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blogging101, Journaling, Reflections, Uncategorized, Writers' Well (wordsthatserve), Writing 101, Writing Prompts
Harula over at wordsthatserve is starting a regular Wednesday feature presenting writing prompts she uses in the creative writing class she teaches. I encourage all you writers to stop by there and check it out!
Here’s her first prompt!
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Writing Prompt: Where do you go?
Write the name of a place in response to each of the following four questions. Ideally the places you name should be real and specific. Of course, you could use the same place for one than one. Now choose one of the four to write about and expand upon for 10 minutes.
Where do you go when…
– you want to be alone? (Starbucks)
– you want to be in the company of others? (Starbucks)
– you want to celebrate? (Olive Garden)
– you want to connect with something bigger (life, love, spirit, God – whatever you want to call it)? (My house when EVERYONE is gone!)
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My Starbucks when it opened in 2006.
How can one be alone and yet enjoy the company of others at the same place? Yes, I’m writing about Starbucks. I have an ongoing love affair with Starbucks. Going there is like a mini-vacation for me. Whether I take a book, a laptop, a journal, or a friend, I always feel like I fit in because the people who frequent it are so diverse. It’s not uncommon for me and a friend (usually only one at a time for this is a place for SERIOUS discussion!) to nurse one cup of something or other for three or four hours (and they NEVER ask you to leave!). Hot coffee is not my friend for some reason, but cold coffee is another story. So my drink of choice is a raspberry mocha frappuccino light (160 calories).
Raspberry Mocha Frappuccino
But while I enjoy catching up with friends as if we were at a local pub, I’m equally comfortable and at home being all alone. I LOVE to read there. People are respectful and it’s quiet. I also find that despite being surrounded by other customers (half of them with laptops) it’s a great place for me to write, be it on my laptop or in my journal. Privacy has never been an issue, even in the midst of a bunch of people. There’s just something about the ambiance of that place that feels a little cosmopolitan to me, though I have yet to start scribbling my breakout novel on a napkin like Hemingway!
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Picture Sources:
Starbucks, Clinton, Utah — Starbucks Everywhere
Raspberry Mocha Frappuccino — Hungry Girl – Tuesday Newsletter
Impromptu Promptlings 
I love that this was your answer for alone AND company, because I so agree that coffee shops are perfect for both those things! If I want to be ‘alone’ and do some work, read, just ‘be’ without actually being alone (because, like you I think, I’m a people watcher) then it’s the perfect place, and I also love going to a coffee shop with my Mum, and friends. There is indeed something of the ‘mini holiday’ about it, something indulgent, fun – a treat. Just LOVING reading all the other responses too. Thanks so much for the shout out 🙂 Hugs of gratitude, Harula xxx
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Yep. Coffee shops are sacred places in my book! 😀
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I think my daughter would relate to your love of Starbucks! We used to have one over a bookshop close to home. You could look out over the street and watch the passers by, or over the balcony into the shop. The book shop finally stopped you going up with a book, but you could read there if you wanted, or have a good natter without feeling you were being listened to.
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That’s true about people not listening to you. They’re all too busy gabbing or are caught up on their computer. I, however, DO like to listen to some conversations! 😀
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I used to do so when I travelled to work by bus. It’s amazing what you can learn and also how incredible it is that people can talk so much about so little!
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LOL! Boy, isn’t that the truth…
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Where do you go when…
– you want to be alone? My home office
– you want to be in the company of others? It used to be church but now Anywhere
In Alabama our small church was warm, loving and inviting. Not so in Cali. Here, everything is so megafied and hard to connect with.
– you want to celebrate? My house
– you want to connect with something bigger? Outdoors
I grew up in Cali and beach was where I ran to always. When I moved to Colorado I had no beach, so I took to the mountains. There was this one place called “Devil’s Kitchen” and nearby was this tremendous flat rock that I’d lay on and stare up at the sky at. It was peaceful and comforting. In Alabama, a walk through Noccalula Falls Park was tranquil.
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You and Spiritual Dragonfly are both outdoor girls. 🙂 Not me. I’m scared of bugs!
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I hate bugs too, but if you aren’t afraid of them they seem to know and leave you alone. At least that’s what I concluded living in Alabama. At first I didn’t want to step foot out, it gave me the creeps, after a couple of years, no bother. Some perfumes push them away and I notice the women there wear lots of it. LOL Also, in case you didn’t know there aren’t many bugs at high altitudes.
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Not even ticks?
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My room, forest, beach ….
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My room.
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Where do you go when…
– you want to be alone? Sitting by the Pond.
– you want to be in the company of others? Work. The law firm.
– you want to celebrate? Pacific Paradise – a Polynesian restaurant
– you want to connect with something bigger (life, love, spirit, God – whatever you want to call it)? Manasota Key Beach, Florida, Robert Moses Beach, LI or any beach.
The beach has always been my place. Always and forever. I always feel better at the beach. Looking out at the horizon is so calming. Everything comes together for me and I am at peace..smelling the water, looking at the blues of the water and the sky, feeling the air on my skin, having the sun warm me, walking along the shore and swimming. For me, the beach is a perfect place. 🙂
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If I had to choose a PERFECT place it would either be a beach or a forest. So I’m with you on that one. 🙂
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I LOVE going to my local Starbucks (you know of course that I just LOVE Starbucks, period!) with my tablet and working on my writing. The in and out of people isn’t a distraction and I find I can really focus in on what I want to write.
BTW GF, the Starbucks close to my place has a nice corner table that would be perfect for us to sit at! I’ll buy!
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You KNOW I’m just waiting to get Drollery over there to meet you guys! Hopefully before the Spring is over??? 😀
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Our door is open!
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❤
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