The Promptly Written Monthly Theme for February
Let’s get writing!
Another month has flown by and we are well and truly into the new year, how has it begun for you?
I loved the diversity of work you submitted for last months theme of ‘future’. Please do check out the top picks for the month as we had some real gems and remember that you can still respond, there is no time limit.
This February is a leap year so I thought I would take the opportunity to try something a little different in the theme and I hope you’ll enjoy it and be open to any ideas it brings up for you.
The theme for February is ‘pets, or the human and animal relationship’
Now before you click away or start writing a love letter to your pet I’d like to invite you to delve a little deeper.
When I was little my dad disagreed with people owning animals. He said it was wrong to keep them in cages or behind closed doors so living in a block of flats, I was never allowed to have one, well, other than goldfish.
Each summer from toddlerhood to teenage rebellion, I travelled to Ireland and stayed at my grandmothers dairy farm. There animals were a part of life, cared for my humans and yet living in service of humans. Now as my own children crave the pets they see in their friends homes, I wonder at how this relationship between animals and people has developed, and where it might go to from here.
Where I live, I often see horses being ridden on the road and I can’t imagine that is too much fun for the animal, between the noisy cars driving too fast and scaring them, and the hard tarmac ground? And I have to wonder, is that right? If we can’t have an animal in their natural habitat, should we have them at all? I get that it benefits the owner but does is it really what’s best for the animal?
So much of how we live rests upon the idea that ‘this is just how it’s done’. We don’t question things we have grown up with as normal, but that is changing in so many areas of modern life, I wonder if it will affect how we think of and treat animals as pets.
Some of the questions I’ve been mulling over…
Why do we have pets? Why have we domesticated animals to live with us and become dependent on us for their survival?
Some people extend their ethical beliefs to their pets and raise them to be vegan or vegetarian. Do you think that’s right? Do you have a vegan pet and if so have you experienced a backlash to making that decision for your animal?
What are the weirdest animals to have as pets and should we be able to have any animal we want?
Should pets travel? Cars and sidecars on motorbikes are one thing, but should animals fly on planes just because their owners want to travel? And why do so many people wear them in babyslings or push them in pushchairs?
Before I give you some writing sparks and a few quotes that might just help get the creativity flowing, here is how to use the monthly theme…
1. Write specific poems, fiction, essays, or articles related to the theme — try using the Writing Sparks.
2. Choose a Weekly prompt or select a Writing Spark, and center your piece around the theme.
3. Remember to tag your work appropriately (Poetry, Fiction, Essay, or Articles) and use ‘Monthly Theme’ if your work is centered around the theme.
Writing Sparks
1. How have pets played a role in your life? Did you have them as a child and do you have them now? Were they something you wanted but never got?
2. Should animals be ‘kept’ by humans? Do we have the right to own anything in that way?
3. Are the therapeutic, emotional and physical health benefits of owning a pet worth the financial cost and potential limitations on your freedom?
4. What do you wish you had known before you got your pet?
Bonus Prompt — Consider the following quotes:
‘Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” ― Anatole France
‘Such short little lives our pets have to spend with us, and they spend most of it waiting for us to come home each day.’ — John grogan, Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World’s Worst Dog
“No matter how close we are to another person, few human relationships are as free from strife, disagreement, and frustration as is the relationship you have with a good dog. Few human beings give of themselves to another as a dog gives of itself. I also suspect that we cherish dogs because their unblemished souls make us wish — consciously or unconsciously — that we were as innocent as they are, and make us yearn for a place where innocence is universal and where the meanness, the betrayals, and the cruelties of this world are unknown.” — Dean Koontz, A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog
“Your pet is not your friend. It is your hostage.” — Scott Dikkers
Have a creative month, I can’t wait to see your responses!
Important Reminder
Write what comes to mind, don’t try to shape it or edit, let that first draft flow out of you like a stream of consciousness in direct response to wherever inspiration took you.
Only after that and perhaps a little time, should you reread and polish. We want to see your passion and excitement for your stories, and it’s what you write best.
Best Wishes & a very Happy New Year!
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