Richard Simmons & Magic Mike (writing prompts!)

Writing prompts inspired by Magic Mike. plus some Richard Simmons stories.

The first time I met Richard Simmons, I was waiting for a class at his workout studio, Slimmons. I was wearing nice pants, a button up shirt. Richard sees me & says “WHY are you wearing THAT?!?” I say “I just came from a pitch, I’m a screenwriter.” He goes “OOooOoo, a SCREENwriter.” He runs around, pointing: “Look, we have a SCREENwriter in our midst, oooooOOoOO, a SCreeNwrITER!?!” A naughty joyful twinkle in his eye. The point was, “you cannot take yourself seriously in my class.”

He would sidle up next to you while you were exercising & make ridiculous faces. Everyone was welcome in his class, and we felt it. He had a record player and would play entire albums while we exercised, “today’s a Madonna day!” He talked about people he checked in on daily, people who had taken his class, people who had sent him a letter once years ago who he became pen pals with, people who were struggling with weight and food issues, he would call them to check in and make sure they were okay, give them encouragement.

Every time I took his class, he cried about people he wanted to help. When he disappeared, it made weird sense to me—he cared about so many people so deeply, that it finally got to be too much. He had to take care of himself. I remember a story, whenever he heard a bell it was a reminder to take care. He’d say, “Ring the bell!” Now whenever I hear a bell ring, I think of him and try to be in the moment and be good to myself. He was a wonderful, selfless man. I’ll miss him.

Wherever you are, Richard, ring the bell. Let’s all try to be a little more like Richard: take care of yourself, take care of others.

Before we get to today’s prompts, here’s some inspiration from Jeanette Winterson:

“The one thing you can’t change about your life is the time you live in. You can change everything else. You can move country. You can leave everything behind. You can remake yourself continually. But the time that you live in is fixed, and that’s the hand you’re dealt with, and you have to manage it. And ours is turning into the most turbulent and surprising time.”

What is one thing you’d like to change about your life?

Okay. Time to write. Today’s prompts were inspired by the modern classic film, Magic Mike.