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November/December Participants

20 Thursday Nov 2008

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This is the Participants Page for the 2008 November/December Project: Jewels. It will be updated until the Project closes..

Option One: Pick Three

Fewer and fewer Americans possess objects that have a patina, old furniture, grandparents’ pots and pans, the used things, warm with generations of human touch, essential to a human landscape. Instead, we have our paper phantoms, transistorized landscapes. A featherweight portable museum.
~Susan Sontag

* ~ * ~ *

Option Two: Can You Picture That?



Photo Credit: Janet Spering

* ~ * ~ *

Option Three: Poetry

Let us not be too particular. It is better to have old second-hand diamonds than none at all.
~Mark Twain

* ~ * ~ *

Option Four: Fiction

All art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster’s autobiography.
~Federico Fellini

* ~ * ~ *

Option Five: Timed Writing

I don’t want to own anything until I know I’ve found the place where me and things belong together. I’m not quite sure where that is just yet. But I know what it’s like…. It’s like Tiffany’s…. Not that I give a hoot about jewelry. Diamonds, yes. But it’s tacky to wear diamonds before you’re
forty…
~Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s
(spoken by the character Holly Golightly)

* ~ * ~ *

Option Six: Seven Things

Some men’s memory is like a box where a man should mingle his jewels with his old shoes.
~George Savile

* ~ * ~ *

Don’t forget to comment here with your name, the title of your piece, the selected option number, and the direct link to it. Also, please note: since the database was destroyed and I’ve had to reconstruct, you’ve ALL become first-time posters again, so your comments will be queued for approval.

Also? There’s still time to submit to this Project. Follow this link for the actual prompts.

HAPPY WRITING

November/December Project: Jewels

09 Sunday Nov 2008

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Welcome to the November/December Project at Cafe Writing!

On Friday, November 7th, I accidentally blew away the entire database, and then a server glitch at my host rendered it impossible to recover it. Thanks to Google’s cached pages, I’ve reconstructed most of the Project and Participants pages, but in the interest of time and sanity, have not gone back and re-linked all the old submissions – anything earlier than July/August won’t have links, just a list of titles and participants. I apologize for this.

As a result of the db debacle, we have a new design, and a few new features. One of them is the “Quotable Cafe” widget in the right side of the menu. I’ll be inputting the quotations used in each project, and they’ll show up there on a random basis. It’s both an interesting piece of history (to see what’s been used) and may help find inspiration later.

Also new: Beginning with this month, I’m inviting all of you to participate in a new way, by submitting your own photos to be used in the “Can You Picture That” option. Our own Janet is this month’s contributor.

The Holiday Project will begin on the 7th of December, and run just past the beginning of the New Year. Last year our holiday theme was “Tradition and Ritual,” this year, I’m thinking it will be “Family & Community.” The January Project theme is “Fresh!”

This Project will run through December 6th, and the theme is Jewels. It’s inspired by a gift I received from my mother before I went to my writing workshop in San Francisco: my grandmother’s pearls. You are free to interpret the theme more metaphorically, but I like the notion of hand-me-down jewelry and art and antique pieces that have history and meaning.

* ~ * ~ *

Option One: Pick Three

Fewer and fewer Americans possess objects that have a patina, old furniture, grandparents’ pots and pans, the used things, warm with generations of human touch, essential to a human landscape. Instead, we have our paper phantoms, transistorized landscapes. A featherweight portable museum.
~Susan Sontag

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

essential, furniture, landscape, museum, paper, patina, possess, touch, warm

* ~ * ~ *

Option Two: 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.)

Photo Credit: Janet Spering

* ~ * ~ *

Option Three: Poetry

Let us not be too particular. It is better to have old second-hand diamonds than none at all.
~Mark Twain

Using the quotation above as your inspiration, write a poem (any form is fine) about second-hand diamonds.

* ~ * ~ *

Option Four: Fiction

All art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster’s autobiography.
~Federico Fellini

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

* ~ * ~ *

Option Five: Timed Writing

I don’t want to own anything until I know I’ve found the place where me and things belong together. I’m not quite sure where that is just yet. But I know what it’s like…. It’s like Tiffany’s…. Not that I give a hoot about jewelry. Diamonds, yes. But it’s tacky to wear diamonds before you’re forty…
~Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s
(spoken by the character Holly Golightly)

Take eleven minutes (use all eleven, but don’t go over), and write on the subject of the place where me [you] and things belong together.

