Prompt #1

in which we begin by just telling our life stories. Easy!

Okay, so i’m going to start us off with a prompt. (I don’t plan on posting more prompts until January, but you never know. I’m very good at changing my mind.)

This first prompt is one I’m betting a lot of people have done in the past. But it’s fun to do. And easy. And not time-consuming. It’s less like “writing” and more like “playing around.” And I think writers should do a lot more playing around. God, the anxiety I read about writing here online—so many people who want to write but can’t get themselves to do it. The very thought of words on the page stops them. So this little prompt is to show you that there’s no need to be nervous. It’s just a little puzzle to do with your morning coffee. There's no right or wrong. It’s all good!

***SPECIAL NOTE**** Please know that many of my prompts are not ones I came up with myself. I found many of them from someone or somewhere else! If I know the origin of a prompt I use, I will always give credit. But I don’t always remember where I found a lot of my prompts. If I post something and it’s familiar to you and you think, hey, I think I saw that prompt in such-and-such book, then by all means let us all know.

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Here’s the prompt:

TELL YOUR LIFE STORY in six words. Yes, the good old six-word story prompt. It’s so much fun! (And you don’t have to tell your life story if you want to do another kind of six-word story. We’re nothing if not flexible around here when it comes to rules.) Here are a few I came up with this morning:

How did this happen? What now?

Stopped looking back. Found myself here.

Not sure of anything at all.

It’s all one big fucking blur.

Not doing any of that again.

Woke up, so that’s a start.

Am I happy? What a question.

Don’t tell me. Okay, tell me.

Bad listener. Big talker. Always apologizing.

Your turn! Post here in the comments if you want. I love my 13 followers for playing along with me, even if you don’t post.

Edit added December 24: I came across this site today (link below). It’s about Larry Smith, founder of Smith Magazine, asking people to send their “six-word memoirs” to him back in 2006. So this idea has been around since at least then. Here’s the link if you’re interested: https://www.sixwordmemoirs.com/about/#story-of-six-words