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Best Of

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Write for You Blog

by Nancy Casey

Every experience is made up of a collection of smaller experiences. That’s true of a vacation, a trip to the dentist, or eating lunch. It’s true of parenthood, adolescence, planting a garden, or washing a car. It’s never just one thing.

Think about an experience you’ve had in your life. Major, minor, recent, long ago—it doesn’t matter. It could even be an experience that only happened in your imagination. Think about all the parts of that experience, all the mini-experiences inside the original one.

Of all of those mini-experiences, which one was the best? Answer that question with a sentence that begins, “The best part of…”

Set up your page: draw a line at the top of the page where your title will go. Set aside some space for illustration if you like. Get yourself going with drawing or doodling if that’s your thing.

Think about how odd it is that taking note of the best mini-experience inside a larger one doesn’t have anything to do with whether the larger experience was a good one or a bad one. In addition, the best mini-experience might be a pretty good one, but the “best” can also turn out to be the least-worst of the collection.

As you write, mention the larger experience, then devote all your writing energy to describing the mini-experience. You might write something like, “The best part of that meeting was the snacks.” You wouldn’t say anything more about the meeting, but you could continue and describe all the snacks and your experience of them. You might decide to leave that idea and think about a different experience and its best part.

Maybe you’d write,  “The best part of my friend’s visit was when we laughed.” If you want to write more, write about what the laughing was like and what was so funny, but don’t say anything more about the friend’s visit.

Fill your page with descriptions of one or more “best parts.” Then look back over your work. Add illustration or decoration if you like.

Do your ideas form any kind of a pattern? Do they seem to be about a bigger idea that you hadn’t really planned on writing about? If they do, maybe you can use that insight to think up a title. If they don’t, make up some kind of a title anyway and write it at the top of the page.

Put your initials or a signature on the page, too. And write the date on it. 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. If you would like some help or encouragement with any kind of writing project, contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.

Raised by God: The Autobiography of Patricia Clayton is a new book that grew out of the Write For You program at LRC. It is the story of a person making herself new after years of addiction and trauma.

Elbow Room

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Uncategorized, Write for You Blog

by Nancy Casey

Every day is a good day to marvel at the world and appreciate how interesting it is. Consider elbows, for instance. Have you ever paid attention to how amazing they are? Write about that today.

Think about elbows and notice what your own elbows do as you set up your page to write. Draw a line at the top of the page where your title will go. Set aside some space for illustration if you like. You can always draw or doodle while you wait for a writing idea to come to mind. You can draw or trace your elbow.

How does an elbow figure into your daily routine? Imagine all the things that you do in the first hour of the day. Is a functioning elbow necessary to the tasks and activities you take on?

Try immobilizing an elbow for 10 or 15 minutes as you go about a few tasks. What is that like?

What if you already have an elbow or two that doesn’t bend or straighten? You could write about some of the people, devices, or strategies that have helped you to accomplish what others accomplish by bending and straightening their arms.

What can elbows do besides bend and straighten? What is elbow room? Is elbow grease greasy? How many elbows do you need to elbow your way into a room or a conversation?

When you have filled up the page with elbow ideas, look back over your work. Add illustration or decoration if you like.

Do your ideas form any kind of a pattern? Do they seem to be about a bigger idea that you hadn’t really planned on writing about? If they do, maybe you can use that insight to think up a title. If they don’t, make up some kind of a title anyway and write it at the top of the page.

Put your initials or a signature on the page, too. And write the date on it. 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. If you would like some help or encouragement with any kind of writing project, contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.

Raised by God: The Autobiography of Patricia Clayton is a new book that grew out of the Write For You program at LRC. It is the story of a person making herself new after years of addiction and trauma.

Decisions, Decisions

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Write for You Blog

by Nancy Casey

We get up every day and make decisions all day. Some of them are life-changing. Some of them are life-complicating. Some of them are so small and ordinary that we barely notice that we’ve made them.

Today, write about some of the decisions you have made.

As you organize yourself to write, think about your life in terms of decisions. Gather your materials—whichever ones you decide to use. Draw a line across the top of a blank sheet of paper where your title will go. Set aside some drawing or doodling space if you decide to do so.

As soon as an idea comes into your mind, write down some words about it.

If you have made a decision that turned out to be very important in your life, you might decide to fill up the page by telling the whole story of it.

Any time you have a choice about what you are going to do next, you make a decision. Even if the decision is the same one you have already made thousands of times. You could write about all of the decisions you have made since this day began.

Life-complicating decisions are usually a mixed bag of knowledge and hope, with a few surprises tossed in. You could write about the factors that went into a decision that took you down difficult or unexpected paths.

You can write about a decision without saying what the decision was. To do that, you might write something like, “That time I decided what to do about…” Or you could describe the clothes you were wearing, where you were and what you were looking at when you made a certain decision. Another possibility would be to write about all the consequences of the decision.

Once your page is full, go back through your work. Does it need illustration or decoration? You decide.

Do your ideas form any kind of a pattern? Do they seem to be about a bigger idea that you hadn’t really planned on writing about? If they do, maybe you can use that insight to decide on a title. If they don’t, make up some kind of a title anyway and write it at the top of the page.

Put your initials or a signature on the page, too. And write the date on it. 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. If you would like some help or encouragement with any kind of writing project, contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.

Raised by God: The Autobiography of Patricia Clayton is a new book that grew out of the Write For You program at LRC. It is the story of a person making herself new after years of addiction and trauma.