Writing With Melissa: Boston. Nostalgia For Place.

Photo of Boston from Pixabay

Today I was thinking about Boston, MA. We are visiting in about three weeks, but I lived in Boston in the 1990s...a lifetime ago. I met my husband there. We got married in Cape Cod. We had our first child there. (Both my husband and my first child have now passed...a lifetime ago but also the blink of an eye.) We lived there until 2000, when we moved to Pittsburgh, where I still live.

Today's prompt is about place, and nostalgia.

1. Choose a place from your past ... it may be Boston, it may be another city or town, where you once lived. You may still live there, that's fine.
2. List ten things about that place that you know from having lived there.
3. Set your timer for 10-20 minutes, and write about things that used to exist in that place but no longer do.

Again, like yesterday, your writing may end up being nostalgic. 

The word nostalgia has origins from the Greek: nostos meaning return home and algos meaning pain. The pain of returning home. It comes to us through German, where it meant homesickness, and in the 18th century came to mean acute homesickness. It has now come to mean, "a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations," according to this online dictionary.

Follow the prompt, see where it takes you.

You can share any part of your writing below in the comments, or email me at WritingWithMelissa@gmail.com. I may read your work in the podcast, so if you want to remain anonymous let me know, otherwise you can include your name, where you are from, and contact info like a blog or social media.

Join the workshop, let your voice be heard!

Listen to the podcast here:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1teMW3W-CX8ZwQYtDd7tIAz_w4u55h-S_

or on SoundCloud:

Be well,

Melissa

Writing with Melissa: Writing About Loved Ones We've Lost

Writing about those we've lost is hard but important work.

Today marks twelve years since my daughter Molly died. I wanted to write about her today, but I didn't know where to begin. What I finally did was to write "5 Things I Want to Share with You about Molly." I listed 5 things...sometimes including more details or even a relevant memory. I turned the results into my first ever podcast (below.)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hS6e-WG0zDDDAo4Fe0zIW6-B1eSt38sm

or listen on SoundCloud.

I'm sure the quality and audio will keep getting better, but you have to start somewhere.

Prompts to write about loved ones we've lost:

1. List 3, 5, 10 things you want to share about that loved one.
2. Set a timer for 10 - 20 minutes, and just write everything you remember about that person. Things they did, things they said, funny expressions they had, the time they.... Just keep writing for twenty minutes.

At this point you may be reduced to a puddle of tears. Or you may feel inspired and motivated by their memory. If you'd like to take it further, choose one memory that you have written, set your timer again, and write out that memory with as much detail as you can remember.

Or...just sit with the memories you have written, put aside your pen and paper, close your eyes, and breathe. What you are feeling is all the love you still have - and always will have - for your loved one.

At the end of the podcast I share a poem by Thich Nhat Hanh from his book No Death No Fear.

I hope you enjoy the podcast. If you'd like to share any of your writing to this prompt, please feel free to do so in the comments below or email me at WritingWithMelissa@gmail.com.

This is hard work but important work. 

Join the workshop and let your voice be heard.

Much love always,

Melissa