Menagerie Stories

The earliest known artists used animals as their subjects. Images of beasts dominate cave walls of Lascaux and Altamira. They tell stories of the prehistoric world.

Teaching stories and fables arrived later. Through the actions of animals, they showed children how to behave and the consequences of bad choices. Native American stories of coyote and raven abound.

What menagerie could you create to tell a story of collaboration?

Consider two animals.

An elephant waded into the pond at a Wild Animal Park. With the sound of a trumpet, it tossed water from its trunk onto its back. Ripples from its skin sent droplets over its frame. A bluebird happened by and noticed this refreshment in the heat of the day.

“Hello,” the bird sang as it flew above the trunk.”How do you do that?”

“Ah, it's easy, “ the elephant responded. “ Would you like a spray?”

“Yes, I have flown for days from the north and would like a drink and bath.”  The bird flapped in motion just above the gray trunk. Soon the water sparkled from its feathers.

“You’re fortunate also to have wings,” smiled the elephant. “I’ve always admired birds in the sky and how they can travel.

“It looks like we have ways to share our experiences,” said the bird, drying one feather at a time with its beak.

“So many animals here have talents to learn about,” said the elephant.

“Aren’t you frightened by the fierce ones?”

“Each has his or her own specialty,” the elephant moved deeper into the water. “Ah, this feels good.”

Creative Write: Where will you take this story or create your own two animal characters and let them interact in story.

What You Carry

Are you ready for the tooth of September?

September 2 -  I call it the tooth of September because this time of year I sink my teeth into a state of mind of reduction and discard -  R and D.  I minimize a reliance on things and maximize my creative time for writing and photography.

"Throw or stow" becomes the mantra. I throw. throw. throw while rummaging through closets and drawers.

Research has shown that heavy handbags cause spinal misalignment, shoulder and back problems in women.  Many men stash their wallets in their back pants pocket.  That causes "wallet butt."  Health professionals call it wallet neuropathy.  Sitting on a large wallet for long periods of time twists the spine and compresses nerves in the buttocks and legs.  This pressure leads to inflammation, tingling and lower back pain.

What do I need to lug around with me?  I have down-sized purses this September.

After discarding items, I retain a wallet (4x2 inches), round mirror-brush (think dollar size pancake),  thumb-sized dental floss, 2 handiwipes, one chapstick, fountain pen (ring finger size) and business cards.

I choose a purse that my hand spans (6 inches) up and across in size (it's a Kiplinger sans the gorilla). What else can I do without?  The bulkiness of a cellphone becomes the major challenge. It goes in the outside zipper pocket with the chapstick.  I delete a mini writing tablet and extra handiwipes.  Of course the mirror-brush will be the next to go. I can slip the business cards into my wallet.  Voila, I have become a turtle-istic minimalist.

Ah the freedom I feel as my purse dangles from my shoulder, light as a bird.

Creative Write:  Tell us a story about what you carry.  Can you minimalize?

September of Possibilities

It seems to me that January resolutions are about will; September resolutions are about authentic wants. . . . The beauty of autumnal resolutions is that no one else knows we’re making them. Autumnal resolutions don’t require horns, confetti, and champagne. September resolutions ask only that we be open to positive change. 
                - from Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach 

Autumn begins to creep in and envelope summer.  Change seeps into leaf color and crisps breeze as nature prepares for change. 

What changes do you feel around you this September 1?  Take time to notice the subtle messages nature sends.

What scents arouse your writing fingers?  Listen for changes in sounds. Watch the day's progression into dusk. Feel your body's adjustments and sensations with the seasonal shift.

Which writing desires will you accomplish this fall? Reflect about changes you wish to initiate this month.  

Family for Fiction

“Ideas are everywhere. Lift up a big rock and look under it, stare into a window of a house you drive past and dream about what’s going on inside. Read the newspaper, ask your father about his sister, think of something that happened to you or someone you know and then think about it turning out an entirely different way.” ~ Ann Patchett

Family members provide fodder for fiction. Choose a family member with colorful adventures or an ancestor you're heard stories about.  Begin with a character description and let your creativity soar with details.

Switch from the ordinary to extraordinary and extend all possibilities.

If you had a great aunt who ran a restaurant in a small town, turn it into a rowdy bar.  Spice up the drama with a secret shared.  If you had a relative with pioneer history, write a fifteen minute character sketch about travel across Indian country.  Do you have any mail order brides in your history?  Expand their stories.

