Writing is like Corn Hole

by | 11 Comments

The blue bean bag slammed onto the board, barely missing the hole. The reverberations from the red bean bag that followed pushed it in. One point for the good guys.

Photo credit whiteafrican

Photo by whiteafrican

Creativity is like corn hole (or bean bag toss or whatever it’s called in your neck of the woods):

You can score on your own.

Or you can score with the opponent’s help.

Does this happen in any other sport?

It’s rare but not impossible to score alone in corn hole. Likewise, it’s rare but not impossible to write alone.

A good writer is always looking for material and any moment can become a scene.

For me, I may start a piece on my own but others’ work and conversations—both real and imagined—are vital to the end result.

Writing always becomes a team effort, whether the other team members know it or not.

PRACTICE

We’re a team here at The Write Practice and today we’re going to work together.

You’ve got two choices:
1. Write for fifteen minutes about some friends at a sporting event.
2.Pick up where a previous writer left off and use it as a launching point for your practice.

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About the Author

Katie Axelson

Katie is a professional writer who seeks to live a story worth telling. She can be found blogging, Tweeting, and Facebook-ing

  • http://twitter.com/pootlesuzie Suzie Gallagher

    It was a simple game of marbles that got me on the road. I discovered I had a talent for ripping through knocking all the other marbles, shattering peoples’ dreams. We were just kids but I won the most pennies and everyone wanted to be my friend. Being generous with these ill gotten coins was key to keeping friends.

    As I got older I graduated to ring toss and pool in the local bar. Always winning, always looking for the edge, always ready to humiliate opponents into submission. My posse around me, shouting encouragement to me and derogatory remarks to the losers.

    I paid my way through college playing pool in local bars. I guess it was inevitable that I would end up a lawyer, enjoying the verbose arguments, killing the opposition with the speed of my voice. I was still playing the odd game of pool but spent most of my free time in the game of stocks and shares. I became ‘the winner’, everything I touched sparkled with gold. I was invited to all the right parties, became the youngest partner, litigants lined the sidewalk for me to take their case. Life was sweet.

    In tales like this, this is the point where I lose all my money, job, home etc, only it didn’t happen I just started batting for a different team. It was a particularly cold night in December a few years ago, my jeep broke down at the wrong interchange, in the wrong part of town and I was mugged. They took everything, I even recognised one of them as a guy I used to hang around as a youngster. No matter, I wasn’t going to press charges, they roughed me up a bit and left me in the bitter cold. A young girl found me, a teenager with clothes barely covering her young body. “You okay, mister? Here come with me. What’s your name?”

    She took me to her apartment, well one room hovel and proceeded to clean my face up. We chatted, she evaded questions about her age and what she was doing on the streets, she avoided questions about her family but she asked me lots of questions.

    Questions that I didn’t know the answer to. Questions that pierced me, jabbed, stabbed. They were still in my head as I prepared the next day for court. . What was I doing with my life? What was the end goal? As soon as the day was finished I went looking for Cherylann, pronounced Cherlann, I found her and took her for dinner in a local cafe.

    I didn’t have questions for her, I had a proposition which she accepted. In the next few weeks I found out her life story, we went through an adoption process that took longer than it should. I changed jobs, starting at the bottom in the public defenders office. Cher helped me find a house close to a school she liked and she went back to school. She became a student, with more life experience than she should’ve had. She helped me in ways I hardly realise, softening my battle weary heart so I was open when a lovely lady walked into the office.

    And now, I try not to humiliate in court anymore, I don’t play pool or gamble on the stock exchange. Cher and now Lisa take me to church and a few weeks ago I realised how empty my life had been, the gold I craved seemed tarnished now, the real gold was in family, in community, in church, in God. I thank God daily that through the mugging I was shown true love by a street worker, she showed me how grace worked and together we all turned our lives around.

    • http://KatieAxelson.com/ Katie Axelson

      What a neat story of a world being turned around through one horrible event.

    • Mirelba

      Interesting spin.

  • Rebecca

    Ever since the Masterchef thing happened in the UK, it spread to America and then to Australia. It was like the Big Brother phenomena, and then the Idol/X factor/My Country’s Got Talent thing … for now, on TV, being a chef is the new hot, sexy thing in fashion.

    Ironically, the enrollment for culinary school didn’t increase but according to the statistics, more and more young students are home cooks. This isn’t a bad thing at all. I enjoy watching from the sidelines and making comments but Renee was the type of girl who either bitched about contests or joined them.

    Funnily enough, she started off as a musician. A bloody good one. She practiced for hours, took lessons and then after rigorous rounds of auditions she entered a really good conservatory. Then she got bored. So she took some time off and decided to cook. She started to bake – one of the easiest methods of cookery. She made cakes, meringues and all sorts of biscuits. She moved on and started to roast… after roasting she started to stew and so on… she read every single culinary textbook under the sun, she watched a lot of TV. All she talked about was food. I wondered sometimes – I wondered why we were in a relationship. She was so ambitious, so dedicated, so passionate and I just enjoyed breathing in her passion vicariously and watching from the sidelines. I wish I had her passion… but I never did … maybe my job in IT verifies this simple contentment and lack of thirst.

    Today she decided that she was MasterChef material. She decided to rock up to the audition. She practiced her own goats cheese, sweet potato and beetroot tart at home so many times, that I became very sick of eating it. Watching somebody in a sporting event is normally thrilling, you sit by the sidelines and watch them perform. This MasterChef audition was nothing like the kind you see on TV – there is no balcony. There is a room and inside that room there is a commercial kitchen with lots of bench space and refrigerators. I wasn’t allowed in the room. I waited for her outside… and I felt nervous, but a tiny part of me wished that she didn’t win.

    She walked out with a grin on her face. Oh dear…

    “I WON!”

    She grabbed me faster than I could say “congratulations!” her arms wrapped themselves around my head. And I stood there outside the room, clutching her, in wonder of what will happen if she gets bored of cooking.

    • http://KatieAxelson.com/ Katie Axelson

      I love this, Rebecca

  • http://www.facebook.com/audrey.chin.9655 Audrey Chin

    This is a great idea Katie, to tag write. Am pooped from the festivities right now but will check in again tomorrow to see what someone else has put up, so I can tag along.

  • CC

    There are lots of games where your opponent can help you score – for one that’s played at the Olympic level, what about curling?

    • http://twitter.com/pootlesuzie Suzie Gallagher

      Crown green bowls, shuffleboard…

      • http://KatieAxelson.com/ Katie Axelson

        Ok, ok, ok, I promise never to show off my sports knowledge again. ;)

        • http://twitter.com/pootlesuzie Suzie Gallagher

          I think it is a country thing or continent thing. curling bowls and shuffleboard all originated in Europe. Shuffleboard from the 1500′s and bowls … well Walter Raleigh played it. Curling is Scottish – aye tis really and as they own New Year – first footing etc and then Rabbie Burns Night – och will we write a piece in Scotland… mmm.

          As an aside, Met Eireann have warned homeowners to take down outside decorations because of the storm coming but I misheard and wondered why the national news were saying my Aaron was telling everyone to being down the decs. (Eireann and Aaron are pronounced the same and I only ever half listen to the news!!!)

          Blessings Katie, I will write later must go foraging for supplies now.

          • http://KatieAxelson.com/ Katie Axelson

            LOL
            Good luck getting everything down and braving the storm.

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