All with lessons and insights on reading and writing poetry and short prose. Check out the resources I offer below and sign up for my newsletter!
Fill a Notebook in a Month
Fill a Notebook in a Month: The Notebook Challenge Hello Writers, I hope this message finds you well and creatively inspired! Today, I want to share a new idea that's been brewing in my mind—filling a writer's notebook. Inspired by artists who fill sketchbooks, I've decided to take on the challenge of filling a medium-sized notebook (160 pages) in a month. Here's the plan: I'll jot down my thoughts, creative pieces, imitations of works I admire, micro fiction, poetry, short stories, and more. The goal is to write at least one page a day. This concrete goal is both encouraging and exciting for me. While digital writing has its perks, there's something uniquely satisfying about putting pen to paper. It makes the process feel more tangible and real. Plus, keeping a notebook helps capture ideas that can be expanded into larger stories later on. So, why not join me in this challenge? Below, I've shared three prompts to get you started. Let's fill those pages together! This Week's Writing Prompts Loss is a universal human experience that touches all aspects of life. It encompasses not only the death of loved ones but also the end of relationships, the fading of dreams, the passage of time, and the gradual erosion of identity or memory. Loss can be sudden and sharp or gradual and subtle. It often serves as a powerful catalyst for personal growth, self-reflection, and the reevaluation of one's priorities and beliefs. In literature and art, loss frequently functions as a lens through which we examine the human condition, our connections to others, and our place in the world. Example Prompts: 1. The Fading Photograph Description: Explore the interplay between memory and loss through a cherished image. Instructions: Write about a photograph that is gradually fading or deteriorating. Describe the image in detail, focusing on what parts are disappearing first and what remains clearest. Use this as a metaphor for how memories of a person, place, or time are affected by loss. Flexibility: This prompt can be adapted to various forms of media (e.g., a voice recording, a video) or even non-media objects that decay over time. 2. The Inherited Garden Description: Examine loss and legacy through the cycle of nature. Instructions: Create a piece centered on a character tending a garden they've inherited from someone who has passed away. Explore how the act of nurturing plants connects them to the person they've lost, and how the garden changes with the seasons. Flexibility: The garden can be replaced with any ongoing project or responsibility left behind by someone else. The focus can shift to the challenges of maintaining the garden, letting it go, or transforming it. 3. The Untranslatable Word Description: Use language as a lens to explore cultural or personal loss. Instructions: Choose or invent a word from another language that has no direct translation in English but relates to a form of loss. Write a piece that attempts to convey the meaning of this word through a story or series of vignettes. Flexibility: This can be expanded to include multiple words, focus on the loss of language itself, or explore how the inability to fully express an experience in one's own language affects the processing of loss. Until next time, keep writing. |
Hi! I'm Mechi.
All with lessons and insights on reading and writing poetry and short prose. Check out the resources I offer below and sign up for my newsletter!
Every day, we look around, searching for a secret recipe for something we ought to be doing.We search for the magic sauce to our writing.We wait for a path that is sure to take us to where we want to go with our writing. But there is trouble. We do not know where we want to go.What if there’s nowhere to go? What if all there is to the story is the story itself? That it is your expression. That the world is from you, but a world of its own that speaks to this world.Whatever it is, it is...
Hi , I’m so glad you’re here. Seriously, it means the world to me that you’ve trusted me with a little corner of your inbox. This newsletter is for you—a fellow writer who, like me, loves weaving words into poetry, short stories, and everything in between. But here’s the deal: I want this to feel like our space. A place where you find inspiration, opportunities, and maybe even that little nudge to keep writing when the blank page feels intimidating. Since I’m just starting out, I’d love to...
I set myself a challenge: write a poem every day for a week. But why? Because I love writing poetry, yet I struggled with consistency. I needed to create a habit of showing up. You can listen to the podcast episode here 👉 Buildwriting Podcast I Wrote a Poem EVERY DAY for a Week (INSANE Challenge!) The Simple Rules Minimum of 10 lines per poem Write every day by 8 pm No strict structure or theme requirements The Process Each day, I would sit down and write. Some days felt inspired, with the...