Week #1

Prep + Mise en Place

  • Write a list of 30 things you love right now. (Here’s my example: PDF)
  • For your journal or commonplace:
    • Make a list of your current preoccupations. Persons, places, things. Activities that have a hold of your imagination (mind, body, spirit). Your 30 Things list might provide some seeds for this, but it’s okay if you don’t love some of the things preoccupying you right now. (Here’s my example: PDF)

Appetizer

  • Do a short, focused free write on one of your preoccupations (or one of your 30 things, if that works better). (Here’s my example: PDF)

Main Course

  • Write a 750-word autobiography. It has to be exactly 750 words. Write about who you are here-and-now. Don’t try to fit your entire life into a short essay. Pick something finite (probably narrative [a scene or anecdote] but not necessarily narrative), something relatively small. Seemingly insignificant, maybe. But something that expresses an essential truth about you, your life. And, again, it has to be exactly 750 words. (Here’s my example: Pilgrimage)

Dessert

  • Copy down, by hand, word for word, a poem or passage or song you love dearly. Try to memorize it. If it’s a song, sing it — a capella. If it’s not a song, recite it. Audience not necessary. You are your audience for this.