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 (1211)
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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
One Week of Pleasing and Angry Things
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise: Over the period of a week or so, write down ten things that made you angry, but don’t try to explain why. Over the same time period, do the same for ten things that pleased you. Be very specific. Statements like, “I felt good when I woke on Wednesday morning,” are too vague to carry any conviction~~ and this could have happened to anyone. “I ran into Ms. Butler, my third-grade teacher, in the Star Market, and she said hello to me by my right name” is specific and could only have happened to you. The Objective: You may not use most of what you’ve written down, but you will have practiced viewing your immediate world as a garden full of fictional seeds.
By Denise E Lindquist5 months ago in Writers
Trauma
Author's Note: I was asked to join others for a day on the topic of trauma. What it is and healing from it for Native Americans and people of color, and LGBTQ+ populations. Should be fun. There is a panel and a breakout with people from each of these groups. A co-trainer and I will handle both a panel presentation and a breakout presentation.
By Denise E Lindquist5 months ago in Poets
One Bully I Encountered At An Early Age
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise: First, think about your childhood between the ages of six and twelve and try to recall someone whose memory, even now, has the power to invoke strong, often negative feelings in you. Was that person the class bully, the clown, the daredevil, the town snob, the neighborhood bore, etc? Write down details of what you remember about this person. How she looked and talked. Did you ever have any encounters with this person? Or did you just observe her from a distance? Next, if you haven't seen this person for ten years or longer, imagine what she is doing now, where she lives, etc. Be specific. If you had a long acquaintance with this person, or still know her, imagine where she will be ten years from now. The Objective: To understand how our past is material for our imaginations and how writing well can be the best revenge.
By Denise E Lindquist5 months ago in Writers
A Museum Display Of My Sister's Pottery
Today, I spoke with a person from the Weissman Gallery in Minneapolis, MN, on the University of Minnesota Campus, who is interested in having an exhibit of woodland pottery and she thought my sister Carrie may be the focus of the exhibit.
By Denise E Lindquist5 months ago in Poets
