SPURRED INTO ACTION GIVE YOURSELF A PROMPT
Saturday, May 9, 2020
What is this about?
It’s about writing – about starting, finding the spark, lighting the match …
A writing prompt can come from anywhere.
The prompt – the act of being prompted, can be an exercise of a teacher inspiring a student, a boss scolding an employee, a parent ‘motiving’ their child.
Some sound, some word, some action inspires – first, the brain. Then the body.
Bang, the word, might inspire or motivate the writer.
But a door slamming, a car backfiring, or some surprise sighting on a morning walk – takes the brain from zero to 60 …
We can be prompted by accident, at that moment.
Or on purpose, because we set ourselves up to be prompted (many online and social media sources), or by that pile/list of waiting tasks, but those often lack a dramatic and immediate spur to action.
It can be any thought, event, comment, or reaction by anyone – on any subject; it has to do only one thing, which is to inspire keystrokes, to inspire words on paper that inspire action, reaction, and mindful activity. Not for the audience first, but for the writer first. First and last. I do it for me. You can do it for you – and nobody can do it for you.
Our voice is locked inside us until we let it out. Running wild and free, there is no telling what it might say. Might be held back, like reigns on a wild horse, but wild horses aren’t haltered. Might be caged like a zoo bird, afraid to fly, but nobody knows. Might be caught in a spider-web of sticky contradictions.
A writing prompt, urgent and not delayed – because the immediacy is lost, and because thought gets ahead of the words, the self-editing kicks in before the writing rather than after.
A door slams.
Squeal of tires.
Clock strikes three.
You smell smoke.
It was a cold and rainy night.
Writing is spilling feelings, trivial or monumental, on those pages – like giant jigsaw puzzles.
That is the only way to sort them out.
Reader feedback:
Excellent, just another variable to consider. Be well, AG, Cancun, Mex.
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