My Father and Me - A Writing Prompt for Our Read-Around

Arguably, it is only when we come to terms with our fathers that, as women, we achieve self-realization.

Many of you in the Circle like a monthly writing prompt so here it is:  Write a story where you and your father take center stage.  This could be a snapshot from childhood, or one where you and your father danced together at your wedding - yes, that's me and Dad pictured here - or where you and your dad had a heart-to-heart after he had aged and was frail.  You decide.

Try to give us - the reader/listener - a rich portrayal; one that shows, instead of tells, the relationship and dynamic between you and your father; the way he looked at you, his mannerisms and his dialogue and how this affected you then and, perhaps, years later in how you viewed yourself as a woman and viewed men. 

This is a tough one. As poet and author Maxine Kumin wrote: "The hardest poem I ever wrote was about my father . . . I was terrified of writing it."

As always, if you prefer to bring something else to the Circle, please do that.  This is merely a suggestion, a prompt. 

See you at 9 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 8 at Wellington Square Bookshop in Exton.  As a side note, I will discuss how memoir can transform and heal at a talk and booksigning later that day at the Henrietta Hankin Branch Library in West Vincent Township, Chester County, beginning at 2 p.m.  I would love to have you join me for that or mention it to a friend.  Thank you.

All the best to my Sisters in the Writing Circle,
Susan