Winter Pause
And then it is winter and things turn cold and grey. The bustle continues as I wrap my head around another year coming to pass. It’s easy to fall into the the trap of judging oneself to be unproductive despite being so busy. But I steer myself toward the image of roots, digging deep and unseen, waiting out the chill, for the right time to sprout foliage and blooms.
Your Prompt: Write a story or poem told through a conversation between two strangers. The driver and the passenger. Two solitary restaurant patrons. Fellow joggers stretching at the beginning of a forest trail. Have them reveal something to one another that they won’t share with their loved ones.
Quick Tip
Are your characters consistent? Do they behave as expected? Even those with secret pasts and ulterior motives should have telling behaviours throughout the story that readers are able to reconcile with the major revelations in the plot.
About Writing Desk
Years ago, I gave up blogging for good. But I changed my mind and here we are. Aside from maintaining a consistent writing practice, my goal is to build a live space outside social media for content that supports the creative process, free of mindless, addictive, and AI-generated distractions.
May your visits here be frequent but brief. The idea is to offer something that will light a spark, not distract from your writing. For this reason, I don’t post Writing Desk on social media. Thanks for stopping by!
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Found Words
“She would perhaps never write back. Neither by post nor by hand would a reply reach me. But no matter, it would be a silence full of voices.”
—N.V.M. Gonzalez, The Bread of Salt (short story)
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Leah Ranada 