I should probably point out where I am getting these writing prompts. It’s a neat project over here called Reverb10—I’m not sure who I picked it up from, probably Caligater. Anyway, on with the prompts. Play along at home if you like.
December 3 – Moment.
Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).
(Author: Ali Edwards)
June, early spring in Yellowstone National Park. It’s 4:30 in the morning, and Mike and I are driving in his truck up to the North loop where we are told we’ll see plenty of wildlife photography opportunities. It’s still dark outside, but as we climb the mountain pass, the landscape seems to glow under the light snow and frost that has accumulated over night. We drive slowly as the eastern sky begins to glow as if the biggest city in the world lies just over the horizon. The truck smells strongly of Mike’s coffee and the wet wool of my heavy overcoat.
We reach the peak of the pass and begin coming down a steep road into a valley dotted with pine trees. The road up ahead is momentarily blocked by a herd of elk. We slow, and I roll down the window, aiming my camera at the animals.
A low booming sound comes from the grass nearby. We squint, wondering what is making the sound. A sage grouse is booming, inflating its bright red throat pouch, right there on the side of the road. Up the slope, we can just make out the shapes of a bison herd, and in the growing dawn light, we can now see the elk herd has dozens of newborn calves, huddled close to their mothers. The light spatters across the valley, it’s warmth making a fog from the frost here and there. The animals breath hang in wreathed clouds around their heads, moist halos. This is sacred to me, I realize. Being here, now—the camera and the pictures don’t really matter. It’s deeply, primitively about getting close.
Anyway, experiences like that, throughout the year, remind me that I am alive. That the world is alive and teeming with amazing things.
December 4 – Wonder.
How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?
(Author: Jeffrey Davis)
I read science news. I read speculative fiction. I travel to breathtaking places. I cultivate a sense of wonder by putting myself in front of wonderful things. By getting to know wonderful people.
Truth is, the older I get the harder wonder gets. Biology and nature consistently hit me with a sense of wonder, so it’s the travel that probably helps me keep that sense cultivated more than anything else. Sometimes, being around something truly ancient, like Stonehenge evokes that deep sense of wonder as well.
As much as I love fiction, it’s the real world that astonishes me. All the things right here around me, under the proper circumstances, can fill me with awe.
Like you, dear reader. That you devote any of your precious time to reading my work fills me with wonder and awe. This is an amazing place that we live in. I wish I could stay here forever.
Tags: feeling alive, reverb10, sense of wonder
