02 March 2009

detail your days


"Original details are very ordinary, except to the mind that sees their extraordinariness." - Natalie Goldberg

this week i hope to lather up the details. because a fantastic story exists only because of it's fantastic detail. write the details of your days. here is a jumping off point.

writing prompts | week 02.
down to details. give the ordinary it's time in the spotlight.

01. describe your childhood home. give it life on the page. tell about the sugary cereals lined up in the cupboard and the red cans of coke in the fridge. the map wallpaper in the office and the van gogh posters in your room. the trampoline in the backyard and the card games around the kitchen table.

02. you have a plane ticket to anywhere. where would you go? what will you pack? what will you do? what will you buy? what will you have forgotten to bring? how long will you stay? what is the hotel like? or will you stay at a hostel, a lodge, a bed and breakfast? when you go on an imaginary trip, the details are endless.

03. describe the best sandwich you have ever had. will it be the reuben from carnegie deli that you shared with your mom on your first trip to new york city? or the grilled cheese and tomato soup your grandma makes every time you stop in? or what about the ham and swiss you shared with your hubby in paris on the metro ride home from museum hopping?

jot in the details. give your stories color.

"Life is so rich, if you can write down the real details of the way things were and are, you hardly need anything else." - Natalie Goldberg

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

These are great prompts! Horaay!

Eleanor said...

ahh yes! I have been waiting with eager anticipation for your Week 02 prompts and they are everything I wanted them to be! haha.

Thanks, and best of luck to you in your writing as well!

::Sylvia:: said...

Woo-hoo! I've been checking your blog all day for the next set of prompts, lol! Thanks Marta!

Ariel said...

This is so fun!

Christine said...

Thanks for the new prompts!

Megan said...

yay! i was waiting too. i love this adventure!

Travelin'Oma said...

Ah, yes, the red cans of coke. In my childhood there were little bottles of coke mixed in with grape Nehi and Hires rootbeer. Life is in the details.

Krista said...

Loving these prompts! Thank you - they are just what I needed to give myself permission to spend a little time on me.

Rose said...

jot in the details. give your stories color << i love this quote, consider me inspired (off to write now :)

amy williams said...

Love these ideas...so fantastic, thank you :)

Jennifer said...

Yay for week two! A stressful week of design calls for a relaxing 30 minutes of writing. Thank you thank you!

Anonymous said...

these are great prompts Marta! I wrote three times last week without feeling bad about the other four days missed. I am eager to keep adding days, pages and continuing to put my heart down on paper. Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

This is great! Thanks so much for giving me the nudge I needed to finally get over the hump of thinking about developing my creative writing to actually doing it.

I just started last night, so it's exciting to have some more prompts already. Is there anywhere where we can all share what we came up with from them? That would be fun to see.

whitneyingram said...

Just scrolling through your blog and loving everything I read. Keep it up!

Angela Tolsma said...

fabulous prompts got me trying to be allot of creative!!

One Love Photo said...

Thanks just what I have been hoping and looking for....you are so good.

bananafish said...

my husband has been part of a group of writers called writeclub for a few years. It started with him and I going to see Chuck Palahniuk speak and discuss Fightclub.

here's another writeclub
http://feralwriters.com/writeclub/
i think their rules are funny.

I think what you're doing is splendid.

"...ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write?"

-rilke

Heather said...

i love this i love this i love this!

summer said...

i'm excited- i love ordinary!
thanks for supplying the guidelines, marta.
i am the kind of person who feels quite lost & helpless without them.

mandy said...

I have a friend who's a budding writer... I'm sending this "club" her way. Hopefully you'll hear from her! Thanks for cheering other writers on!

Shannon said...

I think i will try the first one. I loved my childhood homes (one from age 2-10 and one from age 10-16) and whenever I dream I am usually back in one of these houses or at least the suburb I grew up in (did I mention the houses were next door to each other? Yes, my family is weird) so I'm still fairly in touch with all the details nearly 10 years on.

Lindsay said...

I finished!! And now I want that sandwich BAD! Great prompt-happy memory!

p.s. I enjoy your blog so much. You are BURSTING with creativity and life and intellect and I just love love love reading it & having a part of that in my day!

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