Hi SEers! Denise here, and I’m going to talk about an exercise I did in a writing class and how it inspired new ideas.

The assignment was to sit out in public, observe, and take notes. I was to include all the senses and impressions. It was an opportunity to find a new story idea along with being immersed in a setting.

I sat at our local park above the public swimming pool. Armed with a water bottle, notebook, and pen, I took in the tall pines and oaks surrounding me and the area. The damp, warm grass under my bare feet was uniformly cut. Its musky aroma was mixing with the sweet scent of the patch of purple and yellow wildflowers off to my side.

The hot sun was almost overhead, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Voices echoed up from the pool in a loud rumble…