The Time Is Now

“Det finnes ikke dårlig vær, bare dårlige klær” is a rhyming proverb in Norwegian that means there’s no bad weather, just bad clothing. This sentiment points not just to a high value of functional comfort, but to the cultural importance of time spent outdoors—especially in a country whose inland regions see considerably cold temperatures and snowfall. Write a short story in which the main action is set in motion by a discrepancy between a character’s choice of clothing and the weather, such as light clothing on a frigid day, too many layers that prove to be too hot, or delicate clothing that encounters splattered mud or dust storms. What are the circumstances that lead your character to don an inappropriate ensemble? Consider what the initial decision, the response, and the ultimate conclusion reveal about your character’s personality and motivations.

In a Sight and Sound magazine interview from last November, filmmaker David Lynch, who passed away earlier this month, was asked about the inspiration for his latest album with longtime collaborator Chrystabell. Publicity materials for the album described how Lynch experienced a mysterious, revelatory vision while out for a nighttime walk in the woods. In the interview, Lynch admits this revelation isn’t quite what happened, but that he does “walk in the woods in my mind.” Jot down notes about the type of atmosphere, shape, mystery, or emotions you associate with a walk in the woods, and how might you “walk in your mind.” Allow your imagination to wander freely into any shadowy corners. Then, compose a poem that results from this creative exercise.

Mati Diop’s 2024 hybrid documentary, Dahomey, chronicles the repatriation of twenty-six cultural treasures—including sculptures and a throne plundered during France’s colonial rule over the Kingdom of Dahomey—following them from the Musée du quai Branly in Paris back to the present-day Republic of Benin. Diop intersperses her footage with poetic voice-over narration representing the sentiments of a statue of a king, and uses cameras placed in the perspective of the looted artifacts while they’re in transit, the screen going dark when the crates are sealed and shipped. Think of an artwork, artifact, or other personally significant object that, due to its location in time or geography, has existed during a tumultuous period. Write a lyrical essay that gives the item voice and expression, using imaginative language to animate the inanimate with the capability of experience or witnessing.

“Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this sun of York; / And all the clouds that lour’d upon our house / In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.” In the soliloquy delivered by the title character in William Shakespeare’s play Richard III as he considers the outlook of his family’s reign, the “winter” refers to the lowest point of unhappy times. From this nadir, clouds will part and the sun will shine upon more fortunate circumstances. Taking inspiration from this metaphorical image, write a short story that begins with acknowledgment of a rock-bottom situation—a winter of sorts. What are the factors in place that convey to your characters that things can only go up from this moment forward?

Ariel Francisco’s poem “On the Shore of Lake Atitlán, Apparently I Ruined Breakfast,” published in the Academy of American Poets’ Poet-a-Day series, recounts a puckish remark which derails the upbeat mood of a meal with the speaker’s mother and aunt. Commenting about the poem, Francisco acknowledges his teenage immaturity returning to him as an adult on this trip to Guatemala, his mother’s homeland. “This poem tries to capture what I often do in real life: upend a beautiful moment with something flippant,” he says. This week write a poem that attempts to capture a tendency you have, perhaps one that you’ve been self-critical about in your life. Francisco’s poem strikes a lighthearted tone throughout, which you might decide to mirror, or you could magnify your behavior’s ultimate consequences for a dramatically darker note that turns unexpectedly bright.

During a time of year when many people are taking stock of the previous twelve months and preparing for new resolutions and fresh starts, take a brief contrarian turn and compose a personal essay that focuses on the well-trodden: old habits, die-hard routines, and tried-and-true tendencies. What are some things that you’d passionately never want to give up? Perhaps your essay is a compilation of a list of objects, behaviors, people, or traditions that have proven their worth over an extended period of time; or you might concentrate your essay on one specific subject, something dear you vow to hold onto. Are there trade-offs, sacrifices, or curiosities about the costs of keeping the old? How do you weigh any misgivings against your convictions?

In the film Nightbitch, an adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s 2021 novel of the same name directed by Marielle Heller, a new mother contends with the growing feeling of being trapped in domestic caretaking, having left her job and put aside her pursuits as a visual artist in order to stay at home and take care of her small toddler. With her husband away for work, the repetitiveness, exhaustion, and difficulties of motherhood take a surreal turn, as her instincts begin to manifest in canine form. Write a short story that begins similarly with the acknowledgment of an element of horror in something very mundane and common, perhaps an aspect of a relationship, a job, or milestone that isn’t often depicted in gory detail or a negative light. You might find that adding a touch of fantasy or dark comedy will help illuminate your perspective.

“One must have a mind of winter,” begins Wallace Stevens’s 1921 poem “The Snow Man,” which moves from describing iconically icy and desolate imagery of winter—“the pine-trees crusted with snow,” “the junipers shagged with ice”—to pointing out the human beholder’s subjectivity as the agent who projects this wintry outlook. This week, write a poem that takes inspiration from Stevens’s first line and explore what it means to you to have “a mind of winter.” Does it entail nothingness, quietude, withholding, generosity, cheer, beauty, love? How does your selection of seasonal associations determine your poem’s tonal direction? You might even experiment with approaching this prompt more than once, when your mood about the season feels distinctively different.

In a recent New York Times article about New Year’s resolutions, Holly Burns describes the value of creating resolutions that are connected to other people. Burns cites Stephanie Harrison, author of New Happy: Getting Happiness Right in a World That’s Got It Wrong (TarcherPerigee, 2024), who says: “Our society has treated happiness as a highly individualistic pursuit—the idea being that it’s something that you make for yourself, that you get for yourself, and you do it all alone,” and yet, research shows that interpersonal relationships contribute to a significant portion of people’s happiness. Inspired by the idea of creating resolutions for the year (or beyond) that involve spending time with others, write a personal essay that reflects on times when you have discovered joy when helping or being helped by another person, perhaps unexpectedly. How might you incorporate this into future habits?

In Richard Curtis’s 2003 romantic comedy Love Actually, love is all around us—and it manifests in a wide range of ways for the characters in the film: romantic, platonic, familial, professional, and all sorts of in-between zones as well. The film, which has become a holiday classic, explores the lives of several characters and their loves, some of which are evenly balanced, while others are unrequited or lopsided; some which are new and some old. Write a short story that tells the story of multiple types of loving relationships, perhaps including both love that may seem straightforward or obvious, as well as love that is less so. When you have multiple types of love juxtaposed in one story, what do their similarities and differences illuminate?