For December, consider one of the following to spur your writing.

  1. Write your own version of “Christmas Is….” For examples, see this month’s features Glass Rain and Through the Looking Glass.
  2. If you are a musician, consider writing a song for the holiday season. For many years, the songwriter/poet Rod McKuen wrote something each Christmas to share with his family and friends.
  3. Write a fictional story or a family memory.
  4. Write a poem which might be used to send as a card to friends or family, perhaps go a step further and make the card.
  5. Try writing a cinquain like that by Margaret Roxby in this month’s Glass Rain. Try one of these versions of this 5 line poem.
    1. Count stresses or beats within the meter, using 1 for first line, 2 for line 2; 3 for the next then 4, finishing with 1 stress for line 5. Pattern being 1-2-3-4-1.
    2. Syllable version. Line one has 2 syllables, for each succeeding line add two syllables, returning to 2 syllables for the last line. Pattern of 2-4-6-8-2.

 

For December, consider one of the following to spur your writing.

  1. Write your own version of “Christmas Is….” For examples, see this month’s features Glass Rain and Through the Looking Glass.
  2. If you are a musician, consider writing a song for the holiday season. For many years, the songwriter/poet Rod McKuen wrote something each Christmas to share with his family and friends.
  3. Write a fictional story or a family memory.
  4. Write a poem which might be used to send as a card to friends or family, perhaps go a step further and make the card.
  5. Try writing a cinquain like that by Margaret Roxby in this month’s Glass Rain. Try one of these versions of this 5 line poem.
    1. Count stresses or beats within the meter, using 1 for first line, 2 for line 2; 3 for the next then 4, finishing with 1 stress for line 5. Pattern being 1-2-3-4-1.
    2. Syllable version. Line one has 2 syllables, for each succeeding line add two syllables, returning to 2 syllables for the last line. Pattern of 2-4-6-8-2.

 

For December, consider one of the following to spur your writing.

  1. Write your own version of “Christmas Is….” For examples, see this month’s features Glass Rain and Through the Looking Glass.
  2. If you are a musician, consider writing a song for the holiday season. For many years, the songwriter/poet Rod McKuen wrote something each Christmas to share with his family and friends.
  3. Write a fictional story or a family memory.
  4. Write a poem which might be used to send as a card to friends or family, perhaps go a step further and make the card.
  5. Try writing a cinquain like that by Margaret Roxby in this month’s Glass Rain. Try one of these versions of this 5 line poem.
    1. Count stresses or beats within the meter, using 1 for first line, 2 for line 2; 3 for the next then 4, finishing with 1 stress for line 5. Pattern being 1-2-3-4-1.
    2. Syllable version. Line one has 2 syllables, for each succeeding line add two syllables, returning to 2 syllables for the last line. Pattern of 2-4-6-8-2.

 

For December, consider one of the following to spur your writing.

  1. Write your own version of “Christmas Is….” For examples, see this month’s features Glass Rain and Through the Looking Glass.
  2. If you are a musician, consider writing a song for the holiday season. For many years, the songwriter/poet Rod McKuen wrote something each Christmas to share with his family and friends.
  3. Write a fictional story or a family memory.
  4. Write a poem which might be used to send as a card to friends or family, perhaps go further and make the card.
  5. Try writing a cinquain like that by Margaret Roxby in this month’s Glass Rain. Try one of these versions of this 5 line poem.
    1. Count stresses or beats within the meter, using 1 for first line, 2 for line 2; 3 for the next then 4, finishing with 1 stress for line 5. Pattern being 1-2-3-4-1.
    2. Syllable version. Line one has 2 syllables, for each succeeding line add two syllables, returning to 2 syllables for the last line. Pattern of 2-4-6-8-2.

 

For December, consider one of the following to spur your writing.

