On #Writing Prompts: Guest post by Maura Fitzgerald

For the last several years, I’ve been the sole teacher for a group of senior citizens in a Creative Writing Class at Harwood Place Retirement Living Center. This year, I invited a fellow writer, Maura Fitzgerald, to join me as co-teacher. She’s taken on the role with enthusiasm and dedication. (It’s tough to get up early on a Saturday morning to talk essays and poetry and “homework for next month.” Ask the seniors, they just requested to push the start time to a half an hour later!). Today, Maura shares a bit about teaching, about students young and old, and about the power and mystery in prompts. And yes, she leaves you with an assignment.


In Praise of Prompts

by Maura Fitzgerald

I once gave a group of 8th graders the prompt, When I am hungry…, and said “No rules. Just write.” Surely this exercise for kids who are almost always hungry would unleash their creative wild child to roam free across the blank page and leave a trail of original thoughts and insights. Instead, hands shot up. “Do you mean what do I eat when I’m hungry?” or “When I’m hungry for what?” and “I’m never hungry.”

Several students responded to the ‘hungry’ prompt by simply writing “I eat,” or they listed favorite foods. (Okay, prompts don’t always work.) But others were surprising and fresh on the page: A brief conversation between a girl and her empty, gurgling stomach; A boy who stuffed himself with fortune cookies for nutrition and wisdom.  Same prompt, very different treks across the vacant space.

Recently, I gave our group of writers at Harwood Place the essay, “The Potato Harvest,” by April Monroe, in which she describes how easily her garden surrenders to the approaching autumn.  After reading the essay, the group’s prompt was “Surrender.” Around the edges of the silence that followed, I sensed discomfort with the prompt. But I let it be. Prompts don’t come with comfort scores. In fact, discomfort can sometimes butt-kick a pen like nothing else. (Try it sometime with a prompt that chafes or confounds and confuses.)

The students—young and old—reacted like many writers do when facing a prompt. We crave directions for traversing the wide-open landscape of empty paper. Give me a destination and show me the landmarks along the way. Please. A compass might help, too.

The thing is, prompts come without instructions. On purpose. That’s why they work. Creativity holes up in unexpected places, so a writer must put pen to paper and follow the prompt to the unexpected.

While many writers don’t use written prompts, we encounter them daily.

A  waitress’s hairy arms or the brick-solid nurse whose name tag says Taffy. Sunday voices spreading salvation through open church doors. Sounds and sights and smells to catalogue for future use. Details that say, “follow me.”

Used items from MECCA, a clearinghouse in Eugene, Oregon that’s filled with scraps and discards for creative use—a clearinghouse of prompts. Newspapers and magazines from the 50s, family photo albums, previously sent greeting cards and letters, unusual postage stamps. I don’t need any of it. And I’m no hoarder. But there are countless items that prey on my curiosity. Who wrote this 1942 letter and what’s with the photo of the man and goat on the porch? I always leave with a bag of treasures competing for Prompt of the Day.

Even the local crime report: “Mints, a phone charger, and a softball were taken from a locked car…”  Who takes mints and a softball? Write about it.

Or park yourself in any airport or Laundromat and scribble away.

Go ahead, grab hold of a prompt and let it pull you in. Relax and enjoy the ride.

I’ll leave you with this prompt, a few lines from Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “I am a Town.”

I’m the language of the natives, I’m a cadence and a drawl
I’m the pines behind the graveyard, and the cool beneath their shade….

Read the full lyrics to the song here. Then, write details of a town from the viewpoint of the town.


Maura Fitzgerald has written nonprofit grant, marketing and communications, annual reports, and campaign appeals. Her nonfiction has appeared in Milwaukee Magazine and her fiction in Pank. Her writing has been featured on Milwaukee Public Radio, and she has done public readings at Fixx Coffee Shop and Woodland Pattern Book Center. She has taught creative writing to 8th and 9th grade students through Pathways Milwaukee, and presently co-leads the Harwood Place Writers Group with Christi.

Remington Roundup:
Upcoming Events, an Online Course, & Giveaways

1960's photo of woman at Remington typewriterSeptember rolls in with a new season in the air, a new perspective as the sun shifts its angle in the sky, and a new Remington Roundup. This month, find information on a few upcoming events (where we might see each other in person), my next online course (where I hope to get to read your great writing), and two upcoming author interviews and book giveaways!


Upcoming Events

DOORS OPEN MILWAUKEE
When: September 23-24, 2017
Where: Metropolitan Milwaukee

Doors Open Milwaukee is an annual event during which buildings all over the city make their spaces free and open to the public. Explore architecture, the arts, and the outdoors (this year, you can visit 170 buildings…if you have the stamina!).

Inspiration Studios (pictured above and located at 1500 S. 73rd St., West Allis, WI), the creative space that houses my tiny writing space, is open from 12-5pm each day.

Stop by, hear about a bit about the building’s history, check out the theater and the gallery, and be sure to head to my studio on the 2nd floor to say hello! There’ll be treats to nibble on, raffles to enter, and no-pressure writing sprints (F.U.N.). The sprints are scheduled for Saturday @ 1pm & 4pm and Sunday @ 12:30pm & 2pm. So if you stop by and see people scribbling furiously, know you are witnessing stories in the making.

WISCONSIN WRITERS ASSOCIATION FALL CONFERENCE 2017
When: October 6-7, 2017
Where: Riverwalk Hotel in Neenah, WI

If you’re in or near central Wisconsin at the start of October, join me and a host of other writers and authors for a weekend of craft and creativity at the Wisconsin Writers Association Fall Conference.