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

* ~ * ~ *

Option Six: Seven Things

Some men’s memory is like a box where a man should mingle his jewels with his old shoes.
~George Savile

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 things that would be (or are) in your memory box. In this case, the box can be literal, and hold jewelry, or other special trinkets and treasures, or metaphoric. You’re not required to explain the items in your list, but it’s more fun for readers if you do.

* ~ * ~ *

Don’t forget to comment here with your name, the title of your piece, the selected option number, and the direct link to it. Also, please note: since the database was destroyed and I’ve had to reconstruct, you’ve ALL become first-time posters again, so your comments will be queued for approval.

HAPPY WRITING

Halloween Project: Participants Page

07 Friday Nov 2008

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Option One: Can You Picture That?

Photo Credit: Jef Poskanzer
Photo Credit: Jef Poskanzer

Option Two: Poetry

Witch and ghost make merry on this last of dear October’s days.
~ Author Unknown

Option Three: Fiction

“There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.”
~ George Carlin

Option Four: Timed Writing

Halloween wraps fear in innocence,
As though it were a slightly sour sweet.
Let terror, then, be turned into a treat…
~ Nicholas Gordon

Option Five: Seven Things

“Where there is no imagination there is no horror.”
~ Arthur Conan Doyle

Option Six: Pick Three

A house is never silent in darkness
to those who listen intently;
there is a whispering in distant chambers,
an unearthly hand presses the snib of the window,
the latch rises.

Ghosts were created when the first man
woke in the night.
~ J. M. Barrie

Project words: awoke, chamber, distant, ghost, house, listen, still, whisper, window

Halloween Project (October/November 2008)

19 Sunday Oct 2008

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Halloween Project (October/November 2008)

A gypsy fire is on the hearth,
Sign of the carnival of mirth;
Through the dun fields and from the glade
Flash merry folk in masquerade,
For this is Hallowe’en!
~Author Unknown

Welcome to the Café.
This edition of the Café Writing Project is a special Halloween edition. If Halloween isn’t part of your culture, you’re invited to open yourself up to the darker parts of your imagination, anyway.

We’ll be running the Halloween theme from now til the 9th of November, which means it also spans the Presidential election in the United States. Appropriate, I think, since modern politics are scarier than any ghosts or goblins ever could be.

For guidelines, please see The Rules. Remember that you should leave a comment with your link, including the title of the piece that you wrote, and the appropriate option number. Also, I would encourage everyone to visit the blogs of CW participants – most of our Regulars have amazing writing on their sites throughout the month.

If this is your first time here, please be aware that comments from first-time posters are held in queue until they’re approved by a live person, and that participant pages go up roughly two weeks after the beginning of each Project, and will be updated until the next Project goes live.

The planned launch date of the next project is November 9th

* * * * *

Option One: Can You Picture That?

Use the following photo to inspire an entry in any form – fiction, essay, poetry.

Photo Credit: Jef Poskanzer
Photo Credit: Jef Poskanzer

* * * * *

Option Two: Poetry

Witch and ghost make merry on this last of dear October’s days.
~ Author Unknown

Using the quotation above as your inspiration, write a poem (any form is fine) about witches and /or ghosts.
* * * * *

Option Three: Fiction

There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.
~ George Carlin

Write a flash-fic, scene, or short story involving a night when the moon is howling.

* * * * *

Option Four: Timed Writing

Halloween wraps fear in innocence,
As though it were a slightly sour sweet.
Let terror, then, be turned into a treat…
~ Nicholas Gordon

Take thirteen minutes (use all thirteen, but don’t go over), and write on the subject of fear wrapped in innocence.
This is a timed exercise and it’s expected that it won’t be perfect. Any format – fiction, essay, verse – is acceptable.

* * * * *

Option Five: Seven Things

Where there is no imagination there is no horror.
~ Arthur Conan Doyle

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.

So, give me either seven things that scare you OR seven of your favorite horror films.

You are not required to provide any explanations, but it’s more interesting for readers if you do.

* * * * *

Option Six: Pick Three

A house is never still in darkness to those who listen intently;
there is a whispering in distant chambers,
an unearthly hand presses the sill of the window,
the latch rises.

Ghosts were created when the first man awoke in the night.
~ J.M. Barrie

Pick at least three of the following nine words, and write a paragraph, scene, flash-fic, essay, blog entry or poem using them. It’s fine to change tenses, or pluralize if you want to, but please bold the words you choose.

awoke, chamber, distant, ghost, house, listen, still, whisper, window

Don’t forget to comment on this post with the direct link, title, and selected option for each piece you create. Happy Writing!

