On this Thankful Thursday, I am thankful for page 56.
It’s a simple prompt, shared with me in the offhand way of chance and fancy. When you’re eager, anything is fodder. Or grist. Or meal. Or savior.
Turn to page 56, she said, and randomly pick a line, write it down, and keep writing. For more constraint (and more power), go to page 56, line 6.
Now, because I crave a challenge, every day I pick up a book, magazine, or anything with pages, and flip to page 56, line 6. Like a horoscope, the line becomes both forecast and mystery. What can I make of a single line, a phrase, these fresh words?
The original line is just the start. Once recorded in my journal, the freewriting begins and making sense ends. I take leaps and sweeps and when I get to the end of the run, I extract the shiny bits and write again.
In the flurry of writing and editing, the original line is often gone, or a shadow of itself. And that’s the point! When we’ve grown bored of our own familiar language and patterns, it’s time to dive for new combinations. Page 56 is the launch into new waters.
Feeling stuck? I encourage you to find your page 56, or 24, or 108, or some lucky number. The process is fun and the results may surprise — and that’s when writing is most alive.
Page 56 is buried deep within this poem.
It’s Thankful Thursday, a weekly pause to express appreciation for people, places, things, and more. From the grand to the granular, attention attracts gratitude and gratitude expands joy. Please join me.
What are you thankful for today?
More Writing Prompts:
Distilled
Overwrite
Wordcatching
Cut Up
Headlines
Where I’m From