Prompts

I stand on the edge of . . . Prompt #42

When using the freewrite style of writing . . . write freely with no worries about the end result. The editor that sits on your shoulder, the inner critic. . . out the door.  Give ’em the boot. Not invited to this party. It’s not about the writing . . . it’s about the process. The process of letting go. Trust yourself. Go with your imagination. Go with what’s on your mind. Today’s writing prompt: I stand on the edge of . . .

Prompts

Make a list of pivotal events. . . Prompt #40

Today’s Prompt is Part 1 of 2.  Part 2 is “How to Write Fact Based on Fiction,” Prompt #41. Part 1 Make a list of pivotal events in your life. Those times when, at night, you were not the same person you were in the morning.  By day’s end, you were a different person.  Just write a list. When you are finished writing the list:  take something from your list and write the details . . . as you remember them.  You can be as detailed, or as general as you want to be. Write about an event that altered your life:  all the gritty details. . . be as honest and as genuine as you can. Bleed onto the page. Part 2 will be the next prompt post.

Prompts

What games did you play? Prompt #32

Today’s prompt is from To Have Not, a fascinating memoir by Frances Lefkowitz. When us kids used to walk down 16th Street to the schoolyard or across Sanchez to the corner store, we’d keep a lookout for cool cars. When one drove by – a red mustang convertible, a tiny MG, a black Jag with the silver cat ready to pounce off the hood – whoever saw it first would point and say, “That’s my car!” We could play this game anywhere, my brothers and their buddies and I, shouting the words loud and fast to drown out anyone else who might be thinking about claiming the same car.  You could even play it alone, whispering the three magic words while walking home from school or sitting in a window seat on the bus, leaning your drowsy head against the sun-warmed glass. Then the car would speed through traffic, carrying…

Prompts

Forgiveness – Prompt #30

The 2009 movie, Invictus, featuring Matt Damon, Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman is about how Nelson Mandela, in his first term as the South African President, initiates a unique venture to unite the apartheid-torn land: enlist the national rugby team on a mission to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup. As you probably know, Mandela spent 27 years in prison. After he was released and elected as South Africa’s first black president, he preached reconciliation. When he decided to support the country’s rugby team — long a symbol of white oppression — his countrymen were stunned. “Forgiveness liberates the soul,” Mandela explains to a crowd. “That’s why it’s such a powerful weapon.”   —  Parade Magazine, December 2009 Prompt: Forgiveness. Write about the concept of forgiveness, or write about someone you could forgive, or someone who might forgive you.