Weekend Writing #46: This Is The End

TGIF, writers/readers! Your editors are hard at work putting together the fall issue of The Green Light, but in the meantime, we wanted to give you all something to get the creative juices flowing! This is the last real weekend of summer here in WI, so we want to do one more summer-themed prompt.

First, we want you to make a list. Just go with us here. We want you to list the first 10 words that come to your mind when you think of “winter.” Don’t think about this too much. Just get a pen & paper (or open up a word doc) and jot down the first 10 words that come to your mind. No requirements or restrictions here.

Once you’ve got your 10 winter words, we want you to create your piece. Set in summer. That’s the only setting requirement. The other requirement? You must use all 10 winter words you came up with. Be creative. Try something as a verb that isn’t usually, etc. Stretch your imagination, here!

We would love to see what you came up with for this one! Tweet at us using #weekendwriting, tag/mention us on Facebook, or submit your piece to our next issue!

Happy Listing!

Weekend Writing #45: For All the Photographers!

Back again, so soon, writers/readers! We really love seeing what you guys come up with for these prompts every week. Some of our favorite prompt responses have been photographs! So, this weekend, we’re doing a photography-based prompt! We encourage everyone to take a shot (get it!), but feel free to expand this prompt into whatever art form you are most comfortable with.

This weekend, we want you to live it up! Really. We want you to do as many things on your summer to-do list as you can get done. As the summer comes to an end, we want you to spend this weekend enjoying your time as much as possible.

Okay. Done? Good. Now, we want you to capture the feeling of this weekend (or, the whole summer, if you weren’t able to enjoy the weekend), in one photo. That’s all you get! One photo capture the entire weekend (or summer)! We really hope you have only positive feelings/emotions about this weekend(summer), but if it has been tough for you, we want you to try and capture that in the photo as well. Like summing up your season in one word.

We really can’t wait to see what you do with this one! Tag/mention us on Facebook, tweet at us using #weekendwriting, or submit your piece to our next issue!

Happy Living!

Weekend Writing #44: From Whence You Came

Greetings, writers/readers! We’re here again and it’s the weekend! The school year is rapidly approaching, so we want you all to do a little research this weekend.

We want you to create a piece centered around one of your ancestors. This can be someone you’ve actually met, or you can dig a little deeper. We’d prefer you to write about someone you don’t actually know. Ask your family about their history. Do a little genealogy research! Figure out what life would have been like for one of your ancestors.

If you don’t have access to any of your family history, make it up! Imagine someone in history who may have been your ancestor. Own it! Try to make the piece as realistic as possible. Focus on the senses: what does your ancestor see, hear, smell, taste, feel?

We’re interested to see what you guys come up with for this one! Tag/mention us on Facebook, tweet at us using #weekendwriting, or submit your piece for our fall issue! Deadline details on our submissions page. And don’t forget about our “Refer a Friend” giveaway contest happening until 8/23/19!

Happy Researching!

Weekend Writing #43: It’s Been How Long?!

Here we go again, writers! The weekend is here! We’re ready for it! Are you!? This year, believe it or not, your editors Ashly & Caitlin have been out of high school for ten years! Since it’s the season for reunions, we want you to explore that a little this weekend.

We want you to create a piece that takes place at a reunion. You decide: high school, family, some other group? The only requirement we’re giving you is the reunion must take place  ten years since the last time the group saw each other.

There will, likely, be a large cast of characters in this piece. Make sure you spend enough time with each character to really create a vivid picture of this event. How have the characters changed? What is bringing them together again? Are they happy to be together? You get it.

We’re excited to see what you do with this one. Any non-fiction writers out there have any good reunion stories? We’d love to see them! Tweet at us using #weekendwriting, tag/mention us on Facebook, or submit your piece for our fall issue! Deadline details on our submissions page and don’t forget our “Refer a Friend” giveaway contest going on until 8/23/19!

Happy Reunioning!

Weekend Writing #42: From the Stage

The weekend is here! It’s back again! This weekend, we want you to create a persona piece. From the perspective of… drum roll, please!

A musician! You can pick any genre of music, any location, any setting, time period, etc. Pick a famous rock star or a hometown hero. The only thing we ask is that at some point, your piece take place during the character’s show. That and, you cannot use the following words:

music
audience
guitar
sing
beat

We can’t wait to see what you come up with for this one! Tweet at us using #weekendwriting, tag/mention us on Facebook, or submit your piece for our upcoming fall issue! Head over to our submissions page for deadline details and don’t forget about our “Refer a Friend” giveaway contest happening now until 8/23/19!

