What a Wonderful World

What if you created a world of your own?

PROMPT: What if you already do?

But...

What if you eliminated your but?

That’s BUT, not butt.

If you want to eliminate your butt, you’ll have to check out my sister’s company, Fit School.

What I’m talking about is this kind of BUT…

Yeah, I’d like to ____________ (fill in blank with your big creative project), BUT…

I have a lot of other stuff to do.

I have kids.

I have parents.

I have pets.

I have plants.

I have a hangnail.

Whatever.

What if you pitched that word out of your vocabulary for a week?

Surely, you can go a week without a BUT.

PROMPT: Start projects! Complete them! Look 20 years younger AND 10 pounds thinner with the fabulous BUT diet!  Don’t delay! Try it today!

Fear Knots

What if you were not afraid?

Would you…

Ask for a raise?

Ask for a date?

Go on a daring adventure?

Well, grab yourself some courage and do those scary things anyway.

Because as Mark Twain once said –

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.”

So there.

PROMPT: Need a little bravery boost? Feel the Fear… and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers is a classic read that rocks!

Hello Again

Gus Taylor was 18 months old when he started babbling that he was his own grandpa. 

It weirded out his parents. After all, Gus’s grandpa had died a year before the little babbler was born. 

Things got even weirder when they showed him old family photos. Gus got “Grandpa Augie” right every single time. 

Gus finally explained the whole thing when he was four and speaking more coherently —

Apparently, God gave him a ticket after he died. With that ticket, he was able to travel through a hole and come back to life as Gus.

Yeah.

That cleared everything up for mom and dad, I’m sure.

Then there was this Scottish kid, Cameron Macaulay...

From the time he began putting words together at the age of two, he babbled about his life on the island of Barra (a place that he had never visited). 

He described the sea view from his bedroom window, his other mom, his siblings, his pets, and how his dad died.

This little guy did not discuss special God tickets, however. Instead, he talked about toilets.

According to Cameron, his current life situation was considerably inferior to his previous one. After all, the Macaulay home had only one toilet, whereas in Barra, he had had three.

Eventually, Cameron’s parents actually took him to Barra where they found that this kid’s tales matched those of the Robertson family exactly…

right down to those three toilets.

Hmmm…

What if reincarnation = reality?

PROMPT: Who were you in a previous life? Don’t know? Well, make it up! Write a rock-tabulous reincarnation story that explains some of your most endearing quirks. For a little inspiration, Galileo’s got your back(story).

It's Now or Neverland

Back in April of 1929, J.M. Barrie turned over his copyright for the famous Peter Pan to the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

Then in 2004 when the boy who never grew up became a centenarian, the hospital held a competition for novelists. The challenge? Write an official sequel in Pan’s honor.

The award went to Geraldine McCaughrean for her manuscript, Peter Pan in Scarlet.

So, that got me thinking…

What if you wrote a sequel to some classic tale?

It might be fun.

And without a doubt, a whole slew of folks out there want to know what happened after happily ever after.

Of course, my daughter won’t be one of them.

She already knows that Cinderella went back to school to study podiatry…

Sleeping Beauty became a world-renowned expert in narcolepsy…

and Red and The Woodsman set up Ye Olde Taxidermy Shoppe just down the road from Granny’s.

Well, that’s what her mom always said.

Writers...

You can't live with them.

But who would want to live without 'em?

PROMPT: Pick an old favorite and change “The End” to “What Then?”

Write on! 

Dear Me

What if you wrote a letter to your younger self?

What would it say?

Authors E. Kristin Anderson and Miranda Kenneally decided to write letters to their teenage selves. They posted them, and then invited other authors to do the same. So began the website Dear Teen Me. Check it out for inspiration.

Now add a different twist…

Abracadabra, you are 107!

What would your 107-year-old self write to the you of today?

PROMPT: Dear Me…

Time for You to Fly

In my family, the nuts don’t fall too far from the tree…

Especially the writing nuts.

So, it should come as no surprise to you that my daughter whips out some of her own writing prompts now and then.

She shared one with me about a week ago that I thought would be perfect for our What If Wednesday…

What if you had wings?

What would they be?

Albatross wings for long journeys,

Hummer wings that dip and dance,

Or owl wings for silent flight?

Would yours be beetle-ly, protected by patterned shells,

Dragon wings bejeweled with iridescent scales,

Or jet-powered robotics, making damage-repair a breeze?

Wings of Fire,

Ice,

Shadow,

Or Light?

Wings with branch bones and feather leaves from trees…

Or do you have wings that nobody sees?

PROMPT: What if? Pick a pair for yourself, then explore what your main character would choose.

Write… and fly… on!

As Honest as the Day is Long

Back in the early 1990’s, M. Hirsh Goldberg took a good hard look at April.

It needed a closer, he thought.

