micro-story : Suddenly I was standing in a circle of light, like a spotlight was shining down from a star in the night sky. Then I felt a tugging sensation and my feet lifted from the sidewalk.
For today’s poem, I had some fun. I looked up a list of horror podcasts and randomly clicked somewhere in a show and wrote down the first thing I heard. I used those lines to inspire my Ottava Rima.
Once I Escaped the Void
Taking a deep breath, I escaped the void our restlessness was to me a paradox an opportunity to be employed like the worn off number on the celestial jukebox repetition of continuation kept us annoyed like each of the sullied grains freed from the sandbox let them scatter into the universe their upsetting choices making it worse
I understand the importance of most death it can’t stop me either though I’m flummoxed to draw my next breath under the weight of that ravenous seer time to strike and leave bereft the shadow people in their fever hands reaching out of the dark leave a burn, a tender mark
Large heaps of flesh-colored wax were scattered around the room disobeying any logical syntax melting in flame, bloom a heady perfume the heat weaves it’s cracks to the inter-dimensional vacuum scattering me to the adverse universe to disperse and traverse the inverse
Death from the Void by Maria L. Berg 2020
Writober
For today’s visual prompt, I chose “Lost” by Alex Timmermans
micro-story : The stranger arrived with the fall, leading a wild boar by a sheer scarf. They approached silently from the thick wood to the east, as if they did not possess enough weight to crunch a dry leaf. Yet everywhere they walked, trouble became too heavy to bear.
This week’s goal of getting to my desk at 9:30 am every morning is going well. It helps that the chair at my desk is the only place I can sit comfortably since I hurt my tailbone.
It’s hard to believe there are only ten days left. I will be focused on my timelines, character arcs, and plot-points. When I need a break, I’ll be reading as much as I can.
Summer ends and flits away leaving behind its bounty the ears of corn from Father’s garden have no need for butter or salt the light-yellow kernels sweet and juicy release the rays of the sun delighting the tongue
A Conglomeration of Textures by Maria L. Berg 2020
OctPoWriMo
Read for inspiration and craft
Today was a serendipity-full day, so when I happened upon a site that does “Textile Poems,” I decided that was a perfect type of poem for today. I love making fabric art and really like the idea of its creation as a poem.
Right Here, Right Now by Annis Cassells I enjoyed the immediacy of every line and the imagery of the conch held to the ear. The days are galloping by. Hold those reins tight.
Reflected in the mirror slick the sound-foam reforms elastic ostrich feathers flutter tickly all rest on faux-fur carpet soft the centerpiece sandpaper rough jagged saw-blade teeth look prickly The fence climbed over of wire barbed the next higher and razor-sharp brush for metal mesh holds bristly
A Conglomeration of Textures with Kitty by Maria L. Berg 2020
Writober
For today’s visual prompt, I chose this photograph by Christian Hopkins
micro-story : He thought the replicator would solve his problems. After the first copy wouldn’t go to work, or even clean the house, but plopped down and moped in the other corner of the room, he probably should have stopped. He figured the replicator must have malfunctioned, or he had used it incorrectly, so he tried again, and again, again. . . .
Yesterday, I put my printer through a serious workout. I printed worksheets like crazy and organized them in a binder that is now filled to capacity. It is organized into sections: Me, My Process & Motivation; Brainstorming; Characters; Settings; Plot, conflict, suspense, tension; and Scenes.
What she was doing with her fantasy novel wasn’t helping me, but she got me thinking (her cheat sheets) about obligatory scenes and the story grid. So I downloaded the genre story grid cheat sheets and started looking for obligatory scenes and conventions as I followed along with the One Page Novel technique and (pause for dramatic effect) I started coming up with specific scene ideas for my novel.
Tonight, I’m going to play with some timeline worksheets and the futurists thinking Reveal Unexpected Possibilities worksheet to explore my setting more.
What are you focusing on for these last days of NaNo Prep? Do you have any questions about NaNoWriMo?
