Category: Prompts

  • Liminal . . . Prompt #667

    “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”  Viktor Frankl

    Prompt: Write about the space between stimulus and response.

    Write about a time you recognized it – or you didn’t – and how that impacted your life.

    OR:  Explore the word or the concept of liminal:

    Liminal specifically means relating to the point (or threshold) beyond which a sensation becomes too faint to be experienced.

    Liminal: Related to or situated at a sensory threshold; barely perceptible or capable of eliciting a response, things that exist at the threshold (or border) between one thing and another.

    Examples of liminal:

    The liminal stage is the middle stage, the in-between period during which a person has not yet fully reached their new status in whatever rite of passage they are going through.

    ~ Being “the new kid” at school before being fully incorporated into a new group of friends.

    ~ After graduation, before being fully established in a workplace.

    ~ After retirement . . .

    To be in a liminal space means to be on the precipice of something new but not quite there yet. You can be in a liminal space physically, emotionally, or metaphorically.

    A liminal state of mind

    A period of transition where normal limits to thought, self-understanding, and behavior are relaxed — a situation which can lead to new perspectives.

    Prompt: Write about a liminal space.

    “Burgeoning” by Su Shafer shows a unique spin using this prompt.

    Marlene C

  • Turning Point . . . Prompt #666

    Write about a turning point.

    Or, a point of no return.

    #justwrite #iamawriter #iamwriting

    Marlene C

  • Adversity . . . Prompt #665

    The idea of using prompts is to inspire writing in a freeform style.

    There are no rules, except to write without too much thinking.

    Let your thoughts flow and capture them in writing.

    Give your inner critic time off during this writing.

    The challenge of freewriting is getting Self out of the way.

    With freewrites, you are writing for yourself, not for an audience.

    Give yourself permission to be open to whatever comes up while you are writing.

    Writing Prompt: How do you handle adversity?

    There are several prompts, ideas about freewrites, and resources about how to write without adding trauma in “The Write Spot: Writing as a Path to Healing,” available from your local bookseller and as both print books and ebooks on Amazon.

    Marlene C

  • Resilience . . . Prompt #664

    “Resilience is the ability to scrape yourself off the floor relatively quickly after a giant trauma, medium-size setback or everyday disappointment.

    Resilience is a set of coping mechanisms we develop over time. This quality is determined by how we take care of ourselves, the people we surround ourselves with and what we do to find meaning and purpose in our lives.”

    — “How to Bounce Back From Anything,” by Elaine Chin, M.D. and William Howatt, PH.D, Good Housekeeping magazine, July 2018

    Writing Prompts

    How do you define resiliency?

    What are your coping mechanisms?

    What do you do to take care of yourself?

    Is there someone in your life who hinders your ability to be resilient?

    Write about the times you have been resilient.

    #justwrite #iamwriting #iamawriter

    Marlene C

  • You Think You Know Me . . . Prompt #663

    Writing prompts inspired by the June 5, 2022 interview with Kevin Powell and Dr. Adrian Arancibia.

    Prompt #1: You think you know me, but you don’t know . . .

    Prompt #2: Same as first prompt, but this time write in your parent’s voice, or from your parent’s perspective,

    Or: Write from the point of view of Someone Important in your life.

    Write as if your mother or father or Important Person were writing, “You think you know me, but what you don’t know . . .

    #justwrite #iamwriting #iamawriter

    Marlene C

    ,

  • The next chance I get . . . Prompt #662

    Writing Prompt

    The next chance I get . . .

    #justwrite #amwriting #iamawriter

    Marlene C

  • What fascinates you? Prompt #661

    Write about what fascinates you, or what you are obsessed with.

    #justwrite #amwriting #iamawriter #freewrites

    Marlene C

  • I’m not sure . . . Prompt #660

    Use any of these sentence starts to inspire writing:

    I’m not sure if . . .

    I’m not sure about . . .

    I’m not sure when . . .

    I’m not sure why . . .

    I’m not sure how . . .

    I’m just not sure.

    #justwrite #amwriting #iamawriter

    Marlene C

  • Never would I ever . . . Prompt #659

    Writing Prompt:

    Never would I ever . . .

    #iamwriting #iamawriter #justwrite

    Marlene C

  • Perspective . . . Prompt #658

    I like the idea of looking at familair things with a new perspective.

    This writing idea is from Kathryn Petruccelli:

    Look at something in your environment, perhaps something you’ve seen many times before, that you think you know well.

    It could be a piece of art hanging in your house, or a plant on your windowsill.

    Get close and look again. Re-see it.

    After you’ve spent some time with it, create a list of metaphors—things it looks like, or reminds you of.

    Don’t be too attached to logic, be free with your associations.

    Maybe the comparisons will get wild as you go along.

    At some point, break the pattern of the list and slow things down by going deeper into description for one metaphor (extend it and explain it in more detail), or by making a statement—a simple subject-verb sentence—that reflects on or summarizes what you’ve said so far.

    Note from Marlene: Use your list as seeds for future writing.

    Join Kathryn Petruccelli for a summer of poking around in poetry.

    Write Spot Blog Posts about similes and metaphors:

    Describe colorful character using similes and metaphors

    Innovative Technique for Creative Writing

    An experience in nature

    Just Write!

    #iamwriting #iamawriter #justwrite #iamapoet

    Marlene C

    , ,