Monday, August 21, 2023

Always the Choice

Lust lives with despair. Passion falls to circumstance.

Love seeks to understand but it does not despair when it does not.

-- doug smith


Sunday, August 20, 2023

Now

Focus on the moment and it will hold you in awe.

-- doug smith

 

Sunday, July 9, 2023

Scene Prompt: From a Quote

image: https://pixabay.com/photos/lying-promises-deception-dishonesty-1562272/


1. Share the quote

2. Build your scene based on the quote.


Here's the quote:

When people play emotional games make sure that they don't cheat.



Thursday, July 6, 2023

Scene Prompt: The Auction

An auction for an obscure work of art. Several casual bidders but two who are deadly serious. Each of the two simple MUST win the auction.


And...go.

Monday, July 3, 2023

Scene Prompt: Interior Design for Big Big Meals

View the collage below, Interior Design for Big Big Meals, and then improvise a scene that occurs within this picture.

Scene Prompt

Stuck? Consider the following:

  • What if the food is much larger than usual?
  • Who would be the most unexpected guest?
  • Is BBQ an option?

Notes:
collage: Interior Design for Big Big Meals by douglas brent smith

Monday, June 5, 2023

Picture This: Pathways

 

photo by doug smith

Did you choose your pathway or did your pathway choose you?

Have you ever jumped from one pathway to another?

I became curiously aware of how pathways can be taken for granted or unusually challenging one day when Judi and I were walking in Deep Cut Gardens in New Jersey. We wanted to take advantage of beautiful weather and wander among many varieties of plants. It's a large garden. There is more than one way to navigate its many twists and turns. As it turns out, most of those pathways are challenging for someone with joint pain. As we grow older, the joints call attention to themselves. Those knees! Those hips! Those (yes even those) ankles!

Fortunately, I am blessed with unusually great health and while my knees will mindfully remind me that pick-up basketball is a sport from my past, and now a current avocation, I do not feel restricted or limited much. I walk, and I walk, and I can walk about all day even with hills and narrow stones to walk on. 

Judi, facing knee replacement surgery, is not so nimble on narrow pathways. We did our best to stay on level ground and avoid stone steps, but it was still a challenge. It slowed me down enough to appreciate each step even more. 

We take so much for granted on our current pathways. Slowing down to see more clearly is more blessing than limitation. It is indeed, all good.


Picture This (writing prompt)

1. Find a random picture.

2. Write non-stop for 5 minutes and only 5 minutes.

Monday, May 29, 2023

Draw a map

Draw a map

 

Improv Activity:

  1. Draw a map. Pay no attention to accuracy, simply represent some area with your own original map.
  2. Write three lines describing your map.
  3. Next Level: Improvise a scene based on your map, or, write a short piece (poem, story, description) based on your map.
Materials Needed:
  • Paper and pen or something else to construct your map.