I’m not one to follow the daily prompts of blog-land (I’m flat out getting through my own material (can you believe I still haven’t gotten around to writing about hydration!?)). That said, I did see something about an A to Z challenge that for some reason reminded me of a game we used to play as kids.
Think of the name of your first ever pet (or teddy bear) and the street name of your first home (you can choose your childhood home or the first home you purchased). You put the two words together and get a new name for yourself. For me, it’s “Snagglepuss Simmons”. Congratulations! Like it or not, that becomes your ‘stage name’, your alter ego spy name, or writerly nom de plume. Or, as in my case, your slightly cringey ‘what the heck’ moniker you’ll never use for anything other than a good laugh.
I’ve also seen websites and tables where you can invent the name of your new thriller novel by using random word generators that throw two words together willy-nilly.
I thought I’d take all these ideas and turn them into a Mindful Migraine journal prompter.
I’ve created two A-Z columns of (mostly) positive, mindful words. You take the first letter of your first name and the word from the first column, then combine it with the corresponding word from the first letter of your second name for the second word. If it helps make more sense, add ‘The’ to the front of your prompt:
I sign my blog posts “Linda x” to send you my love (but also to save myself from being identified and embarrassing my teenage daughters). My journal prompt, therefore, would be: “The Luminous Xylophone”. Even though it sounds strange at first, it does send my mind spinning off in the direction of light and music, and musical lightness, and memories from school when I used to play a giant timber xylophone under a spotlight…
Remember with journalling, there’s no wrong or right, just ‘w-rite’.
My husband’s initials are AB, so his journal prompt would be “The attentive blogger” (hmmm… whatever would he write about?!)
If you’re looking for a fun way to get some journalling done, have a go at the list above and see where it takes you. If you’re not a writer, then just use the words as a thought prompt; let your mind wonder-wander from this strange starting point and see where it takes you.
If all that fails, go back to thinking about how you could use your stage name in real life. Or maybe combine the two name-games… “Snagglepuss Simmons – the luminous xylophone player!”
(The mind boggles!)
Enjoy – and take care – Linda x
The Mindful Migraine 
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