WRITING PROMPT TITLE: DESCRIBE THE KITCHEN OF YOUR CHILDHOOD

I'm not sure why, but I'm not all that fond of this writing prompt. I can't help but wonder if it's because I didn't really enjoy my kitchen much as a child.

When I was very young it had orange and green flowered wall paper and dark brown cabinets with a light green refrigerator. I would've just been a baby in a high chair at the time facing the sink that had a window right above it. outside the window you could see our backyard and a small woods that would later be chopped down for them to build my future elementary school.

The only thing I remember eating in my high chair is ice cream. I'm sure my mother gave me other healthier foods, but the ice cream was so cold and so sweet and so delicious, that I remember flipping the spoon over in my mouth and gurgle spitting with joy.

When I got older the 70's decor was replaced with traditional 90's decor. Our cabinets were replaced with white ones and we had white flower wallpaper and white and a white and pink tiled floor.

Growing up we always had a dog, usually a German Shepard. The kitchen is where the dog was kept when company came over, or when it came inside with muddy paws or when we were training it to go outside that's where the puppy's crate was kept. I don't think the dog minded much because that's where we were mostly likely to drop food.

I had a small step stool with puppy stickers on it that I used to help bake. My mother would always tie my hair back and make me wear an apron before we began. Then we'd throw ingredient after ingredient into a bowl, usually it involved sugar, oh so sweet sugar, mixed with butter and oil and sometimes chocolate. I'd count the strokes as we stirred it all together...one....two...three....to 60 for brownies, but usually much more for cakes. My mother would pour the sweet batter into a pan and then let me lick the bowl...but I'd always have to back up when the oven opened as I was too afraid the heat would swallow me up and I'd burn away.

Conclusion and Change

This blog started because I had an ambition to be a writer and I thought I would obtain that goal easier if I could only find the perfect place to write. While I still love the idea of taking my laptop to a coffee shop and being able to park and write all day, I have actually found this to be rather unrealistic.

I will still write about coffee shops on this blog on occasion, but the truth is the idea that an unpublished writer will be able to spend their days writing in coffee shops and still make a living is more of a romantic idea than a reality.

Another truth is that for a while I have not been regularly writing. It's always been on my to-do list after a multitude of other things...so here I am picking up the pieces of not writing for a while and starting again with a new idea and conclusion in mind.

It is not the lack of a place to write that has been stopping me from writing, but it is the lack of making time. Instead of looking for a place to write I will now make the time.

I have slotted out times on my Google calendar that say WRITE. My goal as someone with another full-time job is to make time to write 10 hours a week. Most days I've scheduled 2 hour time slots, but there are a few days where I schedule more to make up for days I might miss.

Since the original focus of this blog was to find a place to write and now I'm focusing more on time to write I have a new blog titled: "The Unpublished Writer."

The new blog focuses on the fact that a writer writes regardless of whether they are published. I write because it's as natural as breathing to me. It assists me in sorting out my life as well as escaping from it. This new blog will allow me become completely immersed in my own writer's world and will be a place where I scribble down warm-ups, prompts, thoughts on writing and a writer's log.

The domain is: www.breathewhatyouwrite.blogspot.com

So wish me luck as I begin this journey once again! I welcome you into my writing world. Perhaps, if I do become published one day this new blog will become a record of how it all happened.

Biggby Coffee: I Have a Dreadful Secret

I am just going to come right out and say it. Unless I move and it is my only option, no Biggby Coffee, will ever be the spot where I choose to go hang out and write.

Not only are the hours less than significant, the reason is simple: the ambiance wigs me out. I just don't feel it. Taking the color orange, mixing it with the seventies and creepy frogs that look high, then openly advertising that you are an evil corporate franchise that furnishes it's place with uncomfortable hard wooden chairs because they are cheap is just not my thing, but really who am I to judge? After all, I do like Starbucks and I love their Mermaid. Some people might think that's creepy.



