And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. —Sylvia Plath

Big Moments

Today we are going to explore some big moments in your life - turning points, touchstones, your before-and-after experiences. Your work so far may have reminded you of some experiences that you may want to explore more with these prompts. 

I want you to write freely, without restraint, but I will also tell you that when I am doing writing coaching, it is this exercise that I look to hunt for a ‘story’ -- in terms of finding something that has a story arc. We are getting closer to choosing your story, but please don’t let my comments that you may find your story in this specific exercise infect your writing too much. Just pay attention if you start to see or feel a real life story forming here - one with a beginning, a conflict or change, and a woman who is different in the end

Read all the prompts. Select one or two that resonate most for you or that expand upon something you are already considering for a story. Please free write for at least one minute, but not more than 20.

• My proudest moment was when…
• My most shameful moment was when...
• The happiest time in my life was when…
• The hardest time in my life was when...
• My biggest change occurred when...
• I had a terrible accident once. It changed me. After the accident I...
• I felt most confident when.... I felt least confident when.... (explore the discrepancy between these two experiences)
• The biggest turning point in my life was when..... Before that I was.... and after I was....
• I should have been protected from...
• The biggest shock of my life was when....
• A key conflict in the story I want to tell is....

Great work! We only have a few more days of completely free writing before things start to get a bit more structured.

StoryList

Remember to jot down any new ideas or notes that came up in your StoryList notebook.

Let yourself be gutted. Let it open you. Start here - Cheryl Strayed