  1. Write your own version of “Christmas Is….” For examples, see this month’s features Glass Rain and Through the Looking Glass.
  2. If you are a musician, consider writing a song for the holiday season. For many years, the songwriter/poet Rod McKuen wrote something each Christmas to share with his family and friends.
  3. Write a fictional story or a family memory.
  4. Write a poem which might be used to send as a card to friends or family, perhaps go a step further and make the card.
  5. Try writing a cinquain like that by Margaret Roxby in this month’s Glass Rain. Try one of these versions of this 5 line poem.
    1. Count stresses or beats within the meter, using 1 for first line, 2 for line 2; 3 for the next then 4, finishing with 1 stress for line 5. Pattern being 1-2-3-4-1.
    2. Syllable version. Line one has 2 syllables, for each succeeding line add two syllables, returning to 2 syllables for the last line. Pattern of 2-4-6-8-2.

 

  1. Write your own elegy or tribute to service men and women.
  2. Write about a time when a simple thank you meant a great deal to you.
  3. November is Native American Heritage month, honoring the indigenous people of the continental US, including Alaska.
    1. Many United States place names were adopted from the local Indian tribes. Write a poem using one or more of these names.
    2. Is there a custom of these people which hold meaning for you?
      1. Create your own family totem in a poem.
      2. If the beliefs of these people have special meaning for you, write about why this is so, how they have affected your life.
    3. Perhaps their history is your greatest interest? What event would make a good poem, story or article?

 

 

 

  1. Write your own elegy or tribute to service men and women.
  2. Write about a time when a simple thank you meant a great deal to you.
  3. November is Native American Heritage month, honoring the indigenous people of the continental US, including Alaska.
    1. Many United States place names were adopted from the local Indian tribes. Write a poem using one or more of these names.
    2. Is there a custom of these people which holds meaning for you?
      1. If the beliefs of these people have special meaning for you, write about why this is so, how they have affected your life.
      2. Perhaps their history is your greatest interest? What event would make a good poem, story or article?
      3. Create your own family totem in a poem.

 

 

 

  1. Write your own elegy or tribute to service men and women.
  2. Write about a time when a simple thank you meant a great deal to you.
  3. November is Native American Heritage month, honoring the indigenous people of the continental US, including Alaska.
    1. Many United States place names were adopted from the local Indian tribes. Write a poem using one or more of these names.
    2. Is there a custom of these people which holds meaning for you?
      1. If the beliefs of these people have special meaning for you, write about why this is so, how they have affected your life.
      2. Perhaps their history is your greatest interest? What event would make a good poem, story or article?
      3. Create your own family totem in a poem.

 

 

 

  1. Write your own elegy or tribute to service men and women.
  2. Write about a time when a simple thank you meant a great deal to you.
  3. November is Native American Heritage month, honoring the indigenous people of the continental US, including Alaska.
    1. Many United States place names were adopted from the local Indian tribes. Write a poem using one or more of these names.
    2. Is there a custom of these people which holds meaning for you?
      1. If the beliefs of these people have special meaning for you, write about why this is so, how they have affected your life.
      2. Perhaps their history is your greatest interest? What event would make a good poem, story or article?
      3. Create your own family totem in a poem.

 

 

 

 

Explore the subject of synesthesia which is a neurological condition in which information meant to stimulate a single sense, instead stimulates several. For examples, see this month’s poem “A Singular Prism” in this month’s Through the Looking Glass Here are a couple of examples.

  1. “Orange crackles like cellophane or static” from the poem listed above.
  2. From another in the prism series, “White smells like carded cotton or a silkworm cocoon. It tastes of brook water.”

You could write a scene where the main character experiences sensations while in conversation. For example, when the character sees the color red, that character might hear a sound of a door closing or a car motor. This would recur every time the color red appears or is mentioned.

 

Write about your own reactions to color. What is your least favorite or your favorite and why? What does a certain color always remind you of?

 

Write on Halloween theme

    1. A personal memory from childhood or as a parent/grandparent
    2. Something scary, eerie to make the reader get shivers. Real experience or imaginary, like the “locked door” poem this month.
    3. Take a stand, defend or argue against celebrating Halloween.