Guest Blogger Nancy Julien Kopp wrote about choosing a path and exploring your choice. It seems like a perfect writing prompt for the start of a new year. Nancy wrote on her blog: Life is full of choices. I think often of Robert Frost’s poem that tells us of two roads diverging in a yellow wood, and the poet said he took the one less traveled by. But don’t we always wonder if this choice would be better than that choice or another one? For a writing exercise today, look at the four photos. Each of them is somewhere you can walk. Two have water while the others are filled with green trees. What is your choice? Where would you prefer to walk? A, B, C or D? Choose one and write a paragraph or several paragraphs about the photo you liked best. Study the photo and ask yourself a…
Month: December 2020
Silence . . . Prompt #549
Write about a silence. A silent night. A silent vigil. A quiet experience perhaps in a church or in nature. Or a calm experience, perhaps while watching a performance, or listening to music, or while watching children or animals or while walking.
The Lotus Flower Miracle . . . Prompt #548
Before diving into writing, I’m inviting you to sit back, and relax. Take a deep in. Exhale fully. Another deep breath. And exhale. Take some deep nourishing breaths as you read this prompt. Notice where there is tension in your body. Put your hand there, if you can. Or, put your thoughts there. Easily and comfortably think about what could be causing that discomfort. If you are not experiencing any discomfort, notice what you are thinking about. Going over, in your mind, the past few days, have you had a troubling conversation or a difficult interaction? For now, just notice these things. Set them aside, or make a quick list of these things. Staying as relaxed as you can in your body, read the first part of the prompt, which is inspired by Viktor Frankl. You have probably heard of him or you might be very familiar with him. He…
What is the cloud hanging over you? Prompt #547
What is the cloud hanging over you? What is the cloud that surrounds you now? Write about a situation or feeling that’s so all-encompassing it’s hard to see forward or back, left or right. Then, write about seeing a rainbow after the clouds disperse. Today’s writing prompt is inspired by Rebecca Rebouché, Prompt 106. of Suleika Jaouad‘s “The Isolation Journals.”
Inescapable longing. Prompt #546
Quotes from The Rainbow Comes and Goes by Anderson Cooper and his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt. “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 “As a child, you generally aren’t aware that your family is different from any other. You have no frame of reference.” — Anderson Cooper Writing Prompts: Can you miss what you don’t know? Can you miss what you didn’t have? What, or who, do you miss? Write about an inescapable longing.
Imagine . . . Santa . . . Prompt #545
Imagine you, or your fictional character, are six years old. It’s time to sit on Santa’s lap. What happens? Or, what doesn’t happen?
The oldest item you own. Prompt #544
Write about the oldest thing you own.
Back in the day. Prompt #543
Back in the day we called the December-January school break: Christmas Break. We called Columbus Day: Columbus Day. We didn’t care about calories, especially on Thanksgiving and for holiday meals. We played outside with kids in our neighborhood. We “scrolled” through comic books. We danced to music from jukeboxes. Writing Prompt: Back in the day.
What do you need? Prompt #542
What do you need? Right now. What do you need? Other prompts relating to need: What do you need to hear? Lin Manuel Miranda pondered this question and the result is surprising. Want vs need. Discovering wants versus needs.
Help Your Creativity Blossom
Guest Blogger Suzanne Murray shares why freewrites inspire writing: I have taught the creative writing process for more than twenty years, working in part with a technique known as “freewriting” where I encourage participants to “just let it rip”. We don’t worry about punctuation, spelling, grammar or whether it is good. We suspend the censor and let our first thoughts spill out onto the page. People new to the class are always nervous about this kind of letting go. Since I write and share my own raw writing with the group, I was rather nervous when I first started teaching the classes but found that by maintaining a safe and sacred atmosphere of unconditional acceptance for whatever wanted to come forth it really calmed the fear for everyone. We learn quite early to fear making mistakes. We all have a well-developed censor that confines us within the limiting parameters of…