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Our process:

Reconnect with chat and six word stories
Share invitation
Random breakout groups write and share @ 50 minutes allows for 3 rounds
Return to main group to share golden lines
#Writing4Right

Share a six-word story in the chat box:

Will I ever enjoy drama again?

We are a community of writers who follow these rules of engagement:

Just write
Just share
There are no other rules that matter!

Write about what matters to you: the invitation, a six-word story, or what is loud in your head today.

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No More Elegies Today by Clint Smith

Today I will

write a poem

about a little girl jumping rope.

It will not be a metaphor for dodging bullets.

It will not be an allegory

for skipping past despair.

But rather about the

back & forth bob of her head

as she waits for the right moment to insert herself

into the blinking flashes of bound hemp.

But rather about her friends

on either end of the rope who turn

their wrists into small

flashing windmills cultivating

an energy of their own.

But rather about the way

the beads in her hair bounce

against the back of her neck.

But rather the way her feet

barely touch the ground,

how the rope skipping across

the concrete sounds

like the entire world is giving

her a round of applause.

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Sisters by Lucille Clifton

me and you be sisters.

we be the same.

me and you

coming from the same place.

me and you

be greasing our legs

touching up our edges.

me and you

be scared of rats

be stepping on roaches.

me and you

come running high down purdy street one time

and mama laugh and shake her head at

me and you.

me and you

got babies

got thirty-five

got black

let our hair go back

be loving ourselves

be sisters.

only where you sing,

I poet.

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Knoxville, Tennessee by Nikki Giovanni

I always like summer

best

you can eat fresh corn

from daddy's garden

and okra

and greens

and cabbage

and lots of

barbecue

and buttermilk

and homemade ice-cream

at the church picnic

and listen to

gospel music

outside

at the church

homecoming

and go to the mountains with

your grandmother

and go barefooted

and be warm

all the time

not only when you go to bed

and sleep

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How will you Write 4 Right this week by...

Writing to understand
Writing to connect
Writing what you see
Writing about your personal values

America believes itself exceptional, the greatest and noblest nation ever to exist...I propose to take our countrymen’s claims of American exceptionalism seriously, which is to say I propose subjecting our country to an exceptional moral standard.

Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me

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Break Out Groups: Write and Share

To keep your break out group moving, observe traditional writing marathon rule: Do not discuss the writing, just thank the writer and move on to the next reading.

7:15 - write this: My name is _____ and I am a writer from ___ and I feel …

7:20 - lightning round of introductions using that info

7:25 - write for @ 8 minutes then share for @ 8 minutes

7:40 - write for @ 8 minutes and then share for @ 8 minutes

7:55 - write for @ 8 minutes and then share for @ 8 minutes

We will return to the group about 8:10 to share some of our golden lines with the larger group.