The prompt this week was on favorites. Do you have the experience of being the favorite child? When raising children, it’s hard to be equal. Did you end up having a favorite even though you didn’t know it at the time. What does favoritism do to a family and relationships? What about work? Are there favorites at work, the ones the boss always turns to for help or wisdom? How can we treat others, even our own family, equally?
Write whatever comes to you on this topic.
The second prompt this week was:
There are seven days in a week. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Someday is not one of them.
In light of the recent attacks in London, France, and even the United States, we talked about the issue of violence, as should we all.
The prompt this week is to ask yourself what should you/we/they do about violence in our culture and society.
There is a series called “Missed Connections” that features description of personal encounters, where someone saw somebody and it made an impression on them. “I saw you standing in line at Starbucks with red hair and I thought you were so beautiful.” The idea is to figure out if you are or know the person described.
Did someone write about you, or say something about you, that doesn’t match your perception of yourself? Describe the experience.
Independence Day is fast approaching. We look at freedom in very different ways. Looking at freedom at different ages is also a unique perspective.
The prompt this week is to pick an age, five, ten, fifteen, twenty, forty, sixty, and describe what freedom felt like to you (or a character) at each age. Pick at least one and make it into a story, or use all of them to describe your experience of freedom.
The prompt this week is on upcoming Father’s Day holiday.
The role of a father has changed over the years. The impact of fathers is legendary throughout history. We often talk about “father figures” in our lives. Many feel “less than” because they were raised without a father or by an absent or distant father. Others had different father experiences, ones of abuse. Have you ever thought of how an abused child responds to a traditional prayer, “Our Father.”
Fathers have had many stereotypes over the years, such as the television show, “Father Knows Best,” or struggle with the impact of the father-figure of Bill Cosby, now that he, the person and actor, is charged with crimes.
We have changed who we think we are as women. How has men’s attitudes about themselves, their perspectives on fatherhood, changed? Expectations have also changed about father behaviors.
Write about fathers, personally or conceptually.
This week’s workshop was led by Writers in the Grove member, Paula Parks, and she brought us the following prompt.
Examine or imagine a collection of photographs of roads, all types of roads, with bridges, train tracks, dirt roads, tree-lined paths, paved back roads, wide well-traveled interstates, all sorts of travel byways and highways. Write on wherever the road takes you.
The prompt this week relates to yesterday’s Mother Day holiday.
Write to or about a mother. It doesn’t have to be yours. It could be someone you know, or just a character.
The prompt today was on blame and forgiveness.
We started out with the twist on the classic quote, “To err is human, to forgive divine.”
To err is human. To blame someone else is even more human.
Other variations on this theme included:
He started it when he hit me back.
To err is human, to blame it on somebody else shows management potential.
To err is human. To blame it on someone else is politics.
Living up to roles, the things I’m “supposed” to be. Some are not welcome, some have been around so long, they are a part of us. Writers in the Grove member, Patti Bond, brought in the prompt:
Why can’t a woman be more like a man?
From My Fair Lady, “A Hymn to Him” sung by Henry Higgins, lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe.
Your prompt is to address the issues of roles, be it why a woman can’t play the roles of a man, or any roles we play in life.
Writers in the Grove 