Paddington (writing prompts!)

And some inspiration from Ann Patchett...

Are you a Patchett-head like I am? (Obsessed with Ann Patchett.) We need a better name. Little Patchettes? Ann-ophiles? I’m open to suggestions. (If you haven’t read any of Ann Patchett’s books, start with Bel Canto, then State of Wonder, then for some variety dig into These Precious Days, then maybe read Commonwealth next. Honestly, whatever order you read them in, you cannot go wrong.

Here’s Ann Patchett talking about revisiting a place from your past:

“Coming back is the thing that enables you to see how all the dots in your life are connected, how one decision leads you to another, how one twist of fate, good or bad, brings you to a door that later takes you to another door, which aided by several detours — long hallways and unforeseen stairwells — eventually puts you in the place you are now. Every choice lays down a trail of bread crumbs, so that when you look behind you there appears to be a very clear path that points straight to the place where you now stand. But when you look ahead there isn’t a bread crumb in sight — there are just a few shrubs, a bunch of trees, a handful of skittish woodland creatures. You glance from left to right and find no indication of which way you’re supposed to go. And so you stand there, sniffing at the wind, looking for directional clues in the growth patterns of moss, and you think, What now? Sometimes not having any idea where we’re going works out better than we could possibly have imagined.”

Now let’s write!

Today’s prompts were inspired by the movie PADDINGTON.