I have heard people describe Biggby lattes as "sweeter" than Starbucks' which people may prefer. I have heard other people who are Biggby fans describe Starbucks' coffee as "burnt" and it's true they do have a darker blend. It seems that these two places are just meant to be polar opposites and those who prefer one place may not prefer the other.

However, I have a dreadful secret. I used to work at Biggby. I won't say which one, but I think it was the worst job I ever had. The owner was a frickin' dragon lady, who I bet did not have higher than a high school education considering how she trashed her employees like she was in the movie "Mean Girls."

Not to mention "corporate" used to come in once a month and quiz like drill sergeants us on policies, dress code and drinks. Seriously, once I was reciting Biggby's motto to them and I accidentally said the word "beverage" instead of "drink" and they circled it in red pen.

Some people may think that my dislike for writing there may only come from the horrible time I spent working there, but let me tell you that I have worked at other coffee shops that I did not always enjoy (it was my go-to after college job before I became a librarian, hence the barista characters) and I would not rule them out as a writing spot like I am ruling out Biggby Coffee. 

Nevertheless, I do enjoy their smoothies. I do not think any other coffee shop has mastered smoothies such as the banana cream freeze or the strawberry shortcake quite like Biggby Coffee. So, I am admitting that I will go there on occasion. It's just not somewhere I will be hanging around. I will just be running in when I crave a delicious smoothie and then running out. More like a fast food place than a coffee shop.

Ink Stains Magazine: A Missisippi Delta Writing Project

Writing is an inspirational art form. There is a live interaction that happens between the text and writer while it is being written and between the text and every reader that reads what has been written.

As someone who has briefly taught and tutored in the writing community, I know that allowing students to understand the empowerment of sharing their writing through publication will inspire them to have a sense of pride and encourage them to continue to write.

If children are encouraged to express themselves in this manner then it is possible they will become more confident in articulating their voices in the future, which will create a wider variety of voices and opinions in the community they belong too.

With that said it is also important that as part of the writing community we support one another. I have recently heard of a new publication project that is a magazine called Ink Stains, which is a magazine created by teachers of Mississippi Delta that plans to publish writing pieces by students between 5th and 12th grade. This magazine is currently looking for more backers and pledges from the public inorder to reach their goal. It only takes $1.00 to support them.

You can read more information about it at this link:

                  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/334505540/ink-stains-magazine

Update on the Hunt...

Yes, here I am almost a year later and still continuing my search for the perfect coffee place and the perfect writing spot...so far I think Starbucks is winning.

I hate to admit this because as an artist just starting out who would like to support local artists and businesses...it just seems so corporate, but you see their hours and the green glowing mermaid give them lots of points. Especially since one of my writing projects was inspired my mermaids and I even wrote a poem about the Starbucks mermaid-so not have on me now, will post later.

But the search is still on! So Starbucks hasn't one yet.

I would like to sadly report that since I started the hunt the local Primo Coffee has gone out of business. Good-bye fluffy gigantic muffins...*sigh*

Also, it looks as though the Espresso Royale in Ypsilanti and The Coffee Lounge have disappeared as well...Espresso Royale was supposed to be my next destination....and so soon I will travel to Biggby Coffee and test them out for a writing location.

There has also been some additions added to my list, that are in Ann Arbor, which means I would have to pay for parking, which means I would rather not go there...BUT local artists and writer friends of mine have been raving about cafe ambrosia or every time I mention I have a blog about local coffee shops people respond with "Have you been to Comet Coffee?!" So these places are worth investigating.

That would make my list:

1. Primo Coffee - :(
2. The Ugly Mug - :\
3. Perk and Brew- :(
4. The Common Cup- :\
DETOUR: Sweetwaters Cafe- :\
5. Starbucks Ypsilanti-:)
6. Starbucks Arborland-:)
7. Starbucks Carpenter-:)
8. Espresso Royale- :(
9. Biggby Coffee- ?
10. The Coffee Lounge- :(
11. Beezy's- ?
12. Harvest Moon Cafe-?
13. B-24's-?
14. Cafe Ollie-?
15. Comet Coffee-?

