Jump Starting Writing - February!

Hello, Jumpstart Writers ... our final meeting of February in San Rafael is coming up this Wednesday, March 26th.  Looking forward to seeing folks and hearing about their writing projects!

A quick note about March: I will be out of town at AWP in San Antonio, TX beginning Weds, March 4th  ... so no Jumpstart  Workshop in San Rafael that day. (Though I will meet the Petaluma group that Tuesday morning, March 3rd -- but more about that next week!)

So I'll see folks in San Rafael on Weds, Feb 26th and Marlene Cullen will facilitate  Monday evening and Tuesday morning in Petaluma. See all the calendar and location deets below -- or check Copperfield's  Calendar of Events here.  And thanks to Marlene Cullen  for  her shout out on her blog The Write Spot -- and hello! to the folks visiting from there. 

In Jumpstart Writing, we write to several prompts, get the juices flowing, and words going. This free-writing process jumps right over that cranky editor in your brain and lets you get right down to putting words on paper. The best part? It's fun!

Green --peace?

Here's a JumpStart suggestion to try at home: go for a Color Walk! Think of a color (red, yellow, purple, grey) then walk for 15 minutes anywhere and note all the instances and objects you spot of that color. Then write for 15 minutes about the experience, follow your thoughts into fantasy or memory, develop into a poem or a paragraph. Or let it lie fallow until you need it again. Try it in different environments - marshland, hill hikes, around a suburban neighborhood, on city sidewalks or park. Note the new grass, a dog's green collar, peas in a bowl waiting to be steamed.  Feel free to post your own response in comments below.

Curious about just what Jumpstart Writing entails? See my this post on my blog to learn more about this process -- and maybe see this response to a prompt in class on using repetitions.

You can also investigate Marlene Cullen's blog, The Write Spot for more freewriting prompts.

Here are the details -- feel free to share this email with friends who might be interested.
Jumpstart Petaluma  - Copperfield's, 140 Kentucky Street, Petaluma

Monday evening, 6:30 - 8:30 pm ~ Marlene Cullen leads the way ~ Feb 24

Tuesday evening, 10 - noon ~ with Marlene Cullen ~ Feb 25

Jumpstart San Rafael - Copperfield's, 850 Fourth St, San Rafael

Wednesdays, 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.   Feb  26 with Lakin Khan

Here's a link to  Copperfields Events Calendar

onward and upward, writing all the while,

Lakin Willard Khan. 

lakhan@sonic.net 

Rhymes With Bacon\

Useful links:

The Write Spot https://www.thewritespot.us/jumpstart.php

 Copperfield's San Rafael 

 https://www.copperfields

Rhymes With Bacon   https://lakinkhan.blogspot.com/

It so happens...

We were practicing repetitions last fall, playing around with anaphora, the repetition of the same words at the start of lines, sentences or paragraphs and with epiphora, repetition at the end of lines, sentences or paragraphs.   I love how Andrienne Su uses anaphora in her poem, the repeating lines building up and resonating with each other, both disappearing and standing out.

Adrienne Su "An Hour Later, You Are Hungry Again" 
from The New Yorker, Nov 18, 2019, which uses "For the" as the repeated words at the start of each line. Do check it out!

And from one of our prompts to use a repeating phrase with each sentence, here's my attempt at using anaphora in a small story, "It So Happens".

It so happens that worms spend their life making compost out of garbage.
It so happens that my father is a fisherman.
It so happens that bait is often wriggly red wet worms.
It so happens that I need to to dispose of a body -- never mind whose.
It so happens that there is a pit nearby.

It so happens that my father is out of town.
It so happens that he came home today,
It so happens that he is upset to learn so many worms have disappeared.
It so happens that the worms miss my father.
It so happens that they also come home,  a long wriggly train of wet, well-fed, red worms.

It so happens that well-fed, sassy worms make my dad question things.
It so happens that it made him question me.
It so happens that I am not a good lier.
It so happens I spilled the beans and my sister's hamster's little body was exhumed - or at least most of what was left of it.

It so happens that it takes a long time for worms to dispose of bodies, even very little bodies.

A hike in five senses.

In Jumpstart Writing, we've been talking about using our five senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch) in our writing to make scenes and stories more vivid.  Here's a little exercise I did, trying to use all five senses. Maybe next time, I'll try for six senses?