Anniversary Project (September/October 2008) Participants Page

07 Tuesday Oct 2008

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Option One: Pick Three

Spring scarce had greener fields to show than these
Of mid September; through the still warm noon
The rivulets ripple forth a gladder tune
Than ever in the summer; from the trees
Dusk-green, and murmuring inward melodies,
No leaf drops yet; only our evenings swoon
In pallid skies more suddenly, and the moon
Finds motionless white mists out on the leas.
– Edward Dowden, In September

Pick at least three of the following nine words, and write a paragraph, scene, flash-fic, essay, blog entry or poem using them. It’s fine to change tenses, or pluralize if you want to, but please bold the words you choose.

drop, evenings, glad, mist, motionless, murmur, pallid, rivulets, swoon

1. Knight on Bended Knees, to His Beloved, by Leonard Blumfeld
2. Nine Words, by Janet
3. Carcosan Idyll, by Tiel Aisha Ansari
4. All the Women in the Family, by Melissa A. Bartell
5. Autumn of Life, by Medhini
6. A Rainy Evening, by Sumi
7. The First Drizzle, by Anu

* * * * *

Option Two: Can You Picture That?

Use the following photo to inspire an entry in any form – fiction, essay, poetry…


Photo Credit: Goldmund at iStockPhoto

1. Latter-Day Variant of an Older Story, by Niebla

* * * * *

Option Three: Poetry

silence
seeks the center
of every tree and rock,
that thing we hold closest-
the end of songs
– Michael McClintock, Letters in Time

Using the quotation above as your inspiration, write a poem (any form is fine) about silence.

1. Pleistocene Remnant, by Tiel Aisha Ansari
2. Silence, Take 1 (and Take 2), by Mike
3. Addie Bundren’s Posthumous Sermon, by the scôp
4. Bread Rises, by Richard
5. Fisherman, by Gordon

* * * * *

Option Four: Fiction

She had only to stand in the orchard, to put her hand on a little crab tree and look up at the apples, to make you feel the goodness of planting and tending and harvesting at last.
– Willa Cather

Write a flash-fic, scene, or short story involving either standing in an orchard.

1. The Old Orchard, by Bobbi
2. Herakles in the Hesperides, by Tiel Aisha Ansari

* * * * *

Option Five: Timed Writing

He is outside of everything, and alien everywhere. He is an aesthetic solitary. His beautiful, light imagination is the wing that on the autumn evening just brushes the dusky window.
– Henry James

Take nine minutes (use all nine, but don’t go over), and write on the subject of being outside of everything.
This is a timed exercise and it’s expected that it won’t be perfect. Any format – fiction, essay, verse – is acceptable.

1. Being outside of everything (defined), by A~Lotus

* * * * *

Option Six: Seven Things

No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of spring.
– Samuel Johnson

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.

So, give me seven tastes or scents that define autumn for you.

You are not required to provide any explanations, but it’s more interesting for readers if you do.

1. Seven Tastes or Scents That Define Autumn, by Janet
2. Feels Like Fall, by MissMeliss
3. Welcome, Autumn, by Bobbi
4. Seven Tastes/Scents of Autumn, by Michelle
5. Seven Tastes or Scents that Define Autumn for Me, by Tamy
6. Seven Things, by Sister AE
7. Seven Tastes and Scents of Autumn, by Mike

Don’t forget to comment on this post with the direct link, title, and selected option for each piece you create. Happy Writing!

July/August Participants

21 Thursday Aug 2008

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First, thank you all for your patience while I’ve been absent this summer. You’re all amazing people and great writers, and I’m happy to be reading your stuff.

Second, at long last, here’s the participants list for July and August. Remember that submissions are open for July/August until the September prompts go live.

