The things we hold onto

Flashy fun writing prompt and competition deadlines

Last week, the roads around us had plastic bags like snowballs on the pavements full of clothes and things that our neighbours were letting go of, to see if they can have a second life with someone else.

We have a bike outside, waiting to be taken, and a sofa with holes in it too. (I'm sure the neighbours aren't too thrilled with us!) But there are stories behind the bike and sofa:

• The bike was left in my partner's drive randomly and he fixed it up for his son who took it to Uni and back. It's a heavy, rusty, green thing that nobody wants to steal (even now).

• The sofa is the age of my partner's daughter who is in her 4th year of university and it has tears from a dog we now don't see much, and rings from cups long gone.

It wasn't easy to convince him that they'd had their day. These 'things' had become a part of the fabric of the past. They reminded us of children now grown and times long gone. There is a sense of loss, a sense of missing something.

It can be hard to let those things go and make room for new things. Memories get tied up in objects. Meanings and moments scratch their surfaces. Objects can be a great way to tell a story of something deeper as they begin to manifest more than their physical makeup. They also make for a great theme and motif.

Check out this story Stanislavsky’s Fly by Melissa Ragsly as a good example. She used show-and-tell in a theatre class to tell her story. I love the line: ‘Is it any wonder that all these objects have to do with a need to pretend finality can be defeated by memory?’

So let's crack on!

Fill up your metaphysical charity bag, and let’s see what we can and can't let go.

Your flashy prompt