For several years I attended a monthly meeting of a writer group, one of the fifteen branches of California Writers Club, in which the leader launched every meeting with a directive:  She chose a subject: "fathers," "vacations" "pet peeves," etc. and each member of the grloup was to write for ten minutes on that subject. This was my "cue" to "freeze."  My mind went blank.  It was like being ordered to step off the end of a gang plank.  Absolutely nothing came to mind. At the close of the ten minute span, Madam leader invited volunteers to read what they had written.  

I was amazed at the quality and the depth of what such a prliminary "clue" or "cue" brought out in that group.  Many were good, coherent pieces that seemed to my ear to have been pondxered and edited and re-edited.  We know that all minds work differently and I do not know what it is about mine that rebells when I'm given an "order" to write to a specific subjecdt.  However, I daily comb markets for guidelines of magazines that tell me the general subjects they are looking for .  I received an acceptance this morning that was triggered when I read the publications guidelines.  Not a big sale, but a rewarding one that opened another door that I'll tell you about  in a future blog entry.

Remember, all responsed are welcome!