prompts for human beings

if you try putting these into AI, a shoe will fall on your head

mr. joshua

The word prompt is being co-opted by silicon valley’s vanguard more like vAInguard am I right folks anyways fuck that.

Prompts are for humans to give to other humans or themselves.

You cannot put them into an AI any more than you can stick a sandal in a toaster.

These prompts you must put with care and great tact (while remembering that life's A Great Balancing Act), into your own soul.

Then, let em sit there. Sit with them. Take time apart. Revisit. Take a trip together. Propose. Take a break. Elope. And finally, write.

also

There are few less sexy words than ‘prompt’ - the way the ‘mpt’ are all bunched together? Gut wrenching. Sounds like you’re sneezing with a clothespin on your lips.

We need to make prompt into a sexy word like velvet, lush, and iguana. if you have ideas, comments are OPEN.

The prompts themselves

Every week in 🦇 THE BATCAVE 🦇, we do live cowriting sessions (that are not just for writing, btw - you can art or fart too) and I deliver some prompts to the group.

I'm gonna share the big one that everyone loves the most with all of you because while I do I keep many things - grudges, bees, the faith — I never keep a gate aka gatekeep and am not gonna start now.

the big prompt everyone 🧡es

You know that one thing you wanna write about or do but can't?

Write about the block instead.

That's it babes. Go off and be free!

Jk I'll explain.

Here’s what usually happens when I help ppl with their writing.

You: “I wanna write about this but I'm stuck."

Me: "why?"

You: "because every time I try to write it, this other thing happens instead."

Me:"write about that."

You: "oh..." or "what?" (choose one)

Me: "that's where the literal conflict is, right? That's where — in improv we call it ‘heat’ — that’s where the heat is in a scene. There’s tension there - you want something but you're unable to do it. So if you, ya know, explore what's standing in your way and you'll probably stumble right on into what the essay is actually about (vs what you think it's about).”

You: “…”

Me: “Hey can you hear me?”

You: “Yea”

Me: “cool bc sometimes the zoom sucks and”

And so on and so forth for a few hours at least.

In short: what if the block isn't a problem to solve but the story itself?

surprise yourself goofball

No one wants to read stuff you've planned on writing and then written. They wanna see you surprise yourself and to do that, you gotta go somewhere you're not planning on going. Take a detour, swim the seven seas, etc.

An example would be good here, so lemme hit you with one from my Lived XP.

experience from my own life, the only one I no

I've been having a whole heap of anxiety about wanting to send more emails to let people know about all the cool BATCAVE stuff I'm doing.

Every time I try writing those emails, my brain gets more slippery than a bowl of noodles and I can't hold onto a single thought.

I could keep trying to write the emails, OR I could write about why I'm so scared to send them, the answer to which is boils down to my needing to be liked by everyone, not wanting anyone to be mad at me, not wanting to lose any subscribers, not believing I have anything of actual value to share with people, etc.

That second path - the latter (🪜) - is not just more interesting, it's also far more likely to help me get to the real heart of what I'm wanting to say to people, not what I think I'm supposed to say.

The magic of good writing is surprise. If it surprises you, it’s gonna surprise us, and often the block is where the surprise lives.

the other prompts and videos and so much more holy shit

We’ve had six BATWRITEs so far. I’ve recorded 3 of them and have prompts for five of them (there is no record of #005 happening as far as we or the authorities can tell).

All of those prompts plus videos of me talking through them are here for paid subscribers.

come join the next one and the one after that and the one after that

We’ve got a live session tomorrow (Sat) and six more times in June.

All you gotta do to come is become a paid subscriber.

Here’s the schedule for June:

• Saturday, June 7, 830a-10a EST - BATWRITE

• Wednesday, June 11, 930am-1130am EST - BATWRITE

• Saturday, June 14, 830a-10a EST - BATWRITE

• Wednesday June 18, 12p-2p EST - BATWRITE

• Saturday, June 21, 4-530p EST - BATWRITE

• Wednesday June 25, 930am-1130am EST - BATWRITE

• Thursday, June 26, 8am-930am EST - BATWRITE

two spots left for a free TALK + EDIT package thing i’m

Two spots left for my giveaway bonanza bozanga bazooka bazinga bazluhrman (did not expect that lsat one to come but that's exactly the sort of thing you can look ever the forward to if you join the BATCAVE which, btw, have you seen what people are saying about it?)

I announced earlier this week that I’m giving away three TALK + EDIT packages for the next three people who become yearly subscribers.

One person already snagged their prize.

Two are left.

deets

free 30 MIN CALL + 1 ROUND OF EDITING for the next three two people who become yearly members of the BATCAVE .

1. This is a $150 value but for some crazy reason (the moon? retrograde?) I’m giving it away cuz I want ppl to join the batcave silly gooses and also bc I wanna help more ppl with their writing :)

2. Upgrade here and email me your upgrade confirmation at botharetrue@substack.com (I have paid notifications turned off for my sanity etc).

3. It’s up to you if you wanna do the call first and then send me stuff to edit or send me something to edit first and then do the call!

There was a big nice thing that happened recently last time but I'm not gonna tell you about that until NEXT TIME because newsletters can't be too long or they'll clog the entire email system and shut down global ecopolies.

My b rain is mush and so are those taters, let's eat, let's skate, and have some tomaters.

wait what about the comments

1. thoughts on the Big Prompt I shared?

2. Got any good prompts that help get you outta the morass of molass(es) that is your own writing?

3. sexier words for prompt - GO

4. did u like that last lil rhyme about the tomaters and taters? maybe i’ll become a children’s book auteur.