Going to Tennessee! - Writing Prompt

Tomorrow Storee is going to Tennessee for the long weekend. Next week she will post about what she did on her mini vacation.  This week your writing prompt is to write a story about person from or a place in Tennessee. Here is a link to help you get started. http://www.thingstodo.com/states/TN/famous_people.htm

Have great week and Happy Writing!

My Dog Can Count! - Writing Prompt

A farmer is wondering how many sheep he has in his field, so he asks his sheepdog to count them. The dog runs into the field, counts them and then runs back to the farmer."40," says the dog.
"How can there be 40?" asks the farmer. "I only bought 38!"
"I know," says the dog. "But I rounded them up."

Write a story about a dog who can count. It can be funny like this joke or it can be a true story about a mommy dog counting her pups.

What do you think, can dogs do math? Here's a link that seems to show they can. http://dogsinthenews.com/stories/070427a.php  (And it's also where I found the joke I just told.)

 If you know a good joke about a dog or another kind of pet feel free to share it here.

I Laughed So Hard ... - Writing Prompt

Storee Wryter loves to laugh and have a good time. This week you are invited to write about a time when something funny happened to you or someone you know. When you write, try not to tell the readers what happened. Show them. For example:

Tell: Jimmy told a joke. Melissa laughed and laughed.

Show: Hey Melissa, Jimmy said. Listen to this!
What?" she answered, wondering what Jimmy was up to. Whenever she saw that impish glint in his eyes she ended up laughing so hard she'd get the hiccups.

Writing Prompt of the Week - Write a New Fairy Tale

Storee Wryter  was thinking about Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, Ariel and other princesses and decided she'd like to write a different version of a fairy tale, perhaps from the prince's point of view. Or maybe the castle could be bewitched. She's also thinking of adding a cat the story or maybe a very wise dog.
Join Storee and write your own version of a fairy tale. If you need help getting started, here's an idea.

"One morning you look out the window and discover that a huge castle has appeared overnight. Write what happens next."

Service Dogs Owner Assaulted -This Should Never Happen

Recently in the news was the story of an off-duty McDonald's manager assaulting the owner of a service dog she had insisted wasn't allowed in the restaurant. http://www.lifewithdogs.tv/2011/07/service-dog-owner-assaulted-by-mcdonalds-manager/
Previous to reading that I had learned of a instance where the director of the paws4vets program was denied access to a WV hotel with his service dog.  http://www.helpkyria.com/page/16/

As the author of Storee Wryter Gets a Dog, featuring ADDIE a real life service dog, I am appalled by these reports. Hearing them makes me wonder how often service dogs are refused access to the very places they are trained to enter in order to assist their owners.  If you know of a situation where a service dog and his or her owner were given a hard time or refused service of any kind please share that story here. Only when people know of a problem can they take steps to fix it.

If you have a service dog and you have had positive experiences you are also invited to share your stories and photos here. 

Earthquake!

Round Hill, VA, where Storee, Addie and Critique live, was rattled by the earthquake that hit the Washington, D.C. area this week.  Critique was meowing loudly for several seconds and Addie was tugging on Storee's sleeve moving her away from the sliding glass door to the deck just before dishes started to rattle and the floor began to shake. Luckily, that's all that happened and in a few seconds it was all over.

Storee thinks it's cool that Critique and Addie knew something unusual was going to happen before she did and she's going to write a story about it and invites you to do the same. Have you experienced an earthquake? If you did, what was it like? Did animals around you behave oddly before it happened? If you haven't experienced an earthquake what do you think it would be like?

Storee looks forward to reading your earthquake story and learning about how other animals react.

Panting for Breath - Writing Prompt

You can tell the same stories many different ways. For example, you could write:

The boy ran along the street. He was being chased by a tiger.

but you could also write:

Panting for breath, the boy raced along the street. The tiger was getting close!

or you could put it like this:

"Help!" cried Tommy. His short legs were pumping as fast as they could go. "There's a tiger after me. Help!"

Adding speech as in the last example helps bring drama to your stories and makes your characters more convincing.

Try it. Write the same sentence three ways then use the best one to start a new story. You can then post it here for others to read. 

Until next time, Write Away, Write Now~

Note: The Writing Prompt Posted Here Was Taken From the Usborne Books, Write Your Own Story Book. For information about Usborne Books go to www.usbornebooksandmore.com