The Tuesday Prompt



Writers, like mules, sometimes need a kick start. When it comes down to the hard work of writing, most of us would rather re-shape our eyebrows or clear out closets. The Tuesday Prompt, both carrot and stick, was created to counter such distractions. As its name suggests, it’s sent out weekly, a reminder to members that there’s still time to write 500 words to bring to the meeting— unless, of course, they have the next chapter of their novel, or a poem they penned while waiting in a queue.
            The word can be anything: lettuce, weird, scum. This method of getting started relies on the hope that one word will lead to others which, in turn, might lead to a discovery. It’s like opening an unlabeled can; you never know if it’ll yield peaches or worms.
            First Word is a similar device, one that we use at our weekly meetings. Here— pens poised, notebooks open— Ellen gives the first word that comes to mind. 
            “Sorry,” she might say, “but the word is ragamuffin.” And even while she scribbles ragamuffin on a paper napkin for the latecomers, the rest of us are off, our pens racing across the page. When we rein in ten or fifteen minutes later, and read aloud what we've written, we’re often astonished at the variety of what each of us has produced.

2 comments:

  1. http://mojowritin.wordpress.com/2014/10/21/finding-the-right-balance/ Hi there, not sure if I am allowed to share here, but I came across your prompt when I was looking for inspiration and thus I leave this link :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. We have a lot of fun with the Tuesday prompt, and are entirely thrilled you were able to find inspiration in the word! Even thrilleder (if that counts as a word) that it led you to such a great piece of writing!

    ReplyDelete