WordPress, the content management system for my blog, regularly offers prompts to writers. A way to get the creative juices flowing, you know… and to connect people through sharing their stories.
For, as my fellow Slicers of Life can tell you, stories knit our hearts together like nothing else. Stories are the fabric of our lives, the storehouse of our memories, and one of our most creative endeavors. They are the way we see and shape our world. They shape us. Stories are among humankind’s greatest tools and gifts.
To that end: It occurs to me that a little inspiration might be needed for the Slice of Life Story Challenge. After ten days of writing, some of us may be running low on fuel. Here are a few WordPress prompts, just in case anyone out there can can use them…
- How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?
- You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?
- What’s one question you hate to be asked? Explain.
- Do you have a favorite place you have visited? Where is it?
- What big events have taken place in your life over the last year?
Confession: It would be soooo convenient to end this post here and make another to answer my favorite of these questions (i..e, stretching this post into two; one DOES have to be strategic during a challenge), but the teacher-writer in me says You know you have to show, not just tell.
All right, all right.
My favorite from this list is #2: You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?
A: I have no idea.
First of all, not sure writing my autobiography is a venture I desire to undertake. A memoir, perhaps…a memoir in verse, even more appealing, but…hmmm. You writers know what our greatest fear is, don’t you: Will anyone really read it? Or care?
Which brings me to the point that this is a secondary concern.
Because…write for you first. Capture the words emerging in your brain like new and fragile butterflies. Jot the images before the rains of time wash them away like chalk from a driveway. Relive your memories; spend time with the people you have loved and lost and will miss all your days…along with the lessons you picked up along the way. Answer the Muse who stands so patiently (exasperatedly?) over you, tugging at your creative human soul where beats your struggling writer-heart. Just because you don’t feel the tug doesn’t mean she’s gone. Oh, she’s there, all right, standing with her arms crossed, tapping her foot.
Enough avoiding the task at hand…how would I start my autobiography?? (I do wish the question was for “memoir,” alas…I’d find it more compelling, even if the world at a large uses the terms interchangeably).
Here I am, stalling, tempted to say Check back tomorrow for the reveal! Truth is, I need to think awhile…
ALL. RIGHT. Here goes…
—Can I please switch questions? Can I answer #3 instead? What’s one question you hate to be asked? Explain.
A: Right now I hate to be asked what the first sentence of my autobiography would be, because I. HAVE. NO. IDEA. Furthermore, I am now asking myself WHY I ever picked it (I suddenly feel like a student trying to write a short essay on an exam after having selected my topic most unwisely).
Sigh.
I set my own foot on this path… so, let me see where it leads (do you hear me, Muse? You gotta take it from here. Please…).
My father named me for his mother, and that was the beginning of everything.
Well… it’s a start.
*******
Composed for Day 10 of the Slice of Life Story Writing Challenge with Two Writing Teachers
(keep going, y’all!)
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lit bits and pieces 
This was an interesting slice to read. My biggest noticing in your slice is your need to follow the rules. You mentioned that you wish the question had asked for the first line in your memoir (not autobiography). I wonder why you didn’t just change the question. It’s your slice of life…you don’t have to follow any rules! 🙂 Maybe that’s the the rule bender (breaker) in me being a bad influence though…;)
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I hadn’t even intended to write the post that way; truth is – I really wanted to answer the “first sentence of your autobiography” question, even though I honestly don’t know what that would be. Then I decided – or maybe the Muse or the Slice itself decided – it would be fun to portray the struggle with ideas while writing. As my Micah would say: “Why not?” So – I played!
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Steeped with truth and vulnerability, your writing absolutely shows the inner workings of your writing brain. I appreciated the stalling, the inner teacher voice, the journey… My favorite line- “Capture the words emerging in your brain like new and fragile butterflies. Jot the images before the rains of time wash them away like chalk from a driveway.” Omigosh, the imagery is striking. Thank you for this mentor text on the writing process.
