Writing Prompts

This Week's Writing Prompt Every Fourth of July, we celebrate the birth of our country and all of its accompanying freedoms. We have many ways to experience and exercise our freedom. Writing is one. Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jane Smiley, author of Some Luck, shared her reaction to a note in a friend’s office one day: "Over her desk, above her…

This Week's Writing Prompt This year for Father’s Day, I celebrated the memory of my dad; we buried him last year the day before the holiday. Saying goodbye to him was long and slow as Alzheimer’s disease claimed bits of him for more than fifteen years.  I cherish the many stories I have about my dad. Remembering some brings sad…

This Week's Writing Prompt The world is full of breathtaking places. If only money and time were no object, we could take to the road, canvas the globe, and savor every spellbinding place we encounter. Gearing up for our trip to the untamed beauty of Alaska, I can’t help but imagine what other enchanting sites and experiences the world has…

That’s a wrap! School-aged children across the country are celebrating the end of another school year in anticipation of a laid-back summer. The completion of a grade can be a bittersweet time, though, especially if a student bonded with a particular teacher. On the other hand, biding hasta la vista to a less enjoyable teacher is downright liberating.

Sometimes the best way to write is to get away from it all. Even though I have been successful at maintaining my writing routine for many weeks now, I decided it was time for a change of pace and scenery.

In anticipation of the Sandhill Writers Retreat at Saint Leo University near Tampa last weekend, I drove there a day early and dedicated the extra time to write. I set up shop at a nearby Hampton Inn and enjoyed a beautiful view of an adjacent cattle ranch, rolling green hills, and grazing animals, just what my creativity needed to breathe deep and exhale the prose of my life. Yes, perfect serenity.

Eight.  

That’s how many honky–tonks are packed into just one block of Nashville, Tennessee’s iconic Honky Tonk Highway. Better known as Broadway, it’s a major thoroughfare in the downtown area of Nashville which includes Lower Broadway, an entertainment district renowned for honky–tonks and live country music.  

I’ve been eagerly anticipating the launch of my redesigned website for months. Today, I feel like a kid on Christmas morning, impatient to tear off the paper and show off my favorite new outfit to everyone. Did you have a favorite outfit or article of clothing as a child? Were you known for this look? Amanda shared a story with…

In 1975, I was in my friend Gena’s wedding, serving as one of thirteen bridesmaids paired with thirteen groomsmen. We girls were all decked out in poufy mauve and green flowered dresses and big floppy hats. You gotta love the seventies! I’ll never forget the fashion statement we made that day! Amanda recalled a moment in her garden wedding where…