1 July 2024: Take what you were doing last week. Can you add more? Does it need less? This second thing is the hardest thing to do, so be sure that every single word you write contributes its share to what you are trying to say. If it doesn’t, leave it out (or scratch it out – but use only one line!) When writing, never, ever throw out or completely obliterate anything. Not until you are positive it is as close to what you want as you can come. When you complete this, put it away and come back sometime next month. With this start of the rewrite process, you should know where this writing is going. You can now carry on, map out further plot, or start something new.

This is the last Weekly Write! But don’t stop writing! I hope that after six months of writing nearly every week, you are in the habit of doing so and will continue. Once you have something you would like me to review, please contact me. Don’t forget to save the contact link. 

24 June 2024 This week, look at what you’ve been doing the last two weeks and decide which one you want to work with. If you’re doing this by hand, rewrite it: if something doesn’t work, leave it out or add something new. If you’re doing this on a computer: start a new document and move everything you don’t like to that new document. Try some new word choices if it’s not reading the way you like. BUT, whatever you do, do not throw anything away, delete it, or move it to the trash! Those old thoughts may work after you rework what you have, or they may work somewhere different than where you had them originally. If you took out a whole paragraph, rearrange the sentences and see if it reads better to you so you can put it back. 

17 June 2024: I know that some of the Weekly Writes have appealed to you more than others. Look at everything one more time and pick your favorite, but it can’t be the one you did last week. You are looking to clarify, amplify, and expand – not just descriptions, but all your thoughts. In other words, make whatever writing you chose clearer to the reader, make it more dramatic – insert some conflict or expand on a current conflict. If you’re going for non-fiction, this is when you need to do some research. If writing you’re more personally, delve deeper into feelings and motivation – take the writing you choose further than you did originally; write more, add something to keep it flowing, and see how far it will go.

10 June 2024: It’s time to move on to the most important part of writing: rewriting! Nothing ever works the first time. What you need to do now is re-read everything you’ve written thus far. Can you add part or all of one of your descriptions to one of the stories? Try and see what happens. If you find you cannot – but only after reading them all! – then add more detailed descriptions to the shortest of the writings you’ve worked on so far.

3 June 2024: By now, you’ve got the hang of physical human description, but have you been working on their insides as well? If not, go back and add mental and spiritual descriptions to every description done so far this month. If you’ve been doing this you can either start a new character from your own mind or do/redo a previous Weekly Write you aren’t happy with.

27 May 2024: This time, pick your favorite literary character. Read the author’s description. If they are a hero, change the description so they are a villain, or vice versa. Does this change their physical appearance or only the words used to describe them? Then change their gender in your description. Keep on changing this one character as many times as you can. (a vampire, a zombie, from a different time period, whatever you can think of to change). 

20 May 2024: Now for the big event: let’s describe some people. Don’t forget the basics such as gender, height, build, hair, and eye color. Avoid exact measurements on height and weight, phrases such as ‘above average’ or ‘lean’ work well. This time, let’s do your favorite actor (non-gender specific here). Got more than one? Describe more than one.

13 May 2024: Let’s try getting out of doors this week to describe some live action or maybe just live reaction. Describe the day outside – but only by being out in it! Is it a beautiful spring day? Already summery? Raining? And yes, be out in it even if it’s raining. Already hot and sunny? Is it snowing? Be sure to dress accordingly!

6 May 2024: This week, write the description – a detailed description – of a kitchen.  Don’t forget about light, shadow, and the all-important smell. Yes, smell: a kitchen might smell of cookies, roasting meat, or unwashed dishes. A home kitchen or a restaurant kitchen? Are there any people in this kitchen? What are they doing? What is on the floor – tile or something else? What is the countertop made of?  Is there a backsplash? One sink or two? More sinks? (there likely would be if this were a restaurant kitchen) Are the appliances stainless?  Is the freezer below the fridge or above it? Side by side? Are the fridge and freezer separate? Is the stove gas or convection? How many burners? Write the most in-depth detail you can – challenge yourself.