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Thank you so much for your meaningful words, Cindy. I felt a genuine pull with the prompt to write a first sentence of my autobiography – trouble is, the universe of possibility out there! It beckons and paralyzes in turn…but the prompt sparked very real contemplation of how I’d start such a mammoth task if I really desired to take it on. The post kinda took on a life of its own then, and one thing I’ve learned: Get out of the way and let the writing do its thing.
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Of all the muse descriptions I have read in my life, this one might be my favorite, the exasperated one: “Oh, she’s there, all right, standing with her arms crossed, tapping her foot.” This made me chuckle in recognition! The writing teacher shines through as you illustrate several possible off-ramps and digressions that both amuse and encourage writers in process.
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So glad you enjoyed the image of the exasperated Muse…yeah, I fear she does this quite often with me, when I can’t see or seize the offerings.Thank you for your gracious response, Sherri.
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I’m in a rush, but just want to say I love this. Your writing is exquisite and the paragraph about story is a keeper. I’ll return to try some of these prompts. Thanks, Fran.
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Thank you so much for your gracious and meaningful words, Rita.
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Fran, I love your vulnerability in this post, this tipping your hand to writing being a struggle at times, particularly finding ideas. You’re such a natural and flawless writer that it always reads like you just swim in words, just glide through the water without ever choking on any mistimed gulps or air bubbles. I whispered to myself the first line I’d used in my memoir entitled Father Forgive Me: Confessions of a Southern Baptist Preacher’s Kid (2012), but I’ve often wanted to rewrite the book since it was inspired by Virginia Cary Hudson’s O Ye Jigs & Juleps: a humorous slice of Americana by a turn-of-the-century pixie, aged ten (1962) and is told in a child’s voice – – – like mine. I think, though, that I would not change the first sentence. ”Preachers’ kids are the worst!” That line might stay. Thank you for inviting me to return to these books today to think about how things have changed, how the world has changed, since they were written. I’m all for rewriting in verse. Or letters. Have you ever read Gladys Taber and Barbara Webster’s book Stillmeadow and Sugarbridge? It’s the letters they exchanged back in the 1950s, and it has some of the most charming and captivating writing between two friends. The first sentence wondering sparks wonder, like a button….but thinking of the style (letters, verse, flashback narratives, etc.) is like the dress pattern. What would be your pattern?
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I love this post! I smiled all the way through it, because I totally empathize with you. I the personification of your muse, too.
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So glad you enjoyed it, Becky! Thank you-
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Use the WordPress prompts, split the post in two, change the question… this post had me grinning all the way through – and I nearly laughed out loud when you described the muse. Thanks for a fun and clever post. Love it.
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Thank you, Amanda – so glad you were amused, as my Muse was not! Seems she hasn’t given up on me just yet… thankfully!
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I mulled around the autobiography prompt. I’ve been “stuck,” and told myself to use the prompts. However, I wind up with snarky responses I decide not to write. However, I should respond how my muse wants to answer. ”Oh she’s there, all right, standing with her arms crossed, tapping her foot.” I see her! She’s tapping loudly! Thank you for the motivation and reminder to write for myself first. Saving this post for later. I’ll start answering the questions, in case Muse really wants me to use them.
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I had a lot more fun with this Slice than I anticipated…would love to know where the Muse leads you! Thank you for your reflective response!
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Oh, Fran, I love this self-talk. Thank you for the prompts, by the way. I agree with your idea, and I would have turned it into two days. (But you are a better person than me, so you turned this into a very fun piece! I think that first line could be the first line in your verse memoir. I want to read it–that’s not the first time I’ve said that to you, one of my favorite authors.
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I know I have told you before, but I will say again: You’re an extraordinary encourager, Denise. Your heart, insight, and ideas continually amaze me. I am very grateful for you, and your faith, as we write “life” alongside one another.
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Such fun to read with all the to-ing and fro-ing. I like the first sentence you eventually came up with. That is how I write in my head on walks and while musing. I’m amazed that you can put it down on paper, so it makes sense!
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Really hadn’t planned to write the post that way, but – when a piece of writing really takes off on a tangent, or shall we say, a life of its own – I’ve learned to just go with it!
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