In the News

by Nancy Casey

Think about a story that you can tell from your life.  Something that happened to you, or something you witnessed.  It can be an event from a long time ago, or something recent.  Something sad, happy, scary, fun, or boring.  It just has to be something that happened when you were there. 

As you assemble your writing materials, let your mind roam around your experience and decide what to write “about.”   You won’t be writing about it in the usual storytelling way.

Your mission will be to write about the event in a way that nobody recognizes it but you.  You will not change any information, or add anything that is false.  Instead, you will write down details from the story, but no details that actually give the story away.

Confusing?  Here’s an example.

Let’s suppose that I went to a party and at that party I had an interaction with someone that had a big effect on me.  Let’s say I was startled at the time, and thought about it for days afterwards.  Maybe it was funny.  It could have been kind, or mean.  Maybe it was a piece of good advice.  Or bad advice.  Maybe I’ve thought about it for years afterwards and it changed the way I see everything.  Maybe I have shared this story with lots of people. Perhaps I have never told a soul. 

How can I write about all that in a way that nobody but me really knows the “true” subject matter?  It’s all about the details.

I could describe the food at the party, tell what I ate and how much.  I could describe the location of the party, what the place looked like from the outside.  Do I remember first thing I saw when I walked in the door?  Maybe I can recall the shoes somebody was wearing.  (What shoes was I wearing?)  Perhaps I can dredge up a recollection of the furniture, the bathroom, the weather, or the music.  Of course I would remember everything about the important interaction, but I would leave all of that out.

Here is an example of the kind of thing that you might write.  Don’t forget to put a title at the top of your page and to write the date on the page somewhere as well.

This is a handy exercise to do when you want to write about something and you don’t know where to begin. 

It is also a good way to maintain your privacy if other people read your writing.

Regardless of what you have chosen to write about, when you return to a page of “irrelevant details” later, you will like it.  No matter who else reads it and or how hard they might study it, nobody will ever understand it the way you do. 

During the week, be alert for an event or two that you could write about in this way.  If you go to the grocery store or out for a meal, look around for details you could relate about the experience without any hints about what the experience really is.

If it’s snowing out and your feet are cold and wet, as you go about your day, take note of everything that doesn’t involve your feet.  If you write these details down, chances are that years from now, you could find that page and say, “Ah, that was the day I had such cold feet.”

Nancy Casey teaches at the Recovery Center on Thursdays.  Check the calendar for classes and times.  All are welcome.  Call the Recovery Center  208-883-1045 or email latahrecoverycenter@gmail.com for more information.

by Nancy Casey

You are going to need a sentence to start out with.  Any sentence.  As you gather up your writing materials and loosen your body, think up the sentence you will use.

You can begin with a sentence that describes something you see.  “The dish towel is on the table,” for instance, or “It looks like rain.”

It can be a sentence that might be true. “The cat is chasing a moth,” for example.  Or a sentence that is likely to be false, such as “The chicken swam the English Channel.”

You can choose to write something random and nonsensical.  “The eyeglasses took out the garbage.”  Or perhaps, “The table carried the ocean to the zoo.”

If you don’t want to make up a sentence, borrow one.  Something you heard on the radio.  A random sentence from a book, a newspaper, or online.  Any old sentence that you get from anywhere.

Once you decide on your opening sentence, write it out on the first line of your page.  On the next line, change one word in the sentence and write it down again.

For example, you might begin with “The child smells smoke.”   For the next line you could write “The child smells elephants,” and follow that with “The child plays with elephants.”

Instead of always changing words, you can add words.  After “The child plays with elephants,” you could write, “The child plays with dancing elephants.”

Continue to fill up the page, changing one word at a time.

You might find yourself describing something or telling a story.  Maybe the page reads like a slide show of images, both likely and fantastical.  You might have yourself a private laugh at the things you come up with.  Maybe it all makes sense or maybe it’s all nonsense.  Maybe a combination of both.  Maybe it’s nonsense to others but makes sense to you.

However the page comes together, write the date on it somewhere and give it a title.  You can see an example here.

If you try this a few times, each time will probably be different.  You can do it with a partner, where you pass the page back and forth and take turns changing the sentence.  Or you can do it with a group of people and pass the page around in a circle.

If you want to make it tricky and more interesting, you can start with a long sentence and change two words at a time.  “Last June when my birthday came, we built a fort in the willows,” could turn into, “Last June when the relatives came, we hid in a fort in the willows.

Another way to complicate things is to first make a list of 10 or 15 words.  Any words.  (Here are more suggestions for doing that.) Then, as you fill up the page with sentences, see how many of those words you can slip in.

No matter what you end up writing, each time you fill a page, you will demonstrate how the smallest changes can lead to big surprises.

Nancy Casey teaches at the Recovery Center on Thursdays.  Check the calendar for classes and times.  All are welcome.  Call the Recovery Center  208-883-1045 or email latahrecoverycenter@gmail.com for more information.

