In the News

by Nancy Casey

How many shoes do you suppose have stepped through your life?

Walking shoes, running shoes, traveling shoes, crying shoes.

Sneakers, slippers, sandals, flip-flops, work boots.

Fashionable and unfashionable shoes. The shoes that hurt your feet and the ones that don’t. Shoes you don’t like. Shoes you covet.

Today, begin with a shoe—or two. Fill a page with story from your life that has at least one shoe in it. It can be a story that reflects true events, or one that comes from your imagination. Or some combination of the two.

You can consider a shoe worn by you, or by anyone. Or even a shoe (or two) that nobody has worn.

You could even write about a brake shoe if that’s the story that pops into your mind.

Maybe you will want to tell the story from the point of view of the shoe.

Begin with a shoe (and possibly its mate) and tell the story. If the story is pretty short and there is still room on the page, tell another story. About that same shoe, or a different one. Or instead of additional stories, you could fill the remainder of the page with drawing.

Drawing or doodling on the page can help your mind relax and think more clearly. You don’t have to write down everything you think of while you were drawing. The drawing itself—no matter what it “looks like”—will stand in for all the thoughts you had while you made it. Regardless of what (or how) you draw, your mind will be a bit clearer for having done it.

When the page is full, look it over slowly. Leave a corner of your mind empty and ask yourself what the title should be. See what kind of title pops into that empty space.

Write your 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. In-person Write-For-You classes could be returning to the Recovery Center before too long—but not yet! If you would like some help with your writing, or just some encouragement,  contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.

by Nancy Casey

Trees. Those “one legged” living things that can subsist on water and sunshine for hundreds of years. The more you learn about them, the more amazing they are. They exhale oxygen and are home to zillions of living things. They give us food and shade. Some of them are poisonous.

Today, write (and illustrate?) a page that begins with the idea of a tree.

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. Then pause for a moment and let the idea “tree” settle into your mind.

You can begin with one specific tree in front of you. Or an object which started out as some part of a tree. You could decide to begin with a memory of a tree, or the idea of a tree that you construct in your imagination. Maybe you know some interesting information about trees and will start there.

Once you begin, keep your writing hand moving while your mind relaxes into thoughts that start with a tree.

You could tell a story from your life that has a tree in it. Or several of them. Or make a list of the titles of stories with trees in them that you could tell if you had all the time in the world.

You could decide to make and comment on a list of all the ideas that pop into your head after you start thinking about trees. They could be about trees in general, trees you have observed, how to make something out of a tree (or wood), or how to care for a tree.

You can organize the tree-thoughts that come into your mind alphabetically if you choose.

Drawing or doodling on the page can help your mind relax and think more clearly. Try that if you aren’t sure what to write about. Or illustrate your page after you have finished writing, staying open to a good idea for a title that might float to the surface of your mind while you draw.

Write your 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. In-person Write-For-You classes could be returning to the Recovery Center before too long—but not yet! If you would like some help with your writing, or just some encouragement,  contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.

by Nancy Casey

Do you know the tale of Rumpelstiltskin? It’s the one where the heroine is locked up in a barn and, under pain of death, must spin a pile of straw into gold overnight. Rumpelstiltskin appears and does it for her while she sleeps. There are a few plot twists and some scary consequences for accepting this gift, but ignore those for the moment and ask yourself this question:

If Rumpelstiltskin popped into my life some evening, what miracles would I want him to accomplish by morning?

Do you have a pile of straw that you wish could be turned into gold?

Consider all those onerous tasks that you procrastinate.

Perhaps you dream of a big change in your life or circumstances that feels impossible right now. Or ever.

Maybe you want something that others would call frivolous and unnecessary. Rumpelstiltskin doesn’t judge–ask away!

You aren’t limited to asking for yourself. Maybe you would like to orchestrate something new for someone that you know.

You can even look to the big wide world and invite the Rumpelstiltskin character to alter it in some way.

Let your daydreaming mind wander and see if it can find changes that you dream about even though they feel impossible from where you are now. What magic and miracles would you have Rumpelstiltskin perform for you?

Unfortunately, Rumpelstiltskin also extracts huge payments for his services. You can ignore that part of the story for now. Even if Rumpelstiltskin were real, he can’t make you pay for giving him a list! What would you have him do for you?

Daydream about these things as you set up your page. Draw a line at the top of the page where the title will go. Set aside some space for illustration. Or make a frame around the edges of the whole page and you can fill with decoration.

Wander through your favorite dreams. Imagine a scenario where, before you go to sleep tonight, Rumpelstiltskin will appear and offer to do everything on your list while you sleep. What will you find in the morning?

When you have finished the page, read over what you have written. Illustrate your work if you haven’t already. Think up a title that ties everything together.

