Category: Uncategorized

Uncategorized, Writing Prompts & Craft Articles

Bonus Unexpected Sabbatical: March 26

Nancy Stohlman

“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” ~Søren Kierkegaard

There are so many dizzying moments in life, times (like now) when we feel that we’ve been knocked off our equilibrium. I tend to find, looking back on those times with distance and perspective, that they were also moments of grace when I softened, opened, grew. A great book to read (or re-read) by the way, is Pema Chodron’s When Things Fall Apart. She speaks of these moments of grace like particles up in the air, still weightless, still defying gravity. Eventually they will return to the ground, and eventually we will be “grounded” again, but sometimes in the dizziness is where we find breakthrough.

Therefore, today’s prompt is:

Write a story using only one sentence.

Any other punctuation fine as long as there is only one official period.

m682-52

In love and solidarity!

xoxo

Uncategorized, Writing Prompts & Craft Articles

Bonus Unexpected Sabbatical: March 24

Nancy Stohlman

I love satire. Satire is truly able to “say” so many of the things that are too painful/blunt/raw to say straight. And I love The Onion. For more than 20 years, The Onion has been saying it with more truth, somehow, than anyone. And I love to laugh. Headlines I laughed at in The Onion today include:

“Defiant 123-Year-Old Not Going to Let Coronavirus Stop Him From Hanging Out With Friends”

“Parents Don’t Remember Enough Colors to Help With Kindergartner’s Homework.”

“Trump Quietly Checks With Aides to Make Sure He’d Be Included In Receiving $1,000 Checks.”

“Frustrated Dog Has No Time To Jerk Off Now That Owner Home All Day”

mbj4nms2iwivmiwzduqy

Now it’s your turn.

Write a satirical news article, the kind that could be published in The Onion.

Have fun and laugh hard today, friends!

xoxo

Nancy Stohlman, Uncategorized, Writing Prompts & Craft Articles

Bonus Unexpected Sabbatical: March 22

Nancy Stohlman

I received this very evocative “then and now” picture from the president of CU Boulder yesterday: This is the Old Main Building in 1918 and now:

CU snip

Which got me thinking about history, and how our story will be told 100 years from now. Let’s not forget that history is always written by the victors. So today, let’s do a little more time traveling, but this time:

Rewrite a scene from history.

In solidarity and love.

xoxo

Nancy Stohlman, Uncategorized, Writing Prompts & Craft Articles

Bonus Unexpected Sabbatical: March 20

Nancy Stohlman

“If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you’re gonna see some serious s***” ~Doc Brown, Back to the Future

header-a-message-from-the-future

I’ve talked with many people lately who are thinking about the future: what might our new world look like? It’s fertile material for all your sci-fi leaners, but it’s also just an interesting question. Will society go virtual like Ready Player One? Will we someday take virtual vacations (or virtual writing retreats!) like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall? Or will the Terminator show up with a message for us from the future?

So…let’s have some fun with our imaginations. Who knows–the future could be amazing.

Write a story in which your character receives a message from the future.

Of course what this message is, and how they receive it, is up to you.

Have fun with it!

Nancy Stohlman, Uncategorized, Writing Prompts & Craft Articles

Bonus Unexpected Sabbatical: March 18

Nancy Stohlman

‘But I don’t want to go among mad people,’ said Alice. ‘Oh, you can’t help that,’ said the cat. ‘We’re all mad here.’ ~ Lewis Carroll

I’m sure the world is feeling pretty mad to you right now. One of the reasons I love absurdity in art is because I believe when we stop looking for TRUTH with the capital T, when we embrace the madness, we’re able to see the more subtle, more real, and usually more potent truths bleeding through the surface of “silly” or “weird.”

f8c67347-8f87-4a8d-8996-29f41f23f973

SO…let’s enter the madness and embrace the weird.

Write a real story, something that happened to you or someone you know that was so ___________(insert adjective here) that no one would believe it’s true.

BUT, when you write it, do not stay bound to TRUTH with a capital T. Instead, invite the story to get even weirder, allow exaggeration and hyperbole to take it in strange directions, and see if something even more interesting starts peeking through.