DAY 27: A PROMPT BY KATRINA NAOMI

WRITING PROMPTS TO BENEFIT CHILDREN IN GAZA

UNICEF reports that in Gaza, “hundreds of thousands of children and families are caught in a catastrophic situation” and that, ongoing as of November 14th 2023, over 4200 children have been killed and more than 7000 have been injured “due to unrelenting attacks”, while over 1300 others are missing. According to the World Health Organization, one child is killed in Gaza every 10 minutes. Outlining the charity’s Appeal for Children in Gaza, UNICEF spokesman James Elder explains: “Gaza has become a graveyard for thousands of children. It’s a living hell for everyone else.” Elder has also called for “children held hostage in Gaza [to] be immediately reunited with their families and loved ones”. Recent updates state that “hundreds of thousands of children … remain trapped in a war zone with little or no access to food, water, electricity, medicine or medical care”.

For the duration of NaNoWriMo, we will be posting a writing prompt every day and in doing so, we are hoping to encourage our community to donate to charities providing medical aid to children in desperate need in this unprecedented crisis.

These prompts have been created by writers from Wales or with a connection to Wales and its magazines and presses. The prompts are on all kinds of subjects, but many are related to anti-violence and the work of empathy, and they are offered with the simple hope that they might encourage people to donate in support of medical aid in Gaza. We include a list of suggested charities to donate to below, highlighting the Appeal to Children in Gaza.

UNICEF “continues to call for an immediate ceasefire as 1.1 million people — nearly half of them children — in northern Gaza have been warned to move out of the way of a widescale military assault, but with nowhere safe for them to go”. Elder concludes: “The humanitarian situation has reached lethal lows, and yet all reports point to further attacks. Compassion – and international law – must prevail.”

DAY 27: KATRINA NAOMI

Tricking Yourself into Writing

Some mornings, I spring to my desk. I’m keen, I’ve got an idea (OK, half an idea) and I feel like a writer. Other mornings, I’d rather do anything else. My chair feels hard, my tea’s cold, and the poetry collection I’d begun reading (and which I’d hoped would inspire me) feels as flat as my mood. So, do I pack up? Not quite.

Here’s a few tips on tricking yourself into writing on days when you really don’t feel like it:

• If this all feels like too much effort, and you’re drifting off to the kitchen to make another cup of tea, instead of the kettle, reach for the spice cupboard. Grab a jar at random, open it, close your eyes and breathe in. What do you smell? Where does it take you? Could the journey that spice has made lead to a poem or a story? Could you write about the link between taste and smell?
• If you’re out of exciting spices, turn on the radio. Find a music channel, not chat. Promise yourself that whatever plays next will be your inspiration. Whether it’s Beyoncé or Bach or Black Sabbath. Stop. Listen. It doesn’t matter if you like the music. Rage can lead to powerful writing. Write what comes, don’t censor yourself. Try imagining yourself as the singer or composer or guitarist. You might use the rhythm as the basis for a poem or pinch a word from the lyrics as a starting point.
• And if this still isn’t happening for you, glance out the window. Write about someone else’s life. Whoever comes into view is your subject. What’s her life like? Why is he looking so hacked off? Why’s that child out on her own?

In the Mood – going outdoors

I was asked to do this exercise on an Arvon course. It took me a while to see the point of it. It’s about looking, really looking.

Before I’d done this, I thought I was pretty observant. But I mainly looked at the big things, perhaps I looked up rather than down. And I didn’t have much patience (perhaps I still don’t?) but this exercise forced me to slow down, to wait and to watch.

Sometimes our writing lives are like this, when things don’t come easily, when we feel that we’re out of ideas, when we feel in a rush for something to happen. If this feels like where you’re at, try this exercise. And even if you don’t get anything from it immediately – though I suspect (and hope) that you will – you’ll begin to look at things differently. And you’ll feel more of a writer.

You need a garden or a park, or a piece of land where you feel safe. Or you could try this with a group of writers somewhere a bit wilder, say out on a moor or a lonely beach. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Lay down on your stomach and observe the patch of grass/mud/sand/shingle in front of you. For 10 minutes. That’s it.

After 10 minutes, grab a pen and write about what you saw – whether that’s a blade of grass and an ant running up it, or a boot print and a worm.

Two poems which might help you in your observations are: Elizabeth Bishop’s ‘Sandpiper’ (The Complete Poems 1927-1979, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1984) and Jen Hadfield’s ‘Limpet’ (The Stone Age, Picador, 2020). 

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Please consider donating to a charity providing medical aid in Gaza. We recommend UNICEF’s Appeal for Children in Gaza, but other charities include:

Medical Aid for Palestinians

Palestine Children’s Relief Fund

The World Food Programme

Doctors Without Borders