Each month, toward the middle of the month, I offer a writing prompt for my paid subscribers as gratitude for their support. As of this month going forward I’m also going to offer reading recommendations geared toward writers of creative nonfiction and memoir. Part of becoming a more experienced writer is reading widely in the genre you’re working in. My hope is that these reading recommendations will give you examples to learn from — and also just words to enjoy.
If you haven’t worked with a prompt before, writing prompts are sentences, phrases, questions, objects, colors, shapes or media that are chosen by me and meant to jump start creative thinking in your writing practice. Each month I offer a new prompt, and I also offer pre-writing tips to help guide you through this experience. These prompts are crafted with the idea that they will be used by writers of memoir and creative nonfiction, but they could prove useful to other kinds of artists too, particularly visual artists and dancers. When you’re working with these prompts, don’t worry too much about “finishing” a piece of work — instead, try to think of it as an opportunity to spend a few minutes with your creativity.
One of the best parts about an open-ended prompt is discovering the different directions that it can take, so, writers, I invite you to leave a paragraph or two or a sentence you’re proud of in the comments.
Last week a subscriber asked me “Allison, do I have to complete the prompt right away or can I think about it?” I think it depends on what you want to get out of the experience.
Maybe you get the email on a busy day and you know you won’t have twenty minutes to write. Well, bookmark the email for later, don’t scroll down to the prompt just yet, and find 20 minutes in your week to use it when you know you can give it your full attention.
But that’s not exactly what this subscriber meant. They wanted to glance at the prompt and mull it over in their mind as they went about their day. And, yes, that’s certainly one way to complete a prompt, as our minds are capable of putting together sentences and stringing together words until we have the chance to get to a computer or a journal.
But I would challenge you to build 20 minutes into your week, to glance at the prompt, and write fresh words then. I think doing that provides the most opportunity for surprise and creativity, and cuts down on the perfectionism that can show up when we write in our heads.
Either way, you’re writing. And that’s what’s most important.