What’s Open?

by Nancy Casey

Drawers and windows can open. People can open their mouths, their eyes, their hands and, of course, their minds.

Volcanoes and earthquakes open up the ground.

A person can open a book, a file, a faucet or a present. Doors can open into something, and they can open out on something, too. (What’s the difference?)

How can you tell whether or not your mind is open? Does anything open as time passes? Can a flower prevent itself from opening?

Your writing mission for today is to fill a page while over-using the word open (or any of its forms, like opening, opened, open up, etc.)

You can describe your surroundings or something that happened to you. You can tell a story that you know about or a story that is invented from your imagination.

As you write, try to use the word open in every sentence at least once, more than once if you can.

As you fill your page, be open to the idea of drawing on it. Your mind opens up when you are “writing” and also not trying to squeeze your thoughts out in words and letters.

Be open to writing. Be open to drawing. Most of all, be open to the idea of opening and whatever that might open up.

After you have filled a page, read over your work. Make small changes if you need to. Add more color or decoration to the page if you want to. When you are satisfied with the page, give it a title and write the date on it, too.

Here is an example of what someone could write.

You can share your work by posting it as a comment below. You can type it in, or take a photo of it and upload the image.

Nancy Casey has lived in Latah County for many years. You can find more of her work here. She occasionally teaches a Write-For-You class at the Recovery Center. For more information about classes and writing certificates, contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.