In the News

by Nancy Casey

We all use to be different. We use to be less than two feet tall. We use to be unaware that 1 + 1 = 2. We use to have friends, habits or interests different than the ones we have now. Today in your writing, you will focus on some of the details of the way you use to be.

Think about this as you set up a page with a line across the top where your title will go. You can also draw a box or blob to set aside some space for illustration.

Because every life is characterized by change, there is much to say about the way you use to be. In some cases things get better, in others they get worse, but over and over again, things get different.

Consider your habits—eating, drinking, and amusements. Did your day always begin—or end—the way it does now? Is there someone you use to always talk to who is no longer in your life, or who has left the world? Did you use to read, exercise, or look at a screen more or less than you do now?

Many particulars slide out of our lives as we mature. What did you use to do when you were little that would be odd if you did it now? How did you use to think the world worked? What expectations did you use to have for your life?

Have you always lived where you live now? Dress the way you dress today? Listen to the same music you listened to a year (or a decade) ago? Consider the ways your body has changed over time. Consider your health, your attitude, and the activities you turn to when you are bored.

Begin writing with the phrase, “I use to…” and write whatever comes into your mind next. Describe what you use to do, but leave out the parts about why you use to do it or why you don’t do it anymore.. Focus your concentration on the way you use to be without judging or explaining.

After you have described one thing that you use to do, repeat the words “I use to…” and describe some other quality or activity that has melted out of your life.

Fill the page that way, and when you have finished, you will have made a mosaic of details drawn from your past. Maybe you will be surprised or impressed by the ways that describing how you use to be can also describe the way you are.

At any point in your writing, you can pause to add illustrations or doodling to give you time to think.

When the page is full, look it over carefully and make small changes if you like. When a title idea floats to the surface of your mind, write it at the top of the page.

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, contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center. In-person Write-for You classes have been suspended for now, but when Covid recedes in the neighborhood, they will return.

by Nancy Casey

Would-a. Should-a. Could-a.

Those are the words we use when we imagine a different past. We’re often advised not to use them—neither out loud or when we talk to ourselves. And when we do, we get reminded that we would-a, could-a, should-a said something different.

Sounds exhausting. It’s terribly hard to refrain from thinking certain thoughts. Because you have to think them to remind yourself not to think them.

Today in your writing, let ‘em rip. Open the gates and let them in. There will be a few other requirements, too, but first, set up your page while you allow yourself to imagine some of the things you wish were different about the past.

Draw a line at the top of the page where you can put a title when you finish writing. If you want to set aside a space for doodles and illustration, do that next. Then draw lines to divide the remaining space on the page into four roughly equal parts.

Write the words Would-a, Should-a, and Could-a as headings at the top of three of those spaces. Leave the fourth one blank, at least for now.

In each of the spaces, write about something that would-a, should-a, could-a been different. Maybe about something that you did or didn’t do. Maybe about the actions of someone else. Perhaps one event will fit in the small space, or maybe more than one.

Each time you tell a little Would-a, Should-a, or Could-a story, add the words, “But, oh well, …” and write at least one more sentence that places the event(s) in the past and says something about the present.

You might say something about how you survived, what you learned, or what doors wouldn’t have opened without the events you (sort of) regret. Maybe it seemed like a good idea at the time. Maybe you had fun, or it worked out well for someone else. Maybe it was the best way to learn what not to do the next time.

When you have filled the three spaces with Would-a, Should-a, Could-a stories, write anything you would like in the fourth space. Maybe some more Would-a, Should-a, or Could-a stories, or some comments about what you wrote, or what you thought about writing it.

When the page is full, look it over carefully and make small changes if you like. When a title idea floats to the surface of your mind, write it at the top of the page.

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 or encouragement with your writing, contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center. In-person Write-for You classes have been suspended for now, but when Covid recedes, they will return.

by Nancy Casey

Fall has arrived on the Palouse. The morning air is crisp—and so are the apples! Today, write about apples. Maybe a story from your life, or one from your imagination. You could write a list. Or a string of two-sentence stories or observations. Just start with an apple (or many) and take it wherever it goes.

Set up a page with a line across the top where your title will go so you are certain to have a place to put it when you have finished writing. You can also draw a box, a border or a blob that you’ll use for illustration. You can even start with the illustration to settle your mind and give you time to think.

Here are some approaches you could take for writing about apples:

• Eat an apple with all of your senses turned on and describe the experience.
• Begin with a memory of eating, buying, or picking apples.
• Comment on a fairy tale or myth that has one or more apples in it.
• Begin with one of the many of the expressions that have apples in them: the apple of your eye, an apple a day, road apples, apples and oranges, rotten apples…
• Start with something made of apples: cider, juice, vinegar, pie…

Pick an apple-thought and start. You don’t have to decide everything you are going to say in order to begin. Just get yourself going and write about whatever comes to mind next. If you stray from the subject of apples, so be it. You can’t mess this up.

When you feel like you’ve written enough, stop. If there’s still room on the page, fill it with drawing or decoration.

When the page is full, look it over carefully and make small changes if you like. When a title idea floats to the surface of your mind, write it at the top of the page.

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

Here is an example of what someone could write.

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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 with your writing, contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.

by Nancy Casey

It can be hard to wrap one’s mind around the fact that everything, every single thing we see and don’t see, is changing. Always. Today you will have a chance to slow your powers of observation down and think about that.

You will be writing sentences patterned more or less like this:

Slowly, slowly ______ turns into ______.

Think about that as you set up your page. Draw a line across the top where your title will go when you have finished writing. You can also draw a box or blob that you’ll use for illustration. Or make a decorative border around the page. A lot of people find that working on drawing and writing at the same time helps their mind relax so ideas can flow.

Slowly and carefully write the words, “Slowly, slowly . . ” and then write down the first thing that comes to your mind that doesn’t seem to change at all. Next, write something about how it does changes. You can say what it slowly turns into. Or you might decide to describe how it makes the world or your life different.

Add another sentence or two that tells a bit more about this change. You could tell how it happens, why it matters, who it affects—whatever further ideas come to mind.

To continue, pick out a word or idea from what you just wrote and plug it into the pattern sentence that begins “Slowly, slowly . . .”  Write a few sentences about how change comes about for this new thing.

Work your way down the page like that, describing things that don’t seem to change much, telling a bit about how they do change.

Maybe a story will come through in your writing. Or a pep talk. Or a clear description of the world. Maybe not. Don’t make a big effort for everything to be connected. You might notice connections later. And if you don’t, you will still have written something interesting. Slowly, slowly, some kind of picture will develop.

When you feel like you’ve written enough, stop. If there’s still room on the page, fill it with drawing or decoration. If you write only a few sentences and switch over into drawing, that’s just fine.

When the page is full, look it over carefully and make small changes if you like. When a title idea floats to the surface of your mind, write the title at the top of the page.

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, contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.