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A surprisingly mild day today, a throw-forward into spring.  After the strong and turbulent winds yesterday, which, according to the Chronicle, blew out windows in skyscrapers in SF and hit 90 mph somewhere in Marin, the day arrived quiet and meek and full of sun. We are slowly getting acclimated to San Rafael and Marin County, after our move down from Petaluma last August. Mostly  we do this mby getting out on hikes around and about, sometimes in new territory, sometime in familiar territory.

Today, we revisited the Pt Reyes Visitors Center on Bear Valley Road out in West Marin, hiking around the Morgan Horse farm, down around the creek  and out to Kule Loklo, the representational reconstruction of a Miwok Village. Maybe 3 miles altogether, under blue skies and a few chilly breezes.

We walked up to the Morgan Horse farm behind the Visitors Center, reading the exhibit placards and then along the fences, trying to entice the four horses to come over and say hi for neck scratches, but they were far too busy cropping the short, green grass. Well, one did suspecting we might have grass, I think. The neck was dusty, solid; the fur soft, but also wiry, resistant.

We moved on, air redolent with eucalyptus, which made me feel like I was recovering from a cold. The trail dipped down along the cool creek; we could hear its burbling and babbling way before we got to the wooden bridge, where the trail crossed over and went on up the hill to Sky Camp. That's a hike we'll take next time. For now, we want to get to know the lay of the land and develop our legs, grow our stamina. Plus, we didn't bring any sustenance aside from the tart tangerines we devoured down there at the bridge. We were deep down the canyon, cool and a bit dim, but the bubbly brook reflected bright blue sky. In the underbrush of the medicinally-fragrant bay trees, a wren-like bird rattled and bounced around. Larger than a Bewick's; not quite as skittish. Maybe a spotted towhee? Hmm, maybe not.

As we came back up the trail, the call of a red tail hawk echoed across the valley beyond the meadow; acorn woodpeckers cackled through the trees near the creek, a spotted towhee, (definitely). jumped through the limbs of a downed bay tree; tall scraggly firs were punched with long descending rows of very round holes, the work of acorn woodpeckers, creating their storage graineries for acorns.

We wandered along behind a row of tall thick shaggy eucalyptus trees, taking the marked turn to investigate the meadow with the Kule Loklo village. The structures were perfectly designed, part of the round house dug into the ground, drawing up the cool damp from the ground that will very soon be quite necessary. Some of the round house was roofed and walled with redwood bark; an open courtyard was walled by ring of rows of large rocks, creating a deep well with a wide floor, where 20 or 30 people could mill about, conducting discussions and activities, protected from the sun, but with a most fabulous view of the Bolinas Ridge across Olema Valley. It felt like it would be a good place to stay in the hot days. I plan to come back, for sure, for a pleasant walk amid the trees and views. I might bring a book or a sketchpad,  a picnic and water. I might  plan to stay a while.

Jumpstart Writing - come on down!

Hey,  come by Copperfield's for some fun writing! Jumpstart Writing workshops will be held in Petaluma and San Rafael to get your writing hopping. See below for days and times. We'll write to several prompts, get the juices flowing, and words going. This free-writing process jumps right over that cranky editor in your brain and lets you get right down to putting words on paper. No only that, it's fun!

The past few weeks, we've focused on the sense of sight, spending some time with ekphrastic writing (see previous post). We also wrote to the prompt Running Away. Kathy Guthomrsen, a writer in Petaluma,  posted her response "Running Away." on her blog KathG.Space, where you can also find  some of her many stories that include animals as main characters. Enjoy!

Jumpstart Petaluma  - Copperfield's, 140 Kentucky Street, Petaluma
~Monday evening, 6:30 - 8:30 pm ~ with Susan Bono ~  Jan 6 13, 20, 27
~Tuesday morning, 10 am  - noon ~ with Lakin Khan ~  Jan 7, 14, 21, 28

Jumpstart San Rafael - Copperfield's, 850 Fourth St, San Rafael
~ Wednesdays,  Jan 8,15, 22, 29 ~ 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. with Lakin Khan
See:  Copperfields Events Calendar

Curious about Jumpstart Writing?
See my previous post to learn more about the process -- or investigate Marlene Cullen's blog,  The Write Spot where she writes about this inspiring writing process, built around Natalie Goldberg's book Writing Down the Bones.

