It’s after the holidays, when some of us spent time with family.
It’s inauguration day. Lots of energy. Lots of emotions.
Today’s prompt, “How we affect others,” is something I’ve been thinking about for awhile.
We don’t live in a bubble, immune to the thoughts and emotions of others.
Today, I suggest writing about how we affect others.
If that doesn’t work for you, how about: Do we affect others? What does that mean?
I look forward to your response.
You might know that I facilitate Jumpstart writing workshops. One day, a participant read her freewrite which contained the phrase, “Despair and broken promises.” I immediately thought that would make a great writing prompt. What do you think?
And that reminds me, during this season of many deaths, if you need to write a condolence note and are stymied about what to write, take a look at “The Condolence Note – What to Write.” You might get some ideas.
Today’s writing prompt: Despair and broken promises.
Post your writing on The Write Spot Blog and I’ll offer commentary . . . always positive.
Do you have a favorite recipe?
Write about that recipe . . . where did the recipe come from? What kind of occasion did you have it?
Photo: Fried eggs on top of sauteed kale on top of grits, sausage patty on the side. Yum! My new favorite recipe inspired by a trip to Athens, Georgia, where every meal was delicious!
When responding to a writing prompt, you are completely free to write the absolute truth, with no worries about what anyone will think. You are also free to write fiction. You have the freedom to write whatever you want . . . these writings are called freewrites.
There are over 300 prompts on The Write Spot Blog. You can choose one at any time and just write.
Sometimes our writing takes us to memories from our childhood, a very powerful place that is important and so intoxicating.
From Writers Dreaming, by Naomi Epel, chapter by James W. Hall:
“One of the things that I’ve discovered through reading a lot of best-sellers, studying a lot of popular fiction for courses that I’ve given at the university, is that there are certain recurrent, mythic qualities in books that we could consider, from an elitist academic viewpoint, to be pulp or low-life, mass-market fiction. But obviously they have a certain kind of power or else three million people wouldn’t buy and be excited about them. One of the things I found out was that there were these recurrent patterns. One, for instance, that I feel has a kind of mythic quality, is what I came to call, in a particular class on bestsellers, “the golden place.” This is where the novel begins to picture a time and place, usually both of those, where the grass was greener, the flowers smelled better, the birds chirped more purely and everything was simply better. Usually associated with childhood and long ago. It’s a form of nostalgia, I suppose, but when you see it in a fictional form it has a tremendous power to call us to our best, ideal selves. We feel in ourselves that such golden places are possible to return to, to reacquire, to rediscover and I think that one of the hungers we bring to the reading experience is to go to other people’s golden places and live there, temporarily. A place that is coherent, that makes sense, where values are still valuable and ideals are possible to achieve.”
Note from Marlene: Our freewrites are much like what Hall describes – when we go back in memory, we touch “the golden place” and “nostalgia” — a place where the reader/listener wants to live where you did and do what you did— and that speaks to the power of writing.
Your writing has “. . . in a fictional form. . . a tremendous power. . . “
So, keep writing. Write for yourself with no judging nor critiquing. Just Write.
Today’s Writing Prompt:
Write about a difficult time . . . something that happened to you or something you witnessed that made your stomach churn. Perhaps a crisis, or an argument, a disagreement.
Write about an event that got you hot under the collar.
Write as if you were a reporter narrating the facts. This happened and then that happened.
Write about something you traditionally go to . . . The Nutcracker, a sports event, a debate, a poetry slam, Grandma’s house, Japanese Tea Garden, Golden Gate Park, the beach, the mountains, skiing, Hawaii, the movies on Christmas Eve, out to dinner on an anniversary, watching fireworks at . . . , Disneyland, Friday night movies, family dinner on Sunday, the flea market, farmer’s market, bowling on New Year’s Eve.
Write about something you traditionally go to.
I refuse to ignore autumn. I refuse to go from Halloween straight to Christmas.
So let’s give a cheer for this wonderful time of year. . . Autumn.
Before the hectic holidays begin, savor this moment. The slant of the sun casts a soft glow, highlighting fall colors of yellows, burnt oranges, umber and browns.
Pause and enjoy the wonderful golden light of autumn.
Recently, I looked everywhere for a garland of fabric autumn leaves to decorate the archway between my kitchen and dining room. None of the usual suspects had them in stock. “Oh, you missed it by a week,” said a store clerk amidst Christmas decorations . . . on November first.
A friend told me about gluten-free oatmeal with quinoa at Raley’s. Sounded good, so I headed there. I strolled the seasonal section, as I had been doing in every store, looking for that elusive autumnal garland. I was drawn to the shelves filled with orange color. Could it be? Could my autumn garland be in Raley’s? Eureka! I bought four garlands of golden brown autumn leaves laced with twinkling lights. Twinkling lights! And autumn leaves. I’m in heaven.
It’s the small things that make life a big, wonderful, full event. Embrace life. Enjoy Autumn! Savor each special moment, no matter how small or big, how simple or wondrous. Embrace whatever or whoever brings you joy.
Prompt: Write about your favorite season.
Let’s do some relaxation exercises before writing.
Settle into your chair. Feet flat on floor. Hands relaxed.
Rotate shoulders in a circle. Reverse direction.
Stretch arms out in front. Arms overhead. Arms to the side.
Big deep breath in. Hold. Let go.
Feel your feet connected to the floor. That connection goes down into the earth, way down, deep down, to the center of the earth. Firmly planted, deeply rooted.
Take a nice deep breath in and bring your shoulders up to your ears. And then let them down with a loud hrumph sound. Another deep breath in, shoulders up and down with the outward breath.
Completely supported in your chair. Feeling the connection to the earth. Feeling connected to the center . . . the core of the earth. Your connection goes deep.
We’re going to do a bit of exploration here. . . scanning memories.
Sitting comfortably in your chair, scan your relatives for the person who affected you the least.
Now, a relative who affected you the most.
What are some of the emotions that came up for you?
Which relative affected you in a way that surprised you?
Prompt: Write about that relative and a time that holds deep emotions for you.
How to write without adding trauma is a Write Spot Blog post from July 2013. You might want to read this before writing about difficult experiences.
