Prep + Mise en Place
Write a list of 30 things you love right now. (Here’s my example: PDF)
For your journal or commonplace:
Interview yourself. Write out the questions and the answers. Make it a back-and-forth, where the interviewer (you) works off the responses of the interviewee (also you) in an organic, extemporaneous way. If you want to pick up where you left off with your last interview, that’s fine. Or you can just start another one. (Here’s my example: PDF)
Appetizer
Do a short, focused free write about some surprising or evocative aspect of your self-interview. (Here’s my example: PDF)
Main Course
Take a photo or two of a relatively common place — someplace lots of people can access, maybe someplace a lot of other people wouldn’t really find beautiful. Write a companion essay-ish shard sort of thing, in which you bombard the page with all your linguistic/lyrical powers. Make it “artsy.” Make it beautiful. Notice the sensory details in the surroundings. (Here’s my example: Prayer for the Tennessee River)
Dessert
Go outside. Count the stars. Follow some ants. Run in the rain. Lie down in a field, look up, stare at the clouds. Try to notice things that aren’t trying to be noticed.