The word challenge is a appropriate on so many levels for this Slice of Life Challenge! How do I make the time to write everyday? How to read all the terrific posts being shared? How do I come up with an idea of what to write about Every. Single. Day.
It’s not that I don’t have ideas. It’s that they don’t always cooperate, or I don’t have the time I need to develop them. So what to do on those days?
A few months ago, I received an intriguing postcard advertising Rip the Page! Adventures in Creative Writing (Roost Books, 2010) by Karen Benke. The jacket copy goes on to say that the book “Includes wordplay, open-ended writing experiments, encouragement from writers and poets, and enough blank pages to let your words roam…” I ordered it immediately.
To say that this book is full of inspiration is an understatement. I could open up to any random page and have a topic to write about in under a minute. Today’s slice is courtesy “Favorite Words,” a page with sixty random words. Benke describes this as “a list of some of my favorite words to snack on.” I chose the word “honeysuckle,” which unleashed this:
This is the magic…
A word.
Honeysuckle,
d
r
i
p
p
i
n
g
with sweetness,
conjures a memory
of summer afternoons,
walking through meadows
lined with masses of
yellow and orange blossoms.
Vying with bumblebees
and hummingbirds
darting
in
and
out,
hovering
in mid air,
to steal
the nectar stored inside.
Liquid sunshine.
© Catherine Flynn, 2015
![By Aftabbanoori (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://readingtothecore.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/honeysuckle-2.jpg)
Thank you to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna, and Beth for this space for teachers and others to share their stories each day during the month of March and on Tuesdays throughout the year. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.
Reading to the Core 
Wow–I must have this book. I love what you did with your word, honeysuckle. I love both the images you create and the movement of your lines.
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Just love not only the excellent resource suggestion but also your beautiful poem about the honeysuckle! Love the line about vying with bumblebees and hummingbirds….makes me want to be there! Thank you!
-Dana
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Catherine,
The images you create are amazing!
Thanks so much for sharing your own creations!
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This sounds like an amazing book! It is now on my to get list! (Which keeps growing every March!) Thank you for a reminder of warm summer days this morning as I head to work with another winter advisory in place.
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I keep telling myself I have enough books. You never have enough books. Here’s another one on the must-have list.
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bought this book in London at the National Gallery and haven’t opened it since…but that will change because of your fabulous, luscious poem, Catherine! May I share it with my students?
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Of course, Tara! Thank you for stopping by!
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This book is something I need to look for. I can so relate the the beginning of this post. I feel that way with every post I sit down to write.
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Had to stop for a SOL titled Honeysuckle. Did you ever pull the blooms and suck the nectar? Sweetness, summer afternoons, liquid sweetness – all are wonderful words for so many stuck in the middle of a tough winter.
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I read your poem this morning, before heading off to school. You made an icy, sleety, rainy, snowy triple-the-drive-time commute, feel a little more spring-like.
I came back this evening, to read it, and savor it, once more.
Lovely!!!
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Your poem is very inspiring, Catherine. Now, if we could only get back to the honeysuckle blooming days! I love your use of space in your poem.
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Love the visual craft you developed in your poem! But your words were just perfect too. This let me feel like summer until I looked out the window and saw the snow. Breathe deep and inhale that sweet honeysuckle scent!
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Oh how I love this and the images it conjured up in my mind. Thanks for sharing that great resource, too!
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Love that poem and the book and image. Wish I could look out the window and see some colors. White is now driving me CRAZY!!!!!
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Beautiful poem/slice, Catherine. I love the words & the arrangement of course. I have this book & have used it so often with students. It’s awesome, guess I should pull it out for myself, too. I didn’t even think of it, so thanks very much!
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What a great post. I’m going to add the book to my must have list. I can’t wait to read it.
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[…] Benke’s Rip the Page: Adventures in Creative Writing. (Read another post inspired by this book here.) On page 56, I found “Juxtaposition.” This exercise begins by folding a piece of paper in half […]
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[…] Benke’s Rip the Page: Adventures in Creative Writing. (Read another post inspired by this book here.) Here’s the explanation of “Juxtaposition” (found on page 56) from last year’s […]
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