Writing Prompt:
What is the last beautiful thing you saw?
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Today I watched a little girl on a swing staring up at the sky.
I followed her lead, tilting my head back to peer through a tangle of trees. Twisted branches gave way to endless blue and shapeshifting white. She smiled; not for me, but I smiled back. We danced like this a while, her tiny body tracing the curved path the swing and my hands carved out.
She knows something I’ve forgotten. Silence doesn’t conjure craving in her. Stillness is itself a place to be- not a void for her to fill.
An airplane cuts through the sky. She waves.
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If you are an artist, and not a sociopathic one, you will inevitably encounter a voice in your head who insists you are garbage and your art is garbage and you should probably spare the world and yourself the humiliation of publishing your garbage and watch real art on HBO instead.
I used to hear that voice, doubtful and full of resentment at her insistence. I fought her. I ignored her. I swore every swear I know at her and she merely dug in her heels. The only way to quiet her, it turns out, is to become something of a friend to her. She’s mostly terrified and volume is her only weapon. Friendliness neutralizes her poison just enough to make your art.
Writing practice is becoming, for me, a way to get to the other side of the voice. She fights and side eyes and judges until I write through the drivel and get to The Good Stuff. Sometimes I’ll write for half an hour and stumble upon one single sentence which becomes an essay. I wouldn’t have found that sentence if I hadn’t written half an hour of nonsense. It’s like painting, like making music, like any other art. You have to sit down and make the art in order to make the art.
Writing prompts help. I’m going to share some of my prompts here, in case any of you are also writing past the voice in your head. If you are responding to a prompt, the only rule is not to censor yourself. Don’t edit, don’t cut, don’t criticize. Write until the clutter falls away and you find something worth writing about.