Writing Prompt: As a teenager, I would never . . .
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Got away with it . . . Prompt #752
Sit back. Relax into your chair. Take a deep breath in. Hold. Release.
Empty your mind. Let go of thoughts. Settle your mind.
Remember back to your teenage years. Full of promise and full of hope for fun.
Hope that special someone notices you.
Looking forward to fun times.
Hope you won’t get caught doing whatever you weren’t supposed to be doing.
Because this was a time to take risks, to sneak past authority, to try new behavior.
Prompt: Write about one of those times . . . you got away with something you shouldn’t have been doing.
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Delights . . . Prompt #751
There are big delights . . . being treated to a meal, a stimulating conversation where the other person looks right at you and hears you.
Medium delights . . .
And small delights . .
Write about something that delighted you.
Writing Prompt: Delights
Prompt inspired by “The Book of Delights” by Ross Gay.
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Kindness . . . Prompt #750
Write about a time someone was kind to you, especially when you didn’t expect it.
Or, write about a kindness you witnessed.
Or, a kindness you showed someone.
Write Spot prompts about kindness:
Kindness. Prompt #482
A Time You Fumbled. Prompt #602
Random Acts of Kindness. Prompt #698
#justwrite #iamawriter #iamwriting
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Birth Day . . . Prompt #749
Remember self-care when writing about difficult topics:
Get up, walk around.
Take a sip of water or herbal tea.
Choose something in your surroundings to look at when the writing gets difficult.
Look at that focal point as a reminder to breathe.
Take a deep breath in. Hold. And release.
Take a few more calming breaths.
Write this in your notebook or on a piece of paper.
What I really want to say . . .
I remember . . .
I don’t remember . . .
If you are stuck with writing, you can use one of these phrases and go from there.
Writing Prompt: Birth Day
Think about your Birth Day.
Maybe you had many birthday parties.
Maybe you had a handful of parties, or one or two.
Maybe your Birth Day is a big deal and you wildly celebrate.
Or, maybe you are the quiet type, preferring not to call attention to yourself.
Maybe you think of your Birth Day as “just another day.”
Whether you celebrate or not, you travel around the sun once a year in your personal orbit.
Let’s visit our Memory Bank and go back in time.
Think about your birthday when you were 16 years old.
Think about your birthday when you were 8 . . . 6 . . . 4.
Go back farther, to when you can’t remember your birthday.
Go back to your actual Birth Day. A miracle of a birth.
You were born.
Maybe it wasn’t a planned birth. Maybe there was some discord.
That happens.
Take a deep breath in. Hold. Let it out.
Take a few minutes to think about, to reflect, what your Birth Day meant to your parents, your grandparents, you aunts, uncles. Your family.
Write about the day you were born. You could write about the date, or the time of year, the season you were born.
You could write about what the weather was like or the facility where you were born, as you have been told or as you imagine.
Who was there, during your birth?
You can write fact, or fiction based on fact, based on stories you have heard.
Just Write.
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Change . . . Scary or exciting? Prompt #748
Is change scary or exciting for you?
With a palpitating heart, sweaty palms, and a fluttering stomach, I changed the name of my Facebook/Meta Writing Page from “Writers Forum” to:
“Marlene Cullen’s Write Spot,”
to better reflect what this Facebook page is about.
But, I wonder, why was I nervous . . . okay . . . scared to do this?
I think the answer is: Consequences.
I didn’t know if it would trigger an avalanche of problems.
I was willing to take my changes.
Sometimes you just have to take the plunge and make a change.
Writing Prompt:
Is change scary or exciting?
Or:
Sometimes you have to take the plunge.
Write about a time you took a chance and made a change. What happened?
#justwrite #iamawriter #iamwriting
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Start with a list . . . Prompt #747
A freewrite is . . . writing freely with no thoughts nor worries about the outcome.
When you write in this unrestricted style, brush off the editor that sits on your shoulder. Let go of your worries and fears. Just write.
Our big stories come from our little stories.
Sometimes the big story is too much to write about.
So, break it down into bite-sized pieces.
Making lists might help organize your thoughts.
Lowlights . . . Highlights
Our normal, everyday lives contain lowlights and highlights.
Spend a few minutes making some lists.
List #1 Lowlights
Regrets
Things you wish hadn’t happened
What you would like to do over
List #2 Highlights
Warm memories
Happy thoughts
What you would like to do again
List #3 Just Weird
Weird things that happened
Writing Prompt #1:
Choose an item from one of your lists.
Write about what happened.
Who? What? When? Where?
Writing Prompt #2:
Choose a topic from Lowlights List.
What would you do differently?
To-do
Choose another item from your list and Just Write.
#iamawriter #iamwriting #justwrite
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Hop, skip, jump . . . Prompt #746
Below is a list of things you may have experienced.
As you read the list, when a word causes a reaction . . . when you notice a feeling in your body . . . use that word or phrase as a writing prompt and start writing.
Write about where you were and who was with you.
If you ate it, played with it, read it, or wore it, write about it.
Add sensory detail of texture . . . what did these things feel like?
Add your memory of taste, smell, sound, and what the item looked like.
And, of course, you may have also experienced these things as a teen-ager and as an adult.
Just Write!
Jello salad
Hot Wheels
Roller Skates
Sugar Frosted Flakes
Poodle skirt
Hopscotch
Petticoats
Barbie dolls
Marbles
Jacks
Skipping
Nancy Drew books
Jump rope
Little League
Drive-in movies
Hula hoop
Trampoline Parks
Used a manual typewriter
Watched dance shows on TV
Sunday nights: Ed Sullivan, The Magical World of Disney
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Childhood Stories . . . Prompt #745
Stories from our childhood can be rich material to write about.
Let’s start with going back in time.
See yourself at 6 years of age, five years, 4 years.
See yourself at the kitchen table where you ate breakfast.
Maybe swinging your legs because your feet couldn’t reach the floor.
Listen. Hear the adult chatter.
Maybe there was no ‘round the kitchen table time for you.
Maybe it was a picnic table, or a dining room table.
Perhaps there was no table.
Maybe family time was in the family room, or the TV room, the den, or the rumpus room.
Possibly there was no family time. Friends might have been significant in your child life.
Maybe most of your childhood was spent outside.
Take a deep breath in. Let it out.
See the room or the place where you spent a lot of time as a child.
Write about that place.Describe the place.
Why did you go there?
When did you go there?
What happened there?
Step into it. What do you see? What do you smell? What do you notice?
Just write!
#amwriting #iamawriter #justwrite
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Outside the Norm . . . Prompt #744
“Totem of Confessions” by Michael Garlington at Burning Man
What have you done that is “outside the norm?”
Been to Burning Man in the Black Rock Desert?
“Burning Man is all about self-expression and the rejection of corporatism and capitalism. The experience of creating and viewing art and living in the moment is Burning Man’s purpose.” —Reno Gazette Journal, Aug. 31, 2022
Or, perhaps something like seeing the musical Hair, “where friends struggle to balance their young lives, loves and the sexual revolution, with their rebellion against the war, their conservative parents, and society.”
Writing Prompt:
Write about an experience you have had that is “outside the norm.”
#justwrite #amwriting #iamawriter