Writing Prompt: One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure

I've been a terrible writer recently. It's not even that I haven't written anything good. I just haven't written anything at all. The Pacific Northwest is full of amazing, productive, creative people and I am in awe of all of them. The long, dark winters here suck the creative energy right out of me. By the time July rolls around, I'm drained. It seems like it takes until the end of August to charge my batteries... and then the rainy season starts again.

That being said, I gravitate towards writing prompts like a drowning woman gasping for air, so I thought I'd try to share some once or twice a week for those of you struggling along with me.

Prompt: Go to your junk drawer. After taking a quick look to make sure it doesn't contain anything that will kill or maim you, close your eyes, reach in, and pull out the first thing your hand touches. Feel the weight of it. Look at it from every angle. Put it in a place of honor in your writing space.

Now, begin writing about a character for whom that object is not junk, but something of great importance. Describe the object down to the last detail. Where did it come from? What significance does it have? How does the character behave around it? What are his/her plans for it? How would he/she react if anything happened to it?

The ultimate goal here is to use the object as a gateway to your character. If you'd like, you can work an entire scene around the object. Alternatively, you might edit the object out entirely and simply continue on with the character it inspired.