#LVPIprompts Start June 1st, 2021

Writing prompts serve as a creative exercise intended to take writers outside their comfort zone to find unexpected inspiration. Free-writing is a technique in which a person is given a set amount of time to write without stopping, and without self-editing of any kind. Free-writing follows a stream of consciousness and all the impulses there-in. Grammar, spelling, punctuation, structure, logic, editing, and all other rhetorical concerns are completely ignored. Write with reckless abandon about whatever feelings or thoughts the prompt stirs. There's no rule. Just write. There will be plenty of time for edits & revisions later.

Sometimes called pre-writing, or a rough rough draft, the speed and time limit for free-writing on prompted topics is a way to get rapid-fire thoughts down on paper (or computer screen) without having to be burdened by organizing all of them.

Like all writing, effective free-writing take practice, and it's not uncommon to end up with some unusable material. It's also not uncommon to use your notes to write your best work to-date.

Prompted writing exercises are an excellent opportunity to discover a whole new side of who you are as a poet and writer.