Writing prompt: beautiful places
No Comments »12th June, 2014; Category: Writing prompts
Autumn leaves at Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens
Beautiful places inspire me.
Today I am posting a series of photos taken at one of South Australia’s beautiful places, Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens, about a half hour drive from the Adelaide CBD. It is a wonderful picnic area all year long, though one should perhaps avoid it on really hot days which we occasionally have in summer. (The park may be closed on a handful of days a year when there is a high risk of fire.)
The gardens consist of hundreds of different species of native and exotic plants. There is something of interest for visitors around the calendar. And there is plenty to inspire the poet, story writer and even song writers. Even if a poem or story does not come from your visit, just wandering along the many walking paths in the gardens will refresh you so much you will return to your writing room ready to pour out words again.
Writing prompt:
Write about your “beautiful places”, locations you love to visit and which inspire you to write. This may be a poem, lyrics for a song, a short story, a blog post or even a scene in your novel.
Good writing.
Autumn leaves at Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens
Autumn leaves at Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens
Writing prompt: autumn leaves
No Comments »9th June, 2014; Category: Writing prompts
Autumn leaves in the Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens
I love autumn.
Not only is the weather where I live very pleasant – most of the time – but we also have the delight of watching the leaves turn colour and fall, blanketing the ground in a carpet of gold. It’s the stuff of poetry.
Talking of poetry: how about writing a poem about autumn, autumn leaves or beautiful, calm, balmy weather. Or anything else today’s photos inspire?
Good writing.
Autumn leaves at Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens
Sailing, sailing
Yachts at Goolwa, South Australia
I have never had too many opportunities to travel on ships or boats and especially sailing on yachts. I have only ever been sailing on a yacht on a handful of occasions. I certainly would have liked to have had far more opportunities, but they didn’t present themselves.
Perhaps I don’t mix with the right kind of people – or I need to find new ways of making far more money so I can afford a nice yacht. Trouble is, people like me (of a certain age) are probably too old and decrepit to learn how to sail. Perhaps I need to make a lot of money from my writing so I can afford to buy a yacht and employ someone to sail it for me.
On the other hand, I have often watched yachts sailing, admiring their beauty as they press through the waves, flying along on the wind. More than once have I wistfully wished to be one of those on the boat. From time to time I’ve even caught myself dreaming about sailing my own boat to exotic destinations.
Writing prompts:
- Write an account of a time when you went sailing or boating.
- Turn your non-fiction account into a fictional story, letting your imagination full rein.
- Write a poem about the beauty of sailing ships and yachts.
Good writing.
The photo above was taken several years ago of yachts near the mouth of the River Murray, Goolwa, South Australia.
Writing prompt: A cute little rabbit
No Comments »4th March, 2014; Category: Writing prompts
This little rabbit has taken up residence in our garden. Not that we want it there, or have encouraged it in any way. It just arrived, probably from a nearby warren.
My sister-in-law thinks it is “cute”.
My daughter thinks it is “cute”
We don’t think that it is “cute” the way it eats our plants. In fact, my wife says that the only “cute” rabbit is one in the pot cooking for dinner.
How do you react to seeing a young rabbit? Perhaps you might even have a pet rabbit. Write a story about a rabbit, either one you do not want around, or a pet rabbit that you love.
Good writing.
Writing prompt: close encounters with birds
A friendly visitor to our picnic
Last week my wife and I went for a drive from our son’s home in Artarmon, Sydney, to Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park. We stopped in several places along the way and ended up at West Head Lookout. From here you can see over Broken Bay and some of the beaches and islands in that area.
At one point my wife was sitting on one of the seats admiring the view when her phone rang. It was her sister calling from South Australia. She was so distracted by the conversation that she didn’t notice our visitor, an Australian Brush-turkey (see photos). The turkey just casually wandered around us, merely a metre or so from us. It was a wonderful photo opportunity.
Writing prompts
I love having close encounters with birds and the natural world of animals. I’ve written many poems about birds.
- Write a poem about a close encounter you’ve had with a bird, animal or other creature.
- Include animals, birds and the natural environment in a short story.
- Relate an incident where you were surprised, frightened, amused or amazed by a close brush with a bird, reptile, fish, animal or some other creature.
Read more about Brush-turkeys:
Australian Brush-turkey, West Head, Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park