Can I Prompt You to Write?

How many times have you felt you just could not write, could not think of a topic or get motivated to begin?

Well, we all  have those moments, but those of us who are not working on a particular manuscript or subject we want to explore, often come up empty when we have the time and want to write.

I like prompts to help me jog my writing mind. I often just need one line or one suggestion to get the juices flowing and then can't stop until I finish my story or essay or poem. Some of my best poetry is the result of prompts in writing classes. 

Also, I think writing in more than one genre is helpful. I might get an idea that works great in a poem, but would not do well as a fiction piece or personal essay. It is fun and interesting to write a poem and then write a story from the poem. Writing poetry forces the writer to search for the very best words, and helps keep the fiction from running on with too many adverbs and adjectives. 

Writer's Digest has an article filled with a variety of prompts. Check them out and let me know if you found something here that awakes your muse.

https://www.writersdigest.com/prompts

Brian A. Klems is the online editor of Writer’s Digest and author of the popular gift book Oh Boy, You’re Having a Girl: A Dad’s Survival Guide to Raising Daughters.

What is your table like?

My writing studio is called Writers Circle around the Table. That is what we do  here. We sit around a large table and write, tell stories, write stories, write poems, and discuss words, language, lines and passages by famous writers.

Tables, especially sitting around a table, has been a basic part of my life since I can remember.

Some of earliest memories take place at the large dinner table with my parents and my brothers and sisters. 

My brother Max always asks for a round table when we go out to eat. He  says round tables make for better conversations,  and talking while seated around a table is the important part of a meal.

What does the word table mean to you? What memories does it invoke? Is your table a kitchen table, a large table with matching chairs, a Formica covered table with mismatched chairs? Is your table in a favorite restaurant, a  picnic table, a side table, a conference room table, or is it a work table?

Write a story or poem that comes from the thought of a table.

Would love to share it here on this blog. 

River - what does it bring to mind?

In my classes I often give my students prompts or something in the way of a word or phrase to jog their minds so they think of a subject to  write about.  Over the years, I have found prompts to be excellent starters for poems or stories. 

I am going to be giving prompts on Writers Circle once or twice a week. If you like, take the prompt and see where it takes your thoughts, what images come to mind. Write a poem or prose piece. If you’d like, you can send it to me, gcbmountaingirl@gmail.com and I will read it. I might share it on this blog.

Today’s prompt is the word: river

River immediately sends me back to the days when I rode a big yellow school bus. To get to my fourth grade school, I had to cross the big, muddy Flint River. I can still feel my fear and excitement when I looked way down from the bridge and saw the swirling water moving under the bridge. My fear of bridges over rivers haunts me to this day.

When I think of river, I also remember the time my husband and I joined a  group of friends who took boats down the Flint River and across Lake Seminole, through the  locks and ended our trip at Applachicola Bay. The warm sun on our backs and the musty smells of the dank grasses and bushes along the banks created a perfect environment for total relaxation. 

A river of tears ran down her cheeks. There were song lyrics, “I cried a river over you.” The boxes on the conveyer belt moved like a fast flowing river, never stopping.

What do you see in your mind when you say or read the word – river?