I’m presenting on Flash Nonfiction: the art of the short essay, but there is a long list of excellent workshops where you might uncover new ideas, critique a few pages, or craft a new poem.

Check out the full list, pack up your pen and paper, and meet me at the Riverwalk!


Online Course

Drawing of online connectionSeptember also kicks off registration for one of my favorite online courses: Principles & Prompts.

I’ve taught this 6-week class for a while now, and I love it every time. It’s a low-stakes learning experience that promises to keep you inspired and connected with writing during a time when holiday planning (and, who are we kidding…eating) takes precedence. You know how it is: you turn your calendar to November, start planning a family festivity (or twenty) and suddenly that writing journal becomes a book of to-do’s.

Each week in Principles & Prompts, you’ll find a link to an inspiring video or text, a tiny lesson on creativity & craft,  and a writing prompt. We also share our work with others, which means this course also connects you to a greater community of writers. In other words, your inspiration and encouragement doesn’t end with the last day of class.

Principles & Prompts runs from November 5th to December 16th. Join us!  REGISTRATION IS OPEN.


#Giveaways

This month, I’m hosting Patricia Ann McNair for a Q&A and giveaway about her new collection of essays, And These Are The Good Times (Side Street Press). I already have her interview in the queue, and you don’t want to miss her thoughts on writing–the questions, the reflections, how we respond–and her love of a city where connection and story are everywhere. Never mind the fact that if you stop by the interview, you could win a copy of her book (but not my copy…I’m not letting this one go!).

In October, Michael Shou-Yung Shum will talk about his debut novel, Queen of Spades (Forest Avenue Press), a book that Frederick Barthelme (Bob the Gambler) calls, “a lovely and complex gambling fairy tale that twists and turns in intriguing ways on its way to a most satisfying conclusion.” I’m loving this read so far. And when you stop by for the giveaway–where you eye up what’s available to win, drop your name into the hat, and cross your fingers your number pops up–it will be *almost* like playing the tables.

These two upcoming interviews mark both the 58th and 59th author Q&A I’ve posted on the blog. That’s an average of 9 books a year since my first Q&A with Beth Hoffman. Maybe that doesn’t sound like much to you, but considering what a sloooow reader I am, it’s a thrill to see that number grow and think of the stacks of stories I’ve had the chance to share.

But none of this happens without you. If you’re a subscriber, thanks for reading. If you found this via some internet search or social media, thanks for making that extra click to get here.

Remington Roundup: #Listening, #Reading, & #Writing

1960's photo of woman at Remington typewriterTwo steps into August, and it’s past time for a summer edition of the Remington Roundup. Here’s your links to a cool new podcast for story lovers, a how-to book for story composers, and an end-of-summer in-person workshop for story explorers. 

Listening, Reading, & Writing, oh my!


#Listening

I’m not an avid podcast listener, but there are a few that I bookmark for days when I’m heavy into housecleaning or deep into dinner fixings or just on the road. New Yorker Fiction is a go-to standard, but a new one on the horizon is quickly making its way to the top of my list: LeVar Burton Reads. 

You know him from the Reading Rainbow, where he read children’s books aloud. Now, you can listen to him read and discuss short stories by authors whose names you’ll recognize and some you may not. Every episode I’ve listened to so far is not only entertaining but thought-provoking. Especially when the story breaks out into profanity and the radio volume is up and the kids are in the back seat and Hey, Ho! Thought for the day: how do you pause a podcast with two hands on the wheel and your iPhone more than an arm’s length away…. Whoops. Welcome to literary fiction, kids. Words are power; they pack a punch.


#Reading

Early in the summer when I was supposed to be downsizing my book collection, I stocked up on several new ones–some fiction, some non, and several craft books. Then, I took off for camping and road trips and on and on and on. Now, it’s time to dive into those books–especially the ones that will strengthen my writing, so I’ve set a personal goal to read one craft book a month. As I tend to be a slow reader, this could turn into one craft book every two months, but the point is: let’s get back to the nuts and bolts. I can always learn more.

This month, I’m cracking the cover of Donald Maass’ The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface (Writer’s Digest Books, 2016). This books dips into the reader’s and the writer’s emotional journey, how to weave inner and outer conflicts, identifying moral stakes (and more). Inside the pages are plenty of examples, as well as questions with which to approach your own work…plenty to get you thinking and writing. Or rewriting.

And, if you’re in New York City on August 17th for the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference, you can register for the one-day workshop with Donald Maass himself, on this very subject!


#Writing

Speaking of the nuts and bolts of craft, I’m offering an in-person workshop this month for writers called Exploring Story through Art, Theater, and Writing.

Inspiration Studios, the creative space that houses my writing studio, is running an art exhibit this month in conjunction with a play, both of which focus on the idea of every day people, their stories, and the way those stories connect us, influence, and inspire us. My writing course is designed to explore the importance of story by examining three different mediums of creativity: art, theater, and pen on paper.

With your registration, you’ll have access to the art exhibit, a reduced-fee ticket to the play, and three hours of workshop on creativity and story. You’ll leave the course with a wider perspective on the way creative expression enhances our stories, as well as with the beginning of a personal essay in hand and resources for fine-tuning that early draft into one that is publication-ready.

Click HERE to learn more or to sign up! The fee is $95, deadline to register is August 13th, and seats are limited.


What’s in your roundup of writing and reading these days?