Post #52 – Women’s Memoirs, Writing Prompt – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
By Promptly Portland
Yesterday I looked out my window on the dense, coppery leaves of the flowering plum tree. Only a few months ago, I saw these same branches covered in pale pink blossoms. The tree, like my life, is moving into a different season.
I’ve just bought my first home and will be in it as soon as we paint the walls 
and take care of several repairs that need to be done. I recognize this time as the next season of my sometimes chaotic life. Of course, it is trite and overused to reflect on life as seasons. Whenever you read about the four major seasons in a life, the progression is from spring, to summer, autumn, and then the dreaded winter.
My challenge to you this week is to imagine a new way to think about the seasons of your life. Each year the plum trees blossom in the spring, produce luscious leaves and a few plums in the summer, turn their coppery leaves a deep rouge and begin to drop them in the fall, and then stand naked in the winter. But that isn’t the end. In the new spring, there are again feathery blossoms enjoyed by both birds and humans. The cycle begins anew.
We can bloom again, too. We can take on new projects, reinvent ourselves, tackle the memoir we’re always saying we’ll finish. We have numerous opportunities for springs, summers, falls, and winters.
500 Words (or more) Writing Prompt:
Choose one of the four prompts below, then write 500 words. Don’t stop to edit. Don’t become critical of your newly envisioned season. Just write. After you have finished, then you can spend time reflecting on steps you’ll take to bring about the new season of your life.
1. A New Spring: How would you like to blossom this year? What special goal will you set for yourself? Is it a dream you have long suppressed? Is it a deeper level that you want to reach in something you are already doing? Perhaps it is time for some frivolity in your life if you’re the type who has always focused on doing what needs to be done rather than what you’d just like to do. The options are open.
2. A New Summer: Summer brings the fruits of spring’s blossoms. Maybe you had new blossoms last year or even this year. Now is the time to let the fruits mature. This means you’ll need to tend to them. Sometimes spring can be a giddy time, even a reckless time. It can be fun to let yourself open with new blossoms. Write about the type of fruit you want to produce. How will you nourish the tree so that the fruits get plenty of water? Sometimes you need to prune the number of fruits so that the remaining ones can grow larger. Are you trying to have too many fruits? What steps do you need to take?
3. A New Autumn: I don’t know much about golf, but I like to imagine that autumn is like the follow through. You set the ball (perhaps had a ball with your spring blossoming), hit the ball (did the necessary work to bring the blossoms to fruition), and now, in the autumn, you need to pick the harvest. For example, have you been working on your memoir? Perhaps the autumn is the time to look for a publisher or to consider a blog in order to begin getting your story out to a wider audience. Maybe your blossoms and fruit have been in a completely different arena. How will you harvest your fruit. What will you do with the harvest? Remember there will be many more autumns of your life. Write about what you want to harvest this time.
4. And Finally, a New Winter: Winter does not have to be thought of as the decline of life. Winter is important in the cycle as it is a time for rest and reflection. How can you know what type of blossoming you want to do next if you don’t have time to search within yourself, time to dig deeply. Write about the coming winter. Perhaps it is time to put a project to rest.
Pick your season. Write. Then during the rest of the week, I hope you’ll think about the repeating seasons and how you want to use them in the future.
Until next time,
Promptly Portland
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