Oh wow. I love this. And I honestly love this 10 item list-making as a way to quickly outline a new idea. To try out the arc or final punch of a story. Kathy, every prompt of yours that I've tried has resulted in Something. If you wrote a whole book of just prompts, I would buy it immediately. Thank you :)
You brought in white what was hiding in the darkness of my mind. This is the most helpful post on substack this month. Will note the points down. Thank you!
Thanks so much, Kathy. Very inspiring. I loved the recommended reading and your tips on writing. I've already started a little piece of flash based on what I have learned.
No, Doha, I meant to say, “subtext, baby, I’d where it’s at!” I am fishclamor.Substack.com. Love for you to stop by! Just posted a favorite tiny prise poem!
Kathy I love this and have a poem and a particular story, two favorites, that work on this principle. Subtext.baby, is more powerful than text if you ask me....maybe I will post them in my Substack soon....oh! Yes! One of them is published and will be my next post in a few days. I love this idea you write about Abd especially the assignment and want the book desperately. In another season if my life I guess. Digging your newsletter! --jennifer
This is my first day in Substack. I finally have time to read after getting laid off yesterday. First time being let go in my 15 year career. They're letting many more go, too. New fathers on paternity leave. First-time homeowners. Sweet friends of mine. Job loss certainly pales compared to the loss of death. But it is a white space nonetheless. I am so pleased that, amidst the Substack wonderland, the white rabbit led me here. Thank you!! This prompt will be a wonderful processor for my loss. And hopefully kickstart writing for life (thats lingered on my To Do list, too)!
Kathy this is both a beautiful line and great advice: “ What loss lives in the white space?”.
Love that.
Fan letter: I have thought you were the bomb Kathy, btw, since I first read you in your “collective nouns” piece. My favorites were the two about toddlers, especially the “jubilance”! That’s what even one riddler is to me (I had the easiest baby in the whole entire history of babies though).
I am really glad you have this Substack. You have a lot of good stuff in there!
Now, do you know Amy Hempel and can we get her to write a newsletter for us? She is to DIE for! And a magnificent poet though she pretends her poems are fiction somehow. :).
I'm sorry to hear about your mother. My father (in his seventies) is dying from skin cancer right now. (I'm 39.) I'm writing about it on here. Re the white space concept: Makes me think of “Hills Like White Elephants," of course, aka my college creative writing days. It's very true, still: What a writer doesn't say often speaks the loudest, just like in real life the things one person doesn't say speaks volumes about what they truly feel. And, as we know, good fiction mirrors real life, at least to a degree, if not literally then figuratively and aesthetically.
Loved everything about this post. I am excited for the prompt as I feel like it was tailor made for me. Dina published my first piece and I love her writing. Will definitely check out The White Book.
Hi Kathy, this is an old post, I realise but I was in your workshop (online flash festival) one last week and on the back of that I bought 'the White Book,' which is truly wonderful as is your connected prompt. Also, I actually wrote something in that workshop, which has been difficult for me over the last year. I don't know if you remember (or know!) but the first flash I ever got published was written in one of your workshops in 2018. I hope to do another some time! Thank you again..
Kathy, just saw this much older post. I've been struggling with a poem that has so much emotional freight. Set in a cemetery. I will try this single word list as a way to discover hidden meanings and elements so full of sunlight that I haven't yet seen.
Oh wow. I love this. And I honestly love this 10 item list-making as a way to quickly outline a new idea. To try out the arc or final punch of a story. Kathy, every prompt of yours that I've tried has resulted in Something. If you wrote a whole book of just prompts, I would buy it immediately. Thank you :)
You brought in white what was hiding in the darkness of my mind. This is the most helpful post on substack this month. Will note the points down. Thank you!
Thanks so much, Kathy. Very inspiring. I loved the recommended reading and your tips on writing. I've already started a little piece of flash based on what I have learned.
No, Doha, I meant to say, “subtext, baby, I’d where it’s at!” I am fishclamor.Substack.com. Love for you to stop by! Just posted a favorite tiny prise poem!
Kathy I love this and have a poem and a particular story, two favorites, that work on this principle. Subtext.baby, is more powerful than text if you ask me....maybe I will post them in my Substack soon....oh! Yes! One of them is published and will be my next post in a few days. I love this idea you write about Abd especially the assignment and want the book desperately. In another season if my life I guess. Digging your newsletter! --jennifer
This is my first day in Substack. I finally have time to read after getting laid off yesterday. First time being let go in my 15 year career. They're letting many more go, too. New fathers on paternity leave. First-time homeowners. Sweet friends of mine. Job loss certainly pales compared to the loss of death. But it is a white space nonetheless. I am so pleased that, amidst the Substack wonderland, the white rabbit led me here. Thank you!! This prompt will be a wonderful processor for my loss. And hopefully kickstart writing for life (thats lingered on my To Do list, too)!
Thank you, Kathy.
Kathy this is both a beautiful line and great advice: “ What loss lives in the white space?”.
Love that.
Fan letter: I have thought you were the bomb Kathy, btw, since I first read you in your “collective nouns” piece. My favorites were the two about toddlers, especially the “jubilance”! That’s what even one riddler is to me (I had the easiest baby in the whole entire history of babies though).
I am really glad you have this Substack. You have a lot of good stuff in there!
Now, do you know Amy Hempel and can we get her to write a newsletter for us? She is to DIE for! And a magnificent poet though she pretends her poems are fiction somehow. :).
I'm sorry to hear about your mother. My father (in his seventies) is dying from skin cancer right now. (I'm 39.) I'm writing about it on here. Re the white space concept: Makes me think of “Hills Like White Elephants," of course, aka my college creative writing days. It's very true, still: What a writer doesn't say often speaks the loudest, just like in real life the things one person doesn't say speaks volumes about what they truly feel. And, as we know, good fiction mirrors real life, at least to a degree, if not literally then figuratively and aesthetically.
I'm glad I found your Substack. You write well :)
Michael Mohr
Substack: "The Incompatibility of Being Alive"
https://reallife82.substack.com/
Loved everything about this post. I am excited for the prompt as I feel like it was tailor made for me. Dina published my first piece and I love her writing. Will definitely check out The White Book.
Hi Kathy, this is an old post, I realise but I was in your workshop (online flash festival) one last week and on the back of that I bought 'the White Book,' which is truly wonderful as is your connected prompt. Also, I actually wrote something in that workshop, which has been difficult for me over the last year. I don't know if you remember (or know!) but the first flash I ever got published was written in one of your workshops in 2018. I hope to do another some time! Thank you again..
Some lovely words here :)
Kathy, just saw this much older post. I've been struggling with a poem that has so much emotional freight. Set in a cemetery. I will try this single word list as a way to discover hidden meanings and elements so full of sunlight that I haven't yet seen.