One of my secret obsessions is Found magazine, published by author Davy Rothbart. You know all those scraps of paper that you see blowing around various alleys, or scrawls pinned to bulletin boards, or crumpled lists in the bottom of your grocery carts? It turns out that often there are very interesting things written on that detritus…all collected by Found magazine.
The published volumes are excellent, but I prefer the randomness of the website, where you can check out the “find of the day” and then head off in infinite directions, exploring all the finds. And the comment trails can be equally interesting. Here are two of my absolute favorites.
And here’s info on the magazines and books.
Writers seeking inspiration or exercise prompts: I suspect it’s impossible not to come up with ideas after spending time here.
(No, I’ve never found anything good enough to send in…though now I pick up crumpled pieces of paper and read them. Usually just a boring old grocery list, though.)