The gypsy in a rage cursed him like a sour breakfast blueberry biting
He called her ugly and inert while flames flickered on the table caution
He had been drawn to her beauty warm like his mother’s sitting room festive
But disliked the fortune she told as the wind crescendoed to howl in waves
When she placed the cards one by one to keep teeth from ire and vengeance telling
She read he would face rejection like red hots, not like cinnamon piquant
And disappointment would follow misty, overcast, and chilly heavy
Because she revealed his future a sharp chirp to a yappy dog fulfilled
Writober
For today’s visual prompt, I chose Judgement by Kamila Szutenberg
micro-story : And this was how Halia described the new legal system, of which she was a part: a giantess, mind engorged, pulsating with all knowledge, ever expanding, scrolls through her lengthening lists of wrongs, lording them over the disembodied masses, drifting through her realm as quantum switches.
Because I approach the page differently when I write by hand and when I type, I decided to set up a binder for my NaNoWriMo project. I collected worksheets and printables I think will inspire me and this week I plan to fill some in every day. If you find worksheets helpful, you may want to look at:
Do you have other worksheets and printables that inspire you?
I also found a bunch of Scrivener templates other authors have created. Though I like the one I set up and it has a lot of information in it already, I thought I would take a look at these other templates and see if they inspire.
Forms Diatelle or previous form didn’t try (I went with the Channeling Emotion exercise I mentioned above)
A Glow in the Darkness
Curiosity is throwing a lantern into midnight’s halitosis an unsettling smell that tickles like a crawling tick she picks locks on dream diaries though sometimes she doesn’t like what she finds her twitchy fingers touch everything collecting memories of textures and heat like a campfire under a full moon an antidote for darkness’s cover
Curiosity scoots her chair forward aluminum legs scrape along the floor she leans forward expectantly bright eyes wide, eyebrow raised she loves to dip a toe in the water though she’ll more often dive right in the questions burst with rapid fire digging for desired answers until the source of the well runs dry like dismembering the eclipse of ignorance
Holding her torch high, she plunges further into the void the bad breath left by forbidden fruit still stimulates her senses the entries in stranger’s journals may reveal the reviled a risk she takes on her eternal quest for all that’s new, she darts through every cracked door, ignoring boundaries, leaping fences breaking through limits to find a new shadow to light
Writober
For today’s visual prompt, I chose this image of giant flying man-o-war jellyfish.
micro-story : She knew they didn’t mean to kill. They were wild and new to flight. Their highly poisonous tentacles, swimming through the mist, were but sensing their environment, drawn to her as she was to them.
Read for inspiration and craft
Horror flash fiction story Bakhtak by Ross Jeffery
Yesterday, I got a good start on my list of sound collecting for my sci-fi soundtrack. I recorded some sounds outside, some piano, selected bass effects and played with some riffs. I practiced the drums, but decided to start with other percussion instruments. Music is definitely one way I relax and process my feelings, so I’ll keep playing with my ideas for music that hopefully will inspire my writing.
The other thing that helps me relax and process my feelings is reading, so I just stocked up on ebooks from my library. I borrowed titles on writing sci-fi and a whole lot of science fiction stories. I also picked up other books on writing, especially focused on plot because I want to have my outline ready for November first.
This week’s NaNo Prep 101 theme is Find, Schedule, and Manage Your Time. These days, time just flies by for me, even on strangely slow days. I have yet to accomplish my butt-in-seat goals, so I’ll keep trying. Like I’ve said, listing my goals and publishing them here tends to help me get things done, so this week, I will be in my office, typing, by 9:30 am each morning.
I saw this video of fun, old Halloween music on A.M. Moscoso’s MY ENDURING BONES and I thought it fit nicely with today’s theme. There are a bunch of similar videos on Youtube, so my day’s soundtrack is set.
Poetry prompt Today’s OctPoWriMo prompt is My Wild Rhythm
Forms ABC poem
We Each Have Our Thing
Asps aggravate Agatha while Barracudas bother Brendon and Calliopes creep out Christian when Dracula deeply disturbs Devon Electrical storms enrage Evangeline, but it’s Frogs that freak out Freddy Ghouls greet Gretchen gleefully while Horrifying headless haunt Harry Ichabod icily isolates ill-wind when Jack Frost jumps and jives Killers keep kicking Kenneth and Lampreys lick at Lulu Monsters menace Mandy while Necromancers needle Nick and Open graves’ odors obfuscate Olivia when Poltergeists pester Penelope Quagmires quell Quincy’s quickness Rats require Ralph’s rancor Spirits stress Susan and Telepaths terrify Thomas Unctures unbalance Unis Voodoo vexes Vincent while Wicca worries Wanda Xenormorphs x-ed Xavier Yeti yammers at Yolanda, but it’s Zoospores and zoysia that zap Zach to zip
Writober
For today’s visual prompt, I chose Dreamer. 362/365 by Louis Lander-Deacon
micro-story : I had been looking down, trying to decipher the arrows on his phone when the brakes squealed and the car swerved wildly. I grabbed the dash, anticipating a collision that didn’t come. His chest heaved under his bloodless face. He didn’t answer my questions, only pointed to the street. I didn’t believe my eyes. I decided it was shock that made me see a woman, in the glow of the headlights, floating, horizontally, as if sleeping, about seven feet over the road.
