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Enter Flow Via Recycled Greeting Cards

Use Recycled Greetings as Upcycled Prompts

Upcycling cards to get into flow!
Go green by recycling holiday cards as writing prompts!

Before tossing those holiday cards, let’s recycle them to use as writing prompts. There are many ways to use the cards. Here are three that produce quick results. First, tear the card covers off and make a deck out of the cards. Choose one to write a theme, Second, take a card from the deck and describe the scene found in the image and write it in your journal. Finally, choose three to five cards and make a word bank to do a quick write. Let’s look at the benefits each prompt writing session can bear.

Pick a Theme from Deck

You remember themes from grade school, right? They are five-point essays, which have an introductory paragraph, three supporting paragraphs, and a closing paragraph. This structure is comforting to some  folks. Pick a card, then write about 500 words on the metaphor from the image or message on the cover. For example, an image of Santa holding a decorated and lit tree with a bag of toys might convey traditions. Then, think of at least three holiday traditions your family or town celebrates annually. Or, a birch tree with cardinals on branches and the words Comfort and Joy may invoke nature’s beauty as a theme. If you belong to a writing group, then this exercise allows you to create a piece to share in a recognized format.

Write a Journal Entry on Card’s Scene

A snowy town with people shopping or a sleepy mouse resting in a bow of a present are both whimsical images. Picking a drawing on a card and writing about what is going on in the scene helps build a story. If you are ambitious, think about what happened just before or just after the scene in the card. Write that description as a journal entry. When everything else seems too difficult, this is a very quick way to get into flow.

Choose Words for Word Bank Quick-Write

Take a quick look over the cards and choose 10-12 words for a word bank. Make sure that the words are vivid. The words from my stack include: merry, bright, believe, magic, Christmas, savior, gift, adore, happy, silent, night, snow. If you kept the inside of the card, see what juicy words or phrases are offered. Then, pull out your journal and set a timer for 15 minutes and write an entry or a children’s tale. Use all or most of the words. It is a quick way to get ideas for other stories, poems, plays, and even novels.

Pulling It Together with Greeting Cards

Try one, two, or all three of these exercises. Combine them to create longer pieces. Most of all, extend the joy of the holiday season while writing!

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa Moks-Unger

 

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There’s No Place Like Home

Trek Through October Leads to Home

#write31days leads us home
There really is no place like home when you travel the literary Yellow Brick Road for a month! Here’s to #write31days!

Like Dorothy clicking her heels three times, we, too are home. I started to blog daily at the beginning of October to build a Grow Your Flow blog audience. How? I used the #write31days challenge. We ran away with Dorothy and met up with Professor Marvel. Missed it? Look here: https://wewriteitright.com/marvel-at-ease-of-flow/ We crashed in Munchkin Land and poked our heads over Dorothy’s shoulder as she opened the door of her sepia world and ventured into color. Missed that, too, look here: https://wewriteitright.com/31-days-grow-flow/

And along the way we found advise and examples of flow from the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and even Glinda the Good Witch of the North. Flow is found in nearly ever aspect of the Flank L. Baum classic. One just needs to know where to look for it. The  biggest challenge of this adventure was to find images to fit the blog. And, too, letting go of the fear of misspelling words or leaving out proper punctuation. While I go for error-free, mistakes can occur. I am, however, learning to let go of the writer’s block of perfectionism and simply produce quality blog posts that offer accessible aid to writers of all levels. I enjoy creating writing prompts the way some women adore shopping for shoes. The more, the merrier!

Where To Now?

As we end October and enter November, I am still going to blog daily – or as close to daily as I can. Just as Dorothy lands back in Kansas at the end of the movie, so do we land here in Grow Your Flow at the month’s end. Beginning tomorrow we will enter a month of understanding the power behind each and every word. I will be experimenting with a form of lectio divina, or divine reading. Instead of using the holy scriptures or the writings by saints, I am going to use my mother-in-law’s copy of The Random House Dictionary of the English Language. I will close my eyes, open the book and place my finger on a random part of the two pages. When I open my eyes and I find the word I was guided to consider, I will write about whatever comes up. Words, all words in my opinion, carry weight and power. Language matters. Writing, journaling, and contemplating what denotative and connotative meanings the words hold will be the goal of this exercise. All words are sacred, because they are the means we have to communicate with each other. We can use them to build one another up. And, to enrich our lives with observance of their nuances.

Thank you for joining me along the Yellow Brick Road. Hope you will continue down the path as we reveal the divine within any word we are lead to in November.

Here’s to growing YOUR flow,

Marisa Moks-Unger