Category: Prompts

  • The Sadness of Ice Cream . . . . Prompt #175

    Today’s writing prompt is a poem. You can write on the theme or mood of the poem, or a line, or a word. Write whatever comes up for you.

    The Sadness of Ice Cream by Ron Salisbury

    The emperor had his and  I’ve had mine,  home churned

    on the fourth of July, spoon after spoon after she called,

    gelato in Ravenna, Neapolitan–chocolate was the best–

    pints, bars,  Liz  Topps  said next summer let’s eat lots,

    plopped  a  spoonful  of  Rocky  Road  on her bare belly.

    No more, my doctor says.   Cholesterol, blood pressure.

    Besides, right at the beginning, first cone, bite, spoonful

    licked off the belly,  we  begin  to measure how much is

    left not how much there was. The sadness of ice cream.

    Miss Desert Inn. Salisbury.180Ron Salisbury is a writer who has integrated his poetry with his business life for decades.

    Now, three wives deep, four children long, and assorted careers past, he continues to study, publish and write in San Diego.  His new book, Miss Desert Inn. is being published this fall by Main Street Press, Charlotte, NC

    Marlene C

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  • Awards . . . Prompt #174

    You deserve an awardYou can write on this prompt from your point of view or from someone else’s point of view. You can also write as your fictional character would respond.

    Write about an award you have received. Perhaps a certificate, a leather/letter jacket in high school, lapel pins, crowns, diplomas, trophies.

    Is there an award you didn’t receive and thought you should have?  Did your fictional character deserve an award and didn’t get it?  How did he/she respond?

    Writing Prompt: Awards

    Marlene C

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  • One Year From Now . . . Prompt #173

    Writing Prompts OvalToday’s writing prompt: One year from now . .

    Write whatever pops up for you. No thinking, no judging, no editor on shoulder . . . just write!

    Marlene C

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  • More random words Prompt #173

    LolaWhat can you write, using these words:

    whisper, eternity, soar, frantic, thousand, chain, live, lie

    Post your freewrite on The Write Spot Blog.

    Marlene C

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  • Favorite summer activity. Prompt #172

    Summer Bee.Sandy Baker yardWhat is your favorite summer activity?

    You can write about what you like to do now or a favorite activity when you were younger.  If you are writing fiction, what does your fictional character like to do in the summer?

    Writing Prompt:  Favorite thing to do in the summer.

    Marlene C

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  • Memory is a trickster . . . Prompt #170

    Today’s prompt is inspired by Your Mythic Journey by Sam Keen and Anne Valley-Fox.

    “We love the present tense. Be here now. Yesterday is gone and best forgotten: our tradition is to have no tradition. We aren’t Europeans buried in ancient tombs and cathedrals and medieval ruins. We were born yesterday and we will be young forever. Over thirty is over the bridge. Age embarrasses us; remembrance is a function of senility. We exile the aged to Sun City leper colonies so they won’t impair our illusion of endless summer.

    But history is not so easily dismissed. Repressed memories, national or personal won’t stay down. To be alive is to have a past. Our only choice is whether we will repress or re-create the past. Childhood may be distant, but it is never quite lost; as full-gown men and women we carry tiny laughing and whimpering children around inside us. We either repress the past and continue to fight its wars with new personnel or we invite it into awareness so that we may see how it has shaped the present.

    The moment you begin to tell your stories you may find that memory is a trickster who picks and chooses scenes. What happened to you in the past has yet to be determined. Ninety-nine times you tell the story of the way you were whipped for stealing apples you didn’t steal. Then in the hundredth telling, you remember that you did steal them and the whole scene changes. Your memories of what happened to you in 1953 will be different in 1975, and again in the year 2000.”

    Getting ready to write

    Get comfortable. Rotate your head in a circle. Now rotate the other direction. Roll your shoulders. Now the other direction. Take a deep breath in. Hold. Whoosh it out. Take deep breaths as you write.

    Go back to a time when you were little… 6 or 7 or 9.

    A time when the world was still fresh to you. Filled with new sights, adventures and exploring.

    Think of a first time experience, whether it was the first time you sat on cool grass, or sat on Santa’s lap, or splashed in a river, or decorated a tree, sat on a warm rock, or ate watermelon, or candy.

    Think of a first time experience.

    What do you see?

    What do you hear?

    What do you smell?

    How do you feel?

    Prompt: Write about a first time experience.

    And when you’re ready, here’s another prompt. Write whatever comes up for you.

    Prompt: This is what really happened . . .

    red apple

     

    Marlene C

  • What I like and don’t like . . . Prompt #169

    I facilitate writing workshops in Petaluma, CA called Jumpstart. We use prompts  to spark our imagination. For this type of free-writing, you can respond from your personal experience or from someone else’s personal experience.

    You can write as your fictional character would respond to the prompt. You can use these prompts to get deeper into your fictional character’s mind.

    The idea for this prompt is inspired by the poem, “What I Like and Don’t Like,” by Philip Schultz.

    Writing Prompts Oval

    Marlene C

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  • Connections. Prompt #168

    Connections have always fascinated me. Our connections to one another.

    Lack of connections also interests me.

    Connections . . . when you meet someone for the first time and instantly feel connected.

    Or when you are compelled to go somewhere and you don’t know why. Once you get there, you re-connect with someone you haven’t seen in awhile.

    Connections – that “aha” moment when something becomes crystal clear.

    Are connections important to you?

    Connections to one another, to things, to ideas. . . what does connection mean to you?

    Write about connections. Or write about disconnections.

     Just write!

    Connections.Jim MarchPhoto by Jim C. March

    Marlene C

  • What can you do with these random words? Prompt #167

    Use these words in a freewrite:  rain, symphony, diamond, place, play, sea, true, gorgeous, swim, beauty

     Post your writing on The Write Spot Blog.

    Creek.Upper AdobePhoto by Karen Bobier

    Marlene C

  • Freedom . . . Prompt #166

    You can use the prompts on The Write Spot Blog to write about your personal experiences, or experiences that others have had, or to write fiction. If you are working with a fictional character, respond to the prompt as your fictional character would. Don’t have a fictional character? Maybe now is the time to create one.

    You can take actual events from your life and fictionalize them. Your fictional character could be based on an actual person, or a combination of many people.

    Today’s Writing Prompt: FREEDOM

    Marlene C

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