The Prompt
Who prepared most of your meals when you were a child?
What objects, smells or flavors bring back these memories?
Write a story in the form of a grocery list, and make sure to tell us the story of a character who has memories like yours…either in what you include in the list, or what you leave out.
Wondering how to make a story out of a list? Listen to me talk about that here along with an example of a list story.
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Brenda
Brenda writes short stories and a fun, upbeat newsletter – Thru the Window
Join the discussion: what will you do with today’s prompt OR how did it go? Need support? Post here!
Remember: Please don’t post your story in the comments here (and I talk more about why not, here). Best practice: Leave us a comment about how it went, or share your favorite line from your story.
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Prefer paper crafts? Here’s the cut & paste version
My grocery list ran dark and fairy-tale-adjacent with a witch’s list for attracting children to her cottage in the woods. We know how that goes! It will need more work but this was super fun!
I really liked this prompt. Even though I got a late start due to a busy work schedule and usual Wednesday day with my granddaughter.
This story just spilled out. Here’s the link:
https://giggiwrites.blogspot.com/2026/05/shopping-list-for-lasagna.html
I’ll admit that I did not understand the example short story by Jennifer Egan, so I’m coming to this comment section for inspiration!
I had Ezra write a grocery list for a date that he doesn’t think is an actual date. It gets a bit more involved with comments to himself about the items. And a few reminders at the end. Like, ‘stop overthinking’ and ‘remember to breathe’. Me? Write an awkward, anxious character? Never. 🙄
Okay. Today went much better. Writing something so out of the ordinary for me shifted my thinking and I was able to set aside the time and stick with it until I got it done. I quite enjoyed the list approach. My story moved through a couple of iterations before getting to my actual first draft. It ended with a tiny bit of narration because I’m not sure how to use the grocery list to wrap it up. I started with the idea from yesterday that I never did write about because I gave up. Four characters were to be in a cabin together in the very cold north, isolated there for at least 3 months. My first grocery list, for the warmup, was just my own grocery list. Then, a second grocery list started with one of the four characters planning for their trip. Then, it took a turn and I ended up writing a grocery list that they would need after being rescued. It included air freshener to get out of their nose the smell in the cabin (I imagine three bodies would start to smell pretty bad.) The character didn’t hurt their roommates, but being cooped up with their remains sure left them in a state needing great care. What a creepy story! I’m always amazed by how my ideas twist as I work on them.
I wrote an annotated list. The footnotes give a picture of life in my childhood home. The last footnote is, “Rossini said he could make an aria out of a shopping list. I feel as if I have just done the same!”
Fun prompt, Brenda! It spurred a story involving a grocery list that I ran with before listening to the warmup and brainstorm, so I added a story in list form after that, and Julie had ideas that inspired how lists can be incorporated into future stories or ideas I might pursue as an exercise to practice list stories. So, a productive day. Both drafts are rough, but I am content with progress made in draft production in general. Checking the box.
A slightly different take, not quite a shopping list.
https://afstoryaday.blogspot.com/2026/05/shopping-list-not.html
Note this is, a little bit of a backstory to a character in a D&D campaign.
Well, this was very fun…my mom was an excellent cook and I wrote a grocery list using things she would have shopped for to prepare meals. Between the lines I remembered my father’s putdowns regarding certain things she prepared that did not deserve what he said at all. So I wrote a 1950s story honing in on one meal where his comments finally incited a rebellion by her, and her children followed her lead. In real life, she had been too afraid to say anything, let alone rebel.
Valerie, there’s a lot of background information in that story outline. Well done. I can only imagine the thoughts and effort that has gone into producing that.
Thanks, Andrew. Glad to hear that about the background information. You’ve reminded me to show more about the submissiveness of the children as well as the mother before she opened the door to a little rebellion.