Posts tagged future appreciation
I opened the card that was tucked inside my leather stationary. It read, ” I am so proud of how far you came graduating from law school. Within a few years you will be opening your own law firm.” Dad and his expectations.
I turned it over. To: My daughter, Kara. From: Dad. It was the first time that he acknowledged that I was his daughter. It was the first time that I felt like it, since mom left.
Since then, I felt like his project.
Unlike other kids who enjoyed running around in their backyards I was inside. Inside memorizing the capitals of each and every state. Instead of getting an ice cream sundae when I made the winning home run, my treat was to learn the capitals of about 200 countries and who resided over them in the past 50 years.
Then I realize where I am. I graduated in the top of my class in a leading law university. I am the best of the best, because of him.
It’s been another long day at the office. With a deadline looming, I’ve been trapped inside my own mind for the entire day. When I finally curl away from the computer screen, I am greeted with a surprise. Little white fluff balls are hitting my window. It takes a moment for my mind to register this weather phenomenon. It’s snow. I haven’t seen the snow since I landed my internship in southern California. I’ve been working here for a few years now, and it hasn’t snowed yet. My first December without a sparkling blanket of snow was entirely too bizarre. Over time though, I have grown used to the sixty degree winters. But my co-workers have realized what is happening, and are whooping with glee at the sight of the falling fluff. It’s almost like they’ve never seen snow. They all charge for the doors and begin to hurl it at each other. I laugh and walk for the door; fully aware that I’ll be assaulted when I leave the building. What an interesting sight we must be; a group of grown men and women frolicking in the snow like children. I don’t care in the slightest, I’m just so thankful that the Midwest has decided to dump some of the frigid glory on SoCal for a day.
It will be simple, because the best things always are like being tucked up on my sofa behind a locked door with my legs curled under me and the years of wandering aimless looking for somewhere to call my own marked in scrapes from too small shoes and running into walls with history written all over my tired feet, there will always be maps on my toes from dead ends and unjust forks in the road that always took me to another city, another alienated street but all of those wrong turns and disappointments will lead me right to the warm side of the window and I’ll know exactly where I am, on safe ground in the peaceful home that I had been searching for all along.
If you’ve created a project/prompt for the Tumblr writing community and you’ve made sure there’s as much information as possible stated in the post and that there is an appropriate tag, then use the #twcp tag so that we can find your post easily. [Note: if you’ve already published your post and go back to just add the #twcp tag, your post may not show up. You may have to post it again, and not as a reblog. We apologize for Tumblr’s occasional bitchery.]
- Suggested by Lillian at Spilled Ink
- Deadline is November 30
- Appropriate tag: #becomethetree
- Essentially, write a prose or poetry piece personal to you of a time when you had to bare all and be naked to those around you (envision a tree in autumn/winter losing all of its leaves).
- Do not submit links for this project. Pieces will only be reblogged from the above tag.
- Suggested by Bethany at Spilled Ink
- Deadline is November 30
- Appropriate tag: #futureappreciation
- Essentially, write a prose or poetry piece of something in the future that you believe you will be thankful for. Try and keep the pieces personal so really think about what little thing would be special or mean something to you that hasn’t happened yet. [Little things only. No births, marriages, graduations, etcetera.]
- Click here for an example by Lillian and Bethany.
- Do not submit links for this project. Pieces will only be reblogged from the above tag.
These are some current projects/prompts going on in the community right now. Please remember to use proper tags appropriate to each project for your prose and poetry pieces if you decide to participate in any of these projects, and do not use the tag #twcp.
If you’ve created a project/prompt for the Tumblr writing community and you’ve made sure there’s as much information as possible stated in the post and that there is an appropriate tag, then use the #twcp tag so that we can find your post easily. [Note: if you’ve already published your post and go back to just add the #twcp tag, your post may not show up. You may have to post it again, and not as a reblog. We apologize for Tumblr’s occasional bitchery.]
- Suggested by Lillian at Spilled Ink
- Deadline is November 30
- Appropriate tag: #becomethetree
- Essentially, write a prose or poetry piece personal to you of a time when you had to bare all and be naked to those around you (envision a tree in autumn/winter losing all of its leaves).
- Do not submit links for this project. Pieces will only be reblogged from the above tag.
- Suggested by Bethany at Spilled Ink
- Deadline is November 30
- Appropriate tag: #futureappreciation
- Essentially, write a prose or poetry piece of something in the future that you believe you will be thankful for. Try and keep the pieces personal so really think about what little thing would be special or mean something to you that hasn’t happened yet. [Little things only. No births, marriages, graduations, etcetera.]
- Click here for an example by Lillian and Bethany.
- Do not submit links for this project. Pieces will only be reblogged from the above tag.
- Suggested by Kate
- Deadline is TOMORROW. Spilled Ink will post a few of our favorites throughout the day so you still have plenty of time to post.
