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Tuesday, June 21, 2016

I Am Not Writing to the Prompt

Robert says
he plans these prompts
a month in advance.

He’s kidding, right?

I thought he just
made them up on the spot,

just like he expects all of us
to jump and write to the prompt
just because he says:

“Today’s prompt is
‘write a poem about water ’
or ‘being in the middle’
or ‘write a goodbye to your childhood poem.’”

I’m sick and tired of acting
like a programmed monkey
every time
the prompt comes out,

and I’m also sick of
checking the website to see
if anyone commented on
what I wrote
and finding
I'm still invisible.

Fine,

but I’ve had enough of this
“creating art
with a gun to my head”
ethos.

So,
I am not writing to the
prompt.

Is that clear enough?

8 comments:

  1. I am cackling. Love it!!!!!!

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  2. Ha Ha! Thanks for putting that into words so well. I can't even do it for treats.

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  3. "and I’m also sick of
    checking the website to see
    if anyone commented on
    what I wrote
    and finding
    I'm still invisible."

    That stanza hit way too close to home for me. Now I am thinking the things and feeling the feels. Time for a sweet tea.

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  4. Ha.. yes prompts are still a source of inspiration when we're stuck.. but I can assure you... you're far from invisible.

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  5. This is why I vanished for over 2 years. On my best day I had 260 visits. That's not 260 comments but I was entering maybe one prompt a day, sometimes I'd have maybe 30/40 comments to reply to. I mean, we all write lovely things and each of us deserves to be complimented on our pride and joy but, I go so that most of my days were being taken up with commenting and not much creative writing. The pressure became too much and so, I closed my blog. Now, I don't enter prompts and am just writing to please myself again and if people like YOU still read me and comment, I'm happy but, I'm so pleased to not be in the 'comment slog' anymore. It's not being selfish, (I don't think) it was a question of sanity and survival.
    So, I truly 'Get' what you're saying here and, totally agree. well said ;)

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