Category Archives: Writing Exercise

July 17, 2016 · 5:42 PM

Musings A to Z Challenge: O

Challenge: Write a short paragraph (100 words or less) daily on a topic beginning with the sequential letter of the alphabet.

Opportunities

Every day, we’re surrounded by chances to get it right, get it wrong, change our path, make amends, make new friends, discover something new, take risks, or make up for missed opportunities of the past. Hesitation and doubt are the biggest deterrents to opportunity; sometimes questioning is a healthy process, but it can also be so overdone that we never move forward, never take a chance to grab opportunity by the horns. So when you come to a crossroads, a place of decision or opportunity to take a calculated risk, don’t take the path well-trodden; break out into something new!

Leave a comment

Filed under A-Z Writing Challenges, Images, Quotes, Writing Exercise

Tagged as A-Z Challenge, opportunities, Quote, Sheryl Sandberg

July 15, 2016 · 5:50 AM

Musings A to Z Challenge: N

Challenge: Write a short paragraph (100 words or less) daily on a topic beginning with the sequential letter of the alphabet.

Novel

Don Quixote, first published in 1605, is widely considered the first novel; but the novel as a genre seems to have risen to popular culture in the 18^th century. Since then, millions of novels have been written because, through the perspectives, lives and times of characters, readers can escape their own realities for a short time, can learn something about themselves, and can perhaps even learn how to deal with their own challenges or difficulties in new ways. We love to identify with stories, root for good to triumph over evil, and see the hero or heroine fall in love.

4 Comments

Filed under A-Z Writing Challenges, Images, Quotes, Writing Exercise

Tagged as A-Z Challenge, Don Quixote, Mary McCarthy, Novels, Quote

July 14, 2016 · 10:42 AM

Musings A to Z Challenge: M

Challenge: Write a short paragraph (100 words or less) daily on a topic beginning with the sequential letter of the alphabet.

Motion

As the quote implies, motion is movement, but it’s not necessarily productive or progressive; a hamster in a wheel may be moving, but it takes action to get out of the rut and do something new or different. We speak of going through the motions, which has the feeling of a hamster wheel sometimes, doesn’t it? While motion is value-neutral, it’s required for progress, success, advancement, and reaching goals; it must be accompanied by action toward our goals, or they will remain nothing more than castles in the air. So go for it: Move, act and reach your goal!

Motion

2 Comments

Filed under A-Z Writing Challenges, Images, Quotes, Writing Exercise

Tagged as A-Z Challenge, Action, Benjamin Franklin, Motion, Quote

July 13, 2016 · 9:36 AM

Musings A to Z Challenge: L

Challenge: Write a short paragraph (100 words or less) daily on a topic beginning with the sequential letter of the alphabet.

Lackadaisical

Lackadaisical is such a whimsical word compared to what it actually means: “Unenthusiastic, uninterested, and lethargic”. I love the 18^th century definition: “sentimentally woebegone”; it came from a 1748 interjection, “lackadaisy”, which meant alas/alack. It seems to me the type of word that the fairy godmother in the 1955 Cinderella tale (The Glass Slipper, with Leslie Carron) would like to say just for the sound of it: Window sill… Cinderella… meadowlark… lackadaisical. Or a word that should be included in lists such as Mary Poppins’ favourite word, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (which is reminiscent of long German words, though English has them too).

5 Comments

Filed under A-Z Writing Challenges, Images, Quotes, Writing Exercise

Tagged as A-Z Challenge, Cinderella, Doug Larson, Etymology, Film, Lackadaisical, Leslie Carron, Link, Longest German Words, Mary Poppins, Quote, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, The Glass Slipper

July 12, 2016 · 9:34 AM

Musings A to Z Challenge: K

Challenge: Write a short paragraph (100 words or less) daily on a topic beginning with the sequential letter of the alphabet.

Kaleidoscope

I love kaleidoscopes and their constantly changing patterns, made just by turning a simple tube; the creative energy of endless possibilities is what draws me, and the same can be said of words. Combined differently each time, they have endless possible patterns: It was a dark and stormy night; it was the best of times; it is a truth universally acknowledged; the sun shone, having no alternative, on nothing new; once upon a time. Each opening pulls us into a completely different world. A single premise may birth a thousand tales, each one inspiring a thousand more… so keep writing!

