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One of my favorite movies is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It’s fascinating to consider the idea of surgically excising bad memories and moving blithely into the future without them. As the movie shows, however, we need those memories, even though they are unhappy or even traumatic. They are part of who we are. It’s a bit scary, then, to read that science is getting close to making memory erasure a possibility.
Scientists have developed a way to turn memories on and off — literally with the flip of a switch. Using an electronic system that duplicates the neural signals associated with memory, they managed to replicate the brain function in rats associated with long-term learned behavior, even when the rats had been drugged to forget. -Science Daily
Writing Prompt: Write about a character with a memory he or she wants to turn off.
Journaling Prompt: If you could turn off a memory, which would you pick and why?
Art Prompt: Memory
Photo Credit: Cristian V. on Flickr
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I grew up among cats. My parents tried dogs, but failed to house train them or break them of chasing cars. Cats are easier. I stuck with cats for years as an adult, but about 8 years ago, a beautiful Catahoula came into my life. Now I have 2, and I’ve never been happier. I like how my dogs care about how I’m feeling and what I’m doing. Here’s a quote from an interesting study on dogs and wolves:
They showed, for the first time that wolves, like domestic dogs, are capable of begging successfully for food by approaching the attentive human. This demonstrates that both species — domesticated and non-domesticated — have the capacity to behave in accordance with a human’s attentional state. In addition, both wolves and pet dogs were able to rapidly improve their performance with practice. -Science Daily
Writing Prompt: Write about a human-wolf or human-dog interaction.
Journaling Prompt: How have pets impacted your life?
Art Prompt: Wolves
Photo Credit: plasticrevolver on Flickr
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The questions that your character asks reveal as much about him or her as the description you provide. Figuring out the questions to ask is the tricky part.
I am to offer you an answer to any question.”“A question?” Levine said.“Any question,” Noah said. -Stacy Cochrane, The Colorado Sequence
Writing Prompt: Pick one of the characters you are writing about. Write at least 25 questions he or she needs the answers to.
Journaling Prompt: If you met your Higher Power and could ask one question, what would it be and why?
Art Prompt: Question
Photo Credit: Horia Varlan on Flickr
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Have you ever watched a child play? They are so creative. Left alone, they will use toys and other objects in ways that adults would never imagine. Unfortunately, most adults aren’t content to let kids discover their own ways to play. Here’s some research showing how damaging the well-meaning attempt to “teach” children how to play can be.
It turns out that there is a “double-edged sword” to pedagogy: Explicit instruction makes children less likely to engage in spontaneous exploration and discovery. A study by MIT researchers and colleagues compared the behavior of children given a novel toy under four different conditions, finding that children expressly taught one of its functions played with the toy for less time and discovered fewer things to do with it than children in the other three scenarios. -Science Daily
Writing Prompt: Create a scene where a teacher either helps or hinders learning by his or her teaching method.
Journaling Prompt: Write about a teacher who made an impact on your learning.
Art Prompt: Teacher
Photo Credit: pedrosimoes7 on Flickr
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Humans have a tendency to put a great deal of importance on success and failure as opposed to looking for the growth and learning in every experience regardless of outcome. Here is a quotation from one of the greatest players in chess about a more enlightened way to move through life.
My argument has always been that what you learn from using the skills you have—analyzing your strengths and weaknesses—is far more important. If you can program yourself to learn from your experiences by assiduously reviewing what worked and what did not, and why, success in chess can be very valuable indeed. -Garry Kasparov, The Bobby Fischer Defense
Writing Prompt: Write a short scene in which a character learns something unexpected from failure.
Journaling Prompt: Write about a time when you learned something from trying something new.
Art Prompt: Chess
Nonfiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about analyzing strengths and weaknesses in order to create personal growth.
Photo Credit: Muffet on Flickr
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I believe that the most important thing about writing is to HAVE FUN! You can worry about things like commas, point of view, tenses, etc., later. Right now, just start writing!
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