* * * * *

Option One:

1. One Liners: My Shadows, by A~Lotus
2. Seven Shadows, by Leonard
3. Seven Things That Chase the Shadows Away, by Lirone
4. Chasing Shadows, by MissMeliss

Option Two:

1. Eight Words, by Janet
2. Azure Flight, by A~Lotus
3. My Society, by Linda
4. Far Afield, by Linda
5. A Difficult Kind of Dance, by James
6. Alone, by Lissa
7. The Present, by Linda
8. Fondest Imaginings, by MissMeliss

Option Three:

1. Can You Picture That?, by Susana
2. Two Female Moods, by Niebla

Option Four:

1. 6,000 Steps, by Rebecca

Option Five:

1. Muddy Waters, by One More Believer

Option Six:

1. Unopened, by Melissa

July/August Project

20 Sunday Jul 2008

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Mamma mia, here I go again
My my, how can I resist you?
Mamma mia, does it show again
My My, just how much I’ve missed you?
Yes, I’ve been broken-hearted
Blue since the day we parted
Why, why did I ever let you go?
Mamma mia, now I really know
My my, I should not have let you go
– “Mamma Mia,” ABBA

Welcome to the July/August Project at Café Writing, and many apologies for being late. Again. This month’s prompts are light and fluffy, and, in honor of the opening of the movie Mamma Mia, based on the songs of ABBA, so put on your favorite retro clothing and find a beat you can write to.

For guidelines, please see The Rules. Remember that you should leave a comment with your link, including the title of the piece that you wrote, and the appropriate option number. Also, I would encourage everyone to visit the blogs of CW participants – most of our Regulars have amazing writing on their sites throughout the month.

If this is your first time here, please be aware that comments from first-time posters are held in queue until they’re approved by a live person.
* * * * *

Option One: Seven Things

Half past twelve
And I’m watching the late show in my flat all alone
How I hate to spend the evening on my own
Autumn winds
Blowing outside my window as I look around the room
And it makes me so depressed to see the gloom
There’s not a soul out there
No one to hear my prayer

Gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight
Won’t somebody help me chase the shadows away
Gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight
Take me through the darkness to the break of the day
–”Gimme Gimme Gimme,” ABBA

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.

So, gimme (give me) seven things that cause shadows in your life
OR
Gimme seven things that you do to chase the shadows away.

You are not required to provide any explanations, but it’s more interesting for readers if you do.

* * * * *

Option Two: Pick Three

I don’t wanna talk
About things we’ve gone through
Though it’s hurting me
Now it’s history
I’ve played all my cards
And that’s what you’ve done too
Nothing more to say
No more ace to play

The winner takes it all
The loser standing small
Beside the victory
That’s her destiny
I was in your arms
Thinking I belonged there
I figured it made sense
Building me a fence
Building me a home
Thinking I’d be strong there
But I was a fool
Playing by the rules

The gods may throw a dice
Their minds as cold as ice
And someone way down here
Loses someone dear

The winner takes it all
The loser has to fall
It’s simple and it’s plain
Why should I complain?
– “Winner Takes it All,” ABBA

Pick at least three of the following eight words, and write a paragraph, scene, flash-fic, essay, blog entry or poem using them. It’s fine to change tenses, or pluralize if you want to, but please bold the words you choose.

talk, belong, victory, destiny, plain, strong, rules, dear

* * * * *

Option Three: Can You Picture That?

Use either or both of the following photos to inspire an entry in any form – fiction, essay, poetry.. Bonus – somehow connect the two photos in a single piece.

Photos courtesy of iStockPhoto. Please copy them to your own server, if you wish to include them in your post.


Photo Credit: iStockPhoto


Photo Credit: iStockPhoto

* * * * *

Option Four: Poetry

Sleep in our eyes
Her and me at the breakfast table
Barely awake
I let precious time go by
Then when she’s gone
There’s that odd melancholy feeling
And a sense of guilt
I can’t deny
What happened to the wonderful adventures
The places I had planned for us to go
Well some of that we did
But most we didn’t
And why I just don’t know
– “Slipping Through My Fingers,” ABBA

Using the quotation above as your inspiration, write a poem (any form is fine) about precious time going by or about planned adventures – or both.
* * * * *

Option Five: Fiction

The summer air was soft and warm
The feeling right, the Paris night
Did it’s best to please us
And strolling down the Elysee
We had a drink in each cafe
And you
You talked of politics, philosophy and I
Smiled like Mona Lisa
We had our chance
It was a fine and true romance

I can still recall our last summer
I still see it all
Walks along the Seine, laughing in the rain
Our last summer
Memories that remain
– “Our Last Summer,” ABBA

Write a flash-fic, scene, or short story involving either a fine and true romance or memories that remain.

* * * * *

Option Six: Timed Writing

You are the dancing queen
Young and sweet
Only seventeen
Dancing queen
Feel the beat from the tambourine
You can dance
You can jive
Having the time of your life
See that girl
Watch that scene
Diggin’ the dancing queen
– “Dancing Queen,” ABBA

Take eight minutes (use all eight), but don’t go over), and write on the subject of dancing. Alternatively, use the words seventeen and/or tambourine as your inspiration, and see where they lead you.
This is a timed exercise and it’s expected that it won’t be perfect. Any format – fiction, essay, verse – is acceptable.

