What I wrote below is based on the following writing prompt that was shared in the Daily Drafters chat: Write a scene in which someone has exactly 100 words to explain everything to someone else before time runs out. Or pretend the world is ending and you only have space to write 100 words— what would you write, and to whom? Or write a poem that is exactly 100 words.

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If the world was ending, I would probably remember some of the greatest opening lines in literature. I’m not sure what writing them down at that point would do, but I would probably write them down nonetheless. What about you? What would you write in 100 words or fewer if the world was ending?

I might revise, edit, or add to this draft in the future. Stay tuned!

If you complete this prompt too, leave a comment with what you come up with for a chance to have your byline and writing excerpt featured in the (NEW!) Daily Drafts & Dialogues Community Spotlight section, now located at the bottom of every post.

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© This work is not available for artificial intelligence (AI) training. All Rights Reserved by K.E. Creighton; Creighton’s Compositions LLC. The above work is a piece of fiction. While, as in all fiction, the literary perceptions and insights are based on experience, all names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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In this new section of Daily Drafts & Dialogues, you will see additional notes on posts and what’s going on in the broader Daily Drafts & Dialogues community, more in depth questions to spur further dialogue, polls, discounts, contest opportunities, helpful links and resources, and opportunities to have your comments and work featured in the new Community Spotlight section below in future posts.

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NEW TODAY: Egalitarian Book Club chat thread for May’s pick: Westward Women by Alice Martin will be posted today.

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Egalitarian Book Club

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CURRENTLY READING: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (Join the buddy read here.)

Recommended Reading Schedule:

Week 1 (June 1-7) — Chapters 1- 11

Week 2 (June 8- 14) — Chapters 12- 27

Week 3 (June 15- 21) — Chapters 28- 42

Week 4 (June 22- 30) — Finish Book

Tuesday, June 30th: A public chat thread will be posted to discuss entire book.

JULY PICK: A poll will be posted for this pick soon!

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What I wrote below is based on the following writing prompt that was shared in the Daily Drafters chat: Write a short short story (~500 words or fewer) about something that is being modernized, either real or imagined. Or write a short essay about something you believe should be modernized ASAP.

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If it were up to me, we would modernize mindsets first, one at a time, if need be, because that is the only thing that would have a lasting effect in this world. If only there was a device for this … oh, wait, maybe there is? Though it would have to be whatever the opposite of a smartphone or LLM is.

Maybe for the modernizing I am suggesting, all we need is paper and pen or a simple word processor? And the will to write the world we want into existence…

— because, for whatever reason, in the age of smartphones and mass surveillance and AI and all the other invasive technologies that consume everything that’s rightfully ours like out-of-control vacuums, we’re still clinging to mastering rote learning as a goalpost for intelligence, like we need to pack as much information into our brains as possible, as quickly as possible, to regurgitate it without context as quickly as possible, to be considered smart and capable.

But how does that make any sense anymore when we have so much at our literal and figurative fingertips? When our devices carry our information for us like pack animals without weight restrictions for what they can carry on our behalf, even when we don’t want them to?

We’re still fixated on acquiring more, more, more, more when we have so much waste at our fingertips. Wasted information. Wasted time. Wasted attention. Wasted resources. You name it!

I’m not saying we need less, per se, but maybe? At least until we have a practical place to put what we already have. We already have too much, both abstractly and physically speaking, and nowhere useful to put it or so it seems.

Or maybe what’s really at stake entails reallocating and redistributing what we have at our fingertips already, to ensure it’s useful instead of wasted? But who knows how long that will take. Especially with our current archaic, barbaric, exploitative, hoarding, consumerist… mindsets.

Regardless, what I am considering would require us to modernize our mindsets to contextualize the waste of information we have instead. To think about it and all our waste critically even. Not dismiss it outright necessarily but weigh its origins and future and everything in between.

Maybe?

— without relying solely on the devices that are still stuck in the past of amassing more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more… faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster...

— when we already have more than enough of everything we need and don’t know exactly how to use it or distribute it or where we want to put it yet, regardless of how fast we can access it.

If only the waste was understood better and contextualized better and managed and administered better, so it wasn’t waste but a resource, as it was supposed to be all along.

