Shanta Lee Gander - 7/18/22

Write The Book: Conversations on Craft

Vermont photographer and writer across genres Shanta Lee Gander, whose debut poetry collection, Ghettoclaustrophobia: Dreamin of Mama While Trying to Speak Woman in Woke Tongues (Diode Editions), won the Vermont Book Award for Poetry in 2021.

This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Shanta Lee Gander, who mentioned her own version of this during our conversation.

What are your impossible things that are all true?

The Shenanigans List

“Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said. 'One can't believe impossible things.' I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. There goes the shawl again!”

Are there funny things that people in your life have shared or things that they say? For Shanta, the shenanigans list includes real vignettes and quotes of the ridiculous, the absurd and the most surreal things that usually has one thinking, "This is so good, I can't make this up."

For this prompt, and perhaps as an ongoing practice, think about quotes, funny things and quirky things and start your own list of the impossible, the bizarre and surreal. Start a shenanigans list; you'll be surprised at the material it may provide in the future for other writing!

Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.

Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro

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