- Appropriate tag: #lovesongforkatie
- “I want you to write a love song for me, and Jen, or me AND Jen. Or just me. Or just Jen. Or some other person and tell us you wrote them Just For Us. Because that’s awesome.”
You’re Better Than You Think You Are
- Suggested by Gary
- Apparently this is now closed but I found it on BurningMuse and she gave the wonderful suggestion of still using it as a prompt. So, we at Spilled Ink are now tracking this project and will be reblogging pieces from it. Even if you don’t write anything for it, go explore the tag yourself. There is some amazing poetry and prose there.
- Appropriate tag: #you’rebetterthanyouthinkyouare [don’t forget to include the apostrophe!]
- “Write yourself a compliment. No one knows you better than you. No one knows, better than you, what you absolutely suck at. So it should be the same thing the other way around. The purpose is, well- to be uplifting and shit. To make yourself feel better, and if nothing else- it’s a free pass to be narcissistic, vain and self centered.” [Click here for more details please.]
- Suggested by Noelle
- Appropriate tags: #burningmuse & #vicesandvirtues
- “Simply write about any experience [doesn’t have to be from childhood] that has had a profound [or amusing] effect on your personality/ behavior/ beliefs/ habits/ outlook—especially related to values, strengths, qualities, or flaws that have influenced who you have become.” [Click here for more details please.]
- Suggested by Noelle
- Appropriate tags: #burningmuse & #shadowsonthecavewall
- “Write a piece about seeing the world [a person, place, or thing] from a different perspective. Examples would be: A personal experience, conversation, a news story that blew your mind, writing fiction from the point of view you would not usually express.” [Click here for more details please.]
Questions, comments, corrections to any of the above projects, etcetera etcetera, should be sent here. Feel free to reblog this post (you can condense it so it’s not so very long) so that we can get as much participation for these projects/prompts as possible!
-Spilled Ink Mods
(Note: You could even reblog this and save it to your drafts, instead of publishing it, so that you have it handy for some writing ideas when/if you get stuck one night.)
These are some current projects/prompts going on in the community right now. Please remember to use proper tags appropriate to each project for your prose and poetry pieces if you decide to participate in any of these projects, and do not use the tag #twcp.
If you’ve created a project/prompt for the Tumblr writing community and you’ve made sure there’s as much information as possible stated in the post and that there is an appropriate tag, then use the #twcp tag so that we can find your post easily. [Note: if you’ve already published your post and go back to just add the #twcp tag, your post may not show up. You may have to post it again, and not as a reblog. We apologize for Tumblr’s occasional bitchery.]
- Suggested by Lillian at Spilled Ink
- Deadline is November 31
- Appropriate tag: #becomethetree
- Essentially, write a prose or poetry piece personal to you of a time when you had to bare all and be naked to those around you (envision a tree in autumn/winter losing all of its leaves).
- Do not submit links for this project. Pieces will only be reblogged from the above tag.
- Suggested by Bethany at Spilled Ink
- Deadline is November 31
- Appropriate tag: #futureappreciation
- Essentially, write a prose or poetry piece of something in the future that you believe you will be thankful for. Try and keep the pieces personal so really think about what little thing would be special or mean something to you that hasn’t happened yet. [Little things only. No births, marriages, graduations, etcetera.]
- Click here for an example by Lillian and Bethany.
- Do not submit links for this project. Pieces will only be reblogged from the above tag.
- Suggested by Kate
- Deadline is TOMORROW. Spilled Ink will post a few of our favorites throughout the day so you still have plenty of time to post.
- Appropriate tag: #lovesongforkatie
- “I want you to write a love song for me, and Jen, or me AND Jen. Or just me. Or just Jen. Or some other person and tell us you wrote them Just For Us. Because that’s awesome.”
You’re Better Than You Think You Are
- Suggested by Gary
- Apparently this is now closed but I found it on BurningMuse and she gave the wonderful suggestion of still using it as a prompt. So, we at Spilled Ink are now tracking this project and will be reblogging pieces from it. Even if you don’t write anything for it, go explore the tag yourself. There is some amazing poetry and prose there.
- Appropriate tag: #you’rebetterthanyouthinkyouare [don’t forget to include the apostrophe!]
- “Write yourself a compliment. No one knows you better than you. No one knows, better than you, what you absolutely suck at. So it should be the same thing the other way around. The purpose is, well- to be uplifting and shit. To make yourself feel better, and if nothing else- it’s a free pass to be narcissistic, vain and self centered.” [Click here for more details please.]
- Suggested by Noelle
- Appropriate tags: #burningmuse & #vicesandvirtues
- “Simply write about any experience [doesn’t have to be from childhood] that has had a profound [or amusing] effect on your personality/ behavior/ beliefs/ habits/ outlook—especially related to values, strengths, qualities, or flaws that have influenced who you have become.” [Click here for more details please.]