Leave a comment

Filed under A-Z Writing Challenges, Images, Quotes, Writing Exercise

Tagged as A-Z Challenge, Jean Houston, Kaleidoscope, Quote, Variety, writing

July 11, 2016 · 11:44 AM

Musings A to Z Challenge: J

Challenge: Write a short paragraph (100 words or less) daily on a topic beginning with the sequential letter of the alphabet.

Judgement

Political correctness has made some people afraid to judge rightly, so judgement may carry a negative connotation; for that reason, I prefer the word discernment, though in many ways they are synonymous. Both enable me to see through the smoke screens of situations or people and get to the core; they both help me to choose between right and wrong, and decide which way to go on grey issues. Judgement, like discernment, is a muscle that becomes stronger by exercising it and weaker if it falls out of use; the more we utilize them, the easier they become to wield.

4 Comments

Filed under A-Z Writing Challenges, Images, Quotes, Writing Exercise

Tagged as A-Z Challenge, Discernment, James D. Miles, Judgement, Quote

July 10, 2016 · 4:25 PM

Musings A to Z Challenge: I

Challenge: Write a short paragraph (100 words or less) daily on a topic beginning with the sequential letter of the alphabet.

Impossibilities

As a singing teacher, I eliminate two words from my students’ vocabularies as soon as possible: Can’t and impossible. Anything’s possible, if we only believe in ourselves and our abilities; sometimes it may take someone a bit longer to reach the goal, but if they’re willing to learn and be persistent, they can reach any goal they set. The only students I’ve ever had who couldn’t reach goals were unteachable ones; those who came to a teacher so they could claim training, but weren’t willing to be challenged. But I’m teachable – I’ve learned not to squander time with such students.

6 Comments

Filed under A-Z Writing Challenges, Images, Quotes, Writing Exercise

Tagged as A-Z Challenge, Impossibilities, Quote, Saint Francis of Assisi, Singing, Teachability, Vocal Coaching

July 8, 2016 · 9:50 AM

Musings A to Z Challenge: H

Challenge: Write a short paragraph (100 words or less) daily on a topic beginning with the sequential letter of the alphabet.

Homogeny

No one comes to a screeching halt beside a brick wall and gushes over a particular brick, do they. Why? Because they’re homogeneous – each so similar to the other that none stand out as unique. Yet isn’t that exactly what society and the media are trying to tell us to become? Women are to look like air-brushed, photoshopped models; men are to become successful in high-paying and powerful careers, regardless of their dreams or individual giftings. But I’m with Robert Frost; let the cream rise. Follow your hearts in your careers, and learn to love yourself as you are!

Leave a comment

Filed under A-Z Writing Challenges, Images, Quotes, Writing Exercise

Tagged as A-Z Challenge, Homogeny, Media, Quote, Robert Frost, Self Image

July 7, 2016 · 3:32 AM

Musings A to Z Challenge: G

Challenge: Write a short paragraph (100 words or less) daily on a topic beginning with the sequential letter of the alphabet.

Greatness

Those who achieve greatness are those who’ve overcome impossible odds, obstacles and limitations to fulfil their vision or reach their goals. In my experience, success usually comes dressed in work clothes with its sleeves rolled up, ready to sweat. In order to reach success, or greatness, the prerequisite it that you must know what your goal is, what your vision is; only then can you work toward obtaining it. Sometimes people are multi-gifted; the challenge then is to choose which goal you want to reach, and prune the vine of your activities so that the grapes of success are sweetest.

Leave a comment

Filed under A-Z Writing Challenges, Images, Quotes, Writing Exercise

Tagged as A-Z Challenge, Greatness, Phillips Brooks, Quote

July 6, 2016 · 8:41 AM

Musings A to Z Challenge: F

Challenge: Write a short entry (100 words or less) on a topic beginning with the sequential letter of the alphabet.

Feelings

Feelings are a dangerous foundation for any decision or conclusion; they are fickle, unreliable, fallible, and influenced by hormones, chemical imbalances, misunderstandings, and psychological baggage that we all carry around with us. The quote below is so true: Regardless of what is said or done, how it affects someone else makes all the difference between those actions and words being memorable as an encouragement, or as a discouragement; as edifying, or destructive. Proverbs 18:21 says that there is life and death in the power of the tongue; it behoves us to use it wisely.

Feelings