Welcome to 2024.

The weekly writing prompts we published in 2023 were random selections that each of the 4 Wild Women came up with. If you came on this part of the journey with us, we hope it was insightful.

For 2024, we will make our weekly writing exercises more focused and outcome driven. Many of us are of a certain age where we are reflecting on our lives and considering what of ourselves we may want to share and leave behind. Or we may just feel like it’s time for some deeper personal reflection.

The writing prompts for the new year will invite you to do just that. The prompts are divided into 4 parts: Early childhood, Young Adulthood, Older Adulthood, and Legacy. We are entitling the series of 52 prompts "MY LIFE IN 4 PARTS - 4 SEASONS OF ME". If a particular prompt does not speak to you or you do not wish to dig into a topic, you can reframe it to something that resonates for you. This exercise is not meant to be therapeutic though it might be for some. If needed, we encourage you to seek out professional support if any painful memories surface that cause you discomfort or distress.

We know it can be a challenge to commit to a weekly writing practice even it is only 15 minutes per session. We 4WW struggle with that too. Sometimes the prompt doesn’t speak to us or inspire an immediate outpouring of words. Often though, we start off feeling completely blank and end up with pages full of words. It’s possible our ramblings will not make any sense. And yet at times we may surprise ourselves with where the prompt takes us once we let go and let the pen flow. We may even experience important insights or memories. All of this is true and perfectly fine. This type of creative freedom takes some practice and commitment to embrace.

If you don’t consider yourself a writer, you can also do this in point or list format. The main thing is to get your thoughts on the page without analysis or self-criticism. Grammar or spelling do not matter for this exercise. If you are writing on your computer, don’t stop to correct or make changes as you’re writing. If you must, make any corrections after the time is up but try to leave your original content intact. It’s for your eyes only at this point and you may decide to never share it and burn it afterwards. That’s all up to you.

For those of you who have not yet reached your older years, once you get to those prompts you can envision how you might want those years to be for you and what legacy you might want to leave behind.

We hope you enjoy this exploration of your life with us. We’re excited to get started.

A reminder that if you want to get the weekly notices when the writing prompts are posted each Sunday, you can sign on to the blog. You can also leave us comments there.

The first prompt will come this Sunday, January 7th, 2024. To keep things simple and easy to find, this photo will appear with each writing prompt for 2024.