Happy Writing!

Weekend Writing #41: In a Tree

Happy Friday, readers! This weekend, we want you to write about a tree.

First, we want you to set a timer for 15 seconds and quickly make a list of every tree name you can think of. After the timer has gone off, pick one of the trees on your list and do some research. Spend about 30-45 minutes finding out everything you can about the tree you chose. Mythology, etymology, habitat, wood uses, etc etc.

Once you have compiled your research, we want you to create a piece from the perspective of that tree. You can pick any setting, within the constrictions of your tree, and go wild! Be as realistic or fantastical as you like. Try to include as many facts from your research as you can.

As always, we would love to hear what you came up with for this one! Tweet at us using #weekendwriting, tag/mention us on Facebook, or submit your piece for our fall issue!

Happy Researching!

Weekend Writing #40: What Hemisphere

TGIF, readers! We are really in the thick of summer up here in Wisconsin. To beat the heat, we are asking you to write about something cold this weekend! Actually, what we would like you to do is create a piece that takes place in the opposite season wherever you are right now. If it’s fall, write a piece that takes place in spring, if winter, then summer and vice versa.

We want you to focus especially on the senses when you work with this prompt. What can be seen, heard, felt, smelled, tasted? Feel free to set your piece at iconic seasonal places or times. Really get into the setting and put your character or subject in that place. Warm yourself up or cool yourself down!

As always, we can’t wait to see what you come up with for this one. If you can, create your piece outside! Tag/mention us on Facebook, tweet at us using #weekendwriting, or submit your piece for our fall issue (details soon)!

Happy Seasoning!

Weekend Writing #39: The K-Mart Episode

Greetings, readers! So, question? How many of you have seen the iconic teen drama Dawson’s Creek? Any Team Dawson fans out there? How about Team Pacey? We here at The Green Light are diehard Team Pacey fans and, if you’ve seen the show, you will know of course the infamous K-Mart episode to which our title refers.

If not, that’s okay. Basically, this weekend, we want you to create a piece that takes place at a K-Mart. That’s literally the only rule! It can be an old, abandoned building that used to be a K-Mart, a K-Mart in its Blue Light Special hayday, open or closed, etc etc etc. We would especially like to see what you photographers can do with this one.

As always, tag/mention us on Facebook, tweet at us using #weekendwriting, or submit your piece for our fall issue (details soon)! We are so excited to hear from you. (If you can’t come up with anything for this prompt, we are also willing to discuss Dawson’s Creek with you.)

Happy Shopping!

“The Gibson Poems”: A Joint Poetry Review

Simon Perchik’s new poetry collection draws inspiration from photographer Ralph Gibson. Perchik explores complex human emotion through brief images – with laser focus, Perchik brings Gibson’s photographs, specifically the collection Deus Ex Machina to life through his words on the page.

The poems center around common themes and images to elicit both feelings of loss and devastation and a strong desire to experience life. This collection strips you bare, flooding you with raw emotion in the midst of a drought.

 

 

 

Harnessing the power of nature, Perchik entices the reader through this exploration with glimpses of fingertips and lips amid the pull of the sea, a returning image.

With the unadorned simplicity found in Gibson’s photography, Perchik guides the reader slowly but surely through this elemental study of grief – reaching his own fingertips out from the pages to draw you in.

Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this book now. Available on Amazon!

National Poetry Month: Day 30 (2 of 2)

A Journey

by Michelle Tapia

 

Rushing past I can smell the trail of whisky on your breath
I inhale
I exhale
You whisper what sounds like a lullaby of love
What I’m hearing is simply the winds inaudible language
Resonating in my mind, memories stick like melted honey-
Sweet and succulent you are- seducing my soul as it aches for satisfaction.
I gasp
I cry
Your eyes look hungry-
I drape you over my shoulders
Toes tapping the same trail into the dark.
Lie still as the world around us spins like thread through a loom
You plead
I listen
Underneath the covers as you struggle against sleep
Ashamed you will wake from your night terror to reality-
Tomorrow we will do it all again.

 

My name is Michelle Tapia and I’m from a little town called Las Vegas New Mexico (not the fun Las Vegas, sorry to disappoint). A whole lot of nothing happens here which renders me to try and write poetry all day long. I usually read them to my 9 month old daughter who could really care less about any of it.