I know that everyone in the entire writing universe loves writing prompts.
I do not love writing prompts. I know! Big admission there. Way to bring on the trolls.
The theory is that writing prompts help authors suffering from the dreaded writing block. I do not ever suffer from the dreaded writing block. I know! I’m hiding now.
Full disclosure: I don’t suffer from writer’s block because I have no internal censor, and also because I accept the fact that my first drafts will be terrible. It’s also because I come from the world of newspapers and poetry. In those worlds, you have big work ethics and are used to making no money at all. So, I refuse to have writer’s block because I am too busy realizing how freaking blessed I am to get to do this at all. So lucky. And I don’t want to be a newspaper reporter again.
I want you to be lucky, too. I want you to be a rockstar of writing, but a cool one without ego issues or substance abuse problems.
But back to writing prompts. They help people and people get unblocked.
I look at them, and I get… I get bored. So, I decided to jazz up some really common ones with a weird twist. I live on an island in Maine, according to my friends that makes it okay for me to be this weird. My friends are liars.
The Ten PROMPTS OF WEIRDNESS
Outside the Window: What’s the monster outside your window doing right now? If that’s not inspiring, what’s the monster in your coffee mug? Oh, yeah. You know it’s there.
The Bloodfeud: Write about the conflict that has torn your family apart for generations. Bonus points for the use of the undead.
The Shuffle: You hear a shuffling noise. Is that from outside or in?
Food: Write a poem about the last time you were served for dinner.
Hamsters in Love: Two hamsters. One love. Separate cages.
Enemies: Write about the person in real life or pretend life or undead life that you can’t stand. Make them your teacher or your parent. What would that be like?
Unicorn Time: There’s a unicorn. What’s she doing?
Done with You: Write a poem where the first line is “Done with you.”
The Found Poem: Find a blog. Print it out. Circle words. Make a poem out of those words.
The Cat: Write about what’s going on in this cat’s mind.
There! Easy and weird. I hope they help!
PODCAST AND BOOK NEWS!
In my big writing news, the podcast is live!
LIVE!
Please go leave a comment, or a review, and pretend to listen, because I’ve been freaking out about this so hard. It’s on iTunes and Stitcher and Castos at the moment and the RSS feed is also here. The feed has bonus material and free things. It’ll be on GooglePlay if I can ever get the screen to validate to not be just a big webpage of blankness.
I am so freaked out this that I actually made a video! And I will probably eventually make a contest or something.
But no matter what, it’s quirky and real, and so much random fun.
I think I’m so worried because it’s so authentic and because I was bullied mercilessly about my Muppet voice when I was a kid. So, yeah…. big vulnerability issues there, which is also why I had to do it. I had to face my fears. Right?
Someone say, “right.”
Please….?
Pausing To Try To Be Chill. Failing.
My nonfiction picture book about Moe Berg, the pro ball player who became a spy, is still coming out March 1 and I’m super psyched about it. You can preorder it.