* * * * *

Don’t forget to comment with the direct link, title, and selected option for each piece you create. Happy Writing!

May/June Participants Page

08 Sunday Jun 2008

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If this is your first time here, please be aware that comments from first-time posters are held in queue until they’re approved by a live person.

This post will be updated throughout the month of June.

* * * * *

Option One: Seven Things

There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women.
~Madeleine K. Albright

No man stands so straight as when he stoops to help a boy.
~Knights of Pythagoras

1. Helpful, by MissMeliss

* * * * *

Option Two: Pick Three

Men wake up aroused in the morning. We can’t help it. We just wake up and we want you. And the women are thinking, “How can he want me the way I look in the morning?” It’s because we can’t see you. We have no blood anywhere near our optic nerve.
~Andy Rooney

When you see a woman who can go nowhere without a staff of admirers, it is not so much because they think she is beautiful, it is because she has told them they are handsome.
~Jean Giraudoux

1. Hint of Possible Sound, by Gemma
2. Melinda, by Jane Doe
3. Lancelot has heavy remembrance to wipe off his brow, by Niebla
4. The Dog Makes a Decision, by Tiel Aisha Ansari
5. Seconds in Between, by One More Believer
6. Twisted, by Lissa
7. Morning, by Misanthrope

* * * * *

Option Three: Can You Picture That?

Photo Credits: “Morning Smiles” is by Yvonne Chamberlain, and “Computing in a Coffee Shop” is by Quavondo Nguyen. Both are provided by iStockphoto.

* * * * *

1. My Kind of Girl, by Niebla
2. Picture Perfect, by Ambiguity Lotus

Option Four: Poetry

Sometimes the poorest man leaves his children the richest inheritance.
~Ruth E. Renkel

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.
~Honoré de Balzac

1. Inheritance, by Paisley
2. Abyss, by Areet Krsna
3. Goddess Gaia, by Rebecca

* * * * *

Option Five: Fiction

Single men and women who go home to an empty apartment or a dog or cat or child need adult conversation in their lives.
~ Dennis Franck

1. What’s going on in their minds while they’re having a cup of coffee, by Leonard Blumfield
2. An Adult Conversation, by Mike
3. Conversation with a Prince, by Tiel Aisha Ansari
4. Former Reflection, by One More Believer

* * * * *

Option Six: Timed Writing

Life is one of those precious fleeting gifts, and everything can change in a heartbeat.
–Author Unknown

1. Approximately Seven Minutes About Men and Women, by James Steerforth
2. Betroth Your Heart to Me, by Rebecca
3. Gulp!, by Sunrise Sister
4. Men and Women, by Lucy
5. Six Pack and a Potato, by Rebecca

* * * * *

Don’t forget to comment with the direct link, title, and selected option for each piece you create. Happy Writing!

May/June Project

18 Sunday May 2008

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Welcome to the May-June project for CafeWriting. Submissions for this project will be accepted until June 30th..

Because this is so late, I’ve provided double quotations to help inspire you, and two pictures that can be taken singly or together. In the United States, May finds us celebrating Mothers’ Day, and June brings Fathers’ Day, while the weather eases from the changing, often flirty weather of Spring, to the steady heat of Summer, so it seemed to be a good time to explore men and women, mothers and fathers.

For guidelines, please see The Rules. Remember that you should leave a comment with your link, including the title of the piece that you wrote, and the appropriate option number. Also, I would encourage everyone to visit the blogs of CW participants – most of our Regulars have amazing writing on their sites throughout the month. Please make sure you’re contributing original (new) pieces, not old stuff from your archives, though if one piece fits many memes you’re writing for, that’s fine.

If this is your first time here, please be aware that comments from first-time posters are held in queue until they’re approved by a live person.

* * * * *

Option One: Seven Things

There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women.
~Madeleine K. Albright

No man stands so straight as when he stoops to help a boy.
~Knights of Pythagoras

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.

Tell me about seven ways you’ve helped someone else.

OR

Tell me about seven people who have helped you.

You are not required to provide any explanations, but it’s more interesting for readers if you do.

