“I have nothing to write about…”:Breakthrough Tip for the week of 9/12/2016

I teach a travel writing course on-line. One of my students wrote me a few days ago
that she hasn’t been able to travel because she’s broke. “My life is boring. I have nothing to write about.” I wrote back, “I live in one of the world’s travel destinations. Flagstaff, Arizona is a gateway town for visiting the Grand Canyon. Sedona, Arizona lies 28 miles south of my home. Millions of people travel from all over the world to visit ancient Native American ruins in this area; to run the Colorado River; to be charmed by the gentrified downtowns of old mining towns. And, I have to admit that I have too often been bored here.”

I sent my student a picture and challenged her to imagine that she was walking in aimg_0346 parking lot and saw the back of a car. I asked her to imagine the location (ignore Tucson – it’s a brand); imagine the driver, imagine what the license plate meant to her/him and why she/he had cropped the bumper sticker to read, “hey moon.”

Now it is your turn. Write for thirty minutes, never lifting the pen from the page or your fingers from the keyboard. Next week, I’ll write you the real story. Please send us your writing – and if I’ve not published writing you sent earlier, let me know. The license plate best expresses the kind of summer it was for me. The bumper sticker is how I got through the rough times.

 

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