Sept. 24 ~ Weekly Writing Prompt ~ Memory

Writing takes time. And it takes courage. This week create a space to sit down with your favorite writing utensil and journal (or computer). Ask God to join you, to bring to your mind what He has in store. If something ouchie comes up, keep writing with the full knowledge that God is with you, His presence is there and He will hold your hand. The hand you are not writing with, of course :0) Enjoy this time with God as He leads you to an unknown destination ~ deAnn

Memory Is Imagination
Memory is an aspect of imagination. For writing, memory is one of your most important tools. But you don't need an excellent memory to use it well. A single phrase, am image, a fragment of a story, one object from the past is enough to spark the creative, intuitive mind. Especially rich are incidents and images stored away that you aren't sure ever actually occurred; dreams or stories someone has spoken of so many times that they're engraved as past realities. No matter what their source may be, memories are doorways to new pieces of writing.

Memory is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it becomes. One memory sparks another. Each time you write from memory, another fragment filed in that ninety percent of the human brain that science doesn't understand slips into consciousness and a creative shift takes place.

The Prompt:
Begin with the phrase "I remember" and start writing. If doesn't matter whether you stick with one memory of list several. You can retrieve memories from as far back as childhood to as recently as yesterday. If you get stuck just keep repeating the phrase "I remember," in writing, until something else forms in your consciousness. Don't even be concerned with the authenticity of the memory, just record whatever comes to you. Don't stop until you have filled two pages.

"Memory is a Net" ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

(this exercise is an excerpt from Bonni Goldberg's book "Room to Write" ~ page two.)