This past weekend, Shimelle's Write It Down journal challenge ended.  For February, she encouraged her readers and students to tell stories, small descriptive snippets, little imperfections, prompts to get scrapbookers telling better stories to go with their pages.  Good scrapbookers journal.  They write the story that goes with the photo and maybe they explain all the extra decorated details of the page.

These exercises were just ways to stretch their journalling muscles and the view the process with a slight shift of perscpective.  Shimelle's own problems with her blog mean that 29 unique challenges were never posted in the month.

Still, these prompts could also be used to get blogposts going (we shall need them for Nablopomo).  Some of these prompts:

The trick for today is that using someone else’s words to start your journaling can make it much easier to get on a roll. After you try it with the words of a friend or member of the family, you might be able to try something similar with a favourite quotation as a lead in to your own words on a related subject.

When I drafted out my ideas for twenty-nine journaling prompts, I didn’t intend to make them into an English lesson. Really I didn’t. I promise. But sometimes I found it just happened that way. So today we’re writing with prepositions. But it’s so much easier than that sounds, okay? It’s all just words. And in fact, prepositions are some of the easiest

If you want to give this a try, look around and find something that doesn't fit perfectly in the world. Something that isnt' your darkest of the darks and doesn't bring up anger; just something that when you look at it, it seems wrong and you can feel your face change. Just a little bit. Try to describe the picture you see, and add a single setnece that tries to put things right. Then leave it be and walk away. This one isn't easy.

Go grab a book.  The book you're currently reading, your favourtie book or a book you just find sitting somewhere close, but go grab a book.. .. Start with a phrase or a whole sentence from a book of your own and see where it can leadyou with afew sentences of your own.

Today, let's get started with a current picture.  Pick yp your camera, go to the nearest window and snap the view fo what you see there.  Start with a simple opening in the first person: "outside my window, this morning, I see..." then start to describe what's there.

Participants in the prompts:

Hosiemosie took on the challenges. I really like her The Word Is...Project.

Suzanne Earley from ARt Quilts and Other Adventures posted an adorable photoshopped picture for the weather prompt.  Dogs, snow, and sunshine.. a perfect combination.

So many of Shimelle's prompts are truly fabulous. You're challenge, if you should choose to accept it, is to take the time to browse back through her past month and find one or two of her favorite prompts.  If you wish, find a photo to go with the prompt.  If not, simply follow the writing prompt. Try at least one of these ideas. Then post a comment both below and at Pretty Paper. True Stories.. and share your link with us all.

Debra Roby blogs her creative life at A Stitch in Time>/a> and her mundane life at Deb's Daily Distractions .