Listen to Recovery Radio! 1-2 PM on KRFP 90.3 FM on the Palouse or online at krfp.org. To help with the show or suggest topics, contact the Recovery  Center any time (208-883-1045 and latahrecoverycenter@gmail.com) or stop in on Thursdays and meet Nancy.

by Nancy Casey

When we say the word “writing” it usually conjures up an image of sentences and paragraphs. A writer lays down the wall of words one by one and the reader takes them in the same way.  The words combine to form thoughts.  The thoughts and ideas relate to one another.  The writing “says something.”

Your writing practice does not require that kind of writing.  You can fill up pages any way that is pleasing to you.  For instance, you can simply collect words without giving yourself the task of making them all go together and “mean” something.  Give that a try today.

Begin with your usual beginning.  Gather your materials. Get yourself seated comfortably. Limber up your hands, arms and upper body.  Rotate your head and torso gently a few times, as if you were looking behind you to the left and the right.

Draw a big ‘X’ on the paper that divides the page into four more-or-less equal parts.  Collect ten words and write them down in one of the sections.

How do you collect words?  The best place to look for them is in your own writing.  Simply wander through the pages and when you find a good word, write it down in the empty space.

You can also collect words from other people’s writing, such as books, newspapers, emails or Facebook posts.  Or you can quiet your mind and wait for individual words to bubble up and collect them that way.

What makes a good word? You like it for some reason.

Here are some of the reasons you might like it:

• You are surprised to see it.
• It’s important to you and you think about it a lot.
• It has a funny or interesting sound.
• You can spell it, but you aren’t sure how to say it.
• You can say it, but aren’t sure how to spell it.
• You keep hearing that word over and over again.
• The word reminds you of a certain place, time, or person.

Do this three times so that you have three collections of ten words each on the page.  To fill the fourth space, make a “best-of” collection by choosing a few favorite words from the ones you have already collected. (Your page might look something like this.)  Think up a title for each of the four collections, as well as for the whole page.  Put the date on the page also.

As you move about in your weekly travels, continue to collect words.  You can always find them in your writing or somebody else’s, but you don’t have to limit yourself to what’s already written.  Save up a word from something unusual you see.  Save a word for something so boring you are surprised you noticed it.  Save a word you hear.  Save a word you dream.  Just words.  Collect them.  Ten at a time.

When you are out in the world, write down the words you collect on an imaginary page in your mind.  Review them now and again to keep them from erasing themselves.  Can you remember ten words at a time and write them down later?

Nancy Casey is a writer and teacher who has lived in rural Latah County for many years.  You can see more of her work here.  Beginning April 5, she will be teaching these writing classes at the Recovery:

• Get it Written. Bring something you have to write.  Homework, an application, a letter, a report, etc.  Get help if you need it. Get it done.  Thursdays 11-12 and 6-7
• Write For You. Do writing exercises like this one in a group with other people.  Thursdays 3-4.

by Nancy Casey

Everything changes always.  Or at least that’s what they say.  Who is “they?”

Poets and philosophers.  Therapists and counselors.  Geologists.  Stock brokers.  You? 

Will the sun stop being round?  Will you get different parents someday?  Is water always wet?

As you clear a space for your writing materials, think about what does and doesn’t change in the world.  Loosen up your hands, fingers, arms and torso.  Move your legs around under you to get comfortable.  As you do so, start making a list in your head of things that are unlikely to change.

When you are ready, begin to write that list on the page.  Come up with five or ten things that don’t or can’t change.  If you have to wait for ideas to trickle into your head, doodle in the margins around the edge of the page. 

Choose one of the items you have listed, and write about why it is probably going to stay the same.  Tell what would have to happen for it to change and what would be different about the world if it did. 

For instance, what would it take for the sun to stop being round?  The intervention of aliens, perhaps.  Or the galaxy swinging into a new dimension where there were only straight lines?  Maybe just a special pair of glasses that made everything into triangles.

What would the world be like under this new sun?  How will plants grow?  Will skin cancer be an issue?  How will sunrise and sunset look different?  What will the new sunglasses be like?  Will there be any changes to your shadow?

Maybe you will write a lot about one thing on your list.  Or maybe you would rather write a little bit about each thing.  When you have finished, give your work a title and write the date on the page.

Here are some other examples of things you might write.

Throughout the week, continue to notice what does and doesn’t change.  Make a second list of things that you are certain will change.  Write about the things on that list by telling why you know they will change and how the world would be different if they stayed the same. 

Maybe you’ll find you need a third category for listing things that might change.  You might be able to break that down into “probably will change” and “probably won’t change.”

If you think and write about change for a week, you will become a philosopher.  What is change, exactly?  Does everything change or is that just a cool thing to say?  Have your ideas about change changed?

Nancy Casey is a writer and teacher who has lived in rural Latah County for many years.  You can see more of her work here.  Nancy will begin teaching writing classes at the Latah Recovery Center on Thursdays beginning April 6.  Watch the schedule for more details.