I’ve noticed a bit of a drop-off already. I hope it’s not because you’re not enjoying the prompts. Please let me know if there’s something you would like me to change. Be brutally honest; I can take it. I’m doing this because I love these challenges and don’t want them to end. I find fall as exciting as spring if not more innovative creatively, so please let me know what I can do to keep you inspired. Some people have mentioned that there are problems with linking and/or putting poems in the chat, so if you would like to email your poem, flash fictions, or photo to mariaberg@experiencewriting.com, I’ll update the prompt post and include them.
OctPoWriMo 2023: Facing Our Fears
Childhood Fears: Write about something you were really scared of as a kid that seems silly now. Write as your child self warning your adult self, and/or your adult self explaining what you know now to your young frightened self.
This might work well with the Puente (bridge) form. Here is a Puente I wrote in 2020:
When Concept Comes to Form
straight to work
her hands hurry
with nervous impatience
each step clear
she feels the possibilities
~when concept comes to form~
she sees the intolerable
specks of dust inside the lens
glaring in the light
but they are her signature
they are evidence of honesty
Writober 2023
Today’s image prompt is Untitled, by Monika Mostowik. Is this how the scene looked when your character entered the room, or had they been in conversation only a moment ago?
Halloween Photography Challenge
This is the second new this year prompt that syncs up with A. Rich Writing‘s Writober prompts, so you may want to find more inspiration over there.
Please link to your creations in the comments. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.
Hi Maria, What an AMAZING job you are doing. Thanks for your personal response to me. I hope this is okay! Warmly, Laura De Bernardi (from ModPo) Mont Blanc is shrinking so is the planet Mercury I hear, I’m getting smaller too, at a faster pace I fear My ego barks, I matter - but I think they matter more. In the scheme of things, a mountain, a planet, a climate system, all matter vastly more. Or, does it matter if I cannot endure for much longer? And, does it matter if humanity too is staring at its own end game? Why does persistence existence matter so much? What's so wrong with endings...
Experience Writing 
Laura De Bernardi sent me her poem about childhood fears:
fear once a week
of the outer limits
fear once a week
of the unknown
glued to the seat
wondering, tonight
will they come
get us tonight
“There is nothing wrong with your television set.
Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission.”
they never did –
fear was fun
at the outer limits
of those precious minutes
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October is in the railroad earth and Kerouac is speaking in my inner ear with a sketchbook of train station bustle and bluster and I’m busted for never following rules because I cannot and they make me cringe and the woman with red hair has her finger to her lips and there is no time to lose and the wrong sentence is always about judgement and I wrote every day for a couple years without a prompt and it was fun but now I don’t keep track but watch the tracks as the cars roll and it’s almost time for my next train so please excuse me this took a few minutes and I hope you don’t mind, thank you
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Thank you for joining in and sharing this.
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I also appreciate the prompts! I just have an abundance of obligations that I can’t get done in a mere 24 hours a day! But I hope to jump in again soon. Thank you for taking over this challenge.
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Thank you, I’m glad you’re enjoying the prompts. That’s good to hear. I look forward to reading your work when you have more time.
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I do appreciate the prompts. I don’t have time to be much of a social participant. I’m trying to finish a story for an anthology and it’s fighting me tooth and claw. This might be fine if it was a horror story, but it’s a romance.
I’ve learned a lesson for future reference. Any stories for potential inclusion in holiday romance anthologies need to be written early in the year rather than waiting till fall.
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Agreed. Short stories (actually all things) always take more time than you think they will. Best of luck!
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