For this week’s quaranTEEN voices, special guest author, Isaac Fitzgerald, joins us to help write and revise our stories through the prompts below! Fitzgerald is known for his books and essays centered around storytellers, chefs, and tattoos. He has been a firefighter, worked on a boat, was once given a sword by a king!
From Isaac Fitzgerald:
If you’re anything like me, then you’ve been spending a lot of time at home (over a month, to be specific). Just hanging out, sitting around, staring at all the stuff you’re not used to staring at that much. So let’s get reacquainted with our stuff, shall we? I’ll go first.
Prompt 1:
A (small) sword was given to me by the King of Bhutan over a decade ago. Right after I was given the sword, a Bhutanese man I’d gotten to know leaned in close to me and whispered, “Just for the record, this doesn’t make you a knight.” I love this sword so much, because it reminds me of a very dear friendship, while also reminding me that one can go anywhere in life (you’d better believe when I was a kid I never imagined I was ever going to meet a king, let alone be friends with one).
Now, what’s the object in your home that means the most to you? And tell us the story behind it.
Prompt 2:
Another thing that’s been happening to me: I’ve been developing weird new habits. For example, there’s this glass bottle that I just absolutely love to drink out of now. It might even be an old small vase, I’m not sure. But every single day I fill it up with water and continue to drink from it and refill it and drink from it and refill it and drink from it and refill it throughout the day. I can’t tell you why. Never thought about this bottle (vase?) before we all went indoors, but now it never leaves my side.
What about you? What weird quarantine habit have you picked up? Maybe you’re talking into your mirror and pretending it’s someone else, or organizing your books by smell, or being nicer to your siblings—you tell us about what’s become your new normal.
Be sure to sign up for our newsletter HERE to receive weekly prompts and other virtual youth writing opportunities right to your inbox! On Wednesday we’ll send out a few ideas to help you revise your pieces. Sign up to talk to Isaac Fitzgerald and share your writing with other quaranTEEN’s on Friday HERE!