- Suggested by Noelle
- Appropriate tags: #burningmuse & #shadowsonthecavewall
- “Write a piece about seeing the world [a person, place, or thing] from a different perspective. Examples would be: A personal experience, conversation, a news story that blew your mind, writing fiction from the point of view you would not usually express.” [Click here for more details please.]
Questions, comments, corrections to any of the above projects, etcetera etcetera, should be sent here. Feel free to reblog this post (you can condense it so it’s not so very long) so that we can get as much participation for these projects/prompts as possible!
-Spilled Ink Mods
(Note: You could even reblog this and save it to your drafts, instead of publishing it, so that you have it handy for some writing ideas when/if you get stuck one night.)
Spring time. I’ve never had a year in my life when I enjoyed it. Not that I hide myself in a hole come that season. It’s just that I haven’t actually experienced it. Born and raised in a country that is in the south east of everywhere else, on the western edge of the largest ocean, I have always lived close to the equator. Close enough that I only have two seasons to enjoy or loathe, neither of which is spring. I know a lot of people who tell me I have no idea how lucky I am with a constant climate. But thankful as I am, I tell them I wouldn’t go through this one lifetime without getting acquainted with the other seasons.
In approximately five months, I will be traveling for give or take eighteen hours, flying over a couple continents in the process. By the time I get to my destination, when I land on the east side of a country, spring will still be present. Then and there, I will know not just her name or face, but what she’s really like, for the first time in my life.
So we all know what usually comes with November and Thanksgiving: inquiries about what you’re thankful for. And what are the usual responses? The food on this table, my family, God, the roof over my head, my friends, my children, the sun, the freedom I have in this country, the fact that I have a job when I know many don’t, my husband/wife/lover/partner in life, that I am alive, etc etc etc.
The list can go on and on of the cliche answers we have for what we’re thankful for. No matter how truthful and accurate they are (because we are thankful for one or two or all of these things I am sure) the fact remains that they are still cliche and standard.
Well, we at Spilled Ink are proposing a theme for November/Thanksgiving of course. But we’re writers here, and hopefully we’re imaginative and creative, so why should we follow a long with the typical?
No. We’ve decided to veer off in a different direction. Instead of writing a prose or poetry piece on something from the past that you’re thankful for or something in the present like family and all of the other things listed above, we want you to expand the boundaries of your mind and look to the future.
Think about what types of little things you might be thankful for in the future. Do not include big events such as births, marriages, honeymoons, graduation, etc.
Now obviously we can only know so much about the future and so these pieces are going to be fictionalized, but try and keep it personal, intimate. Let us get a little bit of a glimpse into you by seeing what small and seemingly insignificant (from the outside at least!) event would be important and meaningful to you.
Feel free to take this in any direction you feel. Be inspired. But please follow the guidelines of something you’re thankful for that is not a BIG event. Little things.
Bethany’s Example: The son I’m hopefully going to have. He’ll probably have dark hair, as I’m not typically attracted to blonde guys for whatever reason. If he gets lucky he’ll have my eyes. I have pretty eyes, everyone says so. He’ll be wild, drive me crazy probably, but I’ll secretly love it. He’ll be active, and I’ll hope he settles on hockey but I’ll be happy with whatever he chooses, in respects to sports at least. It’ll be a normal day. I’ll go drop him off at school. And maybe he’ll only be six or seven or eight. But one of his classmates will ask if I’m his mom and he’ll smile, look up at me, and say, “yes. she’s the best!”
and…
Lillian’s Example: The phone rang, and it startled me. It fumbled from my hands, I had been caught up in between the pages of my novel and the warmth of my coffee mug hypnotized me. I leaned down and picked up the phone, the caller id said Mom. The conversation was quick, short and sweet. She said my son had eaten all of his dinner, including his cooked carrots. I cringed, to this day, I still do not like cooked carrots. I thanked her and told her I’d be there in a few hours to pick him up. She told me to take my time. Jacob had just rode his hours in the pouring rain, his gun secretively tucked into his boot, to tell Scarlett the bad news. Sam walked by and refilled my mug and placed a warm muffin in front of me. He winked at me and carried on. I took in my surroundings. It was almost Christmas so the cafe was warm and the windows were filled with light snow flurries. I sat alone at a round table in the middle of a crowded shop, but I felt safe here. Mom babysat Tucker on Thursday evenings so I could have some time alone. It was hard raising him with Ben overseas. I was thankful for these quiet evenings, they kept my sanity in check.
Please tag your pieces with #future appreciation or #futureappreciation! We will only be reblogging pieces for this project from these two tags. We will not be taking submissions for this project. This project will be going on throughout November so feel free to take your time, but don’t wait too long and miss out!
