Writing Prompts

Since it’s NaBloPoMo, my goal is to write a least one blog a day for the entire month of November.  However, my life is not always that exciting.  Hardly ever, in fact.  So I thought I would turn to the web and Google “NaBloPoMo prompts” and it turns out that other people need help getting their creative juices flowing too!  Each day, someone posts a “prompt”, like a thought, suggestion or question, to get you to start thinking.  Some questions are like “where were you 10 years ago today?” or “what was your first Halloween costume?” and things like that.  

I just have a hard time with those kinds of questions – they have a “structure” (sort of) because they give you a place to start, but my mind is so busy that I have a hard time pinning a good starting place down, and if I do, I have a hard time getting it written.  I like the prompts that are usually more specific.  Like, “What 5 items would you want to have if you were stranded on a desert island?” or “If you could invite 5 people to dinner, alive or dead, who would they be and why?”  

I couldn’t find one that I really like for today, so I came up with my own.  I’m unfortunately a normally pessimistic person.  I need to start looking at the positive, especially if I want to turn a bad day into a good day.  So for today my prompt is:  Write down 3 things you may see as negative and say something positive about it. 

1. It’s not snowing.  Normally, by this point of the year in Colorado Springs, it’s snowed 4 or 5 times.  I am totally obsessed with snow.  I spent 22 years of my life with hardly any so now it’s an amazingly wonderful event for me to see snowfall, each time it happens.   

But – on the plus side, since it’s so nice outside, I don’t have to worry about road conditions, and I don’t have to worry about getting my car fixed or getting into an accident.

2. It’s only Wednesday.  It feels like such a long week, and it’s a hard week.  My boss is on vacation, it’s the week of our annual Benefits enrollment for 1,500 employees, we have Orientation this week (and I set for all the classes), we’re still training 2 new Training Managers, we’re almost done with revising our employee guidebook and I have to make all of the changes, and I have to cover some of our receptionist’s job duties while she’s on vacation while handling things that come up at the last minute.  AND still do MY job! 

But, on the plus side, the week is almost half over!  Plus, no one really knows how stressed out I am, so I can’t really get annoyed when someone asks me something.  It’s also one day closer to the weekend and Law and Order: SVU and Los Angeles should be new tonight!  I’m also in charge of planning and making dinner on Sunday and I’m looking forward to grocery shopping and then cooking!  The best news – next week we don’t have Orientation and there’s nothing extra planned, so I get a nice breather!  I just have to make it through Saturday afternoon!

3. My phone screen is broken.  A while back, Bailey knocked my phone off of the couch and the screen cracked.  It looks extremely tacky and I can’t quite see things on my screen very well. 

But – on the plus side, my phone still works just fine and I could easily switch back to an older phone that’s in good shape and possibly save money on my cell phone bill.  (If I could only get used to NOT having internet and Facebook on my phone!)  

So what about you?  Is there anything you’re looking at and thinking “well that sucks” that you could turn around and find a positive in?