Who?
Where?
When?
Why?
Just write!
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How did I get here? Prompt #465
Sometimes we drive a familiar route as if in a daze. At some point we become aware that we have been driving unaware and wonder, “How did I get here?”
Sometimes we’re at a job, either paid or volunteer, or we’re enmeshed in an activity, either fun or dramatic or both. Perhaps we’ve been consumed with this activity. Maybe we wake up one day and wonder, “How did I get here?”
Sometimes we look around and all of a sudden we’re 40, or 50, or 60 years old, or in my case, in my early seventies. Sometimes we wonder, “How did I get here?”
Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice is inspired from Michelle Obama’s book, Becoming.
This journal helps “to alleviate the pressure of knowing what to write about.”
“Writing Becoming led [Michelle] Obama to see the importance of taking time for contemplation. When asked about her writing process, she explains, ‘I spent a lot of time just reflecting and thinking, which is something I just didn’t have much time to do for about a decade. It was nice to decompress a little bit and ask myself, ‘How did I get here? Where did my story take a turn? I uncovered a lot of smaller moments . . . [that] were really foundational to the woman I became.’” —Paul Anderson, December 2019 Costco Connection
Note from Marlene: If you need help in figuring out what to write about, or ideas about writing on difficult things without feeling re-traumatized, take a look at the prompts on The Write Spot Blog, especially “How to write without adding trauma.”
Today’s Prompt: How did I get here?
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What, or who, have you loved? Prompt #464
Write about someone or something you have loved.
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What challenges do you want to overcome? Prompt #463
Some of the writing prompts on The Write Spot Blog are just for fun, like these:
What Makes You Smile? Prompt #438
Paint A Word Picture. Prompt #450
Imagination Receiving a Greeting Card. Prompt #455
Others, like today’s, are contemplative.
Today’s Writing Prompt: What challenge do you want to overcome?
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Who do you miss? Prompt #462
I’ve been thinking about my mom, who passed away in July 2017. Every so often, like today, I want to phone her.
I just want to talk with her.
Prompt: Who do you miss?
That’s my mom on the cover of The Write Spot: Connections. She was a dancer in her teens, performing at convalescent hospitals in the 1940’s.
Connections is a collection of writing from mothers and their adult children. Some are funny, some poignant, some surprising. All are entertaining. Here’s an excerpt:
Dime Sightings by Pamela Swanson
Although my mother, Ione, could not afford them, she loved diamonds. Eventually she did save up enough money to buy herself a diamond ring. She was so proud of that ring. One year, early in November, Ione died without warning at the age of 54. Suddenly I was traveling the 2,100 miles from California where I lived to the small town in Minnesota where she had died. Completely unprepared, I found myself faced with finalizing my mother’s existence on this earth.
Grand Marais, a small fishing village located on Lake Superior, is where I was born. It is where my Mom grew up, met my dad, and was married. My roots are firmly planted there so when I arrived it was to the open arms of my aunts and uncles. Soon after, family members from other distances began to arrive. I was cocooned in love and support.All of the pieces in Connections end with a prompt that readers can use to inspire writing. The prompt for “Dime Sightings” was “Sometimes Magic Happens.”
My mom and me at her 75th birthday party.
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What would you change? Prompt #461
Suppose you had a magic red phone booth that allows you to go back in time and change one thing, what would you change?
Or, write about red phone booths.
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Who can you depend on. Prompt #460
Today’s Writing Prompt: Who can you depend on?
Or: Write about who you depend on.
If there is no one you depend on, write about that.
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An hour won’t . . . Prompt #459
Writing Prompt: An hour won’t make a difference.
When using prompts to inspire writing, you can also use the opposite of what the prompt suggests:
An hour will make a difference.
Just Write!
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A Perfect Moment . . . Prompt #458
Write about a perfect moment.
You can write this as a scene in a play, a TV show, or a movie with scenery details. Include characters in this scene and include location (a specific room, a certain place).
You can include details about the weather, time of day or evening or night, time of year, the mood of each person or the emotional feeling of the people in this scene.
Or: Just write about a perfect moment.
You can write fantasy or fiction. Or you can write about what really happened.
A perfect moment. Just write!
Photo by Laura Plunk Davis -
Contemplation. Prompt #457
What isn’t working in your life?
What is working?
What are you resisting?
What needs to change?
What really matters?
What do you want?
Ready? Set. Go! Just write!