Category: Prompts

  • A favorite area . . . Prompt #835

    Write about a favorite area:

    in your home

    in your workplace

    in your town

    Or your favorite place on earth.

  • Space . . . Prompt #834

    Write about a space you have been in:

    Library, cathedral, top of mountain, a castle, Grand Canyon, Grand Central station, Emporium, head spaces.

    A tight space, a small space, a crawl space, outer space.

    Just Write!

  • Now vs then . . . Prompt #832

    What did you do in your twenties that you can’t, or won’t, do now?

    What can you do now that you couldn’t do in your twenties?

  • Success. Now vs then . . . Prompt #831

    Now vs then

    What did success mean to you when you were in your twenties?


    What does success look like to you now?

  • More or less . . . Prompt #830

    pink notebook on the table
    Photo by Polina ⠀ on Pexels.com

    I wish I were more . . .

    I wish I was less . . .

  • Spring Cleaning . . . Prompt #829

    close up shot of a person holding a woven basket
    Photo by Svetlana Afonina on Pexels.com

    Spring Cleaning time is here – will you be doing any cleaning?

    How about cleaning up more than your living space?

    Relationships?

    Goals?

    Write about Spring Cleaning.

  • Write What Is True

    “Don’t write what sounds clever, write what’s true.” —Ethan Canin

    Excerpted from “Novelist Curtis Sittenfeld Thinks Middle Age is Underrated,” by Lane Florsheim, The Wall Street Journal, March 1-2, 2025

    Sittenfeld continued with, “That’s good advice for writing, but it’s also good advice for how to be a person. It can be hard to be sincere, but I think you have a much greater chance of connection with others if you are.”

    Note From Marlene: You know what I say . . . Just Write!

    But, what if you can’t remember what’s true?

    “Write as honestly as you can about whatever it is.” Abigail Thomas

    Perhaps” is another blog post that might help when you can’t quite remember exactly what happened.

    You know what to do . . .Just Write!

  • Break-up Letter . . . Prompt #828

    Writing Prompt: Write a break-up letter to something, or someone who brings tension into your life.

    Prompt from Rebecca Evans and Gayle Brandeis, Musings & Movement Workshop.

    Rebecca will be the Writers Forum Presenter on April 15 and April 22.

    Free on Zoom

    6:00 pm to 7:30 pm Pacific

    Topic: Crafting Flash in Creative Nonfiction

    “Unlock your superpower through conveying deep truths and universal human emotions in just a few short paragraphs.”

  • Contranyms . . . Prompt #826

    A contranym is a word with two opposite meanings.  

    Or: Two meanings that contradict one another.

    Use contranyms in your writing.

    Bill: payment or an invoice

    Bolt: leave quickly or fix/immobilize

    Bound: confined/tied or going

    Buckle: connect or break or collapse

    Cleave: cling or split apart

    Clip: attach or cut off

    Dust: clean something or dust with powdered sugar

    Fast: move rapidly or fixed in place

    Finished: completed or destroyed

    Hold up: support or impede

    Left: gone or remaining

    Original: authentic/traditional or novel never done before

    Overlook: supervise or failing to oversee

    Peer: person of nobility or an equal

    Presently: now or soon

    Put out: extinguish or generate

    Sanction: approve or penalize

    Table: discuss a topic or postpone discussion

    #justwrite #iamawriter #iamwriting