“As writers, we’re often trained to seek momentum—significant events, turning moments, the big emotional payoff. Especially in memoir, there’s pressure to magnify the trauma or spin a grand arc of triumph. But when I sat down to write, what called to me weren’t the headlines. It was the folds in between.” — Mary Monoky, “What Stillness Taught Me About Story,” August 6, 2025, The Brevity Blog
Tag: Writing freely. Just write. Writing Prompts. The Write Spot Blog.
Misconception . . . Prompt #856
Write about something someone thinks about you, but it’s not true. A misconception. Just Write!
Even Introverts Can Support Authors
Charlotte Wilkins We had an interesting discussion in my Jumpstart writing group the other day about being an introvert and how hard it is sometimes to be around people. Well! As writers and readers, it’s important to support authors. One possibly easy way is to attend author events. Charlotte Wilkins offers suggestions on how to be a successful participant at author events. “I attended the two book readings to support these authors, yet I’m the one who learned so much from them: relax and be yourself; having a sense of humor about yourself puts your audience at ease; read short snippets that makes the listener wonder what’s to come (Woodson says you must have intention in every line to pull the reader forward); be generous with your responses; hope for the best, prepare for the worst; and stick a couple of questions in your pocket just in case. It seems…
Mistranslation . . . Prompt #855
Playing With Abstract Poetry Abstract poetry is a form of poetry that prioritizes the auditory and emotional impact of words over their literal meaning or conventional grammatical structure. Prompt 1 – The Warmup Write for 2 minutes about something troubling or sad. Write for 2 minutes about something using the opposite emotion: joyful, hopeful. Write for 2 minutes on something from nature, something from the natural world. Keep that writing nearby for Prompt 2. Why write an abstract poem “Science has shown that when we engage in play, we increase brain activity in the prefrontal cortex, where creative thinking happens. “You are not striving for perfection. You’re striving for perfectly unpredictable.” — “Words Gone Wild,” by Dr. Finnian Burnett, Writers Digest, Nov/Dec 2025 Prompt 2 Write an abstract poem, using only the words you have written in Prompt 1. Write for 15-20 minutes. It doesn’t have to make sense. It shouldn’t…
Get Into The Habit
“Forget about inspiration and get into the habit of writing every day. Habit has written far more books than inspiration has. If you want the Muse to visit you, she needs to know where you are: so stay at your desk.” —Philip Pullman Quote in “Write it All Down” by Cathy Rentzenbrink. #justwrite #amwriting #iamawriter
Zoom In, Then Linger
Ethan Gilsdorf on Zooming In and Lingering: “In personal essay, memoir and creative nonfiction, we want to bring to our pages a sense of verisimilitude, of intruding upon someone else’s circumstances, of grasping someone else’s fleeting take on the world.” How to do this? Gilsdorf suggests: “The language of cinematography is a useful analogy: in a wide or medium shot, the viewer is distant from the subject; in close-ups and extreme close-ups, the frame of reference is tight. In writing, this means: rather than quickly cutting away, or keeping the viewer far removed, like a drone hovering high above, we can zoom in on the subject of our attention, or pan across it, slowly. We can train our writerly efforts to pause. To not skip over— but to linger, loiter, dawdle, stay put, wait.” Excerpted from “Stay a Little Bit Longer: The Art of Zooming In and Lingering,” The Brevity…
Hey! I feel like that too.
“Be brave with it. Be brave with the thing that you are most scared to talk about, that is the thing you need to be able to talk about. There are so many tragedies in you and joy in you that need a voice, and you would be so surprised to see that when you voice that thing you are so scared of how many people across the world will go, ‘Hey, I feel like that too. Thank you for putting a voice to how I feel.’” —Nikita Gill Quote in “Write it All Down” by Cathy Rentzenbrink.
Write It All Down
“Write It All Down” by Cathy Rentzenbrink Review by Marlene Cullen A friendly book encouraging people to write without worries. Easy to read with specific suggestions that inspire writing. My motto is “Just Write.” Cathy’s motto could be “Release your fears. Stay in your chair. Write.” #justwrite #iamwriting #iamawriter
It’s a Jungle
Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page. It’s a Jungle By Marlene Cullen It’s a jungle out there. I’d like to peg Bumbling Unreliable Gardener, aka Bug, on a hook and let him hang until cured. Except, I wonder, is he at fault for my jungle of a yard? Should I have been more forceful in not allowing him to install a plethora of plants in my pursuit of a peaceful place? I discovered Bug on social media. He answered my gardening questions as if he was a landscaping guru. So, I hired him. Big mistake. Huge. He handed me an extensive questionnaire to compose my heart’s desire in a garden. Winding paths. Check. Whimsical. Check. Calm, serene. Check, check. I envisioned a landscape of pleasant plants flowing in meandering paths. No white plants. What I got was spiky plants here, there, everywhere….
My Heart
Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page. My Heart By Karen Handyside Ely My heart is a newly uncluttered closet. Organized and cleared of discarded outfits that smothered the floor, made movement impossible, allowed no forward progress. The air, once static and heavy with body-image accusations, is now peaceful and fresh. Eerily quiet with a hanging row of color-coded dresses that don’t hurl recrimination and neatly stacked t-shirts, crisply folded and segregated. Controlled. Smelling faintly of the lavender sachet I’ve finally replenished on the bottom shelf… now that I can reach it. Favorite sweaters, unworn for ages, have been lovingly salvaged, gently removed from their hangers, and boxed for consignment shops and resale. Traitorous pants and blouses, once thought to be friends, are stuffed haphazardly into hefty bags to sit out on the sidewalk for donated pick-up. My heart is a freshly weeded…