September Writing Prompts
We are all responding to our time in quarantine differently. Some of us are throwing ourselves into our work. Others are having difficulty focusing on the page. Whether it is directly related to our writing or not, we believe that whatever we’re doing to pass the time can be used to strengthen our insight and our craft. What is holding our interest? Inspiring us? Or simply helping distract us? Now is the perfect time to indulge our senses—sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and touch—and to use our latest obsessions to move us forward and stimulate our creativity.
This month, we asked our bold memoir writers to tell us what is moving them. What are they reading, listening to, watching, eating? What, outside of their writing, is keeping them grounded?
April 2020:
What we’re reading …
“Admittedly, I’ve not been reading as much as I normally do,” says Jennifer Gaites, who teaches our Wednesday morning memoir class. “I’ve been feeling distracted and emotionally tapped out. As a respite from homeschooling, my son and I have been reading old collections of Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin reminds me so much of my 8-year-old (it might be the big head, skinny body, and wild imagination). The cartoons are quirky and funny, and an example that creativity can be perceptive and honest without being so serious. Plus, when I leave the books out, I find my older kids reading the cartoons and chuckling too.”
Listening to …
Allison Winshel told us: “For me, nothing in the world is more soothing than being told a story. I think it started in the late 1980s when I first heard cowboy poet Baxter Black spin a yarn on NPR during my morning commute. My love of storytelling was nurtured by A Prairie Home Companion and then became a full-blown obsession with the debut of This American Life. The advent of podcasts has only fed the obsession. I subscribe to everything that celebrates storytelling, like Mortified, or hues close to the form in its delivery, like Hidden Brain, Risk!, Serial, Modern Love, Selected Shorts, StoryCorps and The Moth. Recently, on a rare sleepless night, I stumbled upon Gimlet Media‘s podcast Mystery. This little gem had a six-episode run in 2015. Instead of lulling me to sleep, it kept me fully absorbed for an hour. Despite a 4.5 star rating (out of 5) and plans for another season, it disappeared without explanation. Mystery serves as a perfect example of how the craft of storytelling can transform the simple into the mesmerizing. The tradition of oral storytelling has experienced a rebirth as a whole new generation discovers its charm and the explosion of outlets drives availability of content. I imagine my obsession will not wane any time soon!”
Watching …
“I loved the French movie Portrait of a Lady on Fire about two women in love because it was filmed with such understatement and subtlety,” memoirist (and film reviewer) Joan Ellis tells us.
Eating …
Elyse Kehoe relishes in the process and solitude of eating a ripe grapefruit: “The first thing you do is place it on its side on the cutting board and slice it exactly down the middle. Then you hunt for the serrated spoon in the silverware drawer. When you strategically place the spoon between the fruit and its rind, you blink as you push in so the juice doesn’t squirt you in the eye. As you progress all the way around, you hope that it doesn’t get your NYT crossword puzzle wet. Then you thank your husband for buying you a whole bag that you don’t have to share because no one else likes them.”
Miscellaneous …
Karen Harris told us: “A [pre-quarantine] trip to Sante Fe has me obsessed with my new bracelet made by a women’s co-op and my new Regina Romero boots!”
We love these items and believe they can be great writing prompts (objective correlative)! Write about a bracelet—when was it given to you and by whom? How do you feel about it as it dangles on your wrist? Or write about a pair of shoes—shoes you wore until they fell apart, shoes that squeezed too tight, shoes that carried you through the tiniest and grandest of moments in your life.
And grapefruits—what emotions can a grapefruit hold?
Feel free to share any comments or writing inspired by our Captivated column with us at info@projectwritenow.org.
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