Writing in response to prompts--whether a question, a quote, or simply a single word--is like watching a fountain in the center of the city switch on in the morning. As if by magic, water surges up through a network of sleepy pipes and fans out in the air, shimmering as it arcs into the illuminated pool below.
There! The opening prompt,Writing in response to prompts, led to all this business about sleeping fountains and being stunned awake before the city rises.
We do it all the time, write to prompts.
Like when we text a friend who wants to borrow that sweater she likes, and we say: That one's dirty, but you can have the blue one Mom gave me for my birthday. I've never liked it.
What about when we put a sticky note on our partner's computer answering the question: Exactly how many books did you buy this month?!!!
Or perhaps, prompted by a bluebird perched outside the kitchen window, we grab the grocery list, flip it over, and write a few words of gratitude: the beginning of a prayer, or a poem, even a song.
= Prompt writing gives us PERMISSION to say what we really think and express what we really feel about something we may not have known we had any thoughts or feelings about.
= Prompt writing ENCOURAGES us, shouts "Come out with it!" when we falter wondering if anyone will care about what we say, or understand.
= Prompt writing INVITES a group of people to gather closer together, to splash around in the fountain of our common creativity and imagine ourselves anew.
The COVID WRITING RECOVERY PROJECT offers inspiration for anyone in our community seeking a new vision of themselves, a new vitality after years of suffering in Covid's shadow, of enduring the lethargy of prolonged confinement and the twin debilitations of uncertainty and worry.
Every two weeks, a new prompt will appear here on tilltheground.net. Become part of the Project and share your response!
Write a few sentences. Don't think too much about what to say. Let your pen say something new to you! Be honest. Spelling doesn't matter or whether the order appears in the right words.