In a writing slump? Need a little nudge, a kiss of inspiration? Enjoy this prompt from our Advanced Fiction instructor from Chris Belden:
Ashtray by Marcus Jackson
Filling with my mother’s smolderings,
this tawny, six-sided, three-pound glass dish
has sat forty years at the table’s center.
During lapses in labor or happiness
my mother smoked Merit after Merit, her mind
a crowded parlor of plans, self-hate,
and urgent glimpses of encounters long past.
She split the skin atop my father’s skull
once with this ashtray as he grabbed her.
Weekly, after she emptied and washed it, Friday’s light
entered the drafty sash and upheld this ashtray
as the crown of one woman’s quiet country.
Think of an object from your life. It doesn’t have to be a super important object—it can be small and seemingly inconsequential, but sometimes when we start writing about things that we still remember, they start to become more important to us. Describe the object, then tell us what you remember about it. See where this takes you.
Janae is a New York Times bestselling author who received her M.F.A. in Writing for Children from The New School (2010). Earlier in her professional career, she got an inside look at the publishing world while spending seven years working for Simon & Schuster. In 2020, she published her debut
Libby Waterford is the author of over two dozen contemporary romance novels and novellas under two pen names, including the Never a Bride and Sawyer’s Cove: The Reboot series. The former President of the Connecticut Chapter of Romance Writers of America®, Libby teaches classes on genre fiction, romance writing, and self-publishing. When did you know you wanted to
