Week 2 : Bradbury Trio Challenge
Tammy's Trio+: A Poem, A Story, An Essay, and a Prompt for You!
Welcome to 2/4 Bradbury Trio Challenges for January!
I hope the readings from last week and the list of questions inspired some new thinking and a new piece of writing for you! I invite you to share a sampling of your What If questions on last week’s post.
Outside of the prompt, I hesitate to give more concrete examples of how these readings could influence your writing. Everyone’s lived experience is their own. The people you know, the reading you have done in the past, the family stories you have been told, are all unique. I encourage you to be open to an idea that flows to you after reading. What connections do you see between the three pieces? What do you think about long after you have read the piece?
While you read I encourage you to jot down notes of lines you love and what the pieces remind you of. It doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but you right now.
Have fun!
The Bradbury Trio [reading a poem, an essay, and a story every day] fuels my writing.
This trio structure inspires me to write after I read.
Good Words In = Good Words Out
My wish for you is that today’s readings lead you to writing that could not have been created otherwise!
Week 2 Trio:
Poem: Twelve Twelve Twelve, by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
I’m intrigued by this poem because of its structure — the lowercase alphabet and the POV lens of a twelve-year-old. What would your twelve-year-old self say?
a.) When I was twelve, I lived
on the grounds of a mental asylum.
This structure makes a great prompt, too. Try it:
a) When I was twelve…
b) When I was twelve...
c) When I was twelve…
What other ages call to you? Add those to your list if you want, and freewrite to the end of each line.
Story: The Museum
This is a story I come back to again and again. There are questions that are raised for me in this story about what is “really happening”. I am curious how it lands with you.
Essay: How To Live In Deep Time
Time is a topic that emerges in my writing over and over.
Writing Prompt:
I am a huge fan of Beth Kempton’s work. You can find her Substack here.
One of her essay structures is to braid the factual/definition of a topic, with how that concept is a metaphor for her, and then share a memory.
Your prompt is to choose a concept and either freewrite or list facts, metaphors, and memories you associate with that concept.
Then use the ones with the most heat for a poem, story, or essay.
Let me know how it goes!
I invite you to add a sampling of your WHAT IF questions on last week’s post. You can find that here:
If you like this concept and it fuels you I invite you to join me for 4 weeks of the Bradbury Trio Course!
This 4 -week course will begin on February 16, 2025
Registration begins today!
Read and write with a community for this course! We will have three Zoom meetings (recorded if you are unable to attend).
The themes are
Reading Week 1: Mirrors and Windows
Reading Week 3: Giving and Receiving
Are you ready to enroll?
Course Price: $99
To enroll send an email to: bradburytriocourse@gmail.com and I will send you the payment information through Venmo or Paypal.
Your payment will be your confirmation to the course. Space is limited.
Questions? Send an email to bradburytriocourse@gmail.com
A little more about me: Tammy L. Evans is a writer, teacher, and coach living in a tiny house on a peninsula with her husband and adventure cat. Her location device is her loud laugh. She is currently working on a short story collection. Her poetry has been published in The Storyteller, FoxGlove Journal, Story Hall, Blue Insights, The Partnered Pen, and others. Her fiction has been published in Gone Lawn, Cabinets of Heed, Spelk, Five on the Fifth, Clover and White, Fiction Berlin Kitchen, and others.
Loved the poem, essay and story. Thanks for sharing!