Today we'll focus on the fruit that is Plum. It's said to be one of the first foods cultivated by humans. Even two thousand years ago there were already 300 different varieties in Europe alone. It can be fermented into wine, eaten fresh, baked into pastries, dried and salted to make the snack saladitos
or even just dried to make prunes.
Do at least ten to twenty minutes of reading about plums. Follow links, research cultivation, the ways they're used, their history, everything you can. Take notes of interesting little bits in your notebook.
Once you're done with your research, look at other things that plum is related to (places, people--don't forget Professor Plum!). Notably plum can refer to a color (#8E4585) that was even picked as Sherwin-Williams' color of the year for 2014, whatever that means. But hey, maybe your rabbit hole of research will lead to a story about someone having a mental breakdown while deciding on paint colors, or maybe mine will now.
Now that you have notes, pick two or three of the most interesting bits and find a way those can be connected. Whether you decide to write a haiku about the swaying shadows of plums along the Caspian Sea in antiquity, an epic poem about a plum obsessed conqueror, a three act play about a plum-whino/philosopher contemplating life in the dark labyrinth that was ancient Rome at night, a toddler painting the walls of his playroom with Gerber plum baby food, whatever strikes you.
Just be sure to write it right away. Don't worry that it won't be good, it may not be, but it may smuggle an awesome paragraph out of you to be utilized later in a more thought-through piece. Remember, this notebook is to get you writing, not creating masterpieces in one go.
If you need added constraint, because I know some of you masochists out there do, try writing it in blank verse, or just with syllabic lines of ten (ten syllables per line). If you're writing it in prose, include at least four sentences that are just two words long (subject/verb).
