On June 1, 2013 best-selling author of Wild, Tiny, Beautiful Things, and the novel Torch, Cheryl Strayed came to the Petaluma Sheraton for a day titled “Writing, Truth, & Community”–produced by yours truly and The Owl Press. This was the largest event we have put on and thanks to our volunteers, my assistant–Ali Degolia, and the Sheraton staff, things went very smoothly!! The event consisted of a full day writing workshop, craft talk, reading, and book signing! The feedback has been amazing! Thanks to all who filled out the survey, sent me an email or posted to Facebook! It was an extraordinary day, and Cheryl was charming, insightful, inspiring, funny, and extremely generous with her knowledge and experience.
Cheryl mentioned a number of writing prompts and promised to share them with the group! And so here they are! Enjoy! May you be inspired to be willing to “break your own heart” and go forth to “write like a motherfucker!!”
With gratitude and all best wishes, Albert (& Cheryl)
Writing Prompts from Cheryl Strayed
(The “you” can be you or a fictional character)
Write about a time when you’d dressed inappropriately for the occasion.
Write a few pages in which you obsess over something meaningless.
Write about something/someone being born.
Write about something you can’t deny.
Write about what you have too much of.
Write about when you knew you were in trouble.
Write about something you don’t exactly remember.
What about what you used to know how to do.
Write a long apology.
Write about a secret being revealed.
Write about all the secrets that have been kept from you.
Write about a gift that was not well received.
Write a long thank you letter.
Write about something you are certain of.
Write about having no fun at all.
Write about when you knew something was over (or had begun).
Write about someone you forgot.
Write about a question you wished you’d asked.
Write about something that was too small/too big.
Write about what you’d planned to do.
Write about something that doesn’t get better.
For more writing tips, check out the upcoming online course Brilliant Writer: The Master Class for Successful Writers
For more writing tips and tricks check out my YouTube channel —> https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDUXkLV0Hmp3VZ0rDNE6aig
And my upcoming events can be found here—> https://albertflynndesilver.com/classes
