Welcome to the Weekly Write Part Two!

Directions for the Weekly Write:

1. Read the prompt as soon as you can after the Monday Posting.
2. Use your tool of the week; memory, experience, or observation.
3. Take notes first. Then write out your notes in as much detail as you can.
4. Save everything you write – we will be using most of it again.
5. If you miss a week, don’t worry! Just scroll down to see what you missed.

The Weekly Write:

18 & 25 November: It’s time for another two-week observation tool! This time, let’s look at age groups. You’ll be doing two different ones, one older and one younger. Some of you might wonder about this, and if necessary, yes do two groups younger, but don’t do 20s and 40s – do one adult and one children’s age group. How do they interact with one another? How do they interact with those younger and older? Do they have their own jargon? Remember you might need to research things after you take some notes. For example, if you are in your 60s and are looking at teens, you might need to look up some names you hear to find out if they are musicians, actors, or influencers. If you’re in your 20s and looking at people in their 70s+ you might need to do the same!

NOTE: Facebook has blocked me out and will not allow me to report the problem or log in. I’m sorry not to be able to post a picture of one of my daughters until further notice!

11 November: Happy Veterans’ Day! Or Happy Remembrance Day! In honor of our vets, look at your work from the last two weeks and turn it into a story about a week in a military mess hall. Talk about those on KP, cooking methods, common foods, and anything else you can think of to make this writing a work with military flavor. (Does anybody know an Army cook NOT named Cookie? Prefer a naval setting? Try the galley – maybe even a galley on a sub!)

4 November: Take your menus from last week and write out prep and cooking directions. Note things like ingredients you use often and things you like to eat together. Do they represent a certain culture or diet? How many cooking methods do you use? In other words, do you microwave everything? Bake everything? Or do you use a mixture? Do you have a gas or electric stove? What other appliances do you use? Toaster oven? Air fryer? Did you write down your coffee/espresso maker? Do you prefer finger foods or using flatware? (If you ate prepared meals, look up recipes online – research is good for a writer, too!)

28 October: Time to work on your memory tool again.  Let’s look at menus. What was the last meal you ate? The one before that?  Exercise that memory, write it all out, and one meal at a time, go back as many days as you can.

21 October: This week is catch-up week! If you’ve fallen behind or missed a writing, now is the time to do it.  If you are up-to-date, take the time to re-work your favorite writing so far.

14 October. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! For writing on experience, can you put one of the experiences from the last two weeks’ writings in a different place than it happened? For example, if you had a funny experience on vacation, can you move that experience to a place where you worked? Or move an experience from the job where it happened to another one you’ve done.

7 October: Experience again this time, but instead of jobs, think of the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you. Write it down
with all the details you can. Then think of embarrassing, sad, and, if you’ve had one, frightening experience. Once you have them down, analyze them in depth and see if you can find some good descriptions of feelings and reactions to each event.

30 September: This week let’s use our experience tool; let’s look at jobs you have had. Can you think of one experience you’ve had with each job? (or different schools/friends/neighborhoods if you prefer) What were your best/worst experiences with different jobs/locations?

16 & 23 September: This will be a two-week project this time. Use your observations on cell phones to write a scene about a group of two or three people who all have cell phones.  They can be anywhere you want them to be – and remember: they don’t have to be in the same geographic location! Use your observations and experiences from the past two weeks to create dialog – on the phone or face-to-face – or texting interaction between them. Think of a conflict for them – Is one a novice? How old is the novice? Is one in the middle of something and didn’t want to be disturbed, but feels they must respond? Why? Are they family members? Or are they physically together, but communicating with others who are not present? Do you think one or more of them are on social media or listening to music as well as participating in your communication? Make sure the characters approach the communication differently.

9 September: Now for a tough observation assignment: how often do you use your cell phone and what do you use it for? Make a chart or a list and fill in what you are doing every time you use the phone, what you use it for, and for how long. You might find yourself tempted to cheat on this! Be sure and watch yourself. Studies on phone use suggest most people don’t really know how much time they spend on their phone. I confess I find myself picking mine up compulsively and I don’t need to check anything! It’s just a bad habit I picked up when I started using my phone to check my email from work.  One last thing – if you can, use your memory tool and write down why you got a cell phone. Convenience? Safety? Or because everyone else had one? How common do you think that reason was?

2 September: Let’s move on to observation. This week watch people on their cell phones. Try to spend several sessions watching; the breakroom at work, grocery store, mall, coffee shop, or anywhere you want. The coffee shop – make sure the coffee shop offers free refills! – or a mall would be best since you’ll need to take notes. When do they use their phones? What do they use them for the most? And don’t forget people have Bluetooth! Look for earbuds and Smart watches with cell phone access! Sometimes when you think people are looking at the time, they’re really checking a text message. How young/old are the people you see using it? Does that affect their phone use? The final part of your observation is: how does the cell phone affect their interaction with the people present in the same location, and how does it affect their interaction with people far away?

26 August: This time use the tool of experience to write a brief story of going back to school. Create a student: a child, teen, or even an adult going back to college. Be sure and flesh your student out with details and feelings from your memory. Then go further; write out a few days for your student to participate in. How would your student behave and react to each day? Are they good or bad days? Are they humdrum days? Those are fine if you’re setting the reader up for something, so be sure to add the shocker you set them up for at the end.

19 August: Let’s try our memory tool first. Since it’s that time of year, think back to school time. (if you are still in school, or are in school again, think back to a previous school) Were you scared? Looking forward to it? Dreading it? All of the above? Remember the feelings and write them all out. Then analyze it from your current self; WHY were you feeling that way? Causes? Reasons? Next, remember your school days – did anything interesting ever happen in school? Did you have a favorite teacher? What do you remember about them? Write all this down as well for next week.