CREATIVE SPARK #17: Whizz! Bang! Pop!

Sounds play a huge role in our perception of a given moment. On this Fourth of July when fireworks and sparklers fill the atmosphere with powerful sights and sounds and smells, jot down your impressions.

What did the most spectacular firework of the evening look like? Did it glitter like broken glass? Did it whistle and sing and dissolve in a puff of sulfur-smelling smoke?

Force yourself to concentrate on the descriptive words that will make the experience real to a reader.

(Image gratefully borrowed from Potato Salad Cafe.blogspot.com. Check them out for a cool description of the history of fireworks!)

CREATIVE SPARK #16: Way Leads onto Way

American Poet Robert Frost (1874-1963)had a way with words. In "The Road Not Taken," Frost talks about one wanderer's journey to explore. In a Penguin 60th Anniversary edition of his poetry, I read again this lovely poem.

Every time I come across a new path, I want to forge a trail, to explore to new territories I haven't yet seen. As Frost said of his traveler choosing between two paths:

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear . . . "

To find out more about Robert Frost's journeys, ask your favorite librarian to help you discover volumes of his work.

Take a path you don't usually travel today. What did you discover?

CREATIVE SPARK #15: Ancient Widsom

Imagine something as beautiful as this window from Saint Chapelle in Paris, surviving for hundreds of years unscathed. Imagine the thousands of people who sat at its base, looking up at the rainbows of light shimmering through its glass.

Since every object has a story, what does this magnificent stained glass tell you? What is its story?

Challenge yourself today, and write from the perspective of someone who went to Saint Chapelle to pray, perhaps during one of the many battles surrounding the great City of Lights.

What would you have been thinking?
What worries would have been on your mind?
Would you have prayed for anything in particular?
Would you have noticed the beauty in the glass?

Take a moment to notice the view from your window today, and appreciate the beauty in even an ordinary scene.

CREATIVE SPARK #14: Tantalizing Texture

Visual beauty involves layers of texture, some subtle and others more obvious. Take a look at this picture of an interior designer's wares.

How can you describe these items? What creation would you make with them? How would it be used?

CREATIVE SPARK #13: Pups

Imagine this. You're walking along a sidewalk, minding your own business, when all of a sudden you hear it - that quiet whimpering that leads to a yip, then a yap, then a chorus of barks.

What do you do?
How would you respond if you found a basket full of puppies?

Write your story and be sure to include sights, sounds, smells and touch.