Story #1 – Women’s Memoirs, StoryMap: The Neverending Writing PromptTM – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
[NOTE: Our special discount on StoryMap ends Sunday, December 11, 2011 at midnight (Pacific time). The price increases from $12.97 to $14.97, our sale price for the rest of December. Then January 1, the price returns to its usual $19.97]
Welcome to Five Points, OK, a community where every person, indeed every thing has a story. And they’re all just waiting for you to bring them to life. KEEP READING, AND AFTER TODAY’S STORY, YOU’LL FIND THE RULES EXPLAINING HOW YOU CAN PUBLISH YOUR OWN FIVE POINTS STORY ON WOMEN’S MEMOIRS. First, let me tell you a little more about StoryMap.
You’ll find Five Points exclusively in our StoryMap: The Neverending Writing PromptTM. We’ll provide you with people, places and things to get your creative juices flowing.
Fighting a bad case of Writer’s Block?
Pick up your StoryMap and spend 15 minutes writing. Case cured, and you’ll find it easier to get back to your memoir writing.
Still honing your writing skills?
Spend 5 minutes a day using StoryMap to help you focus on dialogue, character development, sensory description, time and place, or emotions. StoryMap will help you grow as a writer.
Want to practice writing about yourself?
Let your imagination visit Five Points. As you talk with the locals, visit the shops and get to know your way around town, you’ll find that you’ve become more comfortable writing about yourself.
These are just a few of the ways StoryMap: The Neverending Writing Prompt can help you build your writing skills.
StoryMap is Matilda’s creation based on a game I invented for my own entertainment and have enjoyed playing in restaurants and diners for years.
You know those paper placemats that are covered with ads for local businesses? If you take the time to read them, you’ll find that the ads are not particularly polished or sophisticated, and some are just plain funny. So while waiting to be served, I like to study the placement and make up stories about the different businesses that advertise.
One day this past May, when Matilda, Bill and I were in New York State, we found ourselves in a diner for lunch. When I saw the placements, I suggested a game of placemat stories. We had a good laugh imagining all kinds of relationships and activities among the residents of the placemat. After our holiday, Matilda took the idea home with them and began creating our first ever StoryMap for Five Points, Oklahoma. And now, we’re giving you the chance to get in on the fun and writing at a special holiday price (more about that in a minute).
THIS WEEK WE’RE STARTING A STORY ABOUT FIVE POINTS AND INVITING YOU TO FINISH IT. Send us your story, and we’ll publish it on WomensMemoirs.com. I’ll explain more at the end of today’s episode. Enjoy.
Snow Moon, No Moon
By Kendra Bonnett
Brandi refused to open her eyes. She willed herself to steal a few precious moments more of morning sleep, that forbidden time when we know we should be up and getting the day going. Brandi pulled the patchwork quilt all the way up and over her hennaed curls and thought about her day–indeed her week–to come.
Wynnie was coming in for a full head of foils at 9 AM. It was her quarterly color touch up as she did her best to stem the inevitable gray that was overtaking her head. Jim Patton’s twins–home for Christmas from their first year at OSU–would be in at 11 for cuts. They’d be full of stories, giggles and enthusiasm, that’s for sure. The girls, tall like their father, were all legs. Brandi wondered how much taller they’d be and if this would be the visit when she’d have to stand on a stool to reach the tops of their heads.
Her afternoon was packed with too many color jobs, cuts, and perms to recall without her appointment book open in front of her. Each year was the same. The first week of December was her personal Black Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday…all leading up to the Snow Moon Ball on Friday night and the festival parade on Saturday.
Even Mary Awentia–Five Points new Chief of Police and the 2011 Snow Moon Grand Marshal–had made an appointment at Curl Up and Dye. Brandi wondered what she could do to Mary’s salt and pepper pageboy to make her look special. With her eyes still tightly shut, she tried to envision the chief of police with curls.
“No!” Alice, her loyal and ancient Airedale, awakened with a start.
The vision of Chief Awentia in curls was just too absurd, and to erase it from her mind Brandi shook her head and opened her eyes. The tiny bedroom was still dark. She rolled over to look at her digital clock on the nightstand, raising her head to see over the mound of pillows she had tossed aside during the night.
6:22.
The sun wouldn’t be up for another 40 minutes or so. Brandi burrowed into her covers and pretended to go back to sleep. Of course, it was no good. She’d opened her eyes. The moment was gone. There was no going back. Besides…the aroma wafting through her open window was calling: “Who am I? Identify me! Then come drink me…”
HOW TO ENTER OUR FIRST STORYMAP CONTEST
We’ll pick up the next installment of Snow Moon, No Moon tomorrow. But, as promised, here are the rules for writing your own Five Points story:
- Because all Five Points stories are based on StoryMap: The Neverending Writing Prompt, YOU MUST HAVE your own copy of StoryMap. We’ve made that very easy. We’ve slashed the price this week only. StoryMap regularly sells for $19.97. From now through Sunday, December 11, 2011, you can have your copy for just $12.97. After December 11, 2011, and through the end of the month, the price goes up to $14.97. Then, on January 1, 2012, the price will goes back to $19.97. So hurry…save…and get to writing.
- Follow this link to our Women’s Memoirs store to get your StoryMap at our SALE price.
- Read the installments of “Snow Moon, No Moon” all this week. On Friday, we’ll leave the story hanging and invite you to get creative and write a conclusion for our story. Remember, you’ll need a copy of StoryMap to participate.
- Because we are Women’s Memoirs, we want to tie this contest to an important aspect of life writing…writing about yourself. So, you must work yourself into the story. As the Snow Moon, No Moon unfolds, you’ll find both Matilda and Kendra worked into the plot. You’ll need to do the same. Come join us in Five Points.
- Email us your ending for our story by Wednesday, February 29, 2012, and we’ll publish your story, showcasing your work here on Women’s Memoirs. Send your story conclusion to Matilda (at) WomensMemoirs (dot) com
- Keep writing and using StoryMap to stretch your creative storytelling because we’ll be announcing more contests and StoryMap writing activities.
Remember, come back tomorrow (and all week) to read Five Points, OK: Snow Moon, No Moon. Then, after Friday’s installment (and with your own StoryMap in hand) you can begin writing your fabulously creative conclusion.
