Start a Writing Journal!

Find a small notebook/journal you can't live without and spend 10-15 minutes writing from the prompt posted on this page twice a week. Don't stop to rewrite/edit/proof--that comes later. Just write and amaze yourself! Just for fun, find a free graphic to illustrate your words. Pixabay.com is a good source. 


Image by KateCox from Pixabay


Prompts from 5-Minute Daily Writing Prompts  by Tarn Wilson

I recommend purchasing this book for your writing library. It contains "501 Prompts to Unlease Creativity and Spark Inspiration". The prompts are divided by themes: Fantasy, Plot/POV, Settings/Memoir, Voice/Slice of Life, Setting, Mystery, Poetry, Dialogue, Science Fiction, Scene, Dialogue, Setting, Adventure, Science Fiction, Humor, Memoir, POV/Character, Plot/ and many, many others. Whatever your mood on any given day, you'll find something to write about in this well-organized book! 


PROMPT #8

(an original from me!)

You're sitting in your favorite chair watching a documentary series on archaeology. Suddenly you find yourself transported to a "dig". Where are you? What are you looking for? What do you find? (Change this to anthropology, cold cases, police on patrol, etc. The possibilities are endless!  

(And watch for my blog along these same lines on Thursday!)

PROMPT #7

Describe a characters whose choice of a pet, or relationship with their pet, reveals something surprising about them. Then describe the character from the pet's point of view.

PROMPT #6

Choose a noun that creates a strong image or emotion (snow, fire, father etc.) or a word that has multiple meanings (retreat, play). Write eight or more sentences that contain that word. Follow up with arranging the strongest lines into a poem.

The lines don't have to rhyme!

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PROMPT #5

Choose a character you've already created (or create one)

Describe them wearing the clothes in which they are most comfortable.

Where did they get the clothes? Thrift store? Hand-me-downs? Designer store? Department store clearance?

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PROMPT #4

A character finds a coin with an unfamiliar symbol on it. 

He takes it to a coin shop, but the owner of the shop won't touch it or talk about it. 

Where did he find the coin? What was he doing? What does it look like? What was the conversation between the finder and the owner of the coin shop?

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PROMPT #3

The first time I saw...

(What did you see? A person, a place, an event, an incident...how did you react...did this sighting affect your life?)

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PROMPT #2

The sign said...

    Is the sign telling you what to do? Where to go? Advertising something? Is it warning you about something? What happens if you do what it says? What happens if you don't?

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PROMPT #1

Here is your first prompt and, to get you started, the 157 words I wrote from it. It needs editing and adding to--either a beginning or an end or an expanded middle--but the point is, I have a starting point if I want to create a complete short story from what I've already written. It has possibilities!


Prompt:  Opening a Time Capsule

     Who would have put the old lard bucket under the floor and why? And why did the wooden floor choose this time to crack and partially collapse beneath my feet? 

      A musty smell rose from the pier-and-beam foundation of my grandparents' old farm house--recently come into my possession through a lengthy court battle. My brother wanted to demolish it and sell the land for six figures to a land developer. 

     Now it was over, and I'd come to look things over and see if the century-old home could be restored. As soon as I stepped through the double doors between the living and dining rooms, the floor cracked and splintered beneath my feet.

     I lifted the bucket out of the hole and went outside on the porch where I pried the lid off with a screwdriver from the toolbox in my car. But when I began to life out the contents, I began to understand why they'd been hidden away...

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