Come join a weekly flash mob of writers at #FiveMinuteFriday <–Click to Tweet this

Where a beautiful crowd spends five minutes all writing on the same topic and then sharing ’em over here.

How to Join:

Want to know how Five Minute Friday got started and how to participate? All the details are here.

Featured Five Minute Friday:

And every week I’ll pick a post that caught my eye and share it down there in my side bar – see where it says “Featured Five Minute Friday”? Yea -that could be you! Hop on over and visit some folk who make fireworks in just five minutes. They inspire me.

What They’re Saying:

I also have some Five Minute Friday stories from participants I love to share each week – I can never get over the community that has grown up over a five minute writing exercise.

This one’s from Jenn who shares the craziest, six-degrees-of-separation type tale ever:

Some of the most important times of my life were the summers I spent at Baylor Camp. From age 11 to 22, I was there every summer but one.

In that time, several families became close friends, albeit ones that I only saw in the summer.  At the time, I didn’t realize the true significance of these friendships with campers and their families: these were the first family friendships that I formed independently of my parents.  These were my family friends!

In the age of smart phones, Facebook, Twitter, and myriad other ways to stay connected, it seems odd to say I lost touch with almost all these families for years, but we were operating without social media then.

As I timidly stepped into the online world, I was delighted to reconnect with many of the campers and counselors I’d known. It would be a few more years before I started blogging.

When I did, there were days I wasn’t sure what to write about. Committed to the discipline of writing and posting regularly, reclaiming my place as a writer alongside my beloved role as Sweetie and Mommy, I wanted to keep writing, keep connecting.

Enter Five-Minute Fridays.

I discovered Lisa-Jo’s online community in the funny way we stumble onto so many things online, by clicking a link that leads to a link that leads to another. I wish I could retrace my path and thank the source.

Because, in participating in Five-Minute Fridays, I’ve connected with several new online friends and strengthened one very important friendship.

You guessed it. One of my dear Baylor Camp friends is a blogger and a Five-Minute Fridays participant. Reading her take on the prompts makes me smile.

It’s just enough of a taste of Baylor Camp to make BlogWorld feel like home.

How fun is that?! Got a FMF story you want to share with us? Email me.

Now, set your timer, clear your head, for five minutes of free writing without worrying about getting it right.

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community..

Oh and Ahem, if you would take pity and turn off comment verification, it would make leaving some love on your post that much easier for folks!

OK, are you ready? Please give us your best five minutes on:::

Focus…

GO

Funny how the closer I look at her the less I notice my own chaos. The mess and the race and the daily chase of dishes and life and laundry and those moths that seem to be taking over the pantry just fade into a beautiful bokeh background when she dimples up at me.

I’ve been gone five days and she won’t let me out of her sight. The playground beckons and I can tell she gets just so many steps ahead and needs to run back to make sure I’m still there. That shiny, red fire truck jungle gym she’s just close enough to touch loses out to a shriek and a giggle and chubby legs running back to throw themselves into me.

I love it.

This being loved.

This giving kisses as a super power.

Jackson’s right elbow is scraped through and through. Micah didn’t cry today when I said good-bye. He told me how he didn’t cry even though it’s been so long since I even remember him crying. They listed their thanks out tonight – a litany prayed to a bunk bed ceiling.

Small boys in big hearts.

I see and see and see them so clearly I don’t need to take a photograph. It’s there. Crisp. Clear. My memory prints the moment. I put it in the back pocket of these jeans I bought on a whim. Nothing can fade it. Nothing can steal it.

I see you boys.

I see you daughter.

I see.
STOP

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