ImPromptu

I enjoy these forays into daily writing; I feel like I’m doing something creative every day, if only for a few minutes, and I hope someone is out there actually reading these musings.

Occasionally, though, I balk at the prompts. Often they spark my imagination in a way that I can talk about more than just what the prompt may suggest. At times, though, they seem to be repetitious, and I think, “Didn’t I just answer this one?”

In response to that, I decided to ask ChatGPT to generate some prompts for me. (First I had to decide if I wanted to pay $20 a month to upgrade; I decided to delay that decision.) Since I enjoy the memoir aspect of blogging, and because my podcast, Audio Chimera, is about memory, I phrased my request thus: “Give me some blog prompts based on the idea of memoir writing.”

The results provided me with some wonderful ideas for when I start my own graduate level writing seminar. As for ideas for a daily blog, they seemed a bit much. One example: “Turning Life’s Challenges into Triumphs: Writing a Resilience Memoir.” Whew!

So I refined the prompt to read: “Give me some blog prompts.” Simple, right? Maybe not. Two examples from the resulting list:

• “Diving into Virtual Reality: Its Impact on Entertainment and Beyond”

• “Understanding Cryptocurrency: A Beginner’s Guide”

For a casual blogger such as myself, these and the other 18 suggestions, dealing with lofty topics like sustainable travel, psychology, and healthcare, are way over my head. Any attempt to sound remotely knowledgeable about any of them would require at least a day’s worth of research.

I guess the lesson learned here today is to delay even longer on that upgrade for ChatGPT!

By the way, if you have any suggestions for prompts, please send them my way!