Wandering into my story & your belated Monday Fortune Cookie

LET YOUR IMAGINATION WANDER.

SNARKY RESPONSE: Just make sure you've put a tracker on it or you're going to be SOL.

Let your imagination wander.

I love the fortune cookie guru. Okay, I admit, I do ask him to offer me several fortunes before I pick one, but he always manages to come up with something apropos. Apropos of nothing perhaps, but I like to think we can make it work.

This past weekend was dedicated to doing exactly that--letting my imagination wander.

I went back to The Porches with a group of writers from the James River Writers. Shawna, Mike, Katharine, Kristi, Adam, Leila, and I cut our ties with our daily grind and escaped.

Armed with our current Works In Progress, we sequestered ourselves and then threw ourselves into our writing. Some of us hoped to begin something new. Some came to add to their current project. Others were putting final touches to completed projects.


I sought a beginning for my new steampunk story. If you've visited my facebook Author's page - Denise Golinowski/Author - you've probably seen one or two of my Picture Prompt Story Snippets. Lady Aimes and Professor Algenon have featured in the majority of them and are clamoring to have their story pulled together. Thanks to this weekend, a beginning has been made and their story is off and running.



As is the structure of The Porches Writing Retreat, we spent the days in lovely, lonely pursuit of our goals, coming together briefly at breakfast and lunch. Then while twilight began to creep up the valley, we gathered for dinner and socializing.

Ah, the stories we wrote and the stories we told. Bouncing ideas off each other, and sharing suggestions for expanding ourselves and our work. There's nothing like sitting with like-minded souls and feeling the energies merge and weave.

Watching the lightning bugs flickering in the trees. Listening to the occasional train rumbling by. Scrambling toward the inner wall of the porch when the rain came. Sharing jokes, memories, and advice.



The Porches is a wonderful resource for writers. If you're in the area, seriously consider giving it a try. If you're not, seek out or create something similar for yourself. There's nothing so liberating as stepping outside your normal boundaries to test your inner boundaries.

Here's hoping you discover that your imagination truly has NO boundaries.