A few months ago, I stood in the kitchen rummaging through our pile of newspapers while my lemon water heated in the microwave (because, you know, if I can’t work out or eat well or stop binging on cereal, at least I can detox with one mug!).
As I flipped through a back issue of The Washington Post Magazine looking for Gene Weingarten’s humor column, I saw a headline that stopped me in my tracks: “Can the English Major be saved?”
Uhmm… Excuse me, magazine? What are you implying???
I read the story in about 3 seconds and got really mad really fast. Apparently fewer and fewer college students sign up for an English major every year. Professors are fleeing (or find themselves unemployable thanks to liberal arts budget cuts).
By the time I finished reading, I was FURIOUS.
I was so upset I cut out the article, pinned it to my office cork board, and jumped on Facebook to post a long rant about WHY we need free space and time to explore the written word.
Because let’s face it, WAPO was basically implying that my chosen profession, my passion and life’s work, is headed for extinction.
Granted, good headlines are designed to generate an emotional response. God bless ’em.
But still…
Nothing makes you SPEAK UP like the need to save something you love. And nothing elicits a response online like somebody pounding the table.
This is the heart of your writing prompt for today. So grab some paper and your pen. Let it be your sword!
Step 1. At the top of a blank piece of paper, write: Does ________ even matter any more? Nobody REALLY needs it. We can make do without.
Fill in the blank with your passion-profession. Then stop and really let that simmer in your brain.
Remember, this isn’t a rhetorical question. Everyone who has never paid money for help in your industry asks this.
Step 2. Answer it!
Step 3. Hey there, tiger. Take a moment to decompress.
Get up, move around, take a break. When you come back to your desk, decide if you can use one of the insights or lessons from this prompt to share on social media, or in your newsletter.
Step 4. Is your heart still pumping? Then go share your words!
You’ll be delighted to see how many people respond when you dish up some heat alongside your ideas.
If you go social with this one, make sure to tag me @elizabethderby.
I want to see you shake your (literary) fist!
