Category — Writing prompts

Look outside the nearest window — and if you can, go outside. Write about the first bird you see, describing it in detail. If you don’t know exactly what type of bird it is, make up a name for it based on its appearance. Next, write about its most human quality and about which human person in your life the bird reminds you of.

I’m happy to present a few more Quickies, which of course means you have no excuse not to write this week. “Quickies” are prompts that can be done in five minutes or fewer, though of course you can also take your time and write for as long as you wish. Enjoy!

- Write for one minute about each of these words: interstate, book, rice, purple, pine.

- Write about a cup of tea.

- Describe your last headache.

- Write about today’s sunrise. Or sunset.

- Describe your front door.

Write about a time you felt limited, whether a speed limit or a one-per-customer coupon or a limitation imposed on you at work. Did you accept or reject this limitation? How do you deal with limits in general…do you tend to obey or defy them?

This is also a great exercise for fiction writers: Apply the above to one or more characters.

Think of a relative who died before you were born — someone whom you’ve heard about through family stories but have never met. Write down as much as you know about this person, including how the two of you might’ve gotten along if you’d had the chance to know each other. When you run out of the knowledge you have, continue to develop this character as a fictional one and see where this takes you.

I can’t remember where I first heard that I’d be blessed with good luck if a ladybug landed on me or if I picked up a penny off the street, but the notions themselves have certainly stuck with me. To this day, I adore ladybugs, and I’m always scooping up pennies from the street, which I admit is a little sad.

What are your good-luck charms? Write about something you believe is a sign of good luck, including how you first learned about it (if you can recall) and whether you still believe in it…and why or why not.

Write about the last person who annoyed you and why. Next, describe something you like about this person.

Finally, write about yourself from this person’s POV. How do you imagine he/she perceives you and why?

(This is also a really fun exercise to apply to fictional characters.)

Write about being rained out.

Write about a supermarket aisle you never enter. And why.

Good morning, writers!

For our writing prompt today, I thought we’d take a little road trip over to the Conversations Across Borders blog, “On the Ground.” For any of you who aren’t yet familiar with Conversations Across Borders, it is a fabulous nonprofit organization, based in the Pacific Northwest, whose mission is to connect and support readers and writers around the world. This mission is accomplished through four programs: Cab Literary Journal, the Conversations Across Borders Project, writing workshops, and the Writers in the Schools Program. All proceeds from these programs are given as grants to schools and writing programs. For a little more information on CAB, check out this Q&A with one of its founders.

Meanwhile, one way to get familiar with CAB and everything it’s about is to read On the Ground. Visit, read, comment, and come back. Click here for today’s writing prompt, and after you’ve done the prompt, stay awhile and enjoy learning more about CAB.

We’ve all been there…whether it’s waking too early and being unable to go back to sleep, or staying up too late and being unable to get to sleep in the first place. Or maybe it’s not insomnia but a necessary sleeplessness, like taking care of a newborn baby or studying for a final exam. Either way, the lack of sleep causes us to see the world a bit differently the next day; that haze of exhaustion can make us cranky, or clumsy, or any number of things.

Write about a time you couldn’t sleep. Write about why. What was keeping you up? How did you (finally) get to sleep? When was the last time you found yourself up late? Then write about what the world looked like to you the following day: How was it different than it is when you are well rested?

Write about the last time you danced.

I was chatting via email with a poet friend last week about writing letters, real letters (and yes, I’m aware of the irony) — about how special it is to get a letter or card in the mail, and how seldom it happens anymore. It reminded me of the few true pen pals I still have out there and inspired me to write a letter to one of them that very day. When most of what we get in the mail are bills and solicitations (and, of course, the occasional rejection slip), wouldn’t it be nice to have a friendly card arrive amid all that?

So today’s writing prompt is more like an assignment: Write a letter. Write a real letter, in your own handwriting, to someone in your life; go to the post office and pick out a special stamp, something perfect for this person; and mail it. It sounds like a lot of work, but this is the point: to take the time to do something a little extra for someone who means a lot to you. 

Then, take a few moments to write about how it felt to go through this whole process. What did you enjoy about it (or not enjoy) and why?

Happy President’s Day!

In honor of the holiday, I’d like to focus today’s prompt on holidays. (Bet you didn’t see that one coming.)

Holidays are wonderful but odd in that, depending on your job, sometimes you get the day off and sometimes you don’t. (Before I worked at a university, I didn’t even realize some holidays existed. And until I lived in Boston, I didn’t know there was any such thing as Patriot’s Day, a.k.a. Boston Marathon Day.) Sometimes you’ll be celebrating a religious holiday that no one else seems to be aware of; other times the whole world seems to have the day off for a holiday you don’t celebrate at all. Still other holidays may be special to you but apparently not special enough to close the post office. And much of the time, we “celebrate” a holiday without really thinking about the origins of it or about its significance.

Write about a favorite teacher. What was the most important thing he or she taught you?

Write about a letter or email that you (or your character) neglected to send. And why. And whether he/she will send it after all. And why or why not. And just keep going…