This March I will be participating in the mont
h-long Slice of Life Challenge. Each day I will be posting a ‘slice’ from my life. This year I am using Natalie Goldberg’s book Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir to provide my sparks for memoir writing. Each post will be a quick write using one of Natalie’s exercises to practice the skill of noticing and remembering.
Begin a 10 minute writing with No Thank You. Every time you get stuck write No Thank You and keep going.
If you are trying to avoid political posts this won’t be your slice du jour–sorry, not sorry.
What comes to your mind when you start with the phrase, “No thank you”?
litcoachlady 
I echo your “No, thank you! ” What a great prompt! I think I’ll try this one with kids. They love writing with a turn of a phrase.
Well, you can see what was on my mind, for sure, today!
I love this format!!!! And could have written something very similar!!! Like Margaret, I want to try it with my students. I think they would love it!
This is great, I’m getting a very good picture (from the other side of the world) that most (all?) teachers don’t like you know who!! It is a great format….thanks for sharing!
Cannot wait to write using this format . . . and then flip it to “Yes, please . . .” Thanks for the idea!
A great “no thank you” that I can get behind. And what a great prompt. I like Fran’s idea to follow it with a “Yes, please” prompt. Might even use the “no thank you” one this afternoon. Yes, please!
Used it! The kids loved it. We got some very serious responses and some very funny ones. Thanks for the inspiration!
I’ve been trying to reply to your blog posts Amanda but it is asking me to log in and then saying my log in is incorrect so just let me say I’m enjoying your slices and maybe one of these days I’ll get a comment on one of them!!
The “yes, please” and “no, thank you” duos are in my queue for the month. Thanks (I need to get Goldberg’s book…[Better World Books for $5]…Done!)
There is so much to love about Goldberg’s book- what a great slice this is- honest and heartfelt and so succinct.
I went in a different direction with “no thank you.” One of my pet peeves is when parents and early childhood educators say “No thank you” to toddlers and little ones when they want them to stop doing something. Just say “No” or “Stop.” Makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up! That is all.