Next TWINE meeting is Thursday, Dec. 5!

Join us for writing, snacks, and maybe even a little gossip about upcoming books and movies! We'll meet at 4 p.m. at the Spokane Valley Library.

For those who can't make it to the in-person meeting, you can still participate in Virtual TWINE! It's easy. A couple of times a month we'll post a new writing prompt. Set a timer for ten minutes, follow the directions in the prompt, and then email us what you come up with. We'll post everyone's work right here on the blog, so feel free to read and comment on your fellow SCLD teens' work!

Here's a new prompt for December. Directions: Take ten minutes to write a scene in which a character is dealing with a rainy day, lost luggage, and/or tangled Christmas tree lights. Then be sure to email us what you come up with and we'll post it here!

Blind Date, by Jaelyn 11.7.13

This writer branched out from the original prompt (above) and
created a great inner dialogue!

This is going horrible! What should I do? Maybe I should find an excuse to leave, but when? I don't want him to know I'm desperate to leave, but I am! Hmmm, how could I leave without him knowing? Oh! I've got it! First I'll tell him I'm off to the bathroom. The bathroom is right next to the door. Then, I'll make a run for it straight out the door. But wait, what am I going to say to him the next day? It's not like I could just avoid him. OR COULD I? No. I'll need to make an excuse that I left or he'll know something's wrong. Wow. This is hard. Ok, I've got it. I'll tell him I had a horrible stomachache and I just couldn't face him. Yeah, that's the one! Alright, hopefully it works. Here I go!

It's a Small World: the Dark Side, by Erin 11.7.13

The boat was going quicker that it usually did. You would know. You've gone on this ride at least six times since you've come to the amusement park, and the boat is not supposed to go this fast. Raising your hand, you start to call out to the ride operator, but your mother quiets you, saying it's nothing to worry about. But you know it is, because the boat shouldn't be so fast and the breeze shouldn't be so cold. 

You turn into the tunnel, ready to embrace the music, but there is none. No paintings. No happy puppets. Just darkness and cold. You're wearing a t-shirt and shorts and you shiver.

The voice speaks from nowhere yet everywhere, low and lost silent, neither male nor female… just there, like a presence:

"Not all places are happy. Not all places have dancing puppets. For some children, they have nobody. No parents. No friends. Nothing but darkness and shadows and despair."

You try to scream but it's like you've lost your voice; turning to receive your mother's warm embrace you're horrified to discover she isn't even there. You're like the voice said -- alone. No one but the dark. The only warmth is the tears running down your face, and even they have frozen by now.

"Don't worry. You'll get out of here alive -- nonetheless, scarred for life -- but alive. Remember, little one, it can be a dark world after all."

Ahead of me I hear screams.

And all I can do is cry as the boat moves forward, still too fast.

New for November!

First, a writing prompt:

http://dsgroup.cd/2013/01/26/create-creatures-like-bobby-chiu-in-photoshop/

Beginners: What is this thing? Where does it live? What does it eat? What did it just do? What will it do next? And what's going on with all the little animals around it?

Advanced: You are this creature and you have a magnificent, delicious secret. What are you thinking right this moment? And what are you about to do to protect your secret?

Share it with us at twine(dot)scld@gmail.com and we'll post it here (see "Virtual Twine" in the sidebar to the right!)

Also, we've changed the look of our blog! Let us know if you like it (or not!) -- we're still in the tweaking stages and it might look a little different from day to day while we settle on its final design.

And finally, our next T.W.I.N.E. meetings are Thursday, Nov. 7 and Thursday, Dec. 5 at 4 p.m. at Spokane Valley. Please join us! We're friendly, non-threatening, and love to talk writing.

October Meeting Recap

First, a shout out to Luke Neff at the great writing prompts tumblr blog. We pretty much use his awesome visual writing prompts every time. Here's one of our favorites from a few months ago:

Writing prompts are a lifesaver, and here's why: everyone is intimidated by a blank page. Everyone. Whether you're working on a report for school, or updating your fashion blog, or starting the next chapter in your fantasy novel, there's often this moment where you're staring at the page, thinking "what do I say?" Writing prompts give you something to write about, even if the prompt has absolutely nothing to do with what you really sat down to write. And the crazy thing is, they sort of work! While your brain is busy toiling away on the prompt, it's not uncommon for two or three ideas for your real project to pop into your head. They also give you practice in thinking creatively, honing your descriptive writing chops, and they're fun!

Here's what else happened at the meeting...

Barbed Wire Fence, author unknown

If you're the author of this poem, please let us know and we will rightfully attribute it to you!

http://visualwritingprompts.wordpress.com/

Barbed wire fences

Guards at defences

I am

caged in

more deaths at the bell

I'm living in hell

I don't even know what

day it is

I scream

I cry

I love

and I lie

but I'm trapped behind this

barbed wire fience

I long for the feel

of freedom and laughter

Green fields

and then after

sleeping in my own bed

But still I'm trapped

It's not long til I snap

But I'm trapped behind this

Barbed wire fence



"Going, Going, Gone" by Rachel

http://brokenheartsanonymous.files.wordpress.com/

Eaten up by illness,

To be diseased is one thing,

Slowly being consumed

by your demise is another.

I fear the mistakes I made dug my grave

but the price must be paid for my

fault.

misapprehension, misconception, miscalculation.

I'm in a state of abnormality,

a state of deadly affliction.

Will I ever escape my aberration?

All I know is-

-Peace, pleace has found me,

lying here, no longer ailed,

no longer pained, but free.

 

Everything Gone, by Erin

Writing prompt for our 3.8.13 meeting: http://writingprompts.tumblr.com/image/41756205331

The helmet on my head is heavy, but I can hardly feel it -- or anything, that for that matter. It feels as if my whole body has gone completely numb, and I am alone, alone on this bench, alone in my mind, alone on this planet.

The words the woman had spoken still reverberated around my head, even though it had been hours since I had talked with her and the committee. She hadn't been very pretty, whith her stiff, straw-like brown hair rolled up in a bun and her midnight-black glasses perched precariously on the edge of her nose.

She had been holding a clipboard, and tapping her pencil against it, so little clicking noises had filled the air.

Click.
Click.
Click.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Barton," she had said, staring at me with narrowed, dark brown eyes. "As much as we appreciate your -- erm... enthusiasm on the matter, you have not qualified to be an astronaut on Mission 1.07V6 to the moon."

I had said nothing, politely nodded, and exited the room as chills of horror swept throughout my whole body.

My entire childhood... gone.

Memories flashed through my mind -- me as a five year old boy, dancing throughout the house in my Halloween astronaut costume. Me as a twelve year old, steadily watching every documentary I could about space, astronatus, spaceships, anything. Posters of these subjects lined my bedroom.

One day, as an 18 year old, I had received a letter telling I had qualified for examination of Exploration 1.07V6. I had been so excited I had even garbed in an astronaut suit to wow the judges. And now, here I was on this bench, my head low, my spirits sinking.

My childhood: gone.
My dream: gone.
Everything: gone.
I place my face in my hands and sigh.
Gone.