A Slow Upward Climb
a writing prompt for you + March Writing Hour
Welcome to Writing in Company. This is a community for you, whatever your experience with writing. It’s an invitation to write about what matters—grief, gratitude, grace, and more. Each week I share some ideas and a writing prompt, meant to be jumping-off points. Use the prompts however you like—to journal, to draft a writing project, as prayer ideas, or for another creative endeavor. If this one doesn’t resonate, look back through the archive for more.
In an off-kilter world, using our words can help us stay centered and move toward healing and wholeness. Writing in company with others saved me once. Let’s keep writing now, alone and together, and trust our words to help us see and say what matters.
Back in January I was in Memphis for a conference, and toured the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel. One of the first things you see in the atrium is a huge bronze sculpture titled “Movement to Overcome” by Texas artist Michael Pavlovsky. Hundreds of human figures work together to scale a steep rocky mountain wall.
The sign with it says this:
Movement to Overcome suggests the slow upward climb of the civil rights struggle—a movement that took decades. The sculpture pays tribute to the unknown millions of people who fought for equal rights every day. They marched, struggled, and overcame the obstacles, climbing ever upward.
Our excellent tour guide invited the group to notice details, and point them out. Someone mentioned the figures of children. Another noticed how so many figures were supporting another. Here’s the one that stood out to me.
Knowing we were at the site where Dr. King—one who pointed the way forward—was killed, I suppose my eyes were tuned toward a leader rising up. Later exhibits lift up King’s role, but also others in the movement.
I keep coming back to this image. Grateful for Dr. King and others. Wondering who will rise up now. Thinking about my own responsibilities as a citizen and a human.
The climb is far from finished. Civil rights, and human rights in general, demand ongoing struggle. This moment in history is a struggle. We may have other struggles to overcome today—personal mountains that are too much to scale alone.
Let’s let the visual image spark our writing today, as we use our words to move toward healing.
a writing prompt
Spend some time with one of the photos above. Spend longer than you think you should give—a full minute, maybe more. Let your eyes wander across it. Let your mind wander freely, too.
Then, write about whatever comes to mind, keeping your pen moving across the page without stopping to plan or edit.
March Writing Hour - Sat. March 29 | 4-5 pm Eastern
My next live writing hour on Zoom for paid subscribers is in two Saturdays. If you want to write in company with others, you are welcome to join in. You can upgrade your subscription for a month ($7) just to try it. A separate email to paid subscribers will go out with the link, or you can find it on my Substack tab called Writing Hours. Let’s write together.
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