Welcome to the 2008 Holiday Project at Cafe Writing!
In the month of December we have so many celebrations – the Solstice, Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s Eve – that it seems wrong to ignore them – but one thing all share is an element of the mystical or magical.

There’s so much bad news in the world today, that rather than focusing on individual holidays, the theme for this month is HOLIDAY MAGIC. It will run through the first weekend of the New Year, I think.
(As an aside, if the quotes seem Christmas-heavy, that isn’t meant to push a personal agenda, and certainly I don’t expect your writings to be Christmas-centric.)

Option One: Seven Things

That’s the thing with magic. You’ve got to know it’s still here, all around us, or it just stays invisible for you.
~Charles DeLint

In improvisation, one of our exercises is a game called “Seven Things,” in which we go around in a circle giving each other the challenge, “Give me seven things that [whatever].” We are not going to go around in a circle here, but if you’re drawn to lists, this prompt is for you.

Give me seven magical things in your world. Interpret “magical” any way you please. You’re not required to explain the items in your list, but it’s more fun for readers if you do.

Option Two: Pick Three

Kindle the taper like the steadfast star
Ablaze on evening’s forehead o’er the earth,
And add each night a lustre till afar
An eightfold splendor shine above thy hearth.
~Emma Lazarus, “The Feast of Lights”

Pick at least three of the following words, and build a piece of writing around them. The form is up to you: poem, scene, flash-fic, essay, or general blog entry.

ablaze, earth, forehead, kindle, night, steadfast, star, taper

Option Three: Can You Picture That?
Use the following photo to inspire a piece of writing in any form (poetry, prose, whatever).
(Please remember to copy the image to your own server, and include photo credit when it is known.)

Holiday Project Image

Option Four: Poetry

If we opened our minds to enjoyment, we might find tranquil pleasures spread about us on every side. We might live with the angels that visit us on every sunbeam, and sit with the fairies who wait on every flower.
~Samuel Smiles

Using the quotation above as your inspiration, write a poem (any form is fine) about living with angels or sitting with faeries.

Option Five:Fiction

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.
~Laura Ingalls Wilder

Using the above quotation as your inspiration, write a flash-fic, scene, or short story involving childhood memories.

Option Six: Timed Writing

The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
~Francis P. Church, “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus”

Take twelve minutes (use all twelve, but don’t go over), and write on the subject of unseen and unseeable wonders.

This is a timed exercise and it’s expected that it won’t be perfect. Any format – fiction, essay, verse – is welcome.

Don’t forget to comment here with your name, the title of your piece, the selected option number, and the direct link to it.

HAPPY WRITING & Happy Holidays