I am announcing a new diary series for the group Readers and Book Lovers. The name of the series is Cavalcade of Words. This series will be a writing series, where commenters will be called to bring their writing skills to the table, and in which the primary diarist will rotate from week to week. The first diary entry will debut next Tuesday morning at 8 AM EST.
More details below the fold:
This diary series is for those who wish to write. It will alternate between two formats.
First: 100 Words. A theme will be suggested. You can then write on the theme in whatever form you like (essay, story, poem..). Your entry has to be precisely 100 words; no more, no less.
Second: 5 Words. A list of five words will be given. You can then write in whatever form you like (essay, story, poem..), and as long or short as you like. Your entry has to include each of the five words.
So, the first diary will be 100 Words. The second diary will be 5 Words, and will announce the 100 Word entry most admired by the first diarist. That winner gets to choose the third week's theme, which will be announced in the third diary, along with the "winner" of the 5 Words diary (and so on...)
I was a member of a social network (new defunct) which had groups dedicated to each of these writing exercises. The consensus of those who participated was that it exercised their writing muscles, and encouraged them to make writing a consistent practice.
Next week, we will start up with 100 Words. Allow me to give you an example of a 100 word work I just banged out, on the theme of coffee:
My morning cup of joe
Hot steaming and bitter
Much like the land
Which loins produced the beans
Plucked dried and roasted
Shipped driven and delivered
Just around the corner from my house.
Were the beans picked during an interlude
In an ongoing civil war or
As a substitute for some illicit crop?
Did the farmers have to sell their beans
Through a coffee coyote, skimming all but
Subsistence off the top or
Were they able to cut out the middle man
And to keep more for themselves?
What do I care, so long as the coffee
Soothes my soul.
Writing tip: I wrote the above using MS Word, which includes a word counter. Once I was satisfied with the 100 words I wrote, I simply copy and pasted into my diary entry. Made it pretty simple.
For those who want to get a head start, I will announce next Tuesday's theme now. For the first 100 Word exercise, the theme is them.
Good luck and good writing.