Today’s prompt: Memories
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Your best gift or your all-time favorite gift. — Prompt #28
You can use these prompts to write memoir, fiction, poetry, or to just write. It doesn’t matter what your genre is, you can use these prompts to develop the craft of writing. You can respond to the prompt from your personal experience or as a fictional character would respond.
Here we go:
There are tacky gifts, insulting gifts, selfish gifts the giver secretly wants, cheap gifts and re-gifted gifts.
But some gifts are transcendent. Have you ever received such a perfect gift? One that amazed you with its imagination? Perhaps it was a gift that completely touched your heart, changed your life, opened a new world? Maybe it was a gift so dear you held onto it for a lifetime. What was it and why was it so special to you?
Prompt: Your best gift or your all-time favorite gift.
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Photo prompt — Prompt #27
With a photo prompt, write whatever comes up for you.
Photo prompt by Colby Drake. One of the things that Colby enjoys about photography is the adventure of going out to scenic areas and trying to capture those places to share with others. He believes that there is no better feeling than sharing his experiences with others when they weren’t able to be there in person. Now living in northwest Oregon, Colby has the opportunity to see some of the most beautiful places in the world (at least in his opinion). He hopes that he is able to share these places and experiences with many people that are not able to enjoy them for themselves. Enjoy!
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Something you keep, but . . . Prompt #26
Today’s prompt: Something you keep but have no use for, why do you keep it?
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A place where you find satisfaction — Prompt #25
How to write riveting scenery description — shown below by Elizabeth Berg, in an excerpt from her book, Escaping into the Open.
The summer when I was nine years old, we lived beside a huge gully. I used to go there nearly every day. Agates and wildflowers were plentiful and free for the taking — you were limited only by the size of your hands and pockets. Near the center of the gully was a secluded embankment covered by blades of grass the length and texture of girls’ hair. Willow trees surrounded it, and the sunlight coming through their leaves created a lacy pattern of shadow that I always wished I could pick up and lay over my head like a mantilla. Day after day, I lay on that small hill and watched the shifting patterns of clouds and listened to the birds. I could not identify the birds themselves, but I did recognize their calls. Sometimes I made my own sounds to call back; whenever I did, there would follow a moment of abrupt silence during which I assumed the birds tried to identify me, then gave up and went back to business. I found this satisfying; it made us even. — Page 1, Escaping into the Open by Elizabeth Berg
Your turn: Write a description of a place where you find satisfaction.
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My mother always said . . . Prompt #24
My Mother always said . . .
Set your timer for 12, 15 or 20 minutes and Just Write!
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What happened here? #23
What can you do with this photo prompt? Write whatever comes up for you.
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Yesterday I believed . . . The truth is . . . Prompt #21
Writing prompts inspired from You Want Me To Do What? Journaling for Caregivers by B. Lynn Goodwin.
Prompt: Yesterday I believed . . . The truth is . . .
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Today I feel . . .Prompt #20
Today’s prompt is inspired from You Want Me To Do What? Journaling for Caregivers (available on Amazon) by B. Lynn Goodwin, founder of Writer Advice, promoting authors through interviews. Writer Advice also publishes experienced and emerging writers, showcasing fresh ideas and high quality writing.
Prompt: Today I feel . . .
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Get started – how to use writing prompts
Get out some paper and a fast moving pen or set up your computer.Set the timer for ten minutes.
Look at something in your room, anything, it doesn’t matter. Now write. Just write whatever enters your head.
Or, open your dictionary to a random page, run your finger down a column. Stop on a word and freewrite, using that word as your prompt.
Or, use one of the prompts in this blog.
Think of this as practice writing, just as a badminton player practices before an actual meet.
Follow Natalie Goldberg’s six rules of writing listed in a previous post.
Try it right now. Paper and pen or computer ready? Glance at your clock. Note the time. Or set your timer for ten minutes. Write for ten minutes about “trees.” After that, write for ten minutes, using “I remember” as your prompt. Now go with, “What I really want to say.”
Those first thoughts as you start thinking about the prompt is where the energy is. And that’s where you will find the good stuff. The nitty-gritty that means something. As Natalie Goldberg says, “The aim is to burn through first thoughts. Say what you want to say. Don’t worry if it’s correct, polite or appropriate. First thoughts have tremendous energy. First thoughts are the way the mind flashes on something.”
Keeping your hand moving is essential. If you stop to think, your inner critic enters the scene. Write quickly so there is no time to censor yourself. If you get stuck, just write the prompt again and go from there. New thoughts might come up. Or write “What I really want to say . . .” Or write, “the trouble started when. . . ” Keep going, trust the process, your mind will give you something to write about.
If you cross out, you are letting your editor take charge. There is time for the editor to work later, when you are revising. For now, invite the editor to sit this one out.
Do not worry about spelling, punctuation and grammar. You are the only one who will see this writing, unless you choose to share it. Don’t lose the thoughts that are propelling your writing energy by worrying about grammar.
Just write.
