“Sweet sixteen. When you were 16, what did you think your life would look like?” As late as the end of my second year at university my career development plan, as hatched with my two housemates – no doubt when the evening had worn on rather longer than was wise – consisted of going to the end…
“Describe your last attempt to learn something that did not come easily to you.” Nothing comes easily to me, so how long have you got? Still, it’s a relief to see that the WordPress ‘365 Days of Writing Prompts’ is back on more familiar self-deprecatory territory. But rather than bore you – yet – with my…
‘Toot your horn. Most of us are excellent at being self-deprecating, and are not so good at the opposite. Tell us your favourite thing about yourself.” With this latest of ‘365 Days of Writing Prompts’ WordPress may have gone too far. There is nothing wrong with self-deprecation. It’s what I do. I think it is my…
Per your recent request (see footnote), please find below our analysis of the attached photograph, which we understand to be of the office of your suspect subject. Location: Although there is no external reference in the picture to provide any indication of where it might have been taken, it is nonetheless possible to draw some…
“Run outside. Take a picture of the first thing you see. Run inside. Take a picture of the second thing you see. Write about the connection between these two random objects, people or scenes.” Well, I did warn you that some of these ‘365 Days of Writing Prompts’ were bonkers. Normally, I would just ignore…
“1984. You’re locked in a room with your greatest fear. Describe what’s in the room.” So, dear WordPress, in this latest of ‘365 Days of Writing Prompts’, presumably you actually meant to ask ‘what’s in your Room 101?’ The original impact – and import – of the Orwellian Room 101 has been rather lost in…
“Tell us about a teacher who had a real impact on your life…How is your life different today because of him..” At a stretch, I think I could probably recall at least something about most of the teachers I’ve had, but there are only two who I could say had any discernible impact on the…
“Helplessness: that dull, sick feeling of not being the one at the reins. When did you last feel like that – and what did you do about it?” Ah, only the 7th of January and the WordPress 365 Days of Writing Prompts has already got on to existential despair. Perhaps because I already had one…
“Do you have a favourite quote that you return to again and again? What is it, and why does it move you?” – WordPress: ‘365 Days of Writing Prompts’ Well, it wouldn’t be that one, for a start. As it happens, I do like using quotations. Not only does it offer the illusion of erudition,…
“What’s the 11th item on your bucket list?” To be honest, I was entirely ignorant of the concept of the bucket list until I saw the film of the same name in 2007. While I enjoyed the movie, I never thought seriously about compiling my own bucket list, so to write about the eleventh item on…
the only deadhead in the hameau 