Webby Tips for Writers #21: Write!

Posted by bridgid on | October 21, 2010 | 5 Comments |

This month we’re celebrating you, our fearless readers, by offering 30 days of reading, writing and networking tips. On October 31st we’ll conclude the festivities by giving one lucky reader a copy of the 2011 Writer’s Market book and a seriously amazing goodie bag. Learn how to enter here.

Tip #21: Write!

Like tips #3, #9 and #15, this is a writing prompt. Your writing skill is a muscle that must be flexed, trained and kept warm. Write every day, write every chance you get–your skill will improve by leaps and bounds.

You can’t say, I won’t write today because that excuse will extend into several days, then several months, then…you are not a writer anymore, just someone who dreams about being a writer.

~Dorothy C. Fontana

Prompt #4: Photo Inspiration

Write any length of response to earn 10 extra entries in our giveaway. If you choose to add an anonymous response, but want the extra entires, contact Bridgid.

Photo by Kate Dotson: Click here for a full-sized version of this photo.

Comments

5 Responses to “Webby Tips for Writers #21: Write!”

Janel
October 21st, 2010 @ 7:05 pm

The old store was just what she had been looking for. With a little elbow grease it would make a perfect studio. Melina turned the key in the rusty lock. The old door swung open with an eerie squeal.

Old newspapers and stained paper coffee cups littered the floor. A display case, with jagged, smashed glass, sat in the corner. She ran her fingers over the old-fashioned cash register sitting on a scarred table in the middle of the room.

She put her bags full of cleaning supplies down and went back to her car to get the broom and mop. She paused outside and looked at the rusted sign. It would be fun to alter it and make a new sign for her business, like a collage. As she studied the rusty sign she realized she could hear two people in a heated argument. It sounded like the voices were coming from her store.

Melina rushed through the door, holding the mop like a medieval jousting pole. There was no one in the room. The voices had stopped. She stood still and listened. Footsteps creaked across the wooden floor in the back room. She ran back there, but nobody was in the room.

Melina ran her hands through her hair. She was gripping the mop handle so hard her knuckles hurt. She stood still and listened again. It was quiet.

She sighed and returned to the front room, chastising herself for being a chicken. She picked up the broom and started to sweep, kicking up clouds of dust. The floor near the front window was covered in a thick layer of dirt. Melina skidded to a stop. A shaft of sunshine illuminated a rectangle on the floor. The light highlighted the words written in the dust: Welcome. I’ve been waiting.
bridgid
October 22nd, 2010 @ 11:05 am

Ooh, creepy.

I like how you use the actions of your main character and her emotions to pull us into the setting. Well done!

Thanks for participating, Janel!
Alicia
October 27th, 2010 @ 6:44 pm

I wanted to write about this one and never got around to it…so here goes:

I can’t believe this is the last image I will ever see in this life. I mean, couldn’t I have been murdered on a beach, at sunset? Then I might not mind so much that I’m laying a small lake of my own blood. But a Payless sign? Come on.

I guess most people don’t get to choose when or where they die. But I should’ve known when I walked under that ladder, then the black cat that crossed my path–five times, and the makeup mirror I broke this morning. On top of all that, I left the house without my lucky fingernail clippers. I know, what’s lucky about fingernail clippers–nothing, except that every time I’ve had them, nothing goes wrong.

So it’s pretty much my own fault. I even walked down this alley voluntarily. I might as well wore a sign that said “Rape and Kill Me”.
bridgid
October 28th, 2010 @ 5:03 pm

Alicia — one question: How do you sleep at night?
Alicia
October 29th, 2010 @ 1:19 pm

Hahaha. That’s exactly it…I don’t sleep.