642 Things to Write About from Chronicle Books

So Chronicle Books, which happens to be one of my favorite publishers for Sunday fun-time reads, recently came out with a self-written book to uplift aspiring (or even established) writers' creativity and maybe even help unblock them if they are feeling that way.

I love it.

Love the idea as well as the execution. It was prepared overnight with ideas pouring in from the writers at The San Francisco Writers' Grotto. Overnight, mind you. 

There literally are 642 topics you could write about. The minute I set my eyes on this book, I started filling its pages with stories. Here's one to begin with. 

A houseplant is dying. Tell it why it needs to live.

Dear basil leaf,

You cannot die on me. I brought you home from Trader Joe's last June because of how you smelled. Your energizing scent took me back to my summers in Italy, where we would sit at the garden as a whole family doing nothing but watching the dog being lazy and cooling off in the shade with music in the background coming through the open door all the while smelling fresh basil.

I wanted to watch you and to pick your oldest and largest leaves to put on my pasta on those rare occasions we cooked. But I was most excited about the idea of sitting next to you on the fire escape and reading to you on hot summer nights. 

Then the heat wave came. 

I went out two nights in a row because I just couldn't stand being at home. Wasted on both occasions, I came home too carefree; too tired to care, really. 

I forgot to water you even though I secretly knew those nights must have been when you were most thirsty. I guess I was testing your limits, like I test myself sometimes...

Fucking heatwave, fucking tests...
You passed.

I love you now more than ever and I promise to never test you again.

Of those silky, vibrant, green leaves, only one little, light green, baby leaf survived today; telling me that it's my turn to face the test now. It's my potential to survive that needs fulfilling.

If you live, so do I. 

You cannot die on me. Not today, not in this life time. Together, we will survive and thrive for an eternity and then some more.

DA

They also published another version of the same book for younger writers and even another one for artists, who like to draw.

What would you write? Want to find out?

Dee