Time's Essence

Time is free, but it's priceless.  You can't own it, but you can use it.  You can't keep it, but you can spend it.  Once you've lost it you can never get it back. 

- Harvey Mackay

Time involves a sequence of events moving forward. Irreversible, it flows from past through present to future. We measure it in segments and seasons. A variety of instruments reveal it: clocks, wrist watches, computer monitors, cell phones..

We learn time is of the essence. It waits for no one. We're admonished not to waste time.  Staying on time becomes a challenge. Wisdom arrives when we learn about life's timing. 

Writers expel ideas in the moment. We can speed or slow sentences and paragraphs to create mood and provide intensity to capture the reader. Decades can exist in pages. In a chapter, time shrinks, expands or gets pruned as irrelevant. Poems and stories jump forward, backwards, even sideways. Characters might move in parallel time exploring worlds beyond the present.

How do animals relate to time?

How would you write about time? Let the above concerns spark your notions. 

Write to make the reader lose track of time.

Tickle Your Funny Bones

Life is way better when you're laughing. - Oprah Winfrey

I looked out the window and saw an owl perched on the wire behind our neighbor's house. I crept closer to see it move its head.  

"Wow. Get your camera," I urged my husband, Michael. "You won't believe the size of this creature."

"I don't see an owl. How could an owl be out there?" he responded.

"Just look," I pointed beyond tree branches. "Open the sliding door slowly so you don't scare him."

I raced ahead of him to another window's view. Then broke into laughter. One of those plastic owls swung in the breeze. Someone had thrown it up to dangle on the wire. It sure looked lifelike from a distance.

"Owlright! At least I'm observant." I flapped my arms, hopped around the room, and chuckled. 

Michael shook his head, "It's not even funny."

I just kept laughing; a rolling on the floor episode.

"Owlright!" I flapped away.

* * * * * * * * * * *

What makes you laugh?  

It could be circumstances, misfortunes regarded in retrospect, or just the events of everyday life. The ability to poke fun at oneself after a strange situation provides material.

What tickles one person's funny bone may not inspire laughter for another. It's all about perception and possibility.

Write about an "owl" experience where two people don't connect about a humorous situation.

The Creative Mind

How many ways could you use a pine cone? Make connections beyond the obvious and pursue innovations. 

In Where Good Ideas Come From, Steven Johnson documents how pathbreaking innovations derive from inventors’ ability to notice previously unrecognized connections between related fields.

Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press developed from his understanding of the screw press in wine-making and his understanding of metal-typeface design. When he connected the synergies of two fields, he thought of the printing press.  

Creativity reveals the potential to make connections and conversions. Ideas move from abstract to concrete and weave possibilities.

Reconceive a pine cone and innovate beyond the shape and texture. What productive use follows?

Try for five.

Would the cone's scales become replacements for a disabled turtle's shell?

Turn them into nail files for a group of gray squirrels.

Use them above windows to capture bird droppings.

Tune the scales for a rendition of your favorite song.

Combine with . . . ?

Play with pine cone reconceptions. Recycle. Reuse. Replenish!