The Practice of Writing

I just finished The Practice of Writing, a 5 week, online writing course run by Alice Bradley of Finslippy.  I first started reading Finslippy when I was beginning doula work, and I ran into the funniest birth story in the history of the world.  I knew then that Alice Bradley was destined to be my very good friend. She didn't know it yet, of course. After five weeks of a writing class she still doesn't know it. But whatever, she'll come around eventually.

Despite not yet being my very good friend, Alice Bradley is an excellent writer, a good teacher and a very encouraging critic. If you write anything: a blog, short stories, poetry, annotated shopping lists, then I strongly encourage you to give The Practice of Writing a try.

Our last assignment for the course was to produce fifteen writing prompts of our very own.  It was Alice's little nudge to get us out of the nest. I plan on sifting through what I've written for the course and looking for gold nuggets I can refine to share here, or expand into something more. So, as a first offering I give you my very own fifteen writing prompts. The rules: Don't think, just write. Give yourself fifteen minutes. You can write poetry or prose, fiction or non-fiction, in any format you like. If you use them, I'd love to hear about it.

1. Write about a time when you believed you had magical powers.
2. In the process of cleaning out a family member's home, you have found a beloved object from your childhood. What is it? What has it been doing since you saw it last?
3. What keeps you awake at three in the morning?
4. If you had to move your whole household into one room, how would you do it?
5. In the process of changing the light switch covers in your home, you find a note from  the previous owners. What does it say?
6. You have fifteen minutes to change my mind about a contentious political topic that is important to you. Go.
7. On a walk in the woods, you discover a path of flower petals leading in a direction you've never been. What do you do?
8. Write about a time when you wished the earth would open up and swallow you whole.
9. What is the one thing that tells you that you are home.
10. Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived in a small house next to a big river . . . 
11. You have been given a four week, all-expenses paid vacation for four. Where do you go? Who do you bring? What will you do?
12. Joey was sure the disco ball hadn't been hanging in the basement yesterday . . . 
13. Write about a time when you made something better.
14. Write a birth story.
15. A stranger hands you fifty one-dollar bills and tells you to give them away one at a time, then leaves. What do you do with the money?