Prompt # 19

Today is a tired day. I'm feeling sluggish and achy and slow. I got to make art last night with my friend Emma.  She shared a visual journal making practice with me which involved painting on paper, building the paper that would then hold our words, other images, anything we liked. I'm still feeling high from that- from covered in paint, from the stillness we shared that was happy and full of possibility. I am becoming addicted to shared creative space. I like how the energy gets thick and charged in the room and the focused sound of people making things. I found this worked with art just like it does with writing and I loved being dropped back in to that place where it's just paper and color and quiet and exciting. Red on blue on white or the surprise of  yellow- the possibilities of color were kind to me. 

Afterwards we did a little writing on our still damp journal pages. Then we shared what we wrote and we were quiet and happy and fairly high I think though the only drug was generating art, generating words. It can feel like high; it can feel hungover the next day if you go for hours, which we did. We didn't stop until we were absolutely exhausted and it was late. We talked about this luxury of time we'd had and how good it felt to just keep going. 

What emerged from my writing was a readiness for what comes next and not knowing what it is. These are questions I deal with all the time with my characters. What is she going to do now?  There in a gnawing anxiety for me in being ready for what comes next and not knowing what it is, and I feel it equally for myself and my characters. It's hard to rest with uncertainty. To be uncertain and face an open piece of paper whether painted or white requires a serious brave. 

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Imagine (or remember) a canvas. It can be a finished piece or half done or blank. If it's blank do you see an image appearing? Are you thinking in colors?  Is the canvas sunlit or in shadow? You can ask for an image to appear- your mind will paint one in for you or not. You might see a favorite painting or a well known one- that works too. What do you see up close, the details, the textures....?  What do you feel as you look at it?  What does your character see? Or is your character the one painting?  Write and see what comes next. 

or

 Bravery takes care of her daughters.

or 

It was a tiny little thing. (or she or he was a tiny little thing)

 

As always if this prompt doesn't work for you- push it around until it does or start someplace different. If you are reading a book that you like, go back to a place earlier in the book and pick a sentence or a fragment and write from that. Write for ten minutes or seven, thirty or every chance you get. It doesn't matter- just write. 

I hope this day is good to you and your writing and your art. 

No poem today- I'm going to play ball with the dog. :)