woman sitting in apartment building patio

Hey, how’s the writing going? Are you getting your stories down on paper? Are you finding that once you tap into your memories that they keep flowing? I hope so. 

For Day 17, the writing prompt is: all the places you’ve lived. 

For some of you, it may only be one or two houses. For others, you may have lived in a dozen or more places across your state, across the country, across the world. 

To start today, make a list of all the houses, apartments, mobile homes, dorm rooms, that you’ve lived in. Go ahead, I’ll wait. 

Great. I’ll bet as you were listing all of your homes over the years, memories of each one started rolling in.

Maybe you thought of your family of origin, roommates, partners and children. You’ve thought of the various structures, the layout of each home, the community your home was in. 

From your list, pick the home that has the most energy for you. Write that residence on your page – the address or how you remember it. Then start listing memories that you have of that specific home. 

From that list of memories, choose one to write about. 

In today’s photo, I’m sitting on the patio of an apartment building where I resided in the ‘80s. I have mixed memories of this apartment that I could write about: 

*  I spent my first Christmas alone here after a divorce, the apartment felt hollow, empty, as did I. One evening on TV, I saw a Marlo Thomas remake of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Her version was “It Happened One Christmas,” and that movie changed my entire perspective on life.  

*  I was working third shift, 11 PM – 7 AM, so I needed to sleep during the day. An elderly neighbor, at least once a week, would wake me up by knocking on my door, “It’s Peggy,” she’d say through the door. She just wanted to update me on the latest building gossip. 

What home are you writing about? What stories do you have to tell about the place? 

Go get ‘em! Cheryl 

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