FREE SILENT WRITE-IN: TODAY 5:00pm - 7:30pm ET
Come through for blocked-out creative focus time. No prompts, no chatter. Everyone on mute. Dopamine hits in the chat encouraged. Work on whatever’s calling you. Drop in anytime, stay as long as you can. [ Get the link ]
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Day 19 is Hermit Crab Essay Day. The hermit crab essay is a form of personal narrative that folds itself into another form. Think: a story wrapped in the protective shell of a recipe, a resume, a report card, medical records, a rejection letter, a menu, an insurance claim, prescription labels… I could go on. A dictionary. It’s a slippery slope once I start making lists of things. Instructions for a board game. The hermit crab essay intrinsically unfolds into something sort of fictional, making it a hybrid form of lyrical nonfiction. Train schedule. It’s often used as a way to approach challenging stories with humor. Mad Libs. That levity emerges in an organic relationship with the structure, as long as we’re not trying to shoehorn an idea into an ill-fitting shell. As you can see, dating profile, the possibilities are pretty endless. How-To. It’s creative nonfiction told through something familiar, but unexpected. Bingo.
Girl Missing, Bay Village, OH - 1989
A quarter was the price of quelling the what-ifs. Always a quarter or two zipped into the smaller pouch of our backpacks, jingling around with an extra house key and Rain-Blo wrappers…
Read some examples below, and then write your heart out.
But first, your daily practical guidance:
Put your phone out of reach and/or on Do Not Disturb.
The 20-minute timer is key. Keeps your head in the writing and mitigates overwriting. It’s “enough time to enter the cave and come back out relatively unscathed.”
Aim for 150 - 800 words, but don’t let the word count derail you.
Start anywhere. Start with your first thought.
Keep your hand moving.
If you get stuck. Relax your shoulders. Stretch. Take a breath.
If you feel like you can’t go any further, keep going.
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