Beth Kephart
You in Random Order: A Jesse Ball Exercise
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Here’s an exclusive writing prompt from Beth Kephart, who recently conducted a masterclass for Cleaver called “The Art of the Telling Detail”. We are sharing this prompt from her workshop—if you like it, consider purchasing the recording of Beth’s extraordinary class here.
Example:
… I find watering plants to be onerous, and gardens even more so, but worse than that I find raking leaves, grass, or soil. I like yards to be overgrown. On the other hand, I like to keep my living space in careful order, although I don’t mind if it is dirty. I myself am often dirty and do not like to wash. As a boy, I would pretend to take showers by turning the water on and lightly splashing my arms…
— excerpted from Jesse Ball’s memoir, Autoportrait.
Prompt: Write yourself in random order, accumulating the details that best define you.
Beth Kephart is the award-winning author of nearly 40 books in multiple genres, an award-winning teacher, co-founder of Juncture Workshops, and a book artist. Beth’s newest book, the acclaimed My Life in Paper: Adventures in Ephemera, sprang from her own obsession with paper. Beth’s most recent craft books are We Are the Words: The Master Memoir Class and Consequential Truths: On Writing the Lived Life. More at bethkephartbooks.com and bind-arts.com. Read Michelle Fost’s interview with Beth about My Life in Paper: Adventures in Ephemera here.
Read more from Cleaver Magazine’s Writing Tips.
