Denise E Lindquist
Bio
I am married with 7 children, 28 grands, and 13 great-grandchildren. I am a culture consultant part-time. I write A Poem a Day in February for 8 years now. I wrote 4 - 50,000 word stories in NaNoWriMo. I write on Vocal/Medium daily.
Stories (1229)
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Written As A He
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise: Write a page in the first person, assuming the voice of someone of the opposite gender. This can be a description, a narrative, or a segment of autobiography. The main point is to completely lose yourself and become another. The Objective: To learn how to draw convincing verbal portraits of characters different from yourself and to make them sympathetic, rounded, and complex, even though you don’t especially “like” them or admire what they represent.
By Denise E Lindquist5 months ago in Writers
Notebook Entries. Top Story - September 2025.
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise: Write one page a day. Concentrate on observation and description, not feeling. For example, if you receive a letter, the ordinary reaction is to write in the diary, “I received a letter that made me happy.” (or sad). Instead, describe the size of the envelope, the quality of the paper, and what the stamps looked like. Keep your diary without using the verb to be. Forms of the verb to be don’t create any vivid images. By avoiding its use, you get into the habit of choosing more interesting verbs. You’ll also be more accurate. For example, some people will say “John Smith is a really funny guy,” when what they really mean is “John Smith makes me laugh,” or “I like John Smith’s sense of humor.” Experiment with sentence length. Keep the diary for a week in sentences of ten words or less. Then try writing each day’s account in a single sentence. Avoid use of “and” to connect the long sentence; try out other conjunctions. Switch your diary to third person for a while, so that instead of writing I, you can write about he or she. Then, try mixing the point of view. Start the day in third person and switch into first person to comment on the action. By interspersing first and third-person points of view, you can experiment with stream of consciousness and the interior monologue. Try keeping your diary in an accent — first the accent of somebody who is learning how to write English, then the accent of somebody learning to speak English. Keep it in baby talk; Baby want. Baby hurt. Baby want food. Baby want love. Baby walk. Try making lists for a diary entry — just a record of the nouns of that day: toothbrush, coffee, subway tokens, schoolbooks, gym shoes. The Objective: To enhance your powers of observation and description without having to juggle the demands of characterization and plot.
By Denise E Lindquist5 months ago in Writers
The First Day Of School
“Mom, can you take Paxton for a haircut? School starts tomorrow. I’m sorry for this last-minute thing. I am taking Brynn for school clothes later today.” Really? No problem. I can do that. If I leave now, I will pick him up and see if we can find a place before my noon meeting, or get it cut afterward.
By Denise E Lindquist5 months ago in Families
Word For The Day
An AI Summary: To enhance your vocabulary, consider today's dictionary word for September 1, 2025: Word of the Day: "Ephemeral" Defined as lasting for a very short time. Often used to describe fleeting moments or temporary experiences. Commonly associated with nature, like flowers that bloom briefly. Can refer to trends or fads that quickly fade away. Encourages appreciation for the beauty in transience. Used in literature to evoke themes of impermanence.
By Denise E Lindquist5 months ago in Poets
Why Is It
Author's Note: I have had to pick and choose what funerals I would attend since the pandemic began back in 2019/20. People are still not having funerals within the first weeks after a death. The funeral I am attending today was for a June death, for example.
By Denise E Lindquist5 months ago in Families
What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise: Choose a central dramatic incident from your life. *Write about it in first person, and then write about it in third person (or try second person!) Write separate versions from the point of view of each character in the incident. *Have it happen to someone ten or twenty years older or younger than yourself. *Stage it in another country or in a radically different setting. *Use the skeleton of the plot for a whole different set of emotional reactions. *Use the visceral emotions from the experience for a whole different storyline. The Objective: To become more fluent in translating emotions and facts from truth to fiction. To help you see the components of a dramatic situation as eminently elastic and capable of transformation. To allow your fiction to take on its own life, to determine what happens and why in an artful way that is organic to the story itself. As Virginia Woolf said, "There must be great freedom from reality."
By Denise E Lindquist5 months ago in Writers
Writers, Reading Their Work
It was my privilege to attend writers reading their writing. Poetry, biographies, and non-fiction were all read. One of the writers had a birthday so there was singing and cupcakes for all. One writer had her first book published. A couple writers were reading their writing for the first time.
By Denise E Lindquist5 months ago in Poets