Write your 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. In-person Write-For-You classes could be returning to the Recovery Center before too long—but not yet! If you would like some help with your writing, or just some encouragement, contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.

by Nancy Casey

You can get by without a lot of things, but air is not one of them. Fortunately, there’s air just about everywhere a person is likely to go. There are also ways to carry air with you if you happen to be going somewhere like outer space or the bottom of the sea. Without it, you couldn’t go there—or if you did, you couldn’t stay very long.

Yet air can be hard to notice. You don’t even have to pay attention to it to breathe.

Today in your writing, describe some of the ways that you perceive air.

Set up your page by marking off a space for a title and space for an illustration. As you do so, ask yourself how air could possibly figure in to doing that.

Consider each of your senses. What do your eyes, ears and nose tell you about air? Can you taste it? What are some of the ways that you can feel air on your skin? What does air do in a storm?

Sometimes we notice air because of the way it changes things around. What moves on a windy day? What happens when you put your face in front of a fan? What are some of the other signs of moving air?

Many things can be carried to you on the air. Some of them are pleasant and some are downright harmful. What has air brought to you lately? Did it float in or arrive in a blast?

There are many machines that don’t work without air. A vacuum cleaner, for instance, or a car engine. Why do some machines have fans in them?

What is the relationship between air and fire? Wind can whip up flames and make a fire grow, yet it can also blow a candle out. Why is that?

Fill up a page today by telling a story from your life—or several different stories—that have something to do with air.

When you have finished the page, read over what you have written. Illustrate your work if you haven’t already. Think up a title that ties everything together.

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. In-person Write-For-You classes could be returning to the Recovery Center before too long—but not yet! If you would like some help with your writing, or just some encouragement,  contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.

by Nancy Casey

Abundance. Multitudes. Much. Many.

What is there lots and lots of?

Think about that as you set up your page: draw a line at the top of the page where the title will go. Set aside some space for illustration.

Today, write about something—or many things—that are abundant in your world. You can consider your own life and memory, what you can observe right in front of you, or some ideas about the world at large.

Consider your own immediate surroundings. What sorts of material things do you collect? Do you collect them by accident or on purpose? What collects around you whether you like it or not?

When you go out, what do you notice everywhere? As the season changes, does anything new appear in large quantities?

Consider your interior landscape. Are there types of thoughts that return again and again? Certain kinds of images that parade frequently across the movie screen of your mind?

You can frame scarcity in terms of abundance by describing your many wishes to have something that you don’t.

Sometimes abundance can bubble over and become a problem of “too much.” Too much of a good thing. Too much of a bad thing. Or maybe just too many things to think about.

When you notice something (in your surroundings or in your thoughts) that there is lots and lots of, start writing about it. Tell what it is and where it can be found. Make other comments if you like. You can describe it in detail, explain its history or purpose, comment on its value, or imagine the world without it.

You could find that you have so much to say about one single thing that is abundant that it fills the whole page. Or you might end up writing a page that includes many different observations about what is abundant in your world.

However it turns out, read over what you have written when the page is full. Illustrate your work if you haven’t already. Think up a title that ties everything together.

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. In-person Write-For-You classes could be returning to the Recovery Center before too long—but not yet! If you would like some help with your writing, or just some encouragement,  contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.

by Nancy Casey

If you look deep inside any living thing, you aren’t going to find any numbers. Nobody has ever coughed up an actual 7, 16, or 56. Or pi. You can’t dig numbers out of the ground, or pull them from the sky, either.

Yet we have zillions of numbers associated with our lives. While you gather your writing materials and set up your page, think about all the different numbers that you know about. Draw a line at the top where the title will go and set aside some room for artwork if you like.

Much information comes to us as numbers. The percentages of people who hold certain opinions. The cost of a trip to a grocery store or gas station. Dates from the calendar and the time on a clock. The weight and the girth of the planet.

We have incomes and bank balances, debts, too. We keep certain numbers private, lest someone use them to steal our identity. A trip to the doctor’s office might unleash a whole slew of numbers: height and weight for sure, and maybe some lab results or instructions to go with a prescription.

All around you there are things you can count: fingers on your hand, spoons in the drawer, pages in a book, windows in a house, cracks in the sidewalk, miles to your destination.

Do you have a lucky number? A favorite one?

Today in your writing describe some of the numbers that are interesting or useful to you. They can be numbers that you know about and use all of the time. Or numbers that you are curious about.

Here’s the catch: don’t write down any actual numbers.

Instead, use phrases like: I know how many…  or It would be hard to count… or even, Someone could look up… or It’s important to keep track of… 

You could ask yourself questions: How much…? How far…? How many days…?

Fill up a page today by writing about some of the numbers that swirl around you.

When you have finished the page, read over what you have written. Illustrate your work if you haven’t already. Think up a title that ties everything together.

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. In-person Write-For-You classes could be returning to the Recovery Center before too long—but not just yet! If you would like some help with your writing, or just some encouragement,  contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.