Yesterday took me to Columbus for an Ohio Bankers League Marketing Forum. It was a much needed break from routine and opportunity to gather practical ideas and inspiration.

We had a terrific moderator who started the day by leading us through a series of exercises to get the creative juices going. One exercise involved choosing from a set of writing prompts like “write the lyrics of a bad rap song” or “that day in Paris.”

I chose the prompt “the other half.” Here’s what I wrote:

The beautiful young man lives in the lap of luxury. He moves gracefully through a world of his own design. His meals are served on silver platters and exactly to his liking.

His days are filled with activities that soothe his soul. His day is occupied with studying nature, practicing yoga, long naps and other forms of self care. He is a man of means with seemingly unlimited resources and the cost of his extravagant life is of no consequence to him.

The young man is demanding of his staff yet forgiving of their incompetence. This can be a source of frustration but he chooses peace over anger, zen over impatience. Being a man of privilege affords him perspective and he chooses kindness when possible.

He is the other half. He is my cat.

So that’s what I wrote and I was pretty pleased with the results given that we had just a few minutes to pull it together.

Yesterday was a timely reminder that writing can and should be fun, at least part of the time. Most of what I write is utilitarian and the creative parts are often rushed. I really want to prioritize making writing fun again.

By the way, the writing prompts came from “642 Things To Write About” by San Francisco’s Writers Grotto. There are tons of books and websites dedicated to writing prompts so there’s no shortage of inspiration to help you get started.

Are you a writer? Is it fun or is it painful?