Write About Yourself [writing prompt]

by | 199 comments

PRACTICE

For this writing practice, use the following creative writing prompt:

Write about yourself. Describe yourself, your surroundings, your frame of mind, your emotional state, but write it all in the third person (he/she, not I/me).

Write for fifteen minutes. When you're finished, post your practice in the comments section. And if you post, be sure to give feedback on a few practices by other writers.

Happy writing!

Write About Yourself

Photo by Augustin Ruiz (Creative Commons)

Here's my practice:

He sits where he always sits. In the corner by wall where he can sip his coffee and watch the others on their business meetings or coffee dates. He writes or else intends to write while he checks facebook and his email until overcome by guilt to actually write. He used to relish these moments, the coffee shop moments, they were easy afternoons full of artistic feeling. He was doing it. Finally doing it. But then life continues and the coffee became the office and writing became, as all activity eventually becomes, work. It was good work, work he was good at, but still. Work. He wonders if it will amount to anything.

There are some days when he sits, watching the people, listening to some semi-obscure band, and something clicks and he is overcome by gratefulness. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for this life.” Or on a spring day when the buds are in the trees and he walks in the town square, brainstorming or talking to a business contact, and he marvels that he is alive and gets to experience moments such as these. “Thank you. Thank you,” he whispers under his breath. But most of the time, at his best, he is only able to say, “Thank you for the pain. Thank you for the toil. Thank you for the confusion and boredom and hopes not achieved, not achieved yet.” The problem with desire is that you either have too much or too little, rarely just enough.

Today though, he is content. He listens to a plane fly overhead. There is a clock ticking mechanically nearby. His tongue is thick from coffee. He stretches his neck back and opens his chest to breathe deep. His phone buzzes but he ignores it. And in another room, a baby stirs awake.

Website

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris, a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

23
Share to...
SMSPrintPinterestRedditWhatsAppFlipboardMessengerTelegramLineLinkedInPocketTumblr