Scrolling through my phone recently, my eyes caught on Brian Macaluso’s essay, “Lights Out” on Memoir Land, in which the author “looks back at the August, 2003 blackout in New York City.” Before even reading the first line of Brian’s lovely piece, I immediately felt inspired to write. I, too, had a memorable story from that day: of psychically meeting up with my best friends at the park without any communication, of notably not trying to seek out my then-boyfriend, which led to our breakup the next day… Just seeing the headline and subhead of someone else’s essay not only made me want to write, but gave me that feeling of wanting to write for no particular reason at all, my favorite.
This is all to say…maybe this is just the kind of inspiration you need too? For this week’s writing prompt, I urge you to look back at some kind of major event you lived through — be it the East Village Squatters’ Standoff of 1995, Hurricane Katrina or Harvey, …