⚡Day 1. Getting outside ourselves.
Welcome to the first day of Flash February 2025!
We’re so glad you’ve joined us on this journey/adventure/challenge.
You’ll receive a fresh writing prompt in your inbox every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday between now and the 28th. Remember, writing is a process. If the words aren’t flowing one day, don’t sweat it. Do your best to engage with the prompt. You can always come back to it later. And you can always circle back to the beginning.
Okay: let's get started!
PROMPT #1
A great flash essay often comes to life through some element of surprise. This week, we’ll start with some exercises that will help us find surprise and fresh new ways of seeing our world.
Today, we’re focusing on sensory details, which can ground a story in a specific time and/or place, as in “Charring Light,” by Karin Hedetniemi and “There Was a Time When I Knew” by Dinty W. Moore.
Let’s start by removing ourselves from distractions.
Step outside for and close your eyes. What do you smell, feel, or hear, and how would you describe these sensations on the page? Relax and let your mind play with metaphor.
Then, let your mind wander farther. Do any of these sensations trigger specific memories or associations?
Go back inside (or stay outside, if you can!) and free-write for 10-15 minutes.
Share: A few sentences you wrote that surprised you.
They left when sheets of polypropelene rolled out across the once grassy track field. Gone, too, the hiss and rainbow arc of water from sprinklers. The geese altered their Rio Grande River migration path. Then one day returned. Honking. Confused. Hovering angry above the plastic sheen.
The drone of tires on pavement, the muffled bark of a dog, and the crunch of dead grass beneath my sneakers float in the motionless, crisp air. The quaking aspens have lost their noisemakers, standing silent and bare.