After all, it’s the only month that begins with a foolish celebration of fabrication.

So, he decided to balance it out by declaring the last day in April to be Honesty Day…

A day in which you can liberate yourself from all deceit, lies, and hypocrisy.

Yes, now is the time to declare your secret crush on the girl/boy next door…

Go ahead — come clean about stealing that Snickers bar from the corner convenience store back in 1973…

And while you’re at it, tell your wife that she does indeed look fat in that dress, your husband that his bald spot is getting bigger by the hour, and your Aunt Ethel that her singing stinks to high heaven.

Wow.

This whole Honesty Day feels sooooo much better than April Fools’ Day, don’t you think?

Oh, and by the way —

Mr. Goldberg may not have been completely honest about this whole Honesty Day thing.

After all, it just so happened to be a terrific way to promote his latest release at the time —

The Book of Lies: Schemes, Scams, Fakes, and Frauds that Have Changed the Course of History and Affect Our Daily Lives

Tsk Tsk, Mr. G.

Methinks your pants are on fire.

PROMPT: What if your main character was slapped with an Honesty Curse? The effects only last a day, but oh what a day it will be!

Gnome Gnews

And now for your “Across the Pond” update —

In a recent traffic stop, Scottish police discovered 30 garden gnomes hiding out in the back of some bloke’s van.

Of course, the driver was arrested for possession of stolen property.

But there’s another possibility, isn't there?

What if those pointy-hatted garden pests were actually hitchhikers?

And when the cops said, “Freeze!”

They did.

Never trust a garden gnome.

PROMPT: Prove the driver’s innocence, or create an entry for a future bestseller called Diary of a Garden Gnome.

If you’re participating in the National Poetry Month poem-a-day challenge and feeling rather rhyme-y — a gnomish limerick will do the trick if you’re into something quick. Otherwise, craft an epic “Ode to the Travelling Gnome” by writing ‘til the cows come home.

Double Double Toil and…

Trouble!

It’s everywhere…

And isn't that wonderful?

Well, it certainly is if you want to make a living telling tales.

All great stories require a whole heap of it.

For example, I’m pretty sure you could come up with a list of books that involve some of the following:

Trouble with travel

Troublesome home

Trouble with wondering whether to roam

Trouble with truth

Troublesome lies

Trouble with toughies and gangsters and spies.

Trouble with livers

Troublesome dead

Trouble with unwanted thoughts in a head

Trouble with animals

Troublesome plants

Trouble with troublesome tight-fitting pants.

Oh yeah.

Sing it loud and sing it proud —

Nobody knows the trouble I've seen…

But that’s nothing compared to the trouble…

I've made!

PROMPT: What if you created a whole heap of trouble today?

Write on!

We’ve Got a Winner

Author and psychological researcher Shawn Achor needed to start a workout habit.

So, he tried a number of strategies.

Nothing worked.

Then he tried something a little wacky.

He decided to sleep in his workout clothes…

For 21 days straight.

And guess what.

That one little shortcut…

One less decision…

Made all the difference.

Of course, his marriage is probably toast.

But hey, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.

PROMPT: What if you slept with a laptop or sketch book at your bedside for 21 days? Think of it — you could hammer or sketch out a fabulous 15-minute creative habit before your feet even hit the floor!

So much better than sleeping in spandex, don’t you think?

The Challenge

Did you know that Theodor Seuss Geisel used only 236 first grade vocabulary words to write The Cat in the Hat?

Impressed?

His publisher Bennett Cert certainly wasn't.

“I bet you can’t do it in 50,” was all he said.

Well, the good doctor accepted Bennett’s bet —

“Fifty bucks says I can, Sam I am!” 

And the rest is Green Eggs and Ham history.

I hear that Bennett never paid up.

But considering that Green Eggs and Ham has been one of the best-selling children’s books of all time, Teddy never complained.

Obviously, there are two lessons here…

First of all, restrictions lead to higher levels of creativity. In fact, research has shown that imposed limitations boost creative thinking because they force folks to work outside of their comfort zones.

And second — never make a bet with your publisher and expect to get paid.

Consider yourself enlightened on both counts.

PROMPT: What if you gave yourself a Seussical challenge today? Pick a limiting word limit, 50 or 100 words say, and create a complete story.

And because I’m sure you’re dying to know, Seuss’s 50 were: a, am, and, anywhere, are, be, boat, box, car, could, dark, do, eat, eggs, fox, goat, good, green, ham, here, house, I, if, in, let, like, may, me, mouse, not, on, or, rain, Sam, say, see, so, thank, that, the, them, there, they, train, tree, try, will, with, would, you.

Write on!

Going for Gold

FYI: No runaway teapots were harmed

in the making of this pictogram

Tomorrow a woman from my area will compete in the freeski halfpipe.

Last week, a guy from my old hometown took on the luge.

