Lara Tupper: Swift Ink Stories

Moxie 

The Moxie colors are Halloween-y, which seems right. The taste of Moxie is scary in a Halloween way too. There's something metallic and hard there, something a little ghoulish. You feel tough getting it down.

These words turned up the other day on social media, via a friend, after she found them in Moxie: Maine in a Bottle. They seemed familiar. Then I remembered: I contributed to this collection about a decade ago. 

I'm a proud Mainer, but I stand by my opinion. If you haven't yet sampled Moxie, not to worry. 

Moxie was once called "Moxie Nerve Food." In 1876, Dr. Augustin Thompson created the mix, claiming it had medicinal properties. I'm not so sure. Now the soda of the same name is owned by Coca-Cola.

Still, to have "moxie" is to have guts, nerve, determination. Which leads me to the writing prompt.

NOVEMBER WRITING EXERCISE: What would it mean for you to have "moxie" right now? What nervy, gutsy thing would you give yourself permission to do or say? Freewrite for 10 minutes with…