I was reading an exert from Writer’s Digest about writing prompts and I couldn’t help but control a quick grimace.  See, I’ve had an awkward experience with a writing prompt that makes me leery of any I hear about now.  When I was in this group once, I took a prompt and wrote a whole short story from it.  It was so cool and I was really proud of myself.  The prompt was something like, “talk about something embarrassing,” and this sparked this entire story line in my head about a girl who gets locked in a closet with a guy in this house that neither of them was supposed to be in.

Neat story right?  At least I thought so.  I was so excited to present the story to my group and it actually met with the majority of great comments about how well it was written and made most people laugh. (which I consider one of the highest compliments when it comes to my writing)

Yes…you have guessed where I am going with this.  There was one guy, one guy that hated what I wrote.  He gave me so much cra# about the fact that I wrote this from a writing prompt, and he even went so far as to say that I plagiarized the idea!  I was so mortified, my face turned red, and I wanted to cry because I have never been accused of doing that before.  I can take some harsh criticism but I’ve never had someone make me ashamed of what I wrote before.

(Image curtesy of Google Images)

It took me a long time to get over that and come to appreciate what writing prompts are for and to understand that as writer’s we draw inspiration from everywhere and that I didn’t need to be upset by what this one person thought.  But it took me awhile.

Have you ever felt that way?  Have you had an experience like mine?

I’m getting really excited because the new season of, “The Voice,” kicks off tonight!  

                                                 (Image from Google Images)

Every time I watch that show I get to thinking about what it would be like it they had a reality show about writing?  It might not be as exciting to witness as, “The Voice,” but I’m thinking what would it be like to go into a room with four authors or publishers sitting with their backs to you and you had to read to them from your manuscript.  Then, when the lights are down low, and the world is watching, you are standing on the stage, reading, one of them presses their button and their chair turns!  Yay!  Now, you get to work with them on your manuscript and they mentor you on your next step in your writing career.  How fun, right?

I really think this kind of practice could be applied to any art – musicians, watercolors, scrapbooking….anything.  My husband plays guitar.  I’m thinking the same situation for him, but the chairs hold people like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, and Roy Buchanan.  

What kind of artistic talent do you have?  Would you try out if they had a show for your talent?

Getting my three year old daughter ready for bed at night can be either one of two extremes, and the other night, she was as cute as can be.  We were all cuddled up on her bed when she started to tell me, “Once upon a time, in a land far away…”  My baby was telling me a story!  I couldn’t quite believe it when she went on for almost five minutes about her own little story and I swear it brought tears to my eyes.  It was just so wonderful to hear her use her imagination like that, I was very proud.

Later that night, I tried to remember back to my first story, and you know, I couldn’t quite remember.   I mean, I can remember some favorite books from when I was kid, but not really when I first started writing. (This was my favorite book when I was little girl.)  It was interesting to think back and remember what held my attention when I first started to read and appreciate books.

I have been wanting to tell stories for the longest time, and I do remember that one of the first written works that I ever created was a poem, when I was around ten or twelve.  (At least, from what I can remember.)  My dad used to buy my sister and I one new book every week from which sprouted my love of literature.  It wasn’t too long afterwards that I was writing stories down in little journals and daydreaming all the time.

Do you remember your first story?  What was your very first favorite?  Do you remember why?