset.

Consider capturing a sunset. It can be a sunset from long ago or one that’s happened this week. Here’s the challenge:

Don’t use color words — red, pink, purple, but still allow us to visualize the color of the sunset.
Don’t use seasonal words, but give us a sense of the time of year.
Do reflect your “inside story” by describing the “outside story” of the sunset.

*Remember, you don’t have to accept this invitation…but I do hope you will accept the invitation to write. Sharing our stories is magical.

PS—I started a Facebook Group for the #sosmagic community. Join here.

write

Open your blog and write a post. Just write.

Reply to this post, jot a note and paste your URL.

comment

Comment on other blogs. Soak up the magic that will find you.

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.

Capture a Slice of Life.

I remember writing slices before it was a thing. Back when there were just two teachers who loved teaching and loved writing and wanted to write alongside one another about teaching writers, even though they were 865 miles apart.

A lot has changed since then. The magic of a slice, though, remains. Today, regardless of whether you are joining the March 2021 Slice of Life Challenge, I would like to invite you to write a slice of life.

*Remember, you don’t have to accept this invitation…but I do hope you will accept the invitation to write. Sharing our stories is magical.

PS—I started a Facebook Group for the #sosmagic community. Join here.

write

Open your blog and write a post. Just write.

Reply to this post, jot a note and paste your URL.

comment

Comment on other blogs. Soak up the magic that will find you.

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.

open invitation no. 47: for sure

What do you know for sure?

What do you know for sure?
What do you know is true?
What do you know by heart?

Try to capture what you know for sure in a list or a poem or a scene.

*Remember, you don’t have to accept this invitation…but I do hope you will accept the invitation to write. Sharing our stories is magical.

PS—I started a Facebook Group for the #sosmagic community. Join here.

write

Open your blog and write a post. Just write.

Reply to this post, jot a note and paste your URL.

comment

Comment on other blogs. Soak up the magic that will find you.

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.

open invitation no. 46: oops

There are times writing goes awry.

An email from an #SOSmagic story collector arrived in my inbox with a link to her post for this week. I mentally slapped my forehead with my palm because I realized invitation number 46 didn’t go live last Thursday. It takes a matter of minutes to fix it, but here I am, three days later, just now making a post live.

I used to let this kind of mistake drag me down.
Now I’ve learned to say, “Oops.”

There’s a Bob Ross quote that hangs on the door from our house to our garage. It is a reminder to the whole family and goes like this:

Oops has a lot more power than negative expletives. Oops means I’m moving on without being pulled down. I hope you’ll share a story, even though the invitation was a little late this week.

*Remember, you don’t have to accept this invitation…but I do hope you will accept the invitation to write. Sharing our stories is magical.

PS—I started a Facebook Group for the #sosmagic community. Join here.

write

Open your blog and write a post. Just write.

Reply to this post, jot a note and paste your URL.

comment

Comment on other blogs. Soak up the magic that will find you.

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.

open invitation no. 45: write fast

Sometimes, if you write fast without thinking, the words will break through.

“Every writer I know has trouble writing.”
—Joseph Heller

I’ve been avoiding the post box. My blog writing is the writing I do for me. It’s the writing I do for fun. It’s the writing that is most unexpected. My blog writing is the writing I allow to trail out of my heart and curl into magic.

I’ve worked hard to keep a space in my writing life that can be just for magic. And, by magic, I mean a space that doesn’t have to be perfect…a space that doesn’t have rules.

I’ve noticed there are others in this community who ebb and flow in their writing lives. I miss them when they don’t post. I miss me when I don’t post, too.

So here’s my best advice: sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and write fast. Don’t think, and definitely stop overthinking. Just write. Fast.

I think you’ll find some magic when you let the words break through.

*Remember, you don’t have to accept this invitation…but I do hope you will accept the invitation to write. Sharing our stories is magical.

PS—I started a Facebook Group for the #sosmagic community. Join here.

write

Open your blog and write a post. Just write.

Reply to this post, jot a note and paste your URL.

comment

Comment on other blogs. Soak up the magic that will find you.

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.

open invitation no. 44: writing love

Some write in agony, but for me, love is the best motivation I know.

[Happy Valentine’s Day]

What do you love about writing? What makes you want to open a post box? What makes you fill a notebook page? Do you write because of love, or is there another motivation?

For me, writing allows me to love wholly and to love well. Writing allows me to notice the world, and writing gives me pause to appreciate the world.

*Remember, you don’t have to accept this invitation…but I do hope you will accept the invitation to write. Sharing our stories is magical.

PS—I started a Facebook Group for the #sosmagic community. Join here.

write

Open your blog and write a post. Just write.

Reply to this post, jot a note and paste your URL.

comment

Comment on other blogs. Soak up the magic that will find you.

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.

open invitation no. 43: dare to care

Dare to care. You might get hurt, but it is one way to fully live.

“Caring—about people, about things, about life—is an act of maturity.
—Tracy McMillan

What are the things you care about? Who are the people who have your heart? How do you dare to care? Caring is an act of maturity and an excellent writing topic.

*Remember, you don’t have to accept this invitation…but I do hope you will accept the invitation to write. Sharing our stories is magical.

PS—I started a Facebook Group for the #sosmagic community. Join here.

write

Open your blog and write a post. Just write.

Reply to this post, jot a note and paste your URL.

comment

Comment on other blogs. Soak up the magic that will find you.

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.