What Moves?

by Nancy Casey

Today, write about moving things and whatever it is that moves them.

Get out a blank sheet of paper and watch your hand move the pen so it draws a line at the top of your page where your title will eventually go. Mark off a space for drawing, too, if you like.

People and things go from place to place all the time, sometimes under their own power and sometimes because something or someone moves them.

In your writing you could choose an everyday object such as a fork, a doorknob, or a shoe, and then describe its movements during a regular day. Or a normal life.

You could write about how different parts of your body move, or describe the places your body moves to and from in the course of a day—or a week, a year, or your lifetime so far. Does music make you move? How does that work?

Another way to think about movement is to consider forces of nature, such a wind, water, magnetism or gravity. What do such forces move around?

You could consider movement in an abstract or intangible way. Do thoughts and feelings move? Do we move through time? What, exactly, moves when we say that we are “moved” by something?

As soon as any idea about moving and movement jumps into your mind, begin writing it down. Describe what moves, explain what moves it or any other details that occur to you. If you move off the topic of movement, that’s okay.

Maybe by the time you have finished writing about your first idea, you will have used up the whole page already. If not, relax your mind and let a new idea move into it. If your mind feels blank, doodle a bit while asking yourself, “What moves?”

When you get to the bottom of the page, look back over your work. Make small changes or additions if you like. Add illustration or decoration, too.

Do your ideas form any kind of a pattern? Do they seem to be about a bigger idea that you hadn’t really planned on writing about? If they do, maybe you can use that insight to think up a title. If they don’t, make up some kind of a title anyway and write it at the top of the page.

Put your initials or a signature on the page, too. And write the date on it. Here is one example of what someone could write.

You can share your work by posting it as a comment below. You can type it in, or take a photo of it and upload the image.

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Nancy Casey has lived in Latah County for many years. You can find more of her work here. If you would like some help with your writing, contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.