Panning for Gold in the Kitchen Sink: Everyday Creative Writing Book

	Preface	xiii
	Introduction	xvii
	Provisions and Prospecting Tools	1
	Provisions	2
	Optional Provisions	7
	Prospecting Tools	7
	Freewriting	8
	Brainstorming	9
	Listing	10
	Clustering	11
	Free Association	11
	Puzzles, Games, and Computers	13
	Using Your Computer	15
	Resistance as a Tool	17
	Using a Combination of Tools	18
	What Form Should You Choose?	20
	Consider Writing a Poem from an Exercise if	20
	Consider Writing a Story from an Exercise if	21
	Consider Writing an Essay from an Exercise if	22
	Around The House	25
	Why I Will Not Get Out of Bed	26
	Holding On and Letting Go	30
	Furniture Movers	34
	Baggage	37
	At the Dinner Table	41
	Paper Trails	45
	I Have Been Eating Boredom	48
	Home Contractors	51
	Honey, I'm Home	54
	The Evolution of Mini-Skills	57
	The Note Read, "There Are More Where These Came From"	60
	Quilting	63
	The Family Normal	67
	Photo Album	71
	Product Warnings	74
	Down the Street	77
	Getting Lost, Finding the Way	78
	Excuses, Excuses, Excuses	81
	Caught Up in the News	84
	Neighborly and Unneighborly Neighbors	86
	Customs and the Customary	90
	Building Codes and Zones	93
	"I Would Have Burned My Hair for That Waitress"	96
	Community Service	99
	The Road Not Taken	102
	The Backpack	105
	Around the Water Cooler	108
	Checking Out the Checkout Line	112
	Exit Interview	114
	Modern Romance	118
	Half Accountant, Half Bartender	121
	In the Gold Mine	125
	The Elements	126
	Folk Remedies	129
	The Cliche's the Thing	132
	Crossing Relationship Boundaries	136
	What Things Say	138
	Changes in Preference	141
	Subtitles and Doubletalk	143
	Setting as Character	146
	Comparing Apples and Orangutans	149
	Citizen Oz	152
	He Said, Winkingly	156
	Character by Association	160
	"My Mother Was Like an Ornate Castle"	164
	As Restless as Pantyhose	167
	Implausible Causes and Unlikely Effects	170
	Assaying: How Do You Know it's Gold?	175
	Does It Glitter: Freshness and Originality	177
	The Topic or Piece of Writing Keeps Coming Back to You	177
	You Find Yourself "Working" on the Piece Without Deliberately Trying To	178
	The Beginning of the Piece Helped You Discover Something You Didn't Know About Yourself or Someone Else or the Human Condition	178
	You Are Intrigued by an Odd or Original Connection You Have Made Between Two Seemingly Very Different Things	178
	You Introduced a Character You Like a Great Deal and Are Concerned About What Might Happen to Her or Him	179
	You Introduced a Character You Dislike and Are Concerned About the Damage He or She May Do	179
	You Love the Sound of the Words You Have Strung Together	180
	You Feel Like You Could Write a Lot More About This	180
	You're Dying to Send/Show the Piece to Others	180
	You Feel That What You Have Written Is Fresh or Original	180
	You Believe That What You Have Written Honestly Expresses Some of Your Feelings	182
	You Have Created Tension or Conflict	182
	How to Sort Real Gold from Fool's Gold	183
	Be Sure That What You Have Written Doesn't Descend into Cliche	183
	Beware of What Too Easily Amuses or Impresses You	185
	Some Final Thoughts	185
	From Nuggets to Artifacts: Finishing What You Started	187
	When You Get Stuck Writing a Poem	189
	Play Out the Language	189
	Choose Random Words from Another Source	191
	Start Saying the Opposite	191
	Repeat the Last Word, Phrase, Line, or Stanza	192
	Rhyme the Last Line and Move in the Direction of the Rhymed Word	192
	Transpose the First Stanza and the Last Stanza	192
	Inject a Memory or a Dream	192
	When You Get Stuck Writing a Story	193
	Add a Character	193
	Let Your Characters Lead	193
	Create a Scene	193
	Add Weather	194
	Add Trouble	194
	Raise the Stakes	194
	Add a Second Story	194
	When You Get Stuck Writing a Creative Essay	195
	Interview Someone	195
	Interview Yourself	195
	Look Up Unusual Facts Surrounding Your Subject	195
	Employ Fictional Techniques	195
	Begin Your Next Paragraph with a Particular Moment	195
	Create a Bold, New Organizing Strategy	195
	Take a Trip	196
	When You Get Stuck in General	196
	Don't Insist on Knowing Where You're Going	196
	Use Exercises in this Book as Prompts for Scenes, Stanzas, or New Ideas	197
	Start a List	197
	Start in the Middle of the Story, Poem, or Essay	197
	Shift Something: Point of View, Time Period, Voice, or Tone	197
	Write About What Is Going On in or Around You at the Moment You Get Stuck	198
	Stop Writing in the Middle of a Scene, Stanza, or Line	198
	Gold Futures: Prospects for Publication	199
	Finding a Home for Your Work	200
	Contests and Vanity Presses	201
	Publishing on the Internet	202
	How to Submit Work	202
	Include a Very Brief Cover Letter	203
	Include a Self-Addressed, Stamped Envelope	203
	Manuscript Mechanics	203
	For Further Reading	205
	Acknowledgments	209
	Subject Index	213
	Author/Title Index	217