Writing Prompt

The Day I Would Go Back In Time To

/ inpundatedfromtherivers / Leave a comment

If one of my previous posts is any indication, I sometimes have trouble deciding on a topic. So as to remedy this, I looked up various writing prompts I could do, and found the standard get-to-know-me prompts like “Who is your favorite literary character of all-time?” or “Write a ‘day in the life’ post,” and I don’t mean to say those are bad prompts, they just didn’t strike me as topics I could craft thoughts around to create wholesome enough posts. So I got distracted and started procrastinating writing. I looked up events that happened on my birthday, inspired after having a recent conversation with my girlfriend’s family about how my birthday has had some rather bleak occurrences on it, to say the least. Then I remembered one of the prompts I read was “If you could have personally witnessed one event in history, what would you want to have seen?” This still isn’t a prompt I feel I would want to answer directly, but I would want to answer a modified version of it: If given the opportunity,  I would want to go back in time, and visit my birthday. Or rather the date of my birth, but in different years because so many different events, good and bad, happened on my birthday.

The first big one I would want to see, and this is a bit more of an event that elapsed and ended on my birthday, but it is the shooting and eventual death of Abraham Lincoln at the hands of John Wilkes Booth. This event has always held a somewhat odd grasp on me for a couple of reasons. The first being that my mother told me growing up, and the validity of this is still in question, but she told me that I was related to Samuel Mudd, the doctor who allegedly was in on the conspiracy, but just by marriage. Another reason is that I always wanted to meet Abraham Lincoln when I was younger, and although I know on one’s deathbed they might not be the most talkative, but good ol’ honest Abe’s last words were “She won’t think anything about it,” in reference to his wife being a bit embarrassed about embracing Lincoln in such a personal and desperate manner in front of their thespian friend. So I would say he was still in control of his faculties for at good period of time, therefore I believe discussing his life and its events would be done with a certain ease.

Another event I would find interesting to visit, but I wouldn’t actually want to would be at, is the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic. It would be interesting to visit because it was such a great ship, and it was an event that (thanks to James Cameron) everyone knows about. I see the event as a real life example of either the Tower of Babylon, or the myth about Icarus because that ship was said to be the best ship ever made, and a testament to the capabilities of human ingenuity, only to be brought down by an obstacle of natural origin, and it is my understanding that it was not foreseen in time, simply because they thought they were untouchable in that ship. Luckily, its sinking led to many maritime safety protocols that have since saved many lives. That is why it would be interesting to visit the event, but as I said I wouldn’t want to actually witness the calamity because of the sheer loss of life, along with the fact that I know my presence wouldn’t have any affect on the outcome of the situation so it would only be painful to see play out.

On a lighter note, and although these aren’t days or events I would like to visit, but rather people I would like to meet because I share a birthday with them. The first is without a doubt Leonardo da Vinci because he was a man of many talents, and most people’s first thought when they hear the word “genius” and I don’t believe I need to explain my reasoning behind my desire to meet him any further. The second would be Emma Watson because she portrayed my favorite Harry Potter character and is also one of the more prominent feminists I got to learn from as I came of age. The third would be Maisie Williams because she portrays one of the fiercest characters on Game of Thrones, but also she seems to be a very grounded and vibrant person, and it is worth noting that she is actually the exact same age as me since we were both born in the same year. And if you haven’t opened up a new tab yet, and checked what date I am referring to by looking up any of these events or birthdays, then bully for you for sticking around. The date this post is all about is April 15th, notably it’s Tax Day here in the States, but most importantly, it’s my birthday!

 

Sources:

Finding Topics to Write About

/ inpundatedfromtherivers / Leave a comment

If I were to come clean, I would have to admit that I opened up the page to draft this post, and I stared at it for a solid 20 minutes trying to figure out what to type. I already had the topic decided, it being the struggle I face when trying to find topics to write about. I chose to write about this subject matter in part because of the irony of it, but also because it is a real problem I am facing. I made this blog and hoped that I would just get inspiration over time to write posts that brought me great recognition and helped me to improve as a writer. I don’t mean that I would instantly know what every post was gonna be about, but more so that anytime I felt like writing, I would just be able to write it out and it would be good. This is an illusion, and one that has since faded. I believe this notion stems from many different tangents, but mostly from the fact that things have usually come easy to me. This should not be taken to mean I think I am some chosen one, all I mean is that growing up in school, I always was able to write out assignments, or figure out math problems, or solve word questions. Most concepts I would grasp the first time a teacher discussed them, and essays flowed from my fingers to the keyboard like rain down the road: in a precise, but guided fashion. So not knowing what to write about now is something of a shock to me, to put it dramatically.

One reason counter to this, as in one that would align with why I can’t seem to figure out what to blog about, is that I have always been rather inept at self-motivation. For school growing up, sure, I could do what needed to be done, but I had someone telling I needed to, and in a way, rooting for me the whole time. Then I hit my sophomore year in high school and started an online high school for reasons I will go into in a different post, but the lesson I learned, and by learned I mean that it hit me like a ton of bricks, knocking me flat on my back, was that I lacked self-motivation, and I mean I really lacked it. I failed so many classes those last 3 years of high school, that I eventually just dropped out and got my G.E.D. because I couldn’t stand to be in high school longer than the typical four-year plan. So I did that, and although it hurt my pride at the time, it has definitely helped me become more aware of my capabilities and I would like to think my self-motivation has improved, but that is debatable.

A point that would help you to understand why I am ever so slightly dumbfounded as to why I can’t write freely as well as I would like, is that outside of schoolwork, free writing has never been my strong suit, but diary-style writing has been. Ever since I was young, I always tried to keep various notebooks that contained entries from my life at that time, and some were quite lengthy. None of them really stuck though, until recently, which I credit to the fact that I have had quite the itch to write, and also because of recent events, which inspired me to document my thoughts and the various happenings of my life. And so although the most recent diary I am keeping is one written on a small notebook, and each entry is contained to a page, still I can write in that notebook all too easily. And I attribute it to the fact that I already have the material, which is the various events that occur in my life, and so it is easy to write in since I am simply transcribing what has happened, and then adding my opinion or feelings about it. Free writing is much more difficult, but I am under that impression because I am not accustomed to going out and fetching my own material. However, that is what journalists do, so I had best get on my big boy pants and work on that aspect of my character. I hope that in time I will be able to just find or choose a topic and formulate a well-crafted post out of it, but until then I have to be patient and know my limits.