:(= Gone                   :\ = maybe      :) = winner so far          ? = yet to be explored    

We Danced

This piece of writing was inspired by a journal prompt, once again from Patricia Ann McNair's blog. Sorry, no journal sketching this time as I seem to have left my sketchpad and crayons at home.

We danced. There was rarely ever music, but we waltzed; one waltzed step after another. Then my favorite part he'd spin me. I would swirl under his arm, usually landing with a stumble facing him with a laugh and smile. We were this way whether people were around or not. We never really needed the music. The melody of our heart strings was always perfectly in-sync.


This prompt hasn't really turned into a story or anything, but I'm all day dreamy thinking about it just the same. I wonder if one of the baristas are ever going to feel this way....

Bitchin' Baristas: On Another Winter Morning.....

Before I begin I have to give the credit for the idea of this blog entry to one of my most inspirational teachers Patricia Ann McNair from the Interlochen writers retreat I attended in 2009. She teaches writing at Columbus College in Chicago and has just recently published a terrific book full of short stories entitled: "The Temple of Air." She has been posting journal prompts on her blog daily...I have decided to use these prompts, which were probably intended for personal journal uses, twist them around and use them as a way to look more deeply inside the Bitchin' Baristas.

The first prompt starts...On another winter morning....

Ella: On another winter morning Cliff would be walking in the snow with me. I never really bothered to ask him if he liked the snow or not and I'm not sure I would've gotten a straight answer anyway. He would've said that he liked to do whatever I liked to do. He once walked three miles in knee deep snow with me without making a fuss. Now, as I try to sop up the milk I had spilled all over my shirt, I watch Gabe-formely known to the other baristas as 6-Shot-Mocha-Latte-Guy swinging his new girlfriend around in the parking lot. She was so pretty, so petite and the two of them were smiling ear to ear. It is hard to believe that only 3 months ago his first marriage had ended. How did he get happy again so fast? How could I....?

Cindy: On another winter morning...if I wasn't still in bed... I would be driving Boring-Vanilla-Latte-Guy crazy as I flipped my hair and bent over so slightly to wipe down the tables, but for some reason predictable Boring-Vanilla-Latte-Guy didn't show up today and so I am forced to work with Pompous-Green-Tea-Man. The thought makes me throw-up in my mouth a little bit because Pompous-Green-Tea-Man spends his day here playing stocks on his computer, so he probably has a lot of money and yet he still wears dorky shorts and socks with his flip flops. I can just imagine he would keep his socks on and pulled up passed his ankles like that as we climbed into his bed, but no matter its worth a shot anyway...poor Boring-Vanilla-Latte-Guy he just doesn't know what he's going to miss.

Tiffany: On another winter morning the snow and ice may have been the most sparkliest thing in the world, but not this morning. This morning the most eye catching 2 karat sparkle is on my finger. I could barely stand to get out of his bed this morning after the night we had, but I have not escaped the daily grind just yet. Though I really should have been paying more attention to the grinds themselves because today as I ground the coffee beans they overflowed from the filter and right into where the diamond was set. Oh well, as soon as Penny and Rich leave I will simply use the milk wand to steam clean the ring and make sure it keeps shining as I punch the screen of the cash register.

Kay: On another winter morning I may have seen something besides splattered blood patterns in the snow. I may have seen red ribbons and sashes contrasting with the blanket of whiteness. There may have been flecks of silver and sparkles as bells rang in the distance. I would not be sitting here poking my finger with a needle in order to get the stimulation needed to forget the pain. The pain I cannot even bare to slap down on a page and call a poem. On another winter morning poems would not need to be called poems but instead they would be called vows. A winter morning is how I always pictured it anyway. I would not be sitting here freezing on a windowsill because I'm trying to freeze out the world and I would not be drawing patterns in the snow with my own blood just because I think it's pretty.

As always I am interested in your reactions and feedback!