Those Olympians are everywhere!

I mean, you could cut in front of one at the Quickie Mart and never even know it.

Unless, of course, said Olympian was a curler —

They are never afraid to yell.

Have you been watching the Sochi coverage?

I have…

like a woman obsessed.

It’s a free master class in plot, after all.

The triumphs…

The tragedies…

The backstories that make you cry.

All that delicious drama.

And of course, the comic relief…

Of curling.

PROMPT: What if you were an Olympian? What event would you choose for grabbing that golden moment? Bonus points for brilliant backstory and, of course, sweeping the house.

Well, Why Not?

Last Sunday night, if you were lucky enough to hear the post-Super Bowl interview with Seattle’s quarterback Russell Wilson, then you heard some news you can use!

He said, “We believed we would get here. At the beginning of the season I told our guys, ‘Hey, why not us?’ ”

Because those were the words of Wilson's late father.

“He used to always tell me ‘Russ, why not you?’ And what that meant was believe in yourself.”

That’s a big reason why Wilson went into football, even though the odds were stacked against him — at 5’ 11” he’s more than 3 inches shorter than the average NFL quarterback.

So, what about you?

What's your dream?

A published book?

A gallery show?

A Newbery or Caldecott medal?

Well, why not you?

PROMPT: What if you said “Why not me?” every time your head hit the wall of doubt?

Dream on!

Write on!

WHY. NOT. YOU.

Let No Hero Be Unsung

My writing assignment this week —

Tell the story of a boy who meets his hero.

What if you could meet one of yours?

PROMPT: Write on!

Cuisses de Grenouille

Eat a live frog first thing in the morning

and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.

― Mark Twain

Well, that’s certainly a recipe for success...

If the frog is of the metaphorical variety, of course.

In his book Eat That Frog! business coach Brian Tracy spells out a simple method for beating procrastination.

He suggests that those items on your daily “To Do” list are actually not tasks at all —

They’re frogs.

And if you want a surefire sauté for a successful day…

Always eat the biggest, baddest, ugliest one first.

Not only will you knock a greater number of items off of your daily list…

Face it, once you've choked down one giant UGly frog, the rest are a whole lot easier to swallow…

Over time, you’ll also accomplish your most important 2014 goals faster.

And you may be surprised to find that those biggest, baddest frogs aren't really so bad after all.

In fact —

They taste a lot like chicken.

PROMPT: What if you took out your magic wand and turned your daily creating, writing, or revising time into your hairiest, scariest, wartiest frog? Try it for a month, and who knows — one kiss of success might just turn you into writing royalty.

Hobson’s Choice

(My favorite sign — Ferry Terminal, Anacortes, WA)

What if this were true?

Oh, but it is! 

So, either make a bunch or...

Write stories that stink.

The choice is up to you.

PROMPT: Pick one of your cringe-worthy moments and write on! 

Hunka Hunka Burnin’ Love

Happy Birthday, Elvis!

You’re 79 and looking fine.

The fact that your funeral was held in 1977 is a small matter indeed.

Everybody knows you’re still out there.

In fact, when I was a kid, post ‘77 Elvis sightings were actually reported on the evening news.

I guess the Pre-Boomers of my parents' generation just couldn't imagine a world without The King.

So he showed up —

At Speedy Qs in Michigan…

Pennsylvania GetGoes…

And Alabama Piggly Wigglies.

Of course, this came in handy for me and my Gen X cohorts.

After all, whenever a 5-pound bag of Snickers…

Baker’s dozen of French Crullers…

Or deep-fried, triple-bacon double cheeseburger went missing —

We knew exactly who to blame.

PROMPT: What if you experienced an Elvis sighting? As a matter of fact, I think he just showed up in your current manuscript!

Trust me, your characters are all shook up.

I Feel Like a Gazillion!

Did you win?

Me neither.

Yeah, I’m talking about that 636-million-dollar Mega Millions jackpot.

And, yes, it tempted even me.

I actually parted with TWO WHOLE DOLLARS for a chance at it.

Because, what the heck — two bucks is a small price to pay for a day of what ifs.

And what ifs do wonders for creative thinking, you know.

What if you had that kind of dough?

Did you know that you could give away $20,000 every single day for the rest of your life, and yet… you wouldn't even touch all the interest you’d be making off the money?

Can you imagine spreading that kind of giddy good fortune every twenty-four hours?

Alternatively, you could rake all the cash into a big pile and dive in à la Scrooge McDuck.

Ah, the possibilities are such delicious fun to ponder, aren't they?

And yes, deep down inside, we all know that money won’t buy happiness.

But hey, we also want to check it out for ourselves…

just to be sure.

PROMPT: What would you do with that kind of cash? What would your story’s main character do? A windfall can make for an interesting plot twist. Is it a big time blessing or crushing curse? YOU get to decide.