1. Nearly everyone knows some love story.
   1. Share the one you cannot forget which ended.
   2. Do you still have a keepsake from a childhood sweetheart? Why did you keep it, and what is it?
   3. Or, have you, like Kathleen Roxby’s poem, a keepsake you have not forgotten, but which was lost or thrown away?
   4. Write a poem using the first letter of each line to spell out LOVE STORY.
2. Feeling patriotic, or not, about Presidents’ Day? Persuade us to see your point of view.
3. Write lovingly about an unusual object, something unlikely to be thought of as a thing of beauty.

1. Nearly everyone knows some love story.
   1. Share the one you cannot forget which ended.
   2. Do you still have a keepsake from a childhood sweetheart? Why did you keep it, and what is it?
   3. Or, have you, like Kathleen Roxby’s poem, a keepsake you have not forgotten, but which was lost or thrown away?
   4. Write a poem using the first letter of each line to spell out LOVE STORY.
2. Feeling patriotic, or not, about Presidents’ Day? Persuade us to see your point of view.
3. Write lovingly about an unusual object, something unlikely to be thought of as a thing of beauty.

1. January is the “make resolutions” or “get organized” month.
   1. What will be/have been your resolutions, will/did you succeed or fail?
   2. What needs to be organized in your life? Perhaps write an article of how to or how not to organize. Why do you hate or love to organize?
2. Write a something suggested by the holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.
   1. A memory or a hope for the future.
   2. Whatever subject you choose, try writing it in different forms: poem, fictional story, blog.
3. Tell the world or your journal about your winter, whether symbolic or nature’s version.

1. January is the “make resolutions” or “get organized” month.
   1. What will be/have been your resolutions, will/did you succeed or fail?
   2. What needs to be organized in your life? Perhaps write an article of how to or how not to organize. Why do you hate or love to organize?
2. Write a something suggested by the holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.
   1. A memory or a hope for the future.
   2. Whatever subject you choose, try writing it in different forms: poem, fictional story, blog.
3. Tell the world or your journal about your winter, whether symbolic or nature’s version.

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.
   5. 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.
   6. 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.