PROMPT: Ideal Home

Daily writing prompt
What does your ideal home look like?

Big enough to live in it; small enough not to live for it.

Preferably, it teleports on a regular basis, so I don’t have to — you know— live in one place for the rest of my life.

PROMPT: Habit

Daily writing prompt
What daily habit do you do that improves your quality of life?

I poop. Surely, I would have exploded in my youth if I hadn’t developed the habit. I feel my quality of life as a human must be better than the quality of life of gut bacteria in wall-spattered fecal matter. At least I have the leisure and capacity to contemplate such things.

“Upon the Road of My Life” by Stephen Crane [w/ Audio]

Upon the road of my life,
Passed me many fair creatures,
Clothed all in white, and radiant.
To one, finally, I made speech:
“Who art thou?”
But she, like the others,
Kept cowled her face,
And answered in haste, anxiously,
“I am good deed, forsooth;
You have often seen me.”
“Not uncowled,” I made reply.
And with rash and strong hand,
Though she resisted,
I drew away the veil
And gazed at the features of vanity.
She, shamefaced, went on;
And after I had mused a time,
I said of myself,
“Fool!”

PROMPT: Motivates

Daily writing prompt
What motivates you?

When tigers chase, I run. When sunsets glow, I sit and watch.

PROMPT: Writing

Daily writing prompt
What do you enjoy most about writing?

EPIPHANIES.

But, if you think about it, writing is miraculous. In the scheme of gifts that nature grants, it is way out beyond left field. Encoding ideas and images in simple characters in a way that can evoke emotional or cognitive responses in readers is kind of a superpower. (As is reading.)

PROMPT: Positive Emotion

Daily writing prompt
What positive emotion do you feel most often?

Curiosity. I exist in a state of perpetual perplexity. For example, is curiosity an emotion? If so, is it a positive one? I know it includes a feeling that drives me to make a decision or take an action, which would be an emotion by definition. But I don’t see it on a list of emotions. I consider it positive, but I also try to avoid putting value judgements on all things. Maybe it’s neutral. Can an emotion be neutral?…

PROMPT: Sell

Daily writing prompt
If you were going to open up a shop, what would you sell?

Experiences and lessons.

PROMPT: Change

Daily writing prompt
What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world?

If I can spark the occasional smile of amusement or trigger a line of thought once in a while, that’s enough. In the long run, it’s all dust. (That latter commentary was more on the thought-provoking than the amusing side of the equation.)

“His steady sails he never furls” by Henry David Thoreau [w/ Audio]

His steady sails he never furls
At any time o' year,
And perching now on Winter's curls,
He whistles in his ear

“Fable” by Ralph Waldo Emerson [w/ Audio]

The mountain and the squirrel  
Had a quarrel;
And the former called the latter ‘Little Prig.’
Bun replied,
‘You are doubtless very big;
But all sorts of things and weather
Must be taken in together,
To make up a year
And a sphere.
And I think it no disgrace
To occupy my place.
If I'm not so large as you,
You are not so small as I,
And not half so spry.
I'll not deny you make
A very pretty squirrel track;
Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;
If I cannot carry forests on my back,
Neither can you crack a nut.’