Julie Duffy's Blog, page 90
August 29, 2019
Refusing The Call?
Can you feel it? The call to be a writer?
It’s tugging at you, deep inside. It’s been there as long as you can remember.
So why do you keep refusing to answer the call?
There are as many reasons (excuses?) as there are people in the world.
I know. I feel the resistance too. Every time I sit down to write a story, every time it gets difficult in the middle.
Heck, every time I sit down to share resources at StoryADay, to help reach your writing dreams, I feel that resistance.
Today I’m feeling that resistance even though I have an awesome resource for you: the replay of yesterday’s free workshop where I taught 90 writers how to write a short story in 40 minutes.
Here’s what attendees had to say:
“Thanks, Julie! This has been a great webinar!” – Kat
“Thank you for taking the time to do this it was fantastic” – Erika
“It looks possible now. I believe I’m doing this.” – Joel
“This will be my first try at a story a day… a little scared but excited too” – Gen
“Making my plan now! – Tanasha
It wasn’t until I found my people, the first writing group where I really fitted in, that I had the courage to cross the threshold from the ordinary world into the magical world of the writer’s journey.
I believe the StoryADay Superstars will do the same for you.
How much longer are you going to spend refusing the call?
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August 24, 2019
StoryADay Sept’19 Sign Ups
September is almost here, and with it comes a hint of the changing season, maybe the start of a new school year, and…
StoryADay September!
This is your chance to spend a month figuring out how to put writing back at the center of your priorities, so that you can write more, write better and finally become the writer you were mean to be.
Are you in?
Sign up now and I’ll send you prompts every day in September, PLUS the StoryADay care package to help you prepare for the challenge and track your progress.
The StoryADay Challenge sounds crazy–write a story every day for a month–and yet every time I run it, people succeed. Even when they “fail”, they come out of the month
Excited because they have written more than ever have beforeSure they can write more, and better than they thought they couldWith new insights about their own needs as a writer, which allows them to figure out how to move forward next month
Are you ready to commit to StoryADay September and begin making the changes you want in your life?
Make your commitment to your writing life NOW!
Keep writing,
JULIE DUFFY
Founder & Director
StoryADay.org
P. S. Just look at this amazing outpouring of creativity from first-time participant María. She wanted to share how she used the Keep Writing Workbook (in your care package) to dive into the process. She’s creating a space where she feels comfortable writing and removing as many roadblocks as possible. Once she started writing, she couldn’t stop! Look at that page: every inch covered in words!
Want that excitement in your life? Sign up now!
The post StoryADay Sept’19 Sign Ups appeared first on StoryADay.
138 – Top Tips for StoryADay September
Are you ready to write a story a day this September so you can prove to yourself that you CAN make writing a priority, you CAN be more creative, you CAN get unblocked and write stories that amaze yourself and delight readers?
I share my top tips for a successful month of extreme writing.
Sign up for daily prompts during September at
It’s another new episode of the StoryADay Podcast
The post 138 – Top Tips for StoryADay September appeared first on StoryADay.
August 17, 2019
137 – Today Is The First Day of the Rest of Your Writing Life
The StoryADay community shares what they’re writing and they’re most likely to get that writing-high (you know the one, right?)
And in this episode I encourage you to make this last part of 2019 the best of your writing life.
This coming week I’m sending out a series of emails with my best tips for creating a fulfilling writing life. Make sure you sign up for that and information about StoryADay September:
It’s another new episode of the StoryADay Podcast
The post 137 – Today Is The First Day of the Rest of Your Writing Life appeared first on StoryADay.
August 13, 2019
[Write On Wednesday] Can You Remember?
Today’s post comes to us from gifted memoirist Jane Paffenbarger Butler. You can read more about Jane, below, but in the meantime, enjoy mining your memories for Story Sparks! – Julie
When I was a child, my mother and sisters and I spent hours making our clothes at home. The memory of those long quiet days together is etched in my mind because we did it over and over. That makes it a perfect resource for my writing because it is etched in my mind. But even one-time events can be seared onto our brains and serve equally as sources of inspiration.
