Write what you don’t know

Good morning, lovelies. Here’s your three-part nudge for the day:

a prompt

Write on the following for 5–10 minutes:

Rituals can be luxurious. What are five things you could do each morning that feel like a treat while setting you up for the day? Make it a story.

a thought

“When I taught creative writing at Princeton, [my students] had been told all of their lives to write what they knew. I always began the course by saying, ‘Don’t pay any attention to that.’ First, because you don’t know anything and second, because I don’t want to hear about your true love and your mama and your papa and your friends.

“Think of somebody you don’t know. What about a Mexican waitress in the Rio Grande who can barely speak English? Or what about a Grande Madame in Paris? Things way outside their camp. Imagine it, create it. Don’t record and editorialise on some event that you’ve already lived through.” – Toni Morrison, 2014

farewell

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, trans rights activist (1946–2025)

Thanks for coming, dear makers and shakers. See you tomorrow ☕