Sunday, March 14, 2021

I Don’t Need Prompting to Write (Then Again, Maybe I Do)

April is poetry month!  In celebration, there will be a flurry of poetry events, poems published and of course prompts.  

Do you use prompts to write?  Do you need them?

I’ve noticed a writing publication I read regularly includes prompts in a column.  But it doesn’t stop there, they are everywhere especially if you read non-fiction books on writing.

I use them sometimes, but generally I don’t.  I’m not one to write themed poems, either so I rarely submit anything to a publication that has one.  It’s not how I write.  But how I write and how you write are certainly different!  And for good reason!

What is your favorite prompt to write?  What kind of prompts do you like:  fiction, non-fiction, poetry?

The other way to take prompting in writing is do you need something to get you started or to remind you to take time to do it?  I’ve noticed after a flurry of activity with writing poetry, mostly place or travel poems, I haven’t been writing nearly as much.  I’ve spent more time lately on the sequel to my award nominated mystery series as well as with an idea I’ve been knocking about for several years for a short story - I keep telling myself it’s not something I want to write, but yet there it is.  Some ideas simply won’t leave you alone until you explore them.

Whatever prompting you may need, well it is yours to decide.  It’s your story, in whatever form it may take.



Artemis at Sunset

As this year begins to come to a close, I thought about one of my favorite things to do: watching sunsets.  While I am often up early enough...