Posted in creative writing, experimental writing, freewriting, inspiration, love of writing, poem, sparking creativity, writing, writing exercise

Poem and Artwork: When I Sit In Silence

artwork by me in watercolor

When I sit in silence, I hear all the disappointments of what I should have done.

When I sit alone, I am filled with all the failures I have become.

Sometimes I don’t want to be still, because of all the ways I feel like a fool, a failure, a less than I think I should be.

When I sit in silence, I hear all the beautiful sounds of life.

When I sit alone, I am filled with all the blessings and love that is in my existence.

Sometimes I don’t want to be still, because I have so many exciting things that I want to do. My heart, my flow too plugged in and ready to just be in one place at one time.

When I sit in silence, I hear all the noise of my surroundings and what is right now.

When I sit alone, I am so aware of myself and the things I am thinking and dreaming.

Sometimes I just want to stay here where I am, because it feels exactly the right place to be, the right thing to do.

When I sit in silence, I hear all the voices and wisdom that is available to all.

When I sit alone, I am anything but alone. I am tapped into the vastness of everything.

Sometimes I don’t want to ever move again, because I am so plugged into all that is. I feel like I am dancing in the stars and adventuring across the vastness of space and time, and realizing I have finally found home.

Posted in creative writing, fiction, free writing, short story, writing exercise

Short Story: The Gift

Hello all! So for a while now, I’ve been doing some short writing exercises to help get me into a fiction writing mindset. I have many that I have done. Some of my results have been okay, and some of them actually turned out more than okay. I liked this particular piece, and decided to share. I hope you enjoy it too.

The Gift

I carefully picked up the scattered pieces of the broken purple mug. Half of a smile looked up at me from the shattered ceramic. It was all that was left of the once cartoon sketched smiley face on the side. The rest of the face gone. Yeah, it was a bit of a gaudy mug, but I still loved it. Though that might have to do with who gave it to me––my son.

He’d been six when he picked it out and proudly told me that it was my birthday gift from him. He said the mug was my favorite color and it had a smiley face, so it was perfect for me. I remembered chuckling at that. And as I went for the broom to sweep up the the smaller pieces, I chuckled again, remembering that moment.

I wasn’t sure how I would tell him I accidentally dropped the mug. I was all butterfingers this morning trying to make my tea. Maybe he wouldn’t mind. He was fourteen now. It had been so long ago since he’d gotten me the mug, maybe he wouldn’t even care. I swallowed a lump in my throat. I cared, and I was mad at myself for breaking it at all.

I swung the broom with a little more force than necessary, gathering up the remaining bits. And as I crouched down to whisk up the pieces, I let my mind wander to other gifts my son had given me over the years. I grinned as I realized the best had been all the hugs and kisses.

He liked doing that––coming up to me at random moments in the day to give me a great big hug. That always put a smile on my face, no matter what I was doing, or how I was feeling. I emptied the dustpan into the trash, remembering the hug he’d given me just last night before bed.

Continue reading “Short Story: The Gift”
Posted in Boosting Creativity, creative writing, The Writer's Toolbox, writing, writing exercise, writing practice, writing prompt

Writing Prompts: Daily Writing Prompt App

Recently, I decided to start doing daily writing prompts to get my creativity moving a little more fluidly. I have two apps I’ve been using specifically for this. Both have been useful in their own way, but today I want to talk about the Daily Writing Prompt App.

I have been using this for the last week, and I’ve really been enjoying it. This app has a new writing prompt every 24 hours. Sometimes it will have pictures, a list of words, or an idea as a prompt. It’s always fun to see what they have, and within a few moments it sparks an idea, and I’m writing!

I really look forward to doing these prompts each day, because I’m usually pleasantly surprised with what I come up with. And it’s just a great way to have fun writing. I sometimes get a little too “serious” with my writing. I put so many obligations on myself that it’s fun to make a connection with a carefree approach.

This app is available for iphones. You can do a search for writing prompts, and it will come up. This is a free app. It doesn’t have the best reviews, but that’s because many people would like to go back and edit (which it doesn’t have an option for). I personally don’t mind. I believe these quick prompts are for spurring creativity, not perfecting editing skills. In fact, I like the idea of not being able to edit. It leaves me free to create, and that’s it.

Want to give one of the writing prompts a try? This is the first prompt I did. I only spent about 20 minutes on this so ignore any “issues” it might have. Anyways, this prompt was submitted by Libby Anderson (which––by the way–– you can also submit your own writing prompts too). Here it goes…

Continue reading “Writing Prompts: Daily Writing Prompt App”
Posted in short story, writing exercise

Short Story: Shadow

Here is a flash story I wrote from a writing challenge my critique group took part in a while back. I decided to dust it off and post it. This story was written from the writing prompt…You hear a baby crying, but you know you are alone… I didn’t stick strictly with the prompt as you will see when reading the story, but it got the wheels in my head turning and this is what I ended up with. Enjoy!

Shadow

By: Cynthia Dawn Griffin

The wail came from everywhere and nowhere at once. The sound jerked me awake from a dead sleep. My blood froze as I looked about my darkened bedroom. The chilling noise came again, and it propelled me into action despite the fear twisting in my gut. I fumbled for the light by the bed, but my trembling hands refused to cooperate with the switch. I stumbled from my bed.

Continue reading “Short Story: Shadow”

Posted in Boosting Creativity, creativity, inspiration, the creative process, The Writer's Toolbox, the writing journey, writing, writing exercise

Writing Exercise: Blue Moon

MC900441149Why are writing exercises are so important? How often should you do writing exercises? Where do you look to find writing exercises?

First, I want to say that I love to write, but it doesn’t come without inspiration and a lot of hard work. Sometimes a writer has to write without inspiration to get the job done, but eventually writers do need to be re-inspired to find that spark of creativity that caused them to write in the first place. A great way to rediscover that spark is through writing exercises.

Every writer is different. Some writers need the jolt of a writing exercise every day before they begin writing. Others just need the help when beginning new projects or to come up with new project ideas. And there are others (like me) who only use writing exercises every once in a blue moon to take a break from regular writing so to relight the candle of creativity inside.

Continue reading “Writing Exercise: Blue Moon”