Prep + Mise en Place
- Write a list of 30 things you love right now. (Here’s my example: PDF)
- For your journal or commonplace:
- Fill a page — the WHOLE page — in your notebook with the names of places in the world where you’ve NEVER been. Be imaginative and specific. Peru is a place. So is Lima. So is the inside of a blue whale’s ear. Write big. Write small. Write in all kinds of different directions on the page. Maybe also in different colors. If you feel like it. (Here’s my example: PDF)
Appetizer
- Do a short, focused free write about one of the places you’ve never been. Maybe it’s a stream-of-consciousness / imaginary travelogue? (Here’s my example: PDF)
Main Course
- Write about an actual experience you’ve had, preferably something you did with the express intention of writing about it later. (Disclaimer: Don’t do anything dangerous or illegal.) It should be something rather ordinary — something almost anyone can do. Notice the exceptional in the ordinary. (Here’s my example: Weeding)
Dessert
Write out the five hardest things about right now. What’s useful about what sucks?