And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath

Saturday, February 6, 2016

I stepped out to look at the stars, because....

I love writing prompts.  Anything to get my creative juices flowing!  Recently, a friend of mine has started an incredible workshop for writers in the Grand Rapids area.  You can check out the website here:  http://www.voiceandvessel.com/   She offers really great opportunities to write either in studio or online!

This week the writing prompt that she sent out was "I stepped out to look at the stars, because..."  (Side note: For my friends who might read this and worry.  This is written from the perspective of one of the characters in my  books.)

The challenge is ten minutes of writing using the prompt.  Here it is folks, unedited, ten minutes:

I stepped out to look at the stars, because I am suffocating, defeated, and trapped inside my own body.  It doesn't matter that the sky is cloudy, or that the air is so crisp that it cuts right through my clothes. The farther I walk out into the moonlight the easier I begin breathe, the easier I began to feel like myself again.    I could tell you the moment it happened, the moment that everything changed, that moment is so far away now and yet....  I still have to get up everyday.  I still have to call on all my bravery to go out and lead.  Tonight, that thought weighs heavy on my heart.  I feel weak, and I feel unequipped.  Someone else should have been called to do what I am doing right now.  Someone else should have been asked to lead this life.   I don't have much time tonight.  They will notice I am gone before long, and for one fleeting moment I am tempted to run.  I am tempted to leave this life and never come back, to escape among the stars where no one knows who I am.   I hear footsteps in the distance, they are coming for me now shouting my name.  I don't know how long I will have to pay for this escapade.  The footsteps grow closer as I wrap my arms around myself trying to warm myself in the night air. I sigh, glancing up at the stars one more time watching them flicker in the distance and walk back the way I came.