Because we have kept a memory, stored it for some reason, it holds a significance that may be useful. When I try, I can remember many details and images about that repeating scene of sewing. Recording a memory, in writing, however disjointed or unclear or insufficient, means we capture whatever clarity there is to be observed. The overriding feeling of the sewing room was one of having to focus on the details, such as being sure of our measurements, even in our pinning, and whether the machine was threaded correctly and if we were following every direction. There was little conversation and there was little sound besides that of our movements.
However fuzzy, our memories are infused with feelings that give them an emotional power that can make our writng richer.
I may want to write specifically about sewing, the memories of the creaking old house, the stale state of the space we shared, the silence so thick I heard the buzz of a fly trapped at the window pane trying to escape. But I may prefer to let this description inform whatever other writing I do. These recalled images and ideas are newly acquired and because of their source resonate with authenticity.
The Prompt
Unlock Memories to Inform Your Writing
Tips
Consider a memory that is etched in your mind, a scene or situation you have thought of before (for example: a sunny moment in a favorite swimming hole, an odd gift you always wondered about, or even the way your brother smiles when he sees you).Start anywhere, as if your memory is a disjointed dream you are reporting to a friend. Walk yourself through to whatever comes next regardless of logic. Allow the holes and lack of continuity. Just write. Write whatever comes to mind in order to tap into your subconscious author. Include the details in order to capture what your brain has stored. Press on further tying each recalled element to the next. Exhaust your memory so you can recall nothing more of it. Use stream-of-consciousness.Go back and focus on the smells and sounds and emotive quality of your memory. What is it about the memory that makes it special? Use the terms that fit the scene such as thread, tension, cut, and needle to help spur memories. Let one word spark the next.Once you have captured your memory, rework the prose to organize the ideas. Try putting them in some kind of order and add more details as they appear.Now examine your writing for interesting phrases or unexpected sentences, figurative speech and other useful elements that may emerge.
Mark and save these. Use your crafted memories as descriptive pieces, or to enrich other writing. For example, from my sewing memory I can write this sentence, “An urgent desire to leave swept over her, like a fly trapped at the window pane trying to escape,” or “They suffered the inability to coax out of one another any-colored threads whose combined tensions could bind them.”
Jane Paffenbarger Butler says her mother stocked their home sewing room so completely, she could pull together a dress or pants, a shirt or a skirt, in a week’s time from nothing more than an idea. She has been inspired to tell the stories of her unique childhood in a memoir, and at the West Chester Story Slam where she is a two-time winner. Learn more about Jane at www.myownpersonalsky.wordpress.com or at www.janebutler.org.
If you share you story somewhere (and here’s why you might not want to) post a link here so we can come and read it.
Did you write today? How did you get on? Who did you write about? Leave a comment!
The post [Write On Wednesday] Can You Remember? appeared first on StoryADay.
August 6, 2019
[Write On Wednesday] Opening Lines
Our theme here at StoryADay this month is “Openings & Endings” so here’s a prompt to help you with the first of those.
The Prompt
Your opening line is: The chairs, the tables, the pictures on the walls, everything was right where it ought be, but something wasn’t quite right.
Tips
This prompt seems like it could be leading you to write a contemporary, realistic, narrative story, but don’t let that hold you back. If you want to write an absurdist, stream-of-consciousness piece with four different perspectives, you go right ahead!Think about who might care about things being right (or wrong) and why?What has happened up to this point in your character’s life to make them so suspicious…or paranoid?Is your character like Columbo or Monk, a person with an obsessive eye for detail? Or is this a room that they know well because they spend a good portion of their day in it?What kind of room has chairs, tables and pictures on the walls?Should the room even be there?Is your protagonist human?
If you share you story somewhere (and here’s why you might not want to) post a link here so we can come and read it.
Leave a comment to let us know what you wrote about today, and how it went!
The post [Write On Wednesday] Opening Lines appeared first on StoryADay.
August 4, 2019
136 – Art Is
Do you give yourself permission to make your art, to write? Do you feel like you have to ask permission? What ripples spread out when you write?
