Round

by Nancy Casey

The world is round. So are many of the things in it. Write about some of them today.

To think about roundness, begin with your senses. What round things can you see, touch, hear, smell or taste? Consider the roundness all around you as you set up your page. How can you tell if something is round?

Draw a line at the top of the page where the title will go so you are certain to have a place to put it when you have finished writing. If you don’t feel relaxed and ready to write, doodle or draw on the page and allow your mind to slow down and open up.

So many round things! Some, such as Frisbees and plates are round and flat. Others, such as softballs and peas are round, no matter how you move them about. A carrot is round in a different way. So is a baseball bat. Some objects that are not round—a car engine, for example—have many parts inside them that are round.

Intangible things can be round, too. Some thoughts and ideas keep “coming back around.” Can something act round? Or seem round?

We say that “what goes around comes around.” What goes? What comes? And what is it going and coming around?

As soon as a thought about something round enters your mind, write it down. Don’t pressure yourself to write something witty or brilliant, just write something. The wit and the brilliance will sneak up on you when you quit demanding it.

As your writing gets going, see where it takes you. Maybe it will turn into a catalog of round things. Partway down the page, it might turn into a story. Perhaps you will find yourself getting philosophical about what “roundness” is—or isn’t.

When your page gets full, go back over your work carefully. Squeeze in any additions or corrections that you think it needs. Add some color or illustration if there is empty space that needs to be filled in. See if a title will float to the surface of your mind.

If you can’t think of a title, here’s a trick: Write a really bad title in tiny letters at the top of the page. Sometimes that will make the part of you that second-guesses yourself provide a better one in a flash. If it does, write it in bigger letters above the first one.

Write the date on the page too, along with a signature or your initials.

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.

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Nancy Casey has lived in Latah County for many years. You can find more of her work here. If you would like some help with your writing, or just some encouragement,  contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.