Making Things Up

Making anything up is a great exercise for the creative mind.  Anything you make up from scratch in your head offers the chance to practice.  I offer the silliest of little exercises here to keep you working, so forgive me, but if you do find any prompts or inspirations, I've done my work.


There are all sorts of holidays.  The big ones are New Years, Halloween, Fourth of July, etc.  They honor dates from history; the oldest of customs; beginnings, ends; famous historical figures.  The little ones, sometimes created on purpose for commerce; fun; or whatever other reason Groundhog Day or Sadie Hawkins Day came into existence.


Come up with a new holiday.  What does it celebrate?  What day is it?  Is it every year or only some?  What is it based on?  How is it celebrated?  What gets sold, what gets eaten, do people get together for dinner or a party or go out on the town?


Write it up however you want...

Here's What I Think...

Here's a quick non-fiction exercise.  Op-ed pieces are short essays about a current topic of interest, and the author puts their own personal opinion on the subject up front and obvious.  When you're out with friends, and a subject comes up for conversation, aren't there always one or two people who feel the most strongly about it?  They tend to talk the most, the loudest, and their sentences start having more punch.  Everyone trying to sum it up and make it so impossible not to agree with them as quickly as possible.

I'm sure there's something you believe in passionately.  Maybe with humor, or perhaps with cursing or anger, write up as succinctly as you possibly can your feelings on a touchy subject that you feel passionately about.