Author: latahrecoverycenter

by Nancy Casey

Set up your page in the usual way by drawing a line across the top where your title will go. Then divide the remaining space on the page into four different areas of roughly equal size. Next, get some scrap paper where you can jot down a few notes.

On the scrap paper, write down the names of four objects that are familiar to you. You can choose something that is right in front of you, or something that you see (or have seen) often.

For each object, write down three descriptive details, that is, short bits of information that tell something about the object. A detail could have something to do with how the object looks or sounds or smells. You could have a detail about the history of the object. You could say something about its function. Any 3 details. A couple of words max. Make them as odd or interesting as you can.

Then begin your actual page. In each of the four spaces you have marked off, write about each of the four objects as if you were an emcee introducing the object for a fabulous performance before a live audience. No need to say what the performance will be, you only need to tell how fabulous the object is.

An emcee must create interest, suspense and excitement in the audience. One trick for doing this is to withhold the name of the object until the very end, so be sure to do that.

Here are some phrases that emcees often use. You can borrow them or think up some of your own.

• Ladies and gentlemen, appearing next on our stage is one who…
• Our next guest is one you would be likely to find…
• … is never a problem for our next guest, because…
• Tonight we welcome to the stage one who comes to us all the way from…
• Without our next guest, the world would be…
• You might find it hard to imagine that…

Your introduction will be short—there isn’t much space provided.  It will only rely on three details. Try to build up the object as something fantastic, marvelous, and perhaps a bit mysterious, before revealing what it is.

When you have finished all four introductions, reread your work. Make small changes if you need to.

If there is not any room for illustration in the spaces where you wrote the introductions, you can add decoration or color to the page by decorating the lines that divide the four spaces.

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.

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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 to do this exercise or others like it with a group of people, come to the Write-for-You class at the Latah Recovery Center on Thursdays at 5pm. Anyone can join. Just show up! You can attend just for fun or work to earn a writing certificate. For more information, contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Community Center.

by Nancy Casey

As you set up your page today, think about some of the different things you could write.

What kinds of ideas have been rumbling around in your mind lately? Maybe you could write about them. Maybe you would rather tell a story–from this morning, or from a long time ago. It could be the story of an event you witnessed, an account you heard from someone else, something you have made up, or some blend of all of these. Maybe you would prefer to describe your surroundings right at this moment. You can decide not to write “about” anything at all and freewrite. That is, write down any old thing at all without hardly paying attention to what you are saying.

As your mind wanders over the possibilities for writing, draw a line across the top of the page where the title will go. (Don’t write the title until the very end.)

Then draw some circles on the page. You could draw 10 circles that are about the size of a quarter, or maybe only five of them if you make them larger than that. Spread the circles out so none are exactly touching each other. Arrange them in a way that’s pleasing to you.

Inside each circle, draw a letter. Any letter. All the letters in the circles can spell out a word if you like, but they don’t have to. It’s okay to repeat letters.

Then make each circle and its letter look very decorative. Doodle away inside the circles until you decide it’s time to start writing.

Write about whatever you want. The only requirement is that when you arrive at one of the circles, you have to use that letter next. It might be the first letter of a word, or it might fall in the middle of a word. However it works out, work that letter into your writing.

Keep going until the page is full.

When you have finished writing, reread your work. Make small changes if you need to. Look at each of the letters to see if you’d like to add a bit more decoration. 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.

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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 to do this exercise or others like it with a group of people, come to the Write-for-You class at the Latah Recovery Center on Thursdays at 5pm. Anyone can join. Just show up!
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by Nancy Casey

Today you will write individual words instead of paragraphs or sentences. You will end up plucking words from interesting corners of your imagination, which is often amusing.

Begin by setting up your page:

• Draw a line across the top where the title will go.
• Draw a line across the bottom of the page that marks off just enough space for exactly one line of writing.
• Draw 2 vertical lines down the remaining empty space on the page so that it is divided into 3 columns.
• At the top of the right-hand column, write the heading “Different.” For the middle column, use the heading “Same.” The left-hand column won’t need a heading.
• For the left-hand column write the letters of the alphabet (A-Z) down the left-hand edge of the page.

Then begin writing. For each letter of the alphabet in the left-hand column, write down a word that begins with that letter. Any word. You don’t have to think them up in alphabetical order. It’s okay to skip around.

It doesn’t really matter where the words come from. You can…

• …write a word that is related to something you have been thinking about.
• …look around you and write down the name of what you see.
• …close your eyes and wait for a word to pop into your mind.
• …go to a place where a lot of people are talking and write down words that you hear.

In the Same column, next to each word you’ve written in the alphabet column, write another word that is more or less the same as the first word.

In the Different column, write down a word that is somehow different from the other two.

You might decide to write down all the words in the alphabet column first, and then fill the other two columns. Or you can write down the words for the Same and Different columns right after you add a word to the alphabet column.

It turns out that there are also lots of different possibilities for going in order or skipping around. Mix it up however you like.

What counts as “same” and what counts as “different” are also entirely up to you. There is lots of wiggle room.

After you have filled up all three columns, in the skinny one-line space at the bottom of the page, write some kind of comment. It might be an observation about the process of filling the columns. Or a thought that passed through your mind as you were writing down words. The comment can be anything that pops into your head and fits into the tiny space allowed.

Finally, give your work a title and write the date on it, too. If you add some kind of illustration, you will be glad you did when you look back at the page later.

Here is an example of what a person could write.

You can share what you have written by posting it as a comment below. To do that, you can type in your work. Or post a picture of it.

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Nancy Casey has lived in Latah County for many years. You can find more of her work here. She leads a writing workshop at the Recovery Center on Thursday evenings at 5pm. Anyone can drop in—just show up. You can attend just for fun or work to earn a writing certificate. To sign up or get more information, contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Community Center.