It’s another new episode of the StoryADay Podcast
The post 136 – Art Is appeared first on StoryADay.
July 31, 2019
SWAGr for August 2019
Post your goals for this month and let us know how you got on with last month’s goals.
Leave a comment below telling us how you got on last month, and what you plan to do next month, then check back in on the first of each month, to see how everyone’s doing.
(It doesn’t have to be fiction. Feel free to use this group to push you in whatever creative direction you need.)
Did you live up to your commitment from last month? Don’t remember what you promised to do? Check out the comments from last month.
And don’t forget to celebrate with/encourage your fellow SWAGr-ers on their progress!
Download your SWAGr Tracking Sheet now, to keep track of your commitments this month
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Examples of Goals Set By SWAGr-ers in previous months
Write a story a day in May – everyone!Revise at least 10 short stories – IraideWrite two short stories. – JamiAttend one writers’ conference – JulieWrite fable for WordFactory competition – SonyaRe-read the backstory pieces I wrote in May and see if I can use them within my novel – MoniqueResearch the market – JamiFocus on my serial – Maureen
So, what will you accomplish this month? Leave your comment below (use the drop-down option to subscribe to the comments and receive lovely, encouraging notifications from fellow StADa SWAGr-ers!)
(Next check-in, 1st of the month. Tell your friends!)
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[Write On Wednesday] Go To Town
I’ve reached the age where people have started to make TV shows about my childhood and teen years (and yes, I know I should be watching Stranger Things; I just haven’t got to it yet…)
It got me thinking about how we capture not just a place but a time as well.
The Prompt
Do an image search for the place you grew up in a year from your childhood. Write a story set in that town/street.
Tips
I didn’t search for the place I grew up but for the part of town my grandparents lived in. (Govan, 1976, when I was really too young to remember it, to ensure it would look as foreign to me as possible).
Part of me thought I might find the exact street I used to walk along with my Gran to get bread rolls for the obligatory after-church bacon rolls. We’d get them from the newsagent’s — the only shop open on a Sunday morning in Glasgow. I didn’t find that street, but I found one nearby, that felt familiar enough.
Really look at the picture. What do you remember? What didn’t survive in your memory?Does it look idyllic or more run-down than it is in your memory? What do you see in the picture that a stranger wouldn’t notice? What kinds of stories does it suggest?In my picture I see the Tennant’s Lager sign outside the Rob Roy bar, and the fact that the doorway on the corner is marked ‘public bar’, but I know that what that really means is ‘men only’. (There’s a good chance my own grandfather is in there, now that I think about it, and what a thought that is. My lovely Granda, alive and well, and chewing on his pipe behind the yellow facade in this picture? There’s some emotion I can use in a story!)Look at the shop-fronts, the road signs, the aged cars, whatever is in your picture that speaks of the era. Maybe your picture has a fresh new housing development with saplings in the front yards and a single car in each driveway. What does that neighborhood look like now? What would today’s stranger never know about life on that street when you lived there?Pick a moment and allow two characters to interact. It doesn’t have to be anything earth-shattering, because the third character in this story is going to be your setting. Do everything you can to capture the sounds, sights, smells and tastes of life in that moment. Did everyone still smoke? Was the air quieter because nobody was running an air-conditioner? Did everyone barbecue on a Saturday afternoon? Were the buses more noxious? Was there more litter? Less? Why do the windows look different? Allow your two characters to interact for a moment, perhaps foreshadow the changes coming to the neighborhood, perhaps grousing about a change that they’ve already seen.Short stories revolve around a single moment. Go to town with that today—literally! Your town. Paint me a picture of a moment in the life of your childhood home.
If you share you story somewhere (and here’s why you might not want to) post a link here so we can come and read it.
Leave a comment to let us know what you wrote about today, and how it went!
The post [Write On Wednesday] Go To Town appeared first on StoryADay.
July 27, 2019
135 – Courage
This week someone accused me of doing something decadent. It was meant as a joke, but it got under my skin, and It got me thinking about all the things we have to do as writers that might seem decadent to ‘normal’ people.
It’s another new episode of the StoryADay Podcast
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