Guest Blogger Alisha Wielfaert encourages us to work through the difficulties rather than be stuck in the mud. This excerpt is from her December 4, 2017 blog post, with her epiphany about her year of travel. The glowing orange moon rose over the cypress swamp as we drove home with tired limbs, hungry bellies and full hearts after a long day of kayaking. I had almost bowed out of this trip before it even started. Maia called me on my last trip to DC before I left for Paris and said, “We’re camping at Carolina beach and taking a few of my students to kayak the three sisters swamp to visit some of the oldest cypress trees in the world. Can you join us?” Maia, full of energy and excitement, just isn’t someone you tell “no” even though I knew saying yes meant two days away from home after only…
Tag: just write
Write what is hard to admit. Prompt #435
“You don’t grow up missing what you never had, but throughout life there is hovering over you an inescapable longing for something you never had.” — Susan Sontag, excerpted from The Rainbow Comes and Goes by Anderson Cooper. Anderson Cooper continues: “As a child, you generally aren’t aware that your family is different from any other. You have no frame of reference.” The following is excerpted from What We Keep by Elizabeth Berg. “I am thinking of how right he was when he said that people want to be deceived. I have learned the truth of that notion over and over; but I never admitted to its obvious presence in my own life. After all, I claimed I did not need my mother. I said I had replaced her.” Prompt: Write about something you have been unwilling to admit or something you have been deceiving yourself about. Note: No one…
What would you do, if . . . Prompt #418
What would you do if you weren’t afraid?
If you could live anywhere. . . Prompt #415
If, for one month, you could live anywhere, any place, in a certain residence, or in a famous home, where would you pick? You can time travel into the past or future.
What did you used to do . . . Prompt #414
What did you used to do that you no longer do?
Today I saw . . . Prompt #413
Writing Prompt: Today I saw . . . You can write about what you saw today. Start writing and see what happens. Write freely and with no cares about the outcome. Just write!
You have won . . . Prompt #412
You have just been notified that you have won a prize on the level of a gold medal at the Olympics, or a Grammy, or an Academy Award, or a Pulitzer Prize. Write about a special skill you have and how you won an award for that. Let your imagination soar. What have you won a prize for? What is your reaction? Write your acceptance speech.
Betrayal. Prompt #410
“A time comes when silence is betrayal.” Martin Luther King, Jr. Write about a time you were betrayed. Or a time you betrayed someone. You could start with: I felt betrayed . . . Or write about a time you were silent and now wish you had spoken up. Or write about a time you could no longer remain silent. You could start with: I want to tell you about what happened . . .
A lie . . . Prompt #409
Write about a lie someone told you, or a lie you told. White lies, bald-faced lies, untruths, falsehoods, fabrications, whoppers . . . whatever you call ‘em, you have experienced ‘em . . . Now write about ‘em.
A time you felt different. Prompt #408
Prompt: Write about a time you felt different. If you have time . . . write, using this prompt now. Or, think about a time you felt different. Pause. Take some time to remember, “Diversity goes deep and is often handled on intellectual and political levels.” —Pat Schneider, Writing Alone and With Others. Prompt: Generate a list of categories that make us different from one another. Some ideas: Age – Gender – Socioeconomics – Background – Personality – Married or not – Have children or not – Parents alive or not – Lived/grew up with parents in the home – Vegetarian – Athletic – Bookworm – Seeker – Spiritual – Religious – Have tattoos – Have piercings – Hearing impaired – Race – Tall or short Prompt: Choose a diversity and write a dialogue between two or three people. Prompt: Write about someone being hurt as a result of being…