I didn't know when I joined here yesterday that I would be starting a new meme! I thought for sure I'd participate in some blog hops and so on, but it really didn't cross my mind. And then, I saw the groups, joined most of them, and then realized there weren't any about writers prompts. 

I LOVE writers prompts. I spent all 3 years of my high school career on the Literary Magazine crew as an editor. It was an award winning magazine in the country, and 2 of my siblings followed after me. The magazine has only gotten better. 

From there, I majored in Literature in college, and  I very quickly became the teacher's pet in most of my writing classes. I focused mostly on poetry, because, well, I thought myself bohemian, and poetry was intense to me. But sometimes, we wrote short stories. For some of my classmates, those short stories turned into novels. And most of those short stories were spurred into existence by what we affectionately call a writer's prompt.

Now, any great writer, indeed, any blogger, is familiar with writer's block. It's a terrible disease that seems to literally rot away your brain. It strikes without warning, with few symptoms, and lasts for an indefinite amount of time. There are several known cures, but none of them are absolute. None are guaranteed. And there is no immunity. You can suffer from writers block on a regular basis, or, those who are lucky, may suffer rarely. (I daresay that anyone with a child lessens their chance of writer's block. There is no end to fountain of creativity that a child unwittingly  initiates in his parent.) 

One of those cures for writers block is a writers prompt. 

I love these so very much. A word. A sentence. A subject. It doesn't matter. And as each writer is different, one word or sentence can inspire a hundred or more different stories. Over the years, I have engaged in many writers prompts, and on a different blog of mine (that, shamefully, I have since abandoned because of the daily duties of a mom with 4 kids and one of them a brand new infant and the time it takes just to make the day go smoothly - www.becauseidontscrapbook.blogspot.com - if you're interested, though, be aware, I have no intention of continuing it.)  I participated in weekly prompts that really stretched my abilities and made me better. 

While all of the prompts were thought provoking, and brought forth many forgotten memories, poetry, and other works that I am now deeply proud of. However, they were, in a way, quite predictable. Among them were such prompts as "describe a summer of your childhood", "write a haiku about your morning", "describe being on a ride at a carnival", "write a letter of regret to someone", "write an essay about how your dog is the best dog ever" and so on. I really enjoyed reading the stories people produced from these prompts and I enjoyed writing my own. 

Presently, though, I have a blog dedicated to my business, not my personal life, not the daily meanderings of my children. Still, I need to find a way to be involved in the blogging community. A way to involve and invite and entice people to my blog. 

It just so happens that the very name of my blog, The Gleeman's Baby, implies "Story Teller".  I first encountered this word as a high school student in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. A gleeman, in these books, is a type of bard- a traveling story teller who performs epic tales, magic tricks, plays music, and otherwise entertains. They are marked by their patchwork cloaks adorned with many many colors. They were unmistakable. Historically, the word gleeman comes from the word gleo-man from the Old English, and represented the same kind of man, though colorful cloaks were never mentioned in regards to them. 

With this in mind, my writers prompt will be different. To true story teller fashion, my writers prompts will not inspire memories, or true events, however lovely those stories may be. They will inspire parables, tales akin to Grimm and Asop. Tall tales. Fables. Fantasy, magic, lore. The kinds of things to tell around the camp fire. 

Please join me every Friday for this new and wonderful meme- and help me make it successful! I have created a group but I am still awaiting acceptance. Tomorrow, I will announce my first topic!

Thanks, Brae