With the winter holidays blowing into our lives in a swirl of tinsel, yankee swaps, and fruit cake over the next few weeks, I tend to think a lot about home and family--both the ones we were given as children and the ones we choose to curate in our adult lives. Home is both the physical spaces we inhabit and relationships we nurture.
I have taught a writing workshop in the past called "Homeward Bound" and for something a little different this week, I wanted to offer a couple writing prompts from that workshop to get you thinking and writing about home this holiday season. If you choose to write from one of these prompts, feel free to share with me!
Quotes
“Home is not a place...it’s a feeling.”
“Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to.”
“People who no longer have physical access to their homeplace seek solace in the power of narrative, though their stories people may still travel home.”
Prompts
*Would you still consider the place you grew up as being home? If so, write about all the things that still make it a place to come back to. If not, determine the events that led up to it losing its status.
*Do you look forward to coming "home" for the holidays? What kind of preparations does your family make in order to make you feel more at home? Is there a place that you would rather be to enjoy yourself more during this typically family-filled time of the year?
*Write a story that involves different people who have lived in the same house at one point in their lives. How do their lives intersect?
*Do you have certain old friends that you always hang out with when you're home? Do you ever find yourself slipping back into old habits and mannerisms when this occurs? Compare a hangout from a long time ago with these home friends with what a hangout would consist of right now.
*Talk about accomplishing something that you always wanted to do in and around your home. Is it going to that one tourist place you never got around to, supporting that one local cause? Imagine achieving this task and how it makes you feel.