  Noticing Newbies
This week: Out of Ideas? Edited by: Cubby~Happy 24th Birthday, WdC  
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 Welcome to the Noticing Newbies Newsletter! Our goal is to showcase some of our newest Writing.Com Authors and their items. From poetry and stories to creative polls and interactives, we'll bring you a wide variety of items to enjoy. We will also feature "how to" advice and items that will help to jump start the creation process on Writing.com.
 We hope all members of the site will take the time to read, rate, review and welcome our new authors. By introducing ourselves, reviewing items and reaching out, we will not only make them feel at home within our community, we just might make new friends!
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Amazon's Price: $ 14.98
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Quotes
An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.
~ Buddha
Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it's done right.
~ Walt Disney
A mind that is stretched to a new idea never returns to its original dimension.
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
 Out of Ideas?
Sometimes we writers run out of gas, finding our tank empty of ideas. Wouldn't it be great if we could pull into an Idea Station and pump our brains all the way up to Full? Most of us would be happy for a half a tank of ideas!
Writer's block can be frustrating when there we sit, a writing utensil in hand, a blank piece of paper (or keyboard and blank screen) but few words enter the mind. A sentence or two might occur, but the rest is history... a total blank. Finally, we give up and do something else.
It happens to all of us.
This week, I've compiled a list of block-breakers for you to try out. Who knows? Something from this list just might spark the next best seller!
Observe people at the mall, a park, a fair or somewhere else till you find someone who catches your eye. Ask yourself questions about this person, like: Where does s/he work? What kind of friends does this person hang out with? What about siblings? Parents? What is this person's biggest trial in life? What is s/he thinking right at this moment? 
Visit an art gallery. Or browse paintings online. Study a picture you find alluring. Ask yourself questions such as: Who is that lady holding the umbrella? Is her expression stern, or is she silently weeping? Who is the child tugging at her sleeve? Why does the lady hide behind the umbrella when there is no rain?
Listen: What do you hear? Are you alone? Was that the floor that just creaked? But you're alone, right? You hear the creak again. Your cell phone is dead. You know someone is there.
Scan a newspaper or magazine. Anything unusual? Find something unique and pull ideas from it. Create a fiction story using these ideas. Be careful, however, not to use the same names and places as the article.
Open a book somewhere near the middle. Close your eyes and point anywhere on the page. Now open your eyes and read the sentence your finger has touched. Use it as a prompt for your next story.
Check out a book with mostly pictures, like those coffee table books that are bigger than average: A Normal Rockwell book or something to do with the history of American people or whatever. It's amazing how a picture can be inspiring if you study it.
Read what published authors have to say about how they came up with their stories. This can be amazingly inspirational.
Go to a library and read as many first paragraphs of books as possible. Those first paragraphs should reach out and grab you right away, or disturb you enough to want to read more. Think about how you could pull a reader in with a first paragraph.
Make a list of titles, character names, descriptive phrases, quirks, etc. You never know when something might spring out at you.
I wish all of you the best of luck in your future endeavors with not only writing, but your wonderful experiences at Writing.com.
Have a wonderful week!!!
Keep on Writing!
Yours truly,
Cubby ") |
~ Got questions? Look for answers here... ~
And Now For Our Featured Newbies!
Excerpt: It was nearing her 15th birthday when while visiting the castle she was sent out to the gardens while her father conducted business. Her parents called her a dreamer, but what girl her age didn't dream about things? As she meandered down a winding path through a more over grown part of the gardens she allowed her mind to wander. Even though she played at disliking the prince, she secretly loved him. He was tall and well built for a lad of 18, with stormy grey eyes and hair the color of sand. She could just picture the children they would have together.
Excerpt: It began with two brothers. With a dream of life and reality of destruction. They stood before each other, with determined minds and poisoned hearts. Together they created the earth, used their differences to bring it to life; now they stood in argument over its future with one final question. Light or Darkness?
Excerpt: The itchy twitchy bugs were crawling on my head. My teacher saw the bugs, "You must go home," she said.
Excerpt:
Mr. Swenson loved days like this
When the sun shone through the trees,
And the wind would kick up and catch all the leaves
You see Mr. Swenson Knew what could happen with a breeze
Excerpt: The warm summer breeze lifted the curtains as the sun slowly rose over the town. Three beds with gold and white puffy comforters filled the room. Two girls sat up with identical brown hair and brown eyes. They stretched long, ivory arms to the roof and yawned. They smiled at each other then looked at the other bed.
Excerpt: Not so long ago, on the bridge between forget and remember, there was a single tear drop. This was the first and purest sign of sadness that this or any world has known. The tear of an angel.
Excerpt: The general consensus by which his attitude was based had to do with his aversion to smiling. That he didn't like smiling had less to do with his crooked teeth, more to do with his difficulty in finding amusement in things.
Excerpt:
Every night at witching hour
I hear a frightful tapping
SUBMITTED ITEMS
Submitted by Starr* Rathburn  This gal really poured her heart out here. I thought it deserved some attention. Her words grabbed me by the heart!
(Its formatiing is a bit rough, but I suggested she double-space between 'graphs, to make it more readable.)
Cordially,
Starr* R
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Submitted by roelane I am writing a Sponsored Story to raise money for The Chauncy Maples Malawi Trust. This UK-based charity is renovating the Malawian ship Chauncy Maples as a mobile primary healthcare centre that will travel Lake Malawi, providing care to needy, inaccessible lakeside Malawians. Any contribution you can give will be hugely appreciated! To read the story or find out how to donate or submit ideas, please have a look at my Sponsored Story. Thank you!
~ A Few More Places to Check Out... ~
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Noticing Newbies: August 04, 2010 Issue [#3887]
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