* * * * *

Option Two: Pick Three

Men wake up aroused in the morning. We can’t help it. We just wake up and we want you. And the women are thinking, “How can he want me the way I look in the morning?” It’s because we can’t see you. We have no blood anywhere near our optic nerve.
~Andy Rooney

When you see a woman who can go nowhere without a staff of admirers, it is not so much because they think she is beautiful, it is because she has told them they are handsome.
~Jean Giraudoux

Pick at least three of the following eight words, and write a paragraph, scene, flash-fic, essay, blog entry or poem using them. It’s fine to change tenses, or pluralize if you want to, but please bold the words you choose.

arouse, morning, nerve, women, men, beauty, admire, nowhere

* * * * *

Option Three: Can You Picture That?

Use one of the following photos to inspire an entry in any form – fiction, essay, poetry. Please copy the photo to your own server if you want to include it in your post.

BONUS: Because this is a double project, use both photos as inspiration, and link them.

If you respond to this prompt, please copy the image to your own server, and credit the photographers. “Morning Smiles” is by Yvonne Chamberlain, and “Computing in a Coffee Shop” is by Quavondo Nguyen. Both are provided by iStockphoto.

* * * * *

Option Four: Poetry

Sometimes the poorest man leaves his children the richest inheritance.
~Ruth E. Renkel

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.
~Honoré de Balzac

Using the quotations above as your inspiration, write a poem (any form is fine) about mothers and fathers.

* * * * *

Option Five: Fiction

Single men and women who go home to an empty apartment or a dog or cat or child need adult conversation in their lives.
~ Dennis Franck

Write a flash-fic, scene, or short story about an adult conversation.
* * * * *

Option Six: Timed Writing

Life is one of those precious fleeting gifts, and everything can change in a heartbeat.
–Author Unknown

Take seven minutes (use all seven, but don’t go over), and write on the subject of men and women. This is a timed exercise and it’s expected that it won’t be perfect. Any format – fiction, essay, verse – is acceptable.

* * * * *

Don’t forget to comment with the direct link, title, and selected option for each piece you create. Happy Writing!

April Project

05 Saturday Apr 2008

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There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
– Hamlet Act 1, scene v

Welcome to the April Project at Café Writing, and many apologies for being late. As you may not know, April is the month in which we celebrate the birthday of the Bard himself, William Shakespeare. (His actual birthday is unknown. He was baptized on April 26th, however, and died on April 23rd, which date is also used to celebrate his birth.). It seems appropriate, then, that we take our theme from his works, this month.

For guidelines, please see The Rules. Remember that you should leave a comment with your link, including the title of the piece that you wrote, and the appropriate option number. Also, I would encourage everyone to visit the blogs of CW participants – most of our Regulars have amazing writing on their sites throughout the month.

If this is your first time here, please be aware that comments from first-time posters are held in queue until they’re approved by a live person.

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Option One: Timed Writing

I am constant as the northern star,
Of whose true-fix’d and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
–Julius Caesar Act III, scene i

Take seven minutes (use all seven, but don’t go over), and write on the subject of loyalty or constancy. This is a timed exercise and it’s expected that it won’t be perfect. Any format – fiction, essay, verse – is acceptable.

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Option Two: Seven Things

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.
–As You Like It, Act II, scene vii

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.

Tell me about seven stages or changes in your life.

You are not required to provide any explanations, but it’s more interesting for readers if you do.

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Option Three: Pick Three

Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And Summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And oft’ is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d:
But thy eternal Summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
– William Shakespeare Sonnet #18

Pick at least three of the following eight words, and write a paragraph, scene, flash-fic, essay, blog entry or poem using them. It’s fine to change tenses, or pluralize if you want to, but please bold the words you choose.

brag, course, decline, eternal, possession, rough, temperate, wander

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Option Four: Can You Picture That?

Use the following photo to inspire an entry in any form – fiction, essay, poetry. Please copy the photo to your own server if you want to include it in your post.

If you respond to this prompt, please copy the image to your own server, and credit the photographer L. H. Prior

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Option Five: Poetry

Edgar:
The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us:
The dark and vicious place where thee he got
Cost him his eyes.
Edmund:
Th’ hast spoken right, ’tis true.
The wheel is come full circle, I am here.
– King Lear Act V, scene iii

Using the quotation above as your inspiration, write a poem (any form is fine) about coming full circle.

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Option Six: Fiction

If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
–Twelfth Night Act I, scene i

Write a flash-fic, scene, or short story involving music.

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Don’t forget to comment on any April post with the direct link, title, and selected option for each piece you create. Happy Writing!