Welcome back to Cafe Writing. If you participated in NaNoWriMo, or NaBloPoMo, or any other November project, I hope it was successful. I spent a lovely long Thanksgiving weekend with my husband and our friends playing board games and talking and laughing, and one of the games we played was Ticket to Ride. At one point, I was even dreaming about little plastic train cars! In honor of that game, of my childhood (and continuing) love of toy model trains, and the fact that it’s December, and there are tons of holidays hurtling toward us, this month our Big Project is all about TRAINS.

Now, I’m referring to the kind of train that involves locomotives, and the inspiration quotes will reflect that, but you’re welcome to twist that interpretation in any way you like.

This project will remain open until December 31st. The next project will open on January 1st.

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Option 1: Picture It

Use the image above to inspire a piece of writing. Your piece can be fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, or any other form that suits you. (Please remember to copy the image to your own server.)

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Option 2: Poetry

And there is the headlight, shining far down the track, glinting off the steel rails that, like all parallel lines, will meet in infinity, which is after all where this train is going. (Bruce Catton)

Use the quotation above to inspire a poem about meeting in infinity.

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Option 3: Pick Three

What’s the railroad to me?
I never go to see
Where it ends.
It fills a few hollows,
And makes banks for the swallows,
It sets the sand a-blowing,
And the blackberries a-growing.
(Henry David Thoreau)

Use at least three of the following words from the quotation above to create a short piece of writing in whatever form (poetry, prose, fiction) you wish:
a-growing, blackberries, ends, hollows, me, railroad, sand, swallows

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Option 4: Tell Me a Story

The most common of all antagonisms arises from a man’s taking a seat beside you on the train, a seat to which he is completely entitled. (Robert Benchley)

Use the quotation above as inspiration and tell me a story about a stranger on a train.

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Option 5: Seven Things

Railway termini are our gates to the glorious and the unknown. Through them we pass out into adventure and sunshine, to them, alas! we return. (E. M. Forster)

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 of your favorite things about trains..

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Option 6: Short and Tweet

I have always loved to sit in ferry and railroad stations and watch the people, to walk on crowded streets, just walk along among the people, and see their faces, to be among people on street cars and trains and boats. (Ella R. Bloor )

Do you have a Twitter account? If so, use the quotation above as inspiration, and tweet about people-watching on a train: @cw_barista.

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Bonus Option: Time It: For an extra challenge, set a timer for twelve minutes when you sit down to respond to one of these prompts, and stop writing when the timer goes off!