Write for You: Soon, Also and Then

by Nancy Casey

Today in your writing practice, you are going to write about the future. Any part of the whole imaginary future that could be ahead. You could write about your plans for the rest of this day. Or you could fast-forward to a time when you have super-powers and understand what to do in every situation. You can write about any point in the future, near or far, as long as you can imagine it somehow.

Before you do that, stand up on your feet. Shift your weight gently to the left and to the right for a bit. Try to get a sense of a gentle rocking motion. Don’t try to be particularly athletic or stretch. Let your arms feel relaxed.

While you do this, let your mind wander through some ideas about your imagined future. If you catch yourself thinking about the past, say, “Oops, I’m trying to imagine the future.”

Keep shifting your weight back and forth, and turn your head a little to the left and right. Raise your arms if that feels good. You can put them on your belly or cross them so they make an ‘X’ on your chest. You can even put them on top of your head if that’s not too much of a stretch. All the while, rock gently, look to the left and right, and imagine what might lie in your future.

Then sit down to write. Write about whatever comes to you mind about your imagined future, it doesn’t necessarily have to be what you thought up while you were standing. That might have gotten the ideas flowing so that new ideas come to you now. Write your page like this:
1. Begin the first line with “Soon” and write about something that will happen to you soon.
2. Begin the second line with “Also” and write about what will also happen.
3. Begin the third line with “And then…” and tell what will happen next.
Keep going, always writing about something you imagine in your future. As you continue, start every line with either “Soon…,” “Also…,” or “And then…” You don’t have to keep using those three words in that order, and it’s okay to use the same one over and over. Just be sure that each line begins with one of those words.

However you zip around in your future is up to you. You don’t have to explain anything to anybody else. Just write what makes sense to you.

When you have finished, give you page a title. Put the date on it as well. You can find an example of the kind of thing someone might write here: http://planetnancy.net/writing-prompts/writing-about-the-future/

This is a good exercise to do several times during the week. You could start to notice that your future looks different to you at different times.

Nancy Casey has lived in Latah County for many years. She has taught writing classes at the Recovery Center and will return again in the spring of 2018. You can find more of her work at http://planetnancy.net/ If you would like her help with a writing project, email latahrecoverycenter@gmail.com for more information.