But, again, that requires an updated mindset. A mindset that is centered in reality and the real modern world and its physical and conscious and unconscious limits, not unfettered, archaic, emotional pulls of more, more, more, more, more, more…

— because once we update our mindsets to better understand and contextualize and distribute the ‘more’ we have at our fingertips, the better equipped we will be to modernize our education systems and how they operate, which will bleed into our professional systems and environments of work and how they operate, which will inevitably bleed into our lifestyles and relationships and community structures and how they operate. Which will lead to better innovations and human ingenuity overall.

And wouldn’t that be something? The ‘something’ that we actually need? Not the ‘something’ we are sold to believe by the all-consuming devices at our fingertips.

But how and where do we start updating minds, then hearts?

Can storytelling help us accomplish these things?

Maybe.

If we remember that where there is a will, there is a way to write the world we want into existence.

Today’s essay is more creative than traditional in its structure and content, and I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about how it turned out. Alas, that is what writing drafts is all about, no? I will have to sit with it to see if I want to edit and revise it later. I still have a lot of thoughts left to unpack here!

What are your thoughts?

Leave a comment to join this dialogue, or to share an excerpt of your own writing if you completed this prompt.

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© This work is not available for artificial intelligence (AI) training. All Rights Reserved by K.E. Creighton; Creighton’s Compositions LLC.

Want to express your appreciation for this post?

Daily Drafts & Dialogues is fueled by loyal readers, caffeine, and shares with kind words, so any support you can offer to keep it and me going is greatly appreciated. Sincerely, thank you so much! — K.E. Creighton

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⚡Flash Fiction Friday⚡

Five Senses, Five Paragraphs

✍️Write a story in exactly five paragraphs, each one focused on a different sense (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch)✍️

🔄Share what you write for this prompt (via direct message, comment, chat thread, or tagged post) by end-of-day Sunday for bragging rights, and for the chance to have your work and byline featured in a future Daily Drafts & Dialogues post.🔄

In this new section of Daily Drafts & Dialogues, you will see additional notes on posts and what’s going on in the broader Daily Drafts & Dialogues community, more in depth questions to spur further dialogue, polls, discounts, contest opportunities, helpful links and resources, and opportunities to have your comments and work featured in the new Community Spotlight section below in future posts.

Community Spotlight

This new section will FEATURE YOUR WORK AND VOICES. Leave a thoughtful comment on a Daily Drafts & Dialogues post for a chance to have your writing, links, and profile featured here.

Daily Drafters Features and Exclusives

PAID SUBSCRIBERS: Check the chat for daily writing prompts, tips, inspiration, feedback, dialogues, and other exclusive content. And get your work and byline featured here in a future post!

NEW TODAY: This week’s Community Chat Thread goes LIVE later today! Share your responses to this week’s writing prompts, or anything else you worked on this past week that you’d like to discuss or receive feedback on!

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Egalitarian Book Club

Join the Egalitarian Book Club

Currently Reading: Westward Women by Alice Martin (Join the buddy read here.)

Recommended Reading Schedule:

Week 1 (May 1-10) — Chap. 1-7 (Part I)

Week 2 (May 11- 17) — Chap. 8-14 (Part II- III)

Week 3 (May 18- 24) — Chap. 15-21 (Part III- IV)

Week 4 (May 25- 31) — Part V, remaining chapters

Substack CHAT THREAD to discuss entire book will be shared this weekend.

June Pick:

Votes are in! We’ll be reading Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke in June.

Join the buddy read here. And stay tuned for a recommended reading schedule.

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What I wrote below is based on the following writing prompt: Write a piece of flash fiction, or a poem, about a ballet dancer. Or write about the last time you either attended a ballet or performed in one.

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Bombs Over Iran

Hold 

Hold

Hold

Standby

Hold 

Hold

Steady

Hold

Ready

Aim

Fire

Bombs 
that discharge power
and liberty

Bombs 
that destroy targets
and diplomacy

Bombs 
that decimate compounds
and authority

Bombs 
that disperse militias
and hostility 

Bombs
that devastate markets
and economies

Bombs 
that drain oil wells
and energy 

Bombs …

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