Bring an ancestor to the present day.  How would Wild Uncle Will from the old west deal with tweeting in the modern world?  Did cousin Annette really design shoes for the Rockettes?  What if she worked for Nike today?

Stretch your imagination when delving into family members.  Combine characteristics of one or two individuals into a character with a story to tell.

Erasing and Beginning Anew

The thing is to become a master and in your old age to acquire the courage to do what children did when they knew nothing.  

- Arthur Miller

Choose a subject you know a lot about.  Scroll your mind back to initial experiences learning and gaining more knowledge in this area of expertise.  Close your eyes, click a switch and erase all memories and knowledge.  Forget everything you know.

Begin fresh.  Write from a child's perspective.  Use simple sentences and baby words.  Creep, crawl and rise to walk.  Then get your writing engine running.  Notice how words build upon words and memories enter.  Set them aside and design new ones.

Suggestions:

Write about the first experience playing a sport.
Write about the first secret you shared and its magic.
Write about a first feeling of falling in love without reference to what you know now.

Keep deleting prior knowledge in your search for the pure form of your experience.  Have fun with this and share your writing with us.

Halluzanation's Who Dun It?

The flower stand in Halluzanation, Bridget's Blooms, has become the scene of a crime. When she arrived at work, Bridget found Martin Hershey crumpled in front of the entrance to her flower stand, a coffee cup broken next to him.

Martin Hershey lived alone after his wife Maggie left him for a job as cruise director on a world cruise. He suspected the drummer from Shakey's had something to do with it. His two grown children never visited much anymore. Martin spent time walking and reading about flower breeding. Roses and lilies were his specialty. He could be found drinking coffee and eating a grilled cheese sandwich at Mariner's.

Once a week he would visit Bridget and advise her about horticulture. He'd noticed brown leaves on several diffenbachia and the sheffelara drooped more than normal the past month. Bridget's father, Abbott, wasn't crazy about Martin hanging around the shop. Abbott had just returned from a prison term and felt protective of his daughter.

Sue Ellen's poodle had wandered into Martin's yard and never came out alive. Maybe the mulch or had the pup eaten a lily, Sue Ellen would never discover.

Amanda Harrington suspected Martin had been the reason for her parents' divorce but never could prove her sister, Elmira, was Martin's daughter. Her mother stayed away from him after the birth since her husband died suddenly with a seisure of some type.

Everyone in Halluzanation shared the rumor that Martin's house contained gold stolen from a pirate ship. He rolled his eyes and said, "Reallly?" when a newcomer questioned him.

The coroner discovered that Martin had ingested poison.

Who dun it?

A Day of Listening

Responsible communication skills involve respect for connection, harmony, and collaboration. Showing consideration for another requires listening, really listening to his or her concerns. Listening with intensity avoids anticipation of responses.


We become preoccupied with our own needs during simple conversations or in times of conflict. How easy it becomes to finish the other person's sentences.  We anticipate without listening to the full message.


If we remain aware of communication needs in any given moment, we have more power to meet them. This power differs from having control over someone. It shows ease and effectiveness in collaboration.


Take time today to listen. Do not make immediate responses.  Button the lips and make an effort to hear another's meaning. Watch facial expressions and body language. To keep the speaker on track,  nod your head or say, "Uh-huh" or "I hear you."


Repeat to yourself mentally what you heard without speaking.  If you can't make it all day learning to listen, at least try to do it with one person.

Creative Write: Write about your struggle to listen with all your senses. Could you set your ego aside and not interrupt?  How did the speaker respond? How will you use this new skill?

Play with Punctuation

Play with punctuation.  After you've responded to each of the ten choices, do a freewrite to combine them.  Let your life sentences emerge.

Observing your life:

l.    Describe a comma (a pause) you've experienced.
2.   What felt life an ending ( a period).
3.   Include a parenthesis ( ).
4.   Use an action verb to push the punctuation.
5.   What connection has a semi-colon made for you?
6.   Add a dash of -
7.   Entertain ellipses to begin or end . . . .
8.   What does a colon offer your list of fun or fantasy?
9.   Question the quesion mark that appeared before a choice.
10.  In what situations do you feel possessive like an apostrophe?

Have fun and share your results.  Live your life as an exclamation point!