The Wordsmith's Forge

Here are the notes for "Play Off the Energy of the Crowd."

( Read more... )

This poem came out of the May 2026 crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from siliconshaman. It also fills the "wait" square in my 5-1-26 card for the Greek Myth Fest bingo. This poem belongs to the Blueshift Troupers series.

( Read more... )

This is the freebie for the April 2026 crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by fan art from gs_silva, plus comments on "Walnut Park" from chanter1944, wispfox, and readera. It also fills the "match" square in my 4-1-26 card for the Flower Fest Bingo. This poem belongs to the Broken Angels thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

( Read more... )

This is the freebie for the March crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by the "tape" square in my 3-1-26 card for the National Crafting Month Bingo fest. It belongs to the series Arts and Crafts America.


"Colorful Opportunities"


Tape is a material
that is always full of
colorful opportunities.

It can make borders and
frames on scrapbook pages.

It stripes the handles of
tools for easy identification.

It flags pages for future reading.

It makes cute cutouts for
decorating boxes and books.

Tape holds hobbies together.

Thanks to a donation from janetmiles, you can now read the rest of "The Struggle Against Overwhelming Odds." Gideon and Raymond get some unexpected help in the fight.

This poem is spillover from the October 2020 Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "demons" square in my 10-1-20 card for the Fall Festival Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Not Quite Kansas.

Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the more detailed warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes feeling lost, an unprovoked attack, hellhounds, violence, gore, unexpected rescue, playing with prey, fatally injured opponents, minor injuries to main characters, awkward discussions, willing sacrifice, intimate magical healing, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.

This microfunded poem is being posted one verse at a time, as donations come in to cover them. The rate is $0.25/line, so $5 will reveal 20 new lines, and so forth. There is a permanent donation button on my profile page, or you can contact me for other arrangements. You can also ask me about the number of lines per verse, if you want to fund a certain number of verses. So far sponsors include: fuzzyred, janetmiles.

FULLY FUNDED
355 lines, Buy It Now = $44.50
Amount donated = $10
Verses posted = 13 of 118
Amount remaining to fund fully = $34.50
Amount needed to fund next verse = $0.25
Amount needed to fund the verse after that = $0.75

( Read more... )

The crowdfunding Creative Jam is now open with a theme of "Not Giving Up." Come give us prompts, or claim some for your own inspiration!


What I Have Written:

"If You Don't Fall Down" is today's freebie, inspired by "One Who Falls and Gets Up" by gs_silva.

"Hear a Thousand Stars Singing"
Story Date: Night of Sunday, October 25, 2015
Summary: Fascinated by the idea of becoming a robonaut, Quain takes up stargazing.
28 lines, Buy It Now = $15

"Never Turn Your Back"
Story Date: Thursday, October 6, 2016
Summary: An incident at college leaves Shiv striving to rescue a classmate.
182 lines, Buy It Now = $91


From My Prompts:

"One Who Falls and Gets Up" by gs_silva
Jon falls while getting out of a car.
(Summary for crossovers/collabs.)

The crowdfunding Creative Jam is now open with a theme of "Memories." Come give us prompts, or claim some for your own inspiration! This is our 150th session, so I hope to see lots of excitement.


What I Have Written:

"The Flavors of Our Days" is today's freebie.

"Memories Like a Blanket"
Summary: Memories keep us warm inside.
22 lines, Buy It Now = $10


From My Prompts:



.

The November crowdfunding Creative Jam is up with a theme of "Love and Sacrifice."  Come leave us prompts, or claim some for your own inspiration!

This is the 149th Creative Jam!  There is none in December, so January will be the 150th.  \o/


What I Have Written

"Better Than a Million Dollars" is this session's freebie.


From My Prompts

This is the freebie for the September crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from himejoshiheart. It also fills the "leak" square in my 9-1-25 card for the Piracy Bingo Fest.

( Read more... )