PART SIX: no thanks for prompts, I've got fuel
find your inspiration, don't wait for it to be handed to you
I’ve never liked prompts. There, I said it. So those don’t help me…what I mean by prompts or the canned sentence stems. Truth be told…a nudge, poke, or lead in to writing has to be very specific, imply curiosity and ask me to go somewhere I couldn’t have gone on my own. Demanding? Yep.
Being “prompted” makes me feel pushed out on stage without any desire to be in front of people. You too? The idea of a “prompt” gives me not only performance anxiety but the “run and hide feels” I always got when my parents asked me to play the piano for people. Uh no…just cuz I can doesn’t mean I’m gonna give concerts like a performing seal.
As you know from following the WRITE ON series, I’m working on the points of entry for my next memoir now. I’ve written lots of vignettes, overwritten some moments and sent them off to my coach. They didn’t come easily, I tapped into fuel sources to get them…here’s what I mean.
Writing fuel is around you, and you can invite it in, yet be discerning about what WORKS for You. Prompts don’t get me to write what I’m wishing for. So I use these:
“glimpses of familiarity” like the smell of apples baking in my sons kitchen yesterday. I close my eyes, head tipped forward and ask my long term meory, where else was this moment? What, who, when was it and then I begin at the helicopter level…and the written piece unravels for me.
well-intended questions, like “what was it like for you when you she said that?” And I begin writing, at least four levels deeper than a canned prompt would have gotten me.
talk to yourself, as in a writing mantra or word. I saw “what else” or “more” in my mind before I leave the page. There is always more.
Always overwrite…stopping short is where disappointment creeps in later.
What gets you writing? You do you writer.
What gets you writing at the level you’re seeking. Make note of that today and everyday. Rinse and repeat.