Since today’s theme is Wild Rhythms and it’s the first weekend I’m not working on a story for the Writer’s Games, I’m going to start recording some fun sounds for my original soundtrack.
I’ll find some Youtube videos of drum beats I think will be good and practice for a while.
I’ll pick some fun bass effects and work on some riffs.
Record some piano melody lines to come up with some theme ideas.
Record some theremin while watching a movie with the sound off.
Record some sound samples: wind, waves, birds, etc.
Sample other instruments: harmonica, hulusi, flute, tambourine, talking drum, Tro Ou, etc. and see what combinations sound like the future to me.
Today’s going to be super fun! I hope you have some fun plans as well.
Today’s theme made me think of tearing myself open and letting my insides pour out, but then I thought about radiating and rippling from a core or center which led me to creating these radiating inkblots.
micro-story : After her long, dangerous pilgrimage, she knelt before the tortured giant awaiting its healing salve. She hoped it was still drooling angrily from its last piercing. The other-dimensional being hung in the cathedral as a reminder of human arrogance. Once it leapt through the portal, it devoured all in its path. Once it was finally captured, it could not be killed.
I got a lot out of the Change Perspective exercise for OctPoWriMo yesterday. I did a mind-map with three things from my list and it really got me thinking differently. Today, I’ll try this exercise as my different characters and see what comes up.
My camera has a cool filter that will let me choose red, blue, yellow or green and make everything else black and white. I grabbed my exercise mat and lay under some trees to see what I could do with these new perspectives.
In the subdued light at the tail terminus of a daydream, behind the fret of journey’s end, I grieve the rudder of purpose and mope in the posterior of objective. Ruminating design’s end, I sulk in the threatening atmosphere of ambition’s conclusion. The final revision is worry’s resting place where I speculate the extremity of intention, and reflect upon this stub I found to Haven, considering the target of that train.
Pieces of Yellow by Maria L. Berg 2020
Writober
For today’s visual prompt, I chose “Good Night” by Stephen Koidl
micro-story : She watched each steady breath. His eyes jerked under his lids. His fingers twitched. Her elongated fingernails reached out. She had the strongest longing to dig into his dreams, but she was still able to stop herself, for now. Ever since he took her hiking in that cave, she couldn’t sleep. All she could do is hover, and watch.
It’s a beautiful sunny day and I may not get another one in a while, so I’m going to spend my day with my notebook, brainstorming plot-points. I didn’t get very far on my outlining, so I’m going to try again.
An other-worldly black widow incapacitates mesmerisms’s ghost on the stairs satiated as a bat that drained a goat nourishment natural to gritty horrors
Predators locked in the trunk crawl over the soul-sacrifice of trapped next-door neighbors wide-open, silent screams their new embouchure while an other-worldly black widow incapacitates
She scurries through the chaos mind spying on wriggling prey glistening drool forms and drips on mesmerism’s ghost on the stairs
Watching the collector arise from the grave to shock the teenage scarecrows leaving a blood red message or trail satiated as a bat that drained a goat
Eyes and mouths without minds uncovering the buried fears giant ants knocking at the cave nourishment natural to gritty horrors
Writober
For today’s visual prompt, I chose this photograph by Gregory Crewdson
micro-story : He couldn’t stand that scraping sound under the bathroom floor for another day. He chiselled through the tile, and cut through the wood. He gripped the hammer, prepared for something to run out: a mouse, a rat, even a opossum, but nothing came. The scratching continued. He couldn’t see anything in the darkness. He grabbed his flashlight and slowly reached down.
Today, I am going to continue to update my daily planner. I’m going to look through my posts and journals from previous NaNoWriMos and search for when I had my slumps and how I got out of them. Hopefully, by planning ahead for tough days, I can avoid them.
Experience Writing 