The Story Spark for this piece was – Spark
The Spark Generator
February 13, 2025
Dear Fellow writers,
As you may or may not know, I have been creating story sparks/prompts since December 2021. Over the years, I have had a lot of help creating and distributing those sparks from some of you so that there is something for everyone to choose from and share.
But now, things are about to change.
Some of you who have read the writing I shared in our writing groups might remember that I have written about meeting with my future self.
In December 2021, I had a Zoom meeting with my future self, where my future self (he) shared with me several things that would happen to me in the future https://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=2853. Unfortunately, I have discovered that some predicted things could not occur. And, there were some important heart things he could have shared that would have helped me if I had been warned. But, then again, with age comes some memory loss, and he was 20 years older than me at the time.
You should all know I have had contact with my future self again. This time, he decided to make amends for the mistakes he professed in our last encounter and it wasn’t on Zoom. It was through a package delivered by the intergalactic postal service.
**
The package included a letter to me. He wrote:
Dear me,
I am so sorry for the errors in our last communication. I totally forgot about those unfortunate events in our lives and those of our family. I have enclosed a gift to compensate you for any problems that might have occurred.
Sending you this is highly irregular and quite illegal. If you get caught with it, do not implicate me, as it might cause detrimental consequences to your/our future.
The gift I give you is a Spark Generator. Just place it on your head and press the appropriate buttons to activate the spark you are looking for.
Use it well, as you will create sparks for many more years. And do remember what I said about writing the 4th book *.
Your future self,
Me (a.k.a. You)
So there you have it. I now have a Spark Generator. The problem is that none of the buttons, other than the power button, are labeled – kind of like the Optimum Fiber Optic TV remote. It’s all guesswork. Here’s what it looks like:
**
You place the hat on your head, and you power it up. You then press one of the buttons to spark something.
I’ve figured out that I can spark curiosity, relationships, conversations, memories (which is very helpful if I’m walking from one room to another for some unknown reason and have the hat on), and ideas (such as writing prompts).
I’ve also discovered that it works both internally and if I am in contact with someone else, externally.
There are buttons to spark panic, regret, an argument, and all sorts of emotions.
The biggest issue with using the hat is that the buttons keep moving around, and the colors are never the same, so I can’t predict which button I’m pressing at any given time.
Needless to say, it should greatly assist me in making up our future writing prompts (which I plan to keep doing for a while), provided I can figure all this out. And also, if I can figure out how to keep it charged.
TNWW (Till Next We Write).
Your faithful prompter,
:{)
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* refer to the link of our previous meeting on Zoom.
** Fyi – for this piece, I googled “Intergalactic Postal Service” to get the image I used (Yes, there really is one). I also used MacChatGPT to generate the image of the Spark Generator.
