Writing Prompt – When the Party’s Over

The holidays are officially over and it’s back to the daily grind for most folks, myself included.

The snow’s still on the ground here (it snowed Christmas Day) and heading back to work in this Winter Wonderland (albeit a little sun-dappled with large patches of grass poking through) is a bit of a letdown. Sort of like that feeling you get when you threw a rockin’ party at your house, and you’ve just ushered the last guest out the door.

The party was great!

But now you’ve got to empty the sink full of dirty dishes, pick up all the empty bottles lying around, and scrape the remains of the crab dip and shrimp pesto into the trash — and take it out — so your house doesn’t smell like a fishing pier in the morning.

In other words, the coats are off the bed, but you’ve got a lot of work to do before you can relax.

Here’s Your Prompt

• “The Party’s Over” is a metaphor for divorce, break ups, graduation, etc. What does it mean to you? Journal about it or write a poem about the loss of “The party is over.”
   
• Write the “clean up” scene between roommates who just hosted an awesome get-together. Use the end of the party as an underlying metaphor for something else: they’re cleaning up, and as they do so, one roommate announces he’s moving out, or that she’s taking a job in another state, or that he’s breaking up.
   
• Nat King Cole and Journey both wrote hit songs about this topic. Write your own song.

  To give you some ideas, here are Cole’s Lyrics:

  The party’s over
  The candles flicker and dim
  You danced and dreamed through the night
  It seemed to be right just being with him
  Now you must wake up, all dreams must end
  Take off your makeup, the party’s over
  It’s all over, my friend

  (Read the complete lyrics here.)

  Journey called their song The Party’s Over (Hopelessly in Love with You).

  You never call me up
  When I’m alone at night.
  What can this poor boy do,
  When he’s hopelessly in love with you?
  So I will tell you now
  This love is fallin’ down.
  Just what more can I do,
  When I’m hopelessly in love with you?

  Oh, bye-bye, baby – The party’s over, I have gone away.
  The party’s over, I have gone away.

  (Read all the Journey lyrics here.)
   

• Turn the expression on its head: write about the party being over as a good thing. Don’t take the easy way out by having the “party” be something bad to begin with. This party had to be so good, it’s craziness that it’s over: but killing the party is going to be a good thing, just a little risky.
   

Good Luck!

 
 
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“Cocktail” Photo by Dan Mojado.