
I once heard book review editor and journalist, Arthur Salm, talk about his children's book, Anyway. He had no experience writing kids books except that he told his kids bedtime stories. He never knew what those stories would be ahead of time, as long as he started with "Did I ever tell you about the time....?" a story always came together.
You may have done this before, but it's one of those prompts you can repeat to find new stories. Play with finishing the sentence at least seven different ways, and then pick one or two of those sentences and keep going with it. Break some rules, get quirky if it feels right, or fictional, and consider venturing into poetry with it.
Did I ever tell you about the time I channeled the Vietnamese pedicurist?
Did I ever tell you about the time I was a TV repairman-beat poet?
Did I ever tell you about the time I fell into a giant banana cream pie?
Did I ever tell you about the time where time stood still?