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Why one writer's discovery of a stranger's shopping list reveals the hidden stories all around us—and how you can learn to capture them too
by Writing Workshops Staff
A month ago
Why one writer's discovery of a stranger's shopping list reveals the hidden stories all around us—and how you can learn to capture them too.
What if the most profound stories aren't found in epic adventures, but in the mundane details of everyday life?
Award-winning author Mira Ptacin proves this beautifully in her latest essay for Longreads, "Eight Limes, No More: The Accidental Poetry of Found Lists," where she transforms a stranger's grocery list into a meditation on wonder, survival, and the unexpected poetry hiding in plain sight.
When Ordinary Becomes Extraordinary
Ptacin's essay begins with a simple discovery: "overnight oats / eight limes, NO MORE / melatonin and cheap bday card / red peppers (organic!) / wine x3/a fancy beer for Carla? / p.s. swing by Mom's on the way home" Found on her windshield in a Trader Joe's parking lot, this crumpled piece of paper becomes the catalyst for a profound exploration of storytelling, anthropology, and the art of paying attention.
What makes Ptacin's writing so compelling is her ability to see the extraordinary in the ordinary. "There's a strange intimacy to a stranger's grocery list; a found scrap of paper is a rare analog window into someone else's needs," she writes, revealing how even the most mundane artifacts can become windows into the human experience.
The Anthropologist's Eye for Detail
Drawing from her background in anthropology, including a transformative and difficult experience on an archaeological dig in Mongolia, Ptacin demonstrates how the skills of observation and empathy translate directly into powerful writing. Her essay weaves together personal narrative, literary analysis, and cultural commentary, showing readers how to find stories everywhere they look.
"I could sit quietly and observe anywhere, and anywhere I could find a story. It just took a breath. A pause," she reflects, offering writers a fundamental truth: the best material is often right in front of us, waiting to be noticed.
Lists as Literary Devices
Ptacin's essay isn't just about found lists: it's a masterclass in using lists as literary devices. She analyzes how writers from Fitzgerald to Joyce to Joan Didion have used lists to create rhythm, provide white space, and let readers fill in the emotional gaps. "Lists let the light through. They defer to the reader's imagination instead of commanding it," she explains, offering writers a powerful tool for creating intimacy and connection.
From Prison Classrooms to Your Writing Practice
Perhaps most moving is Ptacin's description of teaching memoir writing to incarcerated women, where she always begins with lists. "We begin with lists. Not essays, not open wounds. Lists," she writes, demonstrating how this simple form can be both accessible and profound, allowing writers to approach difficult material with gentle precision.
Learn These Techniques Yourself
If Ptacin's essay inspires you to discover the hidden poetry in your own life, you're in luck. The master storyteller herself, whose work has appeared in is offering two upcoming workshops where you can learn her techniques firsthand:
Flash Nonfiction and Micro-Memoir (Starting July 22nd)
This 4-week generative workshop explores the emotional power of brevity in creative nonfiction. Perfect for writers who want to learn how small stories can carry profound emotional weight, the course covers:
- Week 1: The Shard and the Spark - capturing essence through specific detail
- Week 2: Persona and Mask - crafting voice for emotional impact
- Week 3: The Unsaid and the Understory - the power of what's left out
- Week 4: Form as Function - using structure to surprise and move readers
Starts Tuesday, July 22nd, 2025 | 6:00-8:00 PM Eastern | $299
Paper, Memory, and Light: Writing Through Grief (Starting October 2nd)
This 5-week workshop offers a compassionate space for exploring loss through creative expression. Whether you're processing the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, or another life transition, this course provides tools for honoring what you've lost while finding your way forward through writing.
Starts Thursday, October 2nd, 2025 | 6:00-8:00 PM Eastern | $375
Why Study with Mira Ptacin?
Mira Ptacin is the author of the award-winning memoir Poor Your Soul as well as the genre-blending book The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna, which the New York Times lauded as a best book to read during a pandemic. Her work appears in The Atavist, The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, Harper’s, Lit Hub, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Down East, and more.
Ptacin isn't just an acclaimed author; she's also a transformative teacher. Student testimonials consistently praise her ability to create safe spaces for vulnerable writing, her innovative prompts, and her skill at helping writers access their most authentic voices.
As one former student put it: "Mira's words have the same effect as stepping into a hot bath, after standing under a spotlight — she calls attention to what ails us and then says, here is how I am healing myself; how we can heal ourselves."
The Pause That Changes Everything
"This is the pause. The pause. The pause. The pause," Ptacin concludes her essay, reminding us that the most important skill for any writer might be the ability to stop, notice, and wonder at the ordinary magic surrounding us every day.
In a world that moves increasingly fast, Ptacin's work offers permission and instruction for slowing down, paying attention, and finding the profound stories hiding in grocery lists, prison workshops, and the thousand small moments that make up a life.
Ready to discover the poetry in your own everyday experiences? Read Mira's full essay at Longreads, then join her upcoming workshops to learn how to transform your observations into powerful, moving prose.
Both of Mira's workshops meet weekly via Zoom and include live instruction, writing prompts, group critique, and individual feedback. Payment plans are available. Contact us with questions.
