Random Things About Yourself  Prompt #325

  • Random Things About Yourself  Prompt #325

    Today’s writing prompt is in two parts.

    Part 1:  Write 25 random things about yourself.

    Write whatever comes up for you. Some things from my list:

    I like to be organized.

    I come from poor, but not poverty.

    I like sharp colorful pencils.

    I love the smell of cucumber/melon hand soap.

    My first job besides babysitting and house cleaning was at Playland-At-The-Beach, in the accounting department.

    You get the idea. . .

    Write whatever pops into your head.  When you have a list of 25 things, scroll down for Part 2.

     

    Part 2:  Pick one thing from the list and expand upon it.

    Thank you, Adair Lara, for the inspiration for this writing prompt.

    ~Marlene

    Marlene C

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  • Your first experience with death.  Prompt #324

    Write about your first experience with death.

    Or write about a death that transformed you.

    Or a death you might never get over.

     

    Grief by Gwen Flowers

    I had my own notion of grief

    I thought it was a sad time

    That followed the death of someone you love.

    And you had to push through it

    To get to the other side.

    But I’m learning there is no other side.

    There is no pushing through.

    But rather,

    There is absorption.

    Adjustment. Acceptance.

    And grief is not something that you complete.

    But rather you endure.

    Grief is not a task to finish,

    And move on,

    But an element of yourself —

    An alteration of your being.

    A new way of seeing.

    A new definition of self.

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    There have been many deaths this July 2017. This poem came across my Facebook feed on the day of my dear friend’s memorial service. It’s given me some things to think about. Maybe it will cause you to pause and ponder, too.

    ~Marlene

    Marlene C

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  • If you could change . . . Prompt #323

    If you could change some things in your history, what would you change?

    Marlene C

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  • A little known fact. Prompt #322

    Write about something most people don’t know about you.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Marlene C

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  • Something lost or stolen. . . Prompt #321

    Write about something that was lost or stolen from you or your fictional character.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Marlene C

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  • Make Sense of Your World Through Writing

    “Portable Corona number 3. That’s my analyst.” — Ernest Hemingway

    Heal Through Writing

    “Several incidents contributed to social psychologist James W. Pennebaker’s interest in ‘healing writing.’ But when his parents’ visit during college launched a bout of the asthma he thought he’d left behind in the dry Texas of his childhood, he realize climate wasn’t to blame; his emotions were. Once he recognized the connection, the asthma attacks stopped.” —“Writing to heal,” by Gail Radley, May 2017 The Writer magazine.

    Pennebaker has conducted multiple studies indicating that writing can lead to healing.

    Dr. Edward J. Murray investigated healing through writing and concluded “’It seems that putting our thoughts and feelings into language helps confront them, organize them, and wrest the meaning from them. . .” —Gail Ridley, May 2017 The Writer magazine.

    Perhaps we can make sense of our world by using freewrites as a vehicle.

    Note: If you are experience troubling thoughts that are disabling or disturbing, please seek professional help.

    Posts on The Write Spot Blog about healing through writing

    How To Write Without Adding Trauma    

    Does Your Heart Hurt? Prompt #269   

    Things Falling Apart is a Kind of Testing  

    Marlene C

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  • Who will you interview? . . . Prompt #320

    Today’s writing prompt

    Interview yourself or your fictional character, by answering these questions:

    How did you get started in your line of work?

    How did you become interested in your hobby?

    What did you desire at age 12?

    What did you desire at age 18?

    What did you desire at age 25?

    What did you desire at age 26 or older?

    What do you desire now?

    More ideas on Interviewing Character . . . Prompt #6

    Marlene C

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  • Smaller stories within larger stories – set the scene. Prompt #319

    Whether you are writing memoir or fiction, it’s all composed of people and things that happened. It’s smaller stories within larger stories.

    Today’s prompt is in two parts.

    Part 1:

    Make a list of people and factors that shaped you, during your childhood, teen years, young adult years. What has happened in your life that makes you who you are? We’ll be using these lists later.

    During your childhood/early years:

    Who helped shaped you? Who was influential in your life?  Who was important in your young life?    Family, family friends, teachers, your friends.

    Where did you grow up?

    Did you walk to/from school?

    What did you do after school?

    Who was home when you got there?

    What were weekends like?  Be brief. You can expand later.

    Anything else you want to add – important people and events in your childhood.

    During your teen years.

    Who was important during your teen years?  Family, family friends, teachers, your friends.

    Where did you live?

    Did you walk to/from school?

    What did you do after school?

    Who was home when you got there?

    What were weekends like?  Be brief. You can expand later.

    Anything else you want to add – important people and events during your teen years.

    During your young adult years:

    Who was important in your life during your young adult years?

    Where did you live?

    Did you work, go to school, volunteer?

    Did you have hobbies?

    What did you do for entertainment?

    Anything else you want to add – important people and events in your young adult life.

    Part 2: Write.

    Choose something from one of your lists and expand upon it. Write as much as you have to say about it. Use sensory detail:  What you saw, heard, felt, tasted, smelled. Write with vivid details so this scene can be seen.

    Note: You can expand these lists and use them any time to inspire your writing.

    Marlene C

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  • The missing piece. . . Prompt #318

       Write about . . .

                       The missing piece.

     

     

    Marlene C

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  • Success in writing means . . .

     If you have attended a Jumpstart Writing Workshop, you may have heard me say, “There are two kinds of writing I like. One is when the writing speaks to universal truths—something we can all relate to. The other is when the writing speaks to me personally.”

    This excerpt from “The Review Rat Race,” a “5-Minute Memoir” by Barbara Solomon Josselsohn expands upon that thought.

    “To me, success meant having readers who felt that my novel articulated something important, something they had felt deeply inside but had never been able to express or fully understand before my book came along.” —Barbara Solomon Josselsohn *

    That often happens in Jumpstart . . . the writing touches us deeply as the writer articulates in ways that we hadn’t been able to express or understand prior to hearing their freewrite.

    * Excerpt from January 2017 issue of Writer’s Digest Magazine.

    Marlene C

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