What Makes You Creative?

For me it's lots of different things. Something as simple as seeing the eyes of an alligator peeking out of a retention pond at me while I'm doing my morning walk sparks the beginning of a poem.

I looked at a pond and what did I see?
Alligator eyes looking at me.

Watching me slowly as I walked by,
Do you think they'll make me cry?

They didn't move, not even a blink,
I snuck on by, as quick as a wink.

Will they follow me, will they try?
I sure hope not, so I'll say bye bye.


Okay, so it's not the best, but I think you get the idea.

Your turn. While you're out today, look around. Maybe a cloud in the sky will remind you of something or a sign on a bilboard. What ever it is that grabs your attention, see what you can come up with, a poem or a story.

Please share, I'd love to see what you come up with.

See you Monday. Have a great weekend.

posted by Joy Delgado

We go Beyond Reading

Laughing Zebra – Books for Children

Check out what’s going on at the zoo!

Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

Muse Online Writers Conference Wrap Up

Last week was a whirl wind of information. I participated in about 5 workshops and popped intp over 20 others, commenting once in a while.


The greatest thing I've gone away with each of the three years I've attended is a new sense of awareness of the writer in me. This year I:

dabbled in suspense,
perfected writing dialogue,
assaulted my senses,
learned how to use social media better,
learned more about writing for kids of all ages and
started writing a historical fiction book for mid graders.


Now that all the fun is over, it's time to take all I learned and put it to use.


Before I go, here's one idea to get your creative writing juices flowing.

Look around the room you're in right now.
Focus on one thing in the room.
Write about it. How does it make you feel, memories it brings back, any aspects about that item that you can see. Write until you're done, let it take you whereever your mind goes.

Here's mine:

A picture of me almost 30 years ago is stuck to the bulkhead on Julio’s side of the bed. I am sitting at a table on the outside patio at the sanitarium where we met.

It was the day of the luau I held for the patients. I’m dressed in my signature type of clothing from back then: a puffy white-sleeved blouse with a pink and black flowered vest I’d made over it and a long full flowing skit that matches the vest. I have a pink plastic lay around my neck. My hair lies in soft curls on my shoulders and it’s tied up with barrettes that have pink hibiscus stuck in them.

It looks like I’m eating ice cream and really enjoying it. On the table in front of me is a plate with a piece of cake. Behind me, in the window, I see the face of one of the male patients peeking out. I wonder who he is, looks like Stanley. I remember that my best friends Ann and Nola came that day to help me serve the cake and ice cream after the patients broke open the piñata.

Thinking of the piñata, I remember how when it was Marianne’s turn, she whacked me in the head, knocking me on the ground. She ran to her room shouting “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” When I could walk, I went to her room to show her I was okay. Opening the door, she spat out, “I wish I would have killed you.” (She had a crush on Julio and we had just gotten married a few months beforehand.)

All these years later, I don’t know what happened to Marianne, Ann and I still keep in touch, I’m still married to Julio and Nola passed away a few years later from cancer. Life sure is interesting.

Now it's your turn. Be sure to share.

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

Story Starters for Children

Does your child like to write short stories?

OR

Do you wish your child liked to write short stories? Either way, have some fun with these story starter ideas.

(Use them as a spring board to get your creative juices flowing.)

When I looked outside on that gloomy, rainy day, suddenly the rain changed from water to cats and dogs!

Without warning there was a loud roar shook the ground.

As the twister came closer, we could see cars and cows swirling around and around going up and up. . .

The peaceful morning sun shining on the river made it sparkle like a million diamonds. Ripples slowly started coming across the river.

See what you and your children can come up with. Be sure to share them here. I'll post them in an upcoming post.

* * * * *
Looking for some fun arts and crafts for your kids to do? Check out zoo camp. This week is all about okapis.

Writing Fun: 8 Sentence Stories

So what is an 8 Sentence Story? It's a fun writing exercise. Here's how it works.

1. Write an eight word sentence.
2. Sentence two starts with the second word of the first sentence.
3. Sentence three starts with the third word of the first sentence.
4. - 8. Each sentence starts with the corresponding word from the first sentence.

Now, your eight sentence story might not make sense, or be grammatically correct, that's okay. It will get you started on a road to what might be your next story.

Do this with your children or students. You never know what you/they might come up with.

Here's one I wrote:

Danny loved sailing on the ocean with dad.
Loved the feel of the wind on his face.
Sailing was something Danny wanted to do all the time.
On the sailboat, Danny was the First mate.
The First Mate got to help the Captain sail the boat.
Ocean trips were always fun.
With dad’s help, the first thing he did was put up the sails.
Dad was a good Captain.

Now you try it and please share them here.

**Note**
Don't forget to sign up for "Zebee's Summer Zoo Camp." It starts next week.

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog