Writing prompts are both blessings and curses for writers. You can dive into them and get lost in “the flow” or you can bite your lip, stare at the screen, get more coffee and beat yourself up for not having the faintest idea about what to say.
Prompts are both joyful discovery and intense frustration.
As I embark on my last week of Blogging 101, the assignment is to pick a writing prompt from the WordPress Daily Post. https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts
I think the assignment is evil as I obsessively peruse the prompts. Pick just one? I don’t think so. Make a list while I’m there and keep them in a file for when I think I have writer’s block. Absolutely.
Assignment: Pick a prompt and make it your own. As if.
Here is a selection of my favorites:
Create a word exercise. Oh, I love making up words and I love stretching existing words into new uses. This is not always the best trait in a writer, but the amount of fun I have is worth the occasional censure. https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/flangiprop/
“Flagiprop /fla dz prop:/ verb 1. to save a conversation by inserting a completely random and intriguing subject. noun 2. a strange term or word used to revive conversation”
Sneaking cat pictures in here. Who would I like most like to write my biography? Easy answer: most definitely a group effort by the Bengals. https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/your-life-the-book/ ?
My favorite prompt of the day is a writing exercise. You’ll see my answer in a post later this week.
Write about any topic you wish, but make sure your post features a bookcase, something cracked, and a song you love. https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/final-trio/
This writing prompt is a little like the flash fiction contests held by my favorite writing blog by Literary Agent Janet Reid. She’s amazing. I do so wish she represented my genre.
If you have reached the querying stage for your book or want to look ahead at the process, then I highly recommend following Query Shark http://queryshark.blogspot.com/ blog
Also check out:http://fineprintlit.com/agents/janet-reid/ Such a wealth of amazing information.
Finally the last prompt: Is the glass half-empty or half-full? https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/the-glass/
Obviously the answer is how you look at it. My feeling is, if you put on the right lens, the glass is always overflowing.
~lisa
Sculpture pictures from Porter Sculpture Park, Montrose. South Dakota
Sculptor Wayne Porter http://portersculpturepark.com/
Thanks for the link to the Daily Posts, it helped: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts https://johnrubens.wordpress.com. Now if I could only find out about #pingbacks. How are pingbacks different from links? They must be automatic messengers.
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Still struggling with this assignment!
It is truly hard to take a random prompt and make it your own. I just kept clicking next until I found prompts that might work. Selected half a dozen and then took a stab at each of them, getting rid of the dead ends and finding some that worked. best of luck. I know you can do it. ~lisa
Thank you Lisa, I just posted a stab at it. I am not good at keeping up with stuff.