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We are experiencing a bit of warm weather here in Alaska, so the daily writing prompt for today is thaw. Either a spring thaw of snow, or maybe your character thawing something for dinner. Perhaps they are talking about how someone needs to thaw something? Perhaps thaw is the secret code word for your spy? Or maybe the name of a computer virus in your technological thriller? Would your mage character have a reason to create a spell that would thaw something?

The prompt part of this? The Unexpected Letter – I didn’t expect to get this, it was tagged to me at random, so have something random delivered to your lead character then enjoy the fun of this little game. Read on for how to play…

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If you were recently tagged by someone named Sandra (me), here are the rules for the game which I got from Jacob (Thanks Jacob! I needed this blog fodder):

• Link to the person who tagged you.
• Leave a comment on their blog so that their readers can visit yours.
• Post the rules on your blog.
• Share the seven (7) most famous or infamous people you have met. Or go with the original 7 weird things about yourself.
• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post.
• Include links to their blogs.
• Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

You’re a private person, you say? Well, someone switched it up to the seven most famous people you’ve met.

Seven weird things about me? Hmm… I’m sure my friends can come up with that, but not sure I can. As for seven famous people… I didn’t actually meet Robert Redford, but he did sleep on our couch.. don’t think that counts… how about I scramble this up a little more from the normal and, since this is a writing prompts blog, give my seven favorite writing websites? Listed in no particular order:

1) The Black Hole – I found this years ago, great resource telling you what to expect on time for replies from magazines.
2) Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Inc.
3) Project Gutenberg – While not really for writers, this is a great site for anyone looking for the classics to read. I included it because all writers are, by nature, readers.
4) Holly Lisle – I have been a fan of Holly Lisle’s website since it started as Forward Motion back in the late 1990’s. Hers was one of the first actual writer’s websites I found when I decided to start looking for other writers websites online. A must visit site for any writer in my humble opinion.
5) Writer’s Digest Top 101 Best Websites for Writers
6) Stock.xchng – A wonderful community for the sharing of pictures, great resource for those in need of a picture to accompany a story or blog post or for a novel cover or… whatever.
7) yWriter – yWriter is a wonderful writing program made by a writer for writers. It’s free too! Check it out, I think you will love it as much as I do.

I’ve randomly tagged (Okay, not so *random* I used Technorati to look for blogs relating to writing) the following blogs are ones that I found fascinating. My one requirement (other than that they be something my readers might like) was that they all seem to be ones that, on browsing, looked like they might not mind my tagging them. So, enjoy some great new blogs that you might not otherwise have found! I know I might not have found them if Jacob had not tagged me:

1. Mind the gap
2. Write From Karen
3. Writing Aspirations
4. The Unemployed Writer
5. In The Trenches
6. HED’s Writing Mission
7. A Writer’s Journey

As I said, I went through Technorati picking out seven random blogs that are by, or for, writers and looked like they would enjoy being tagged. There is no requirement to participate, this is just for fun and I enjoyed it so much I think I’ll do another random blog spotlight on The Writing Office some time. And, as the fellow that sent me this said – don’t feel bad if I left you out, just take it as an open invitation to join in on this if you feel the need or need the post fodder.

This post is being sent through a time warp because the Internet had a major SNAFU that locked me out of being able to reach my website for a couple of days. So, you get a time warp prompt. Figure out how to make something into a time warp effect for your character. Maybe in the truest sense of the word or maybe a letter that should have been delivered to your heroines grandmother is delivered to her fifty years late? Maybe it is just a “sense of feeling” the character gets walking into a room?

There is a saying in the military that a situation is SNAFU… Situation Normal: All F***** Up.  I think you can fill in the asterisks yourself.  Today’s prompt is SNAFU because I can’t access the website to post it, so I am trying to make the post from Windows Live Writer instead, we’ll see if that works.

As for the prompt.  Is there something that it would truly and honestly surprise your lead if it did not go wrong?  Do they expect their computer to crash consistently?  Do they expect the paper boy to leave their paper in the bushes or on the roof?  Do they expect for their kid to leave their bike laying behind the car in the driveway?  Everyone has that one thing that just makes the day normal, a point where you know something is going to be out of place or messed up or forgotten.  What is that sphere of normal in your character’s life?  How do they deal with it?  Do they call the paper every morning to complain?  Do they keep a long pole by the door for retrieving the newspaper?  Does your lead wake their kid up and make them move the bike or does he move it himself?

What kind of fantasy SNAFUs might there be?  Does the day always start off with one of the hero’s companions starting a fight with someone else?  Does the hero have a faulty sword belt that he has to jurryrig to keep from breaking and dropping his sword in the dirt?  Does the wagon have a bad wheel that needs repair on a regular basis?

Maybe your old west hero has a revolver with a loose cylinder that falls out half the time?  Does their horse know how to untie knots and wander off from the hitching post whenever they stop at the saloon?

Think about every day problems that might have just become a normal situation to your character and use them to add a little believability or even humor into the story.

Is the kindly old lady that is your detective’s number one suspect making tea?  Does your lead character like to visit a certain tea shop to read the morning newspaper?  Did someone give your kindly old wizard a basket of tea leaves?  Has an old gypsy fortune teller been reading tea leaves for the locals?
Did your space pirate hero just raid a cargo ship only to find it is filled with tea, not gold?