Day 6

11:11 (or 22:22)! Make a wish!

Wishing wells. Genies in bottles. Dandelions. Crossing new bridges. Prayers. There are all these superstitions where you're supposed to close your eyes and make a wish. Choose one, or three, or all of them and make a wish - be it yours, a character's, a friend's, whoever.

Challenge: Write a memoir that's as good as fiction. Rather than just telling the story like you'd tell it to your friends, embellish the words and make your story creative. Don't forget the power of literary devices and emotional appeal. Writing isn't entirely about telling a story, it's about putting the reader in a scene and making him or her feel, see, hear, smell everything around them just as you once did.

Tip: Repetition is a wonderful tool that can make your point. You could start each paragraph with "I wish..." and continue to tell the story after each statement. This can give the piece a simple feel when, really, there are complexities and tales twisted throughout it. Repetition can take some practice to get just right, however. You need to know at one point it becomes overused (when you have twenty pages of repeating phrases) or when you don't use it enough to allow the audience to understand what you're doing (when you only use it twice or you use it a handful of times without any reason to its placement). Give it a try!

Ready. Set. Make a wish.