Onward, forward, writing-ward!

Jumpstart Workshop - ekphrastic !

In our recent Jumpstart workshops, we've been doing some ekphrastic writing, which is descriptive writing about or a  response to visual art. We've been having fun looking at paintings and photos, imaging stories and practicing our visual descriptions.

Here's my response to a postcard of Claude Monet's painting "Wheat Stacks at Dawn."

Frost is the frosting on these giant cupcakes of hay waiting in the pale pearly peachlight of dawn for the Giant of Alsace to stomp down the hill for his morning meal. At least so far, he's been happy with hay. What might happen if he decides to go all keto on us and demand ostrich-eggs over easy and a side of humans to start his day?   ~ Lakin

Another example is Anne Sexton's poem "Starry Night" one of many ekphrastic responses to the painting of the same name by Vincent Van Gogh. And  I'm sure we all remember Don McLean 's  song, "Starry Starry Night" --- another example of an artist in one medium responding to an artist from another.

Hope you find a chance to write ekphrastically, too, locating an image that sparks your imagination or elicits a response. Or take a chance with random postcards or images in a magazine or museum brochure. Or even better, treat yourself to a trip to an art museum and spend some time writing there. What could be better? 

Jumping Up for Jumpstart in 2020

Jumpstart Writing resumes this coming week  -- come by Copperfield's in Petaluma on Monday evening  or  Tuesday morning and in San Rafael on Wednesday  to get your writing pump primed for the new year. We'll write to several prompts, get the juices flowing, and words going. This free-writing process jumps right over that cranky editor in your brain and lets you get right down to putting words on paper. It's fun!

Jumpstart Petaluma  - Copperfield's, 140 Kentucky Street, Petaluma
~Monday evening, 6:30 - 8:30 pm ~ with Susan Bono ~  Jan 6, 13, 20, 27
~Tuesday morning, 10 am  - noon ~ with Lakin Khan ~  Jan 7, 14, 21, 28

Jumpstart San Rafael - Copperfield's, 850 Fourth St, San Rafael
~ Wednesdays,  Jan 8,15, 22, 294:30 - 6:30 p.m. with Lakin Khan
See:  Copperfields Events Calendar

Curious about Jumpstart Writing?
See my previous post to learn more about the process -- or investigate Marlene Cullen's blog,  The Write Spot where she writes about this inspiring writing process, built around Natalie Goldberg's book Writing Down the Bones.

Onward, forward, writing-ward!

What is Jumpstart Writing?

Jumpstart Writing is a workshop designed to get your fingers moving and pen writing past that Old Doubting Critic and Planner lodged in your fore-brain, simply getting in the way. We just jump straight into writing, finding our way into new material, new stories, new poems. It is similar to freewriting, in that we write without stopping, following impulse and the random generator of an unleashed mind, no crossing out, no editing.  We use creative prompts, culled from a wide variety of sources, to get us going and keep writing onward. 

Prompts can be the first line of a poem, a random object, or the evocative smells of spices. We take exercises from Improv, writing books; we create scenarios with random connections or words.  Here are three suggestions that I have used this past month. Try one of them and see what you come up with. Just like free-writing, set a timer for 10 minutes,  20 minutes --- and GO!  Write fiction, write poetry, follow memories - or combine them for a multi-genre piece.

• The dog tipped over a wastebasket - what spills out? Set the scene: what kind of dog, whose is it? How did it get into the trash? what kind of trash?  Describe the spilled contents; what is revealed by what someone throws out?
• What is your (or your character's) favorite holiday song - and why? Describe the sounds, the emotions, the memories.
• Find a weird random object in the Junk Drawer and describe how it feels to the touch. Include it in a story  - or write about the memory it evokes? Could it become a metaphor in a poem? 

Remember, the results are a first, rough-draft response, similar to quick sketching in a drawing class. Not every response is going to be inspiring - but many of them are surprising, revealing material you didn't even know you were going to write about. And many of these responses can then be developed over time and a few more drafts into something more polished and crafted. But only if you want to!

Here's to finding some time to sit down and write --feel free to  use these prompts to get your fingers moving, your words flowing.

Write on,
Lakin