32 | The Writer • January 2020
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OPEN THE DOOR TO
TRUTH-TELLING.
Where did that come from?
Prepare for this question to
flash across your mind fre-
quently after you start using
prompts as a warm-up exer-
cise. Whether you’re a heart-
on-your-sleeve sage or a
stuff-it-down denier, an unhin-
dered mind caught up in a
seemingly unrelated topic can
drum up images, memories,
and beliefs that speak your
truth. Spoiler alert: You’ll
uncover a few secrets that
just might be the basis for
your book-length memoir.
A friend approaches and
says, “I can’t believe I found
this! It will change everything
for you.” He motions for you
to open the box in his hands.
What’s inside, and how does
it inspire you?
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ENLARGE YOUR
CAPACITY FOR
EMPATHY.
Prompts can provide clarity-sparking scenarios to
help you develop your empathy muscles.
Strengthening your emotional intelligence will
later allow you to add dimension, soul, and
believable idiosyncrasies to your least-likeable
characters, whether in memoir, fiction, or nonfic-
tion. It will also make you a better human.
You awaken to discover that you have turned into
your nemesis and are heading to the hospital to visit
their elderly parent. Write a scene from the day.
ENGAGE A NEW VOCABULARY.
When you say yes to a cre-
ative invitation to write as an
anthropologist, rodeo clown,
or surfer, you’ll shake up your
default dictionary. Your brain
synapses get a pass to forge
new trails and leap over tired
language. If I inform you that
you’re a child wearing your
father’s galoshes and you are
plodding through puddles in
the rain, you don’t need
Rosetta Stone training in kid-
speak. Your mind will start
spouting words, real or
invented. Slosh, squish,
ooey, shlop shlop, gulp.
Writing through a new
lens inspires an expanded
lexicon.
You are a botanist. A plant
peep. Today you encounter a
specimen that nobody has
ever noted in journals.
Describe in what ways this is
the most amazing creation
you’ve ever seen. Draw it.
Label it. Give it a name.
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BYPASS BLANK-
PAGE PRESSURE.
Don’t overthink which words get to
grace your screen or the fresh page of a
notebook. Prompts give you a nudge, a
direction, and the freedom to let ideas
flow from the get-go. Your mantra: I am
not scribing a treatise on the historical
impact of the plague. I am accepting
the invitation to let the words lead me.
Have fun.
You thought you entered a drawing to
win a Saturn car, but it turns out you
won the chance to be the first earthling
to communicate with beings discovered
on one of Saturn’s moons! Draft your
message.