Daily writing prompt

How do you relax?

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The key thing is to allow yourself to let go. If you place limits on your relaxation, you will have achieved nothing. The body and mind need to be at rest for part of the day. If you brag about being busy every minute of the day, it is tantamount to admitting failure.

Daily writing prompt

If you had to give up one word that you use regularly, what would it be?

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I think it would be “absolutely,” or any other term implying a certainty I am not necessarily prepared to defend.

Daily writing prompt

Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home.

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The furthest I have ever traveled from home is to the southern tip of Argentina: to Ushuaia in the State of Tierra del Fuego. The absolute furthest was to the end of Route 3, at Bahia Lapataia in the Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego, within sight of the Chilean border. I was there in both 2006 and 2011.

Daily writing prompt

Why do you blog?

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I find that the discipline of trying to write every day keeps my mind fresh and active.

Daily writing prompt

What TV shows did you watch as a kid?

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Going back to 1949, I watched Howdy Doody, hosted by Buffalo Bob Smith. I particularly liked the episodes about the Platinum Platypus.

Daily writing prompt

What’s your favorite time of day?

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In a heat wave such as the one we are now experiencing, I would have to say from the time the sun goes down in the evening to the time the sun comes up in the morning.

Daily writing prompt

What’s your favorite recipe?

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At present, my favorite recipe is for Spanish Rice. You can read about it in this blog post from last year..

Daily writing prompt

Tell us about the last thing you got excited about.

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It’s been a long time since I’ve been excited about anything. Probably because I don’t have the money to travel to the places I want to visit. Oh, well, it’s not bad to be on an even keel either.

Daily writing prompt

What are your top ten favorite movies?

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In no particular order:

1. John Ford: The Searchers
2. Buster Keaton: The General
3. Howard Hawks: The Big Sleep
4. Alfred Hitchcock: Vertigo
5. Carl Theodor Dreyer: Day of Wrath
6. Jean-Luc Godard: Alphaville
7. Jean-Pierre Melville: Touchez Pas au Grisbi
8. Yasujiro Ozu: Late Spring
9. Kenji Mizoguchi: Sansho the Bailiff
10. Federico Fellini: La Strada

Daily writing prompt

What do you enjoy most about writing?

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There’s little or no enjoyment in writing. If you want to write, you have to write—frequently. It’s a compulsion. On the plus side, being a writer makes me a better reader.