A Rampant Imagination

Once a month I meet with three fellow writers for an hour or so. During the meeting, we read a short piece of no more than 4 pages from a writing prompt that's assigned at the end of the prior meeting.

The point of the writing prompt is to help spur our imaginations, keep us writing or if we haven't been writing, to help get us back on track. We discuss the pieces that are shared - what we liked, what worked, etc. One of the members of the group uses each month's prompt to further the current manuscript she's working on.

I have to admit I'm a bit jealous of her ability to take any random prompt and find a way to use it in her work in progress. I have yet to be able to do that. (I've only been part of the group since May.) Instead I end up with cute short stories or pieces that could maybe be developed into longer works. But I really fear that they will just end up in folder and never used.

I blame my rampant imagination on the tangents my mind goes on when I hear the assigned prompt. Usually an idea will almost immediately pop into my head when I hear the prompt. I try to discount it or set it aside and think of other ideas or a way to work it into the story I'm working on. I do this up until a week before the meeting, but trying to force the prompt to fit into my current work in progress rarely works. Instead my mind continually goes back to that first idea. The words flow from my fingers once I stop fighting it and write about that first idea. Sometimes I even have a hard time stopping at the four page requirement.

So while I like the things I write from the prompts, I wish they were more useful than they are right now.