Midnight Muse

I toss, I turn
I think, I think
My mind never rests
My thoughts are in sync

If my ears could copy
If my cheek could compose
a room full of pillows
would be inked, prose after prose.

A great idea!
Line, plot, word,
A promising work
this time I'm sure

I wake, I rise
I think, I think
My ideas are gone
My brain needs more ink.

First Lines Challenge: Day 7

I told her I could fly.

(Sometimes simple is best!)


Practice the power of opening lines. Take the 30 Day First Lines Challenge.

A Beginning Poet's Assets

Poetry takes many different forms.  Meter, syllable count, rhythm, and literal shapes are combined in endless ways, or even avoided completely, to create poetic pieces.  Line breaks, organization, and white space can be used to change or create meaning in a poem.  Although my main goal is to write fiction, I find poetry writing a great exercise because it often heavily utilizes many literary devices that are beneficial to both forms.  During a recent poetry writing workshop with Southern New Hampshire University, I found the following resources most important to my writing process.


The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
A full spectrum of poetry information sorted alphabetically for easy navigation.  From poetic movements to terminology, the site a great first resource for poetry knowledge.

Shadow Poetry - A Poet's Writing Resource
Shadow Poetry explores poetic figures of speech, forms, mechanics, and terms.  The site provides definitions and examples, a poetry guide, a poetry handbook, and a word challenge poetry competition.  The numerous forms of poetry discussed and explained will prove a great resource to a poet looking to stretch out of their comfort zone, challenge their abilities, or simply learn new forms by which to express their poetic ability.

Rhymer by WriteExpress
A free rhyming dictionary that allows you to search for rhyming words by beginning rhyme, end rhyme, first syllable rhyme, last syllable rhyme, and double rhyme.  The free online version is limited, but very helpful.

Thesaurus
Find synonyms and antonyms for words.  The search breaks words down by definition, part of speech, and the directly related synonyms and antonyms for each one.  A simple click of one word will bring you to the same break down for the selected word.  Sometimes in poetry you need to express things differently from your initial wording and a thesaurus is necessary to really explore your options unless, of course, you're a walking dictionary and thesaurus.

VirtualSalt: A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices
A list of 60 rhetorical devices to spice up your writing with definitions and examples for terms such as alliteration, anaphora, assonance, oxymoron, metaphor, personification, etc. 

How Many Syllables
Simple syllable counter for those words you aren't too sure about. 

First Lines Challenge: Day 6

It couldn't taste pleasant, its grainy white particles coating teeth, tongue, and cheek, lingering in the throat and staining each swallow, yet she stands grinning as though it's a permanent fixture to her diet.

(Inspired By)


Practice the power of opening lines. Take the 30 Day First Lines Challenge.

First Lines Challenge: Day 5

Deep, darkening circles told of her endlessly sleepless night-pondering and pacing, anger and confusion, fear and pain-of memories pulling her back in time and pushing me into the unknown, a stranger in my own home with similar tired, sad eyes.


Practice the power of opening lines. Take the 30 Day First Lines Challenge.

First Lines Challenge: Day 4

The secretive darkness beyond the light's reach stalked her, black eyes blazing in the stillness of the night, breath drifting over sense-heightened flesh, body ready to pounce the moment she gained the courage to turn and run.


Practice the power of opening lines. Take the 30 Day First Lines Challenge.

The Writing Journal: Practice, Practice, Practice!

When teaching and developing literacy in children, the most important tool at a teacher's or parent's disposal is practice.  PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.  The more students practice writing, the better their writing becomes because they learn what works and what doesn't through hands-on assignments, especially with the proper guidance.  Journaling provides vital practice to young students, and it should become apart of your daily routine as well.  

The best tool at an aspiring writer's disposal is a journal.  Electronic or paper, whatever.  Write about your day, express your feelings, complain about the jerk who cut you off in traffic.  Write down ideas as they come, brainstorm for something you're currently writing, create simple poetry.  Write short stories, complete writing exercises, describe that character or scene you just can't get out of your head.  It doesn't matter what you write, just that you write.  Pick a certain time of the day and write as little or as much as you like but make sure that you write consistently.


I have a notebook at work and at home, but I also use features on my iPhone when I don't have a pen or have a thought I'd like to remember later.  My tendency to think of things when lying in bed at night has made this essential; after all, I can't write very legibly without a light (especially if it's long), so my phone is the perfect solution.  I cannot begin to count the number of ideas, sentences, characters, etc, that were lost due to the dark midnight hour.  What can I say? My muse is a night owl!

When you get to the point that you're writing creatively on a daily basis, I suggest "upgrading" to a writer's journal.  While there's no requirement to completely abandon the original journal, a writer's journal is important because it focuses on what you're writing.  Specifically, it provides a special place to document your journey and keep ideas, notes, and research that you can refer to as long as you write.  Explore thoughts and feelings related to characters, scenes, or plots.  React to your own work.  Flesh out histories, settings, or descriptions.  Create a journal entry as the character you're working on.  Make notes on where to pick up tomorrow.  Ultimately, the way you use your writing journal is up to you.  Use it to the fullest extent because you never know when something old might complement and infuse energy into something new.

