Post #42 – Women’s Memoirs, Writing Prompt – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
By Promptly Portland
Looking for Gratitude and a Memoir Writing Prompt?
Looking for Gratitude is probably the wrong title. It’s really a matter of expressing gratitude. However, sometimes we have to look around to decide what we’re grateful for. There have been times in my life when I couldn’t find anything to be grateful for. To put it simply, life sucked. Right now, I’m in a good time even though my stress level is often high. Yet, I have much to be grateful for.
I was pondering a possible writing prompt for this week when I remembered a story my mother often told me when I was young. A family friend died and my parents attended his memorial service. One of the speakers told about the man’s habit of sending a thank you every day of his adult life. He always found something to be thankful for and expressed it regularly. The note (this was long before email) would be to a close friend or perhaps someone he had just met once. Some of his letters were sent to people in other countries, some of them to those in his town. He didn’t need a specific reason. He just liked to start each day with an expression of gratitude.
Needless to say, this man was loved far and wide. He appreciated others and they, in turn, appreciated him.
This, it seems is a starting point for a writing prompt. What are you grateful for? A child or grandchild? A place you live or a place you’ve visited? A pet you love? A friend who is always there for you? A job that you need even though you don’t like it? There are many places to find nuggets of gratitude.
500 Words (or more): Memoir Writing Prompt
1. Send an unsolicited note of gratitude to a friend or family member. Use email, if you like, or write a note on some of that stationery you have tucked away. Think of a way that person has made a difference in your life, perhaps has helped make you the person you are today.
2. Write a note of gratitude to someone who has died, a relative or a friend. Even though you can’t send it, you can write it and then release it to the air, sending your feelings of gratitude out.
3. Write an expression of gratitude. Feel it pour from your heart. You may not have a person to send it to. Just write it and see if it brings forth both your muse and makes you feel better about the world at the same time. Perhaps it will.
Hope one or both of these writing prompts will change your mood and mindset. Gratitude is truly revolutionary.
Until next time,
Promptly Portland
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