29 April 2024: This week we’re moving inside to describe interiors. Pick one room in your home and describe it as it is – cluttered, dusty, old furniture you hate, whatever – describe it exactly as it is. If you have time this week, describe it as you would like it to look.

22 April 2024: This time, my favorite, we are describing mountains.  If you need a picture, look up the Maroon Bells (one of the most photographed mountain ranges in the US), Denali, the Hindu Kush, Kilimanjaro, or Fuji. Then put your mountains somewhere  – you are not required to put them where they belong.  For example, put Denali in the Himalayas. Put your mountains on the Moon or Mars.  Would their colors remain the same?

15 April 2024: Time for more descriptions: let’s do a beach this week.  Be sure to do two – at least one of them should have no people anywhere on it and describe the reason there are no people in it. (Deserted island? Storm brewing?  Primordial beach before humans existed?)

8 April 2024: This time let’s describe more than one of our weekly topic.  We’ll try a forest. First, describe the forest in your head. Since some of you mentioned this was tough, try using a picture from the internet. Then try another; a forest on another planet. If a picture to look at while you work makes you feel more confident, search for “fantasy forest image” and you can get some good ones. 

1 April 2024: April Fool’s Day! Since we are doing descriptions, describe the most elaborate April Fool’s prank you ever pulled, ever heard about, or ever wanted to pull on someone.  Remember, the more detail the better!

25 Mar 2024: This week, let’s leave point-of-view to simmer for a while. We will be moving on to descriptions. Descriptions are getting others to share your vision, so they are very important to writing. On 22 January, we looked at sunrise or sunset. Now is your chance to write about the perfect one. Is it over a mountain? The ocean? A lake? Maybe it’s over the open prairie? Imagine the most perfect one you can think of and describe it in the greatest detail you can think of. Are there clouds? Is it pink or red? What shade? Think about as many different locations as you can and try them all.  

18 Mar 2024: This week we look at memoir writing, so let’s think back to our point-of-view exercises and use your point-of-view. Where were you when you heard about 9/11? Tell the story of your memory. If you weren’t alive at the time, do you remember the first time you heard about it? What did you think when you learned about it?  Don’t want to talk about 9/11? How about the Moon Landing, the Kennedy Assassination, when Martin Luther King was shot, the start of COVID quarantine, or Pearl Harbor?   

11 Mar 2024: Since this week was the onset of Daylight Savings time – where we save absolutely NO daylight – and we’ve all been shorted some sleep, let’s take a week to catch up. Find the Weekly Write you struggled with the most, or work on one you missed.  If you struggled, and nothing more comes to you, try starting over. If you missed one, just scroll down, find the date, and do it now.

4 Mar 2024: Last week we looked at a different point-of-view from the aspect of time, this week, we are going to try another unique point of view.  This week, you need to write from the point of view of your cat or dog. (or fish or bird, you get the idea)  If you don’t own a pet, think of one belonging to a neighbor or a friend:

“Alone again! This is my opportunity to…”

26 Feb 2024:  When I advertised the Weekly Write I said I would include some Historical Fiction.  So while Margaret, Mrs. Ronald Greville, was a real person who did live at Polesden Lacey, and I hope you will at least do one search on her name or her home – the home is worth a view if you’re into design! – how much research you do is up to you:

“Mrs. Ronald Greville leaned into the luxurious backseat of the limousine as her chauffeur pulled away from the curb in front of her London home. She needed to get to Polesden Lacey early to prepare for the special guests she would have this weekend.” 

19 Feb 2024:  This one may take more time to think about before you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). Try to write something sci-fi/fantasy, or at the very least, make this one as fictional as you can. Pick your direction on this one, up or down:

“There was no doubt about it: 10,000 feet and falling/climbing was no place to change one’s mind.”

12 Feb 2024:  We’re looking a bit at research this time.  The Internet can be a marvelous tool, but everyone can put an opinion on it. I suggest doing some research on your view first, but no matter what you believe, always add some from the opposing view.  The secret to research is when to stop researching and start writing, so plan accordingly:

“Climate change…”

5 Feb 2024:  Let’s try something very basic and explore how far, or how close, to home, just one little idea can take you:

“It had to happen…”