Writing, Writing, Writing

In the class Write Now! that I'm taking at Big Picture Classes, I get a prompt everyday that I am using to Quick Write!  What is Quick Write?  I take one minute to think about the prompt and what I want to say about it. Next, I write for four minutes.  When the timer goes off I'm through if I want to be or I  can keep on writing. Quick Write is a daily practice at writing.  There is no grammar police!  There's no worry about editing and sentence structure. I just write!!  I don't even have to follow the topic. I can go anywhere my mind leads me.  It's been a lot more fun than I thought. Here's three examples of my Quick Writing this week.

Topic - Something Lost

I've just recently bought a digital SLR camera and I'm learning the manual mode. A friend I met online gave me the web address of a blog that has a free e-course on operating your camera manually. I printed off the first two or three lessons and worked through them and now I've lost the pages. I really don't want to have to reprint them, they're long and full of pictures and ink is so expensive!  But, I've looked everywhere, in my other class notebooks, in my craft room, through stacks of unread magazines. Now, why do I casually just put something down and not remember where I put it? Is it old age or Alzheimer's? That's a real fear to me, losing my memory to Alzheimer's. My Dad has Alzheimer's and is in the mid  stages. My heart breaks for him. I can't imagine loosing your memory piece by piece. What a helpless feeling. He was a house painter all his life and now he can't remember anything about painting. How sad is that!! I wonder how much longer we have before he forgets us...who we are and what our names are. He's always had a terrible time remembering names and so do I. That's pretty scary. Is this Alzheimer's?? I try so hard to remember names. Sometimes I play the alphabet game - going through the alphabet and concentrating on the person trying to remember their name. You'd be surprised...it works most of the time. It is so frustrating  to forget names and lose things.

Topic - precious stone

I don't know when the tradition started, buy my oldest grandson looks for and collects rocks to give to me. Sometimes they're large rocks he's gathered near his home. Those I bring home and add to my shade gardens. I use them in the borders or strictly as decorations. He's also given me quite a collection of small rocks all different kinds. One has crystals inside and my favorite is about 4", almost a square, that has holes all the way through it. It makes me feel good to know that he thinks about me and picks out special rocks. I have a rock that's bowl shaped and that's where I display all the smaller rocks. One time at the lake we searched for heart-shaped rocks. I found only one, but he found several. I love that he and I have this interest that we share. The rocks are ordinary, but they are precious stones to me.

Topic - The Back Door

The first "back door" that came to mind was the back door at my grandmother's house. There was a small screened in porch right off the kitchen with a door  into the backyard. It was a screen door, the kind that slaps shut with a bang as you run through it.  It's funny, but I still can hear that sound! Beyond the door was a flight of concrete stairs down to the yard. I remember sitting on those steps eating juicy watermelon with my cousins, spitting seeds and laughing. The backdoor was the one we always used, maybe because the front door had many glass panes and our parents were afraid we would slam the door and break one. We'd fly out the back door into their back yard to play. We'd play hide and seek in Papaws many out buildings or the wash house. Sometimes the older cousins would climb on top of the house so they could reach the berries on the china berry three. Don't tell our parents, they weren't supposed to be up there. Anyway, then we'd have china berry fights. Of course, the older guys had the advantage. They always kept more berries than they gave us. The world of fun, play, and many good memories was right outside Nannies back door.

As you'll note I have no picture for this last one, neither does my Mom.  I challenge you right now to go take pictures of your home, your parent's home, your children's homes, or any home that means something to you.  Take the front, the back, the front yard, the back yard, and inside.  Someday, you may wish you had.  I wish I had a picture of my grandparents back door. Their property was sold, the house was leveled and burned and now there are storage units there!  I can't go back and take a picture!!

Hope you enjoyed my Quick Writing!!  If you do let me know and I'll post some more!