Welcome to Writing in Company. Each week I share some words and a writing prompt, meant to be jumping-off points for you to write about what matters. Use the prompts however you likeāto journal, to draft thoughts for your own writing project, as meditation or prayer ideas, or for another creative endeavor. You can always look back through the archive for more ideas. Grab your pen and paper, and let your words loose on the page.
Hereās a list of things Iāve recently been convinced to buy from online advertisements:
A bathing suit that didnāt fit and smelled like chemicals (returned)
An unbelievably good deal on 8 items from āanthropologietopsā who took my money, took down their website, and never sent me anything (my credit union bailed me out and I am appropriately ashamed)
Half-price pink Birkenstocks (score)
Tickets to a traveling pop-up Edgar Allan Poe speakeasy (yes, please!)
The Poe show ad appeared on my Facebook feed (which I would quit except for some groups Iām inā¦ugh) Apparently the algorithm knows me:
Live theatreācheck
Reading/Writers/Poetryācheck
Something my daughter would come home for and we could convince our partners to dress up forācheck
Twelve years ago to the day of our recent Poe event, according to my Facebook photo memories (ugh again, but also thanks for the memories) my daughter was at a middle school theatre competition, performing in a series of Poe short stories. Sheād participated in plays and musicals throughout elementary school (and later on in high school too), but this one was different. Like Poeās work, it was a little weird and edgy, and led to this classic photo of her.
I donāt remember how her group did in the competition, but thatās the gaze of an absolute winner right there, isnāt it? (Peanut butter and hairspray is the answer to the question you are asking yourselfā¦.)
That experience started a Poe-mance that has persisted. This past weekend she brought home her copy of The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe, and made her boyfriend read aloud in the car. She arrived wearing one of two Poe-themed t-shirts she ownsā one from the Poeās Tavern on Sullivanās Island, SC and the other from NeverMore Books in Beaufort, SC. She also reminded me of our early pandemic streaming of the Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party web series, which is basically fan fiction video content for Gen Z English majors. (The Gen X equivalent comes, of course, from The Simpsons.1 )
The event we all attended together was held at a local ācastleā built in Poe-era 1823 and restored in the early 1980s. Itās got a drawbridge, a moat, and a 70-foot tower. Lit up with lanterns, torches, and a smoke-machine, it was a perfect setting for the spooky stories shared. The small audience gathered in an array of goth/Victorian/didnāt-read-the-brief attire. (Sadly, no one had hair with peanut butter in it.) Four actorsāwho also served the drinksāshared a little about Poeās life and early odd death, and four classic stories with accompanying watered-down cocktails/mocktails. Iām not a big cocktail drinker, but I love a good theme. These story/drink pairings reminded me that a little effort to connect food and entertainment can go a long way.
The Tell-Tale Heart (paired with a drink called the Pale Blue Eye, with a single blueberry floating in it)
The Black Cat (with Edgarās Twisted Brandy Milk Punch, his favorite apparently, and ours)
The Raven, (with the Nevermore, fruity with charcoal in it?!)
The Masque of Red Death (with the Cocktail of Red Death, red stuff and cloves)
According to our hosts and the internet, Poe was the first prominent American author to support himself through writing, but just barely, and for not nearly long enough. When he published āThe Ravenā in 1845 he earned $9āor about $367 in todayās money. Poe knew poverty, suffering, anguish, and grief, as well as love and beauty, and all of these make their way into his poems and stories. How will he inspire us in our own writing?
a writing prompt
Choose one of the following Edgar Allan Poe quotes, mined from Goodreads, as a starting place for your own writing. Keep your pen moving, and see what arises from the grave on the page. If you find yourself itching to write fiction or poetry or even a Poe-inspired spooky story, let yourself experiment and play on the page.
"I would define, in brief, the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of Beauty."
āInvisible things are the only realities.ā
āWe loved with a love that was more than love.ā
āI remained too much inside my head and ended up losing my mindā
āWith me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.ā
āThere are some secrets which do not permit themselves to be told.ā
āThe boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?ā
āTo elevate the soul, poetry is necessary.ā
āEven in the grave, all is not lost.ā
āIs all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?ā
āArt is to look at not to criticize.ā
āThe scariest monsters are the ones that lurk within our souls...ā
āTell me every terrible thing you ever did, and let me love you anyway.ā
āI am a writer. Therefore, I am not sane.ā
āIf a poem hasn't ripped apart your soul; you haven't experienced poetry.ā
āAnd my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor, Shall be liftedāNevermore!ā
March Writing Hour - Saturday, March 23 | 4-5 pm Eastern
My next live writing hour on Zoom for paid subscribers is this weekend. If you want to write in company with others, you are welcome to join us. 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. Letās be brave and write together.
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What fun! I love imagining the Poe event you attended, and these are some good prompts to get me started in my freshly new journal. See you Saturday!
Julie, you've derailed me. Thank you for this Must write on all these. And did you see my post -- The Tell-Tale Takotsubo? š https://elainegantzwright.substack.com/p/the-telltale-takotsubo