Outgoing Guts

Quote Prompt № 20

All I want to do is write. I need a bumper sticker. It would say something like:

I’d rather be writing Or My other car is a pen

This year is a mind-fuck. Seriously. I really don’t know how else to put it. We are all in it, all feeling it. Every bit of information thrown at me sends me into interpretation and process and analysis mode. I just cannot seem to get out of my head.

Writing as meditation is helpful, but what if it is starting to seem like my new version of compulsion? Is writing creeping in like an obsession?

Every moment of every day I wish I was typing something. I wish I was able to swing in a hammock and keep my world turning with my journal and pen. It seems to me the perfect escape. It is enough for me to disengage from the craziness and hyper-focus on words.

Here’s my truth today: I am exhausted. Teaching constantly requires that I talk. I have to say directions five times more than I normally do. The masks are making me unable to be heard or at best easily ignored. By day’s end, the lack of hydration and oxygen leaves me achy and irritable.

Writing gets me to take a vow of silence. It is a outwardly quiet practice. But man, is it loud in here! I just need some real quiet.

This week’s quote comes from the brilliant and tortured Sylvia Plath. She knew her need to write. She understood how loud the mind can be. She also offered some great advice to writers who suffer from self-doubt.

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. — Sylvia Plath

This is a Sky Collection quote prompt. Write something without any self-doubt. Or submit it even if you have self-doubt. Just get it out of your head already! Put all your outgoing guts into this piece!

It can be a poem, short story, essay, or whatever creative expression you wish. I cannot wait to see what you come up with this time! Please submit drafts to Sky Collection only, and link this post to your submission! Please include the genre of your work in the tags: poetry, fiction, or nonfiction.

Because of the increased interest in becoming a writer with Sky Collection, I have new submission guidelines. If you would like to become a writer here, please email me a draft of your work at [email protected]. We welcome poetry, fiction, and nonfiction and all sub-genres!

You may write for any of the previous Quote Prompts at any time! Just make sure to link back to the specific prompt so I can feature your work in our collection.

I have loved reading your poetry and thoughts on these prompts. Please keep them coming! — Samantha

Tagging some writers, but all are welcome to participate!

Christina M. Ward Agnes Louis Shringi Kumari Stacey Christiansen Lynne Nardizzi Nathalie E. Amazan Dennett Eli Snow Anna Rozwadowska Thomas Plummer Thomas Gaudex Kristen v.H. Middleton D. E. Fulford, MA, MLS Priyanka Srivastava Sylvia Wohlfarth Sylvia Clare MSc. Psychol G.R. MELVIN Tammi Brownlee Anitha Sankaran Kathryn A. LeRoy, Ph.D. Lisa Bolin Roy Reichle Sasha Domnitz Scorpio Poetry guérin Brian Fehler Jonathan Fashanu Liz Tucker A Medic’s Musings Alex Boast Mike Treanor /lfw Harper Thorpe Suryatapa Kim McKinney Sam Kimberle Selma Jay Sizemore Breanna Lowman Markmalady Payal Khare Bhatnagar Janaka Stagnaro Suntonu Bhadra Marina Harris Amy Jasek Bob Jasper Chelsea Marie J.D. Harms

Some prompts you may have missed: