“What you’ve kept”
There’s a box in my living room. It’s in the shape of a large book—so it doesn’t really look like a box. It’s my treasure trove of memories. Inside this box, I’ve got all the letters, birthday missives, photos, and other pieces of paper that I’ve collected over the years from friends, family, and teachers alike. Continue reading “Prompt 87: Things I’ve kept”
“Screw you”
There’s a voice in my head that emerges every one to two years. It’s a mean voice, but it’s seductive. It’s a voice that sets out to taint the image I have of myself. It seeks to bring up insecurities, what ifs, and not-so-fond memories attached to a part of me that I did not choose.
We all have a variation of that voice, no? You know the one. It hangs about at the back of your mind, almost invisible. Then, when it senses a vulnerable opportunity, it strikes.
It’s hard not to give in to it. It’s hard to fight back.
I’ve got something to say to that voice.
Screw you.
When you talk about me, whisper things about me in my ear, you don’t see ME. I am so much more.
Screw you.
You don’t define me.
Screw you.
I can live, thrive, love without you.
Screw you.
I can still see and make beautiful things without you. I will always dance, without you.
Screw you. And go back to that dark hole you came from.
“Create an imaginary friend (human or not)”
I have a friend named Puzzles. I’m not quite sure if Puzzles is a he or a she, but this friend showed up as if from nowhere one day and hasn’t left my side since.
Puzzles is magical, you see, and invisible to everyone except me. Continue reading “Prompt 85: Imaginary friends”
“Write a letter to the reader of a novel you haven’t finished yet”
Dear reader,
First of all, I want to say thank you. In a world where we have thousands (if not millions) of things vying for our attention, I find myself so grateful for the fact that you chose to deliver some of that precious attention to this work in your hands.
“Rewrite a piece of your own writing in one-syllable words.”
For this exercise, I’m using the text from Prompt 36: “Parades” Check out the link for the original text :)
Folks march, dazed, all head the same way, and step at the same pace. Continue reading “Prompt 83: Making my work monosyllabic”
“Write a list of things to do before you die”
A few prompts ago, I got to write out a bucket list for my favourite superhero. Today is my turn!
Now, my list may seem small and not too ambitious, but bear with me anyway! Continue reading “Prompt 82: My own bucket list”
“What you would run out of the house with if it were on fire”
I think if I had been posed with this dilemma last year, I probably would have said that I would try and grab the things that hold a significant nostalgic element to them: the photo of my grandmother on her wedding day; the necklace my boyfriend gave me; the teddy bear I’ve had since I was five months old. Continue reading “Prompt 81: The house is on fire”
Prompted by my own birthday
There’s a funny thing about birthdays and them being the utterly random day in the year on which we were born. Then, after a few years, they turn out to be the utterly random day in which we take stock of the things we have and haven’t done, think about whether or not we’re happy, and whether we’ve reached that place that we saw for ourselves five years prior.
“Write a bucket list for your favourite superhero”
First things first. Who is my favourite superhero? I had to sit back and think on this for a second. We are so overexposed to the superhero world lately that I find it hard to pick.
For the sake of this prompt, though, let’s say that Storm, from the X-Men, is my favourite. Let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to control the weather? Perpetual sunshine? Yes, please! Continue reading “Prompt 79: Superhero bucket list”
“Rewrite the Gettysburg Address for today’s audience”
Note: I have to say first and foremost that this felt wrong to do…Lincoln was so eloquent in the words he chose for this speech, and English seems to have been made much baser since then. See original below.
Forty seven years ago, our ancestors established here a new country based on Liberty and the understanding that everyone is equal. Continue reading “Prompt 78: Rewriting history”
“Two dollars isn’t a lot of money, unless…”
…you live in a backward universe where efficiency and simplicity are the concepts that define value and thus small and easily measured numbers carry more weight than long or fragmented ones. Two dollars makes you rich. But not as much as one dollar does.
Imagine that.
Today, as part of the research I’m doing for this little writing project of mine, I read a lot about this one day in the Second World War: December 16, 1943.
Why that day, you ask? Well, according to our family records, this was the day that Allan Reid Cameron, my great-great-uncle, died while on a training exercise. His plane was brought down because of heavy fog that impaired visibility and led the pilot to crash land near or in Lincolnshire, England. All crew members on the plane perished. Continue reading “Bringing characters to life”