Post #94 – Women’s Memoirs, Writing Prompt – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
MEMOIR WRITERS: Use Memoir Writing Prompts and Journaling in New Ways
As I mentioned in last week’s Memoir Writing Prompt post, my partner and I headed over to Newport to watch the sun set into the ocean on the longest day of the year. We took our work with us and stayed for two days of writing and walking.
I’m always on the prowl for my next memoir writing prompt. As soon as I publish one, my antennae are out to find an idea or experience that might intrigue you enough that you’ll sit down and spend ten or twenty minutes writing. Even though I do this every week, I try to not resort to trite prompts since I really want you to feel the topics are worthy of your time.
That said, because I write a memoir prompt each week, I do have my own established patterns. This week, while walking on the beach, I got an idea for today’s prompt. It would have been fairly easy to do — write up the idea, edit and polish the writing prompt, take a photo, resize the photo for the web, insert the photo, and publish the blog post. Total time? Probably two to three hours after all was said and done.
But I realized it is time for all of us to push ourselves. To think outside the box. If you journal, you probably have your routine, which is an asset because it keeps you going and which is a liability because the pattern means you don’t always stretch yourself. If you use writing prompts, you probably also have a routine with the same strength and weakness as the journal keeper.
How can I ask you to stretch yourselves if I am not also stretching myself. So I decided to take my idea for today’s memoir writing prompt and create a video. I usually have my video camera with me so gathering material wouldn’t be a problem.
Then I got the idea to make a memoir writing prompt video without a script. Now that really would stretch me. I usually write a script and then record it — matching the recording to the selected images. Once I settled into a new way to do a video, I found that it did force me to think outside the box. It made me think about the message that I wanted to convey and that could be conveyed through just a few words on the screen. Focus, focus, focus.
I hope that as you use this and all our writing and journaling prompts, you’ll think about different ways to write or unusual perspectives to include in order to stretch yourself as a writer.
Oh yes, one more thing. Stretching yourself takes more time. But there is growth from it. The writing prompt video took five (plus) hours. It was partly a matter of figuring out technically how to do it, partly a matter of determining which videos I would use from the set I had already taken (I did the work after we were back from the coast so no chance to get more videos), and partly crafting an coherent message that could be conveyed in a few words.
Here’s to your writing success.
