#52essays

This year I want to work more on my writing, so I joined a group that will be working on essays together. We’re supposed to write one a week, on a topic of our choice. The moderator started us off with some ideas:

Because a number of people has asked, here are a few ideas/prompts for essays. Please know that this is not an exhaustive list, just suggestions. And if anyone wants to chime in on suggestions, please do:

• Write a letter to yourself at __ age.
  – Write a letter to a loved one who is gone.
  – Write a letter to someone/anyone. Letters are great essay starters.
  – Write a list of memories from your past. That list is a slew of essay starters.
  – Write a list of things you can’t forget. Another list of essay starters.
  – Write about a book or books that shaped you as a writer. What about that book/books inspired you?
  – Look at the pictures around your home, office, etc. What do you remember (or don’t remember) about those pictures? Is there one that calls your attention or that you’ve carried with you throughout the years? Why?
  – Think of a milestone or something memorable or a turning point in your life. What were your impressions? What do you remember specifically? Use your senses. What did you learn? What meaning came from that personal experience?
  – Choose an essay that you love or hate. Write about what this essay stirs in you and why?
  – Do you collect quotes? Or does reading this remind you of a quote you’ve come across? Write about that quote or those quotes.
  – Write about the places you’ve written?
  – Write about writing.
  – Write about your resistance to writing.
  – What topics do you tend to circle back to in your writing? Write about that. Why do you think these themes or experiences/memories continually come up in your work.
  – One of the first rules of autobiographical writing is “don’t fuckin’ lie”. Write about the lies you’ve told and why you told them.

This isn’t 52 ideas, and probably these in themselves aren’t whole ideas. They need to be split apart and looked at. But these are starting points, and these are the things I will be thinking about and delving into as I get down to writing this year.