One of my favorite books when I was growing up was Elizabeth Enright’s The Saturdays. If you haven’t read it yet, you simply must. MUST. It’s the first in a four-book “quartet” about the Melendy family, and in this one, the four siblings (who live in New York) battle weekend boredom by pooling their allowances so that each Saturday, one of them can have an adventure. Lots of surprises and much hilarity ensues…
Since moving back to New England, my husband and I have started our own Saturday adventure club. We’ve had fun checking out new breakfast spots (we’re big fans of diners), visiting historic sites and museums, and exploring nooks and crannies in and around Boston that we didn’t have a chance to explore last time we lived here (*cough* twenty-five years ago *cough*). Often a hike is involved, and the day almost always ends with ice cream (we’re big fans of ice cream, too — especially if it’s homemade or from a farmstand). We’re enjoying this new tradition immensely, and I’ll look forward to sharing tales of some of our adventures in the future!
Today, though, it’s time for a Story Starter. I’m picking a photo from last weekend’s adventure for this week’s inspiration. Isn’t this a gorgeous gate?
For this month’s story starter, tell us about this gate. Is it keeping someone in, or someone or something out? Where is the gate? Is it at a castle, perhaps, or an elegant country home, or just a simple cottage that belongs to an expert blacksmith, or someplace else entirely? Who is looking through this gate? What is he or she looking at? Are they happy or sad? There are endless possibilities — you decide, you set the scene, you tell us a story.
Ready, set, WRITE!
For those of you who haven’t participated before, Saturday Story Starter is purely for fun, just a way to exercise those writing muscles (think of it as Heather’s Literary Gym). This is the kind of homework I imagine research paper service workers doing when the feel rusty. There are no prizes, only the simple joy of putting words on paper (well, OK, on the computer screen). Also, I won’t be offering critiques, just brief words of encouragement, but I will read all your entries, that I can promise! (And if you’d like to read some of the earlier stories that have been shared, click here and click here and click here and click here and click here and here and click here and here and click here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here to browse to your heart’s content…)
