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Carol Carman’s Writing Club Prompt: G is for Garden
You can just describe a garden if you like – let us really picture it in our mind’s eye. Is it formal? Informal? Large? Small? Modern? Traditional? You could write a piece about what you get out of a garden – whether it’s actual produce or flowers, or whether it’s inner peace and a state…
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Poem: Freeing My Mind
I tried to free my mind from all the things I had to do: Cook the dinner, do the washing, walk the dog and clean the loo. My list grew ever longer and I so wanted to bin it But the more I tried to free my mind, the more things came back in it.…
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Carol Carman’s Writing Club Prompt: F is for Free or Freedom
What does freedom mean to you? There are many types of freedom – freedom from slavery/ pain/ hate; free from restrictive shackles; freedom from unhappy relationships; freedom as in off the leash. There are different interpretations of free: unoccupied – is this seat free?; free – not paid for; free – as in loosening something…
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Poem: The Internet Date
I didn’t expect you to turn up – Nobody’s turned up before. I’ve had people say that they would do; Not one of them’s come through that door. I didn’t expect you’d be handsome – Your photo was quite true to life. I didn’t expect you’d be single – With your looks you should have…
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Carol Carman’s Writing Club Prompt: E is for Expecting
Who or what were you expecting? Where? Why? Why is it important? Does it matter if it gets there on time? What happens after it turns up? Oh, the anticipation! How does your character feel about it? It could be an object, or a result of an exam or a test or the result of…
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Poem: On Being Offered A Lift
Thank you for the offer but I’d rather catch the bus. I know it’s less convenient but please don’t make a fuss. You want to know the reason why? Sit down, I’ll tell you true: I’d rather walk to where I’m going than get in a car with you… Because…
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Carol Carman’s Writing Club Prompt: D is for Drive
Various forms of transport: car, bus, train, tram, trolleybus, steamroller, tractor, ambulance, military vehicle… Is your character doing the driving, or are they being driven? Where to? What for? Who’s with them? What are they feeling? Excited / anxious/ scared /bored / filled with dread? Do they have to be somewhere at a certain time?…
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Poem: Venetian Glass Clowns
They stand, Rank upon rank upon rank, A comical honour guard Awaiting my grandmother’s inspection. Off-limits to us as children Lest our exuberance Damaged their fragility: We knew who claimed first place In our grandmother’s affections. They were not fun…
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Carol Carman’s Writing Club Prompt: C is for Collections
Lots to think about here. You can have collections as in people collecting things, like stamps, or china ornaments, or a certain type of glassware, or little plastic heads of famous footballers (Joe Mercer’s England Squad 1971, anybody?). So from that you can widen it out to What does this character collect? What kind of…
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Poem: Stay for Breakfast
They met, quite by chance, over breakfast – A buffet: fruit, pastries and such. Their hands landed on the same apple; Both started at each other’s touch. ‘I’m sorry,’ they said, and retreated. ‘After you.’ ‘No, go on – after you.’ So they both reached again, and they giggled; He knew then what he had…