This August we explore ordinary or extraordinary days in the life of, well, you decide. Ricochet members, founding or first time subscribers, AND especially the reticent or keyboard shy, are heartily encouraged to join in our group writing project this month. Each month, Ricochet members like you share a few thoughts, a bit of knowledge or creativity, playing off a theme. Sometimes it is no more than a concluding line or a throw-away to shoe horn their post into the theme. We are very casual about that. The whole point is for you to join in the community conversation, even if you mark it “Members Only” before you hit the post button.

There are two major monthly Group Writing projects. One is the Quote of the Day project, managed by @she. This is the other project, in which Ricochet members claim one day of the coming month to write on a proposed theme. This is an easy way to expose your writing to a general audience, with a bit of accountability and topical guidance to encourage writing for its own sake.

Group Writing themes help generate conversations that are not necessarily about politics or current events. For August, our theme is “A day in the life.” All you need do is write a short post to start the conversation. Perhaps you could ask a question or two to get the conversation flowing.

Consider some of the ways this topic could go:

• Take it as a variation on vocation or occupation

• Reflect on an ordinary or extraordinary day of an ordinary or extraordinary person or entity

• Share a book, movie, song or poem about a day in the life of . . .

• Indulge your inner Walter Mitty with a short fiction post

Haven’t started a conversation of any kind on Ricochet yet? One of our chief aims is encouraging newer or shyer members to start conversations. Haven’t participated in Group Writing yet? We’d love for you to try it out. Really. I mean, enjoy the stalwarts, and welcome their assistance, and we really, really like new participants! Just claim a date in a comment on this post along with a proposed topic.

Here’s how to participate:

1. Choose a date in August and claim it in a comment, along with your topic (you don’t need one before the day, but it might be helpful for other people to know in choosing their own topics).

2. When the day comes, make sure to include at least these tags: Group Writing, A day in the life. You can copy them right off the very bottom of this post. Also select the “Group Writing” category for the post. It would be good to reference Group Writing and/or A day in the life in the conversation title.

Please post a link to your conversation in this thread once it is up. I shall send you a reminder via Ricochet’s private messaging, if you don’t have a hyphen in your username that prevents it. Bookmarking this thread will allow you to find it easily.

Here is the schedule of dates:

August 01 Clifford A. Brown — A Playlist for A day in the life

August 02 Some Call Me …Tim  — Group Writing: Little Snippets of Life

August 03 Clifford A. Brown — A day in the life movies

August 04 Susan Quinn  — Group Writing: An Unconventional Thank-You Note

August 05 CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill  — Before She Was Famous – A Day In The Life Group Writing Piece

August 06 Saint Augustine  — A Day in the Life of the National Debt

August 07 —

August 08 I Shot The Serif  —

August 09 —

August 10 —

August 11 Cow Girl  — One Day, Two Seasons

August 12 —

August 13 —

August 14 —

August 15 Brian Wyneken  — A Day in a Life – Bomber Alert (1988)

August 16 Saint Augustine — Reflections on a Day in the Life of a Christian Parent: Towards a Theology of Interruptions

August 17 —

August 18 She —

August 19 dajoho — A Day in the Life of a Combat Diver Student or Yep I’m Wet Again…

August 20 Chris Oler — The Fine Art of Going: Sailing and Life

August 21—

August 22 Gossamer Cat  — About a Day in the Life 

August 23 —

August 24 CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill — I Am Mountain, I am Volcano – A Day In My Life, May 18th 1980

August 25 Allie Hahn  — A Day in the Life of a Middle School Teacher

August 26 —

August 27 —

August 28 LC —  A Day in the Lives of Monsieur et Madame Mak Sean

August 29 sawatdeeka — Diary of a Walker

August 30 Some Call Me …Tim — A Day in the Life – Bugle Calls

August 31 RushBabe49  — A day in the life of a reluctant retiree, before and after

Interested in Group Writing topics that came before? See the handy compendium of monthly themes. Check out links in the Group Writing Group. You can also join the group to get a notification when a new monthly theme is posted.

Published in Group Writing