First Lines Challenge: Day 3

The calm sway of tall grass against stone sang a slow, lonesome tune, its composer dancing among strands of tangled hair and obliviously mocking her jealousy.


Practice the power of opening lines. Take the 30 Day First Lines Challenge.

"There's incredible power in it" - Stephen King on Opening Lines

I tackled first lines right away for the same reason horror author Stephen King spends weeks and months and years on his: through their voice, they beckon the reader to stop, stay a while, and listen.

I highly recommend reading Joe Fassler's interview with Stephen King from The Atlantic's By Heart series: Why Stephen King Spends 'Months and Even Years' Writing Opening Sentences. A discussion of his favorite literary passages turned into an examination of the influence and importance of first lines. Through examples of his personal favorites and his own opening lines, King explains how these first words hooked him and why he bases the life or death of his ideas on first paragraphs. I think the final paragraph summarizes it best:

A book won't stand or fall on the very first line of prose -- the story has got to be there, and that's the real work. And yet a really good first line can do so much to establish that crucial sense of voice -- it's the first thing that acquaints you, that makes you eager, that starts to enlist you for the long haul. So there's incredible power in it, when you say, come in here. You want to know about this. And someone begins to listen.

Practice the power of opening lines. Take the 30 Day First Lines Challenge.

First Lines Challenge: Day 2

Six years ago I waltzed out that door, never happier to drop top and speed away down the street, yet not one day has passed that I don't hear his haunting melody singing me to sleep.



Practice the power of opening lines. Take the 30 Day First Lines Challenge.

Famous First Lines

One exercise I've found very interesting is the "First Line" exercise found in the previously suggested What If?.  The challenge is to write the first line of a story--only the first line--beginning in the middle of the action.  A good first line has some sort of hook that draws the reader into the story whether the line makes you think, creates interest in the speaker/character, or throws you into the action.

Some of my favorite first lines from novels and short stories:

• Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. —Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God 
• It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. - Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities 
• Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the riverbank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book', thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversation? - Lewis Caroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 
• True! - nervous - very, very nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? - Edgar Allen Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart
• For more examples: 100 Best First Lines from Novels

While not every story begins with an unforgettable line, many of the ones that stuck with me the longest caught my attention from the start.

© Photoaperture | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

I ask that you, fellow aspiring writer, accept the 30 day challenge to write at least one first line a day for 30 days.  You may toss these lines to the side.  You may revise them later.  You may use them as-is in the future.  The point is to exercise your creativity and help you overcome any writer's block.  Who knows?  One of them may become famous.

I'll share some of mine throughout the blog, and I welcome you to comment and share some of yours.

"Rain was rushing down the windshield, splashing as booming thunder shook the glass, but the only storm I could see was clouding his raging eyes."

What If? You need some inspiration and practice...

During my undergraduate career, I took a course in fiction writing that left me with a textbook I highly recommend for any fiction author.



Available on Amazon for about $50, What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers (3rd Edition) is a great investment if you'd like a ton of writing exercises that focus on different important elements of creative writing including beginnings, character development, voice, dialogue, plot, etc.  The authors also guide you with pointers with each exercise that are very helpful and often result in an "Ah-hah" moment if its an element where you were previously stuck.  In fact, you'll probably see me refer to this book often in some of the exercises I share on this blog.  If $50 is out of your price range, you can also purchase the 2nd edition for about $20 on eBay as I'm sure it's not too different.

Please feel free to offer any other book suggestions in the comments.

A Spark of Inspiration

As a teenager I coddled her, fearful her shining smile and passionate presence would fade until I could no longer remember the outline of her face.  We used to ponder and whisper well into the night, laughing, quarreling, and reminiscing like old friends until sleep finally won its battle.  Eventually every day life came between us as often happens when friends age and leave the simplicities of youth behind. Years later, I found myself missing the beauty of our friendship, so I began a journey to reconnect with my old friend, the missing muse that once plagued my waking hours with endless chatter and enthusiasm.

After five years of mind-numbing work, I finally began the creative writing courses for a M.A. in English and Creative Writing.  Two weeks into the course we began writing poetry.  Initially, I panicked.  My muse was long gone!  She took the first train out in the face of years of academics she knew would steal our time together.  Hours passed.  Days flew by.  Although it always flowed freely in the past, my riverbed was dry, and I dug until my fingers bled to find a source of nourishment to lead me from the Sahara.  It was me and the tumbleweeds watching the clouds pass by without a drop of thirst-quenching rain.


A week later I got a call from an unknown number.  So busy with work and class, I didn't answer; however, I knew the voice as soon as the message played.  A few days later she was at my doorstep.  Sure, she'd aged a little just like me-a frown line, a couple of bags under her eyes, and maybe even a grey hair or two-but she was as familiar as I remembered.  With age came knowledge and wisdom we lacked in our youth, and despite our time apart, we drifted off that evening just like old times.

I don't mean to insinuate that there haven't been any bumps in the road.  We're still learning from each other and that will never change.  We're steadily rebuilding our relationship, and I couldn't be more thrilled to have my muse by my side once more.  This is our journey, and I hope it serves as inspiration when you fear your muse has said goodbye.