Prompts

Scroll down for:
1. Five tips for using prompts
2. Tips for handling work that results from these prompts.


May 3, 2021 – I am taking a break from posting daily posts for a month, but I hope you find the following four-months’ worth useful, along with tips on how to use them.

April Prompts
They left without me | Dog meets cat | spring cleaning | Last chance | Don’t you dare |Cats all around | For the last time | Things might have been so different it…|An early memory |Barefoot | Let me take that for you |A family dinner unlike any other |As luck would have it |In the garden |Things will be different this time |A boy and a dog on a beach | Making order out of chaos |Slowly, slowly |I put it down somewhere, and haven’t seen it since | A change in the weather |Watching the clock | A place and time | It was the best of times | Everything I know about ^^^ | Some Sunday morning |Make the best of it |Which came first. The rabbit or the egg? (Happy Easter!) |It’s a long way down

March Prompts
The mixed pleasures of housework / I sat down to write, and…/ It was meant to be the trip of a lifetime /It wasn’t my idea at all / The girl with big dreams /Tell me again /Take what you need / Let it go / Stir it up / I don’t want to count my chickens, but… / Just for a moment / Imaginary friends / Follow that car / After COVID / Right this way / A ticket to ride / Minute by minute, hour by hour / Words of love / Minding the baby / Inside – outside / Objects in the mirror Take what you need / Whistle Stop / Where did you go?Buying time / Take your pick / You are here / Nothing left on the plate / Begin at the end / Time to try again / Rearranging the furniture.

Scroll down for January and February’s prompts

Five tips for using writing prompts

  1. Consider doing timed writing – 3, 7, 10 or 20 minutes seems to work well for most people.
  2. Begin with a fresh page of paper, empty screen.
  3. Don’t think about it too long before you start writing.
  4. Keep your hand moving – don’t stop to rethink or redirect, just keep going. Go wherever the writing leads.
  5. Reread what you’ve written with curiosty rather than judgement. 

Tips for working with writing that results from prompts

  1. Reread what you wrote with curiosity rather than judgement.
  2. Highlight the most compelling/interesting/revealing line, phrase, sentence or para. (You’ll see something different each time you review it.) This does two things. 1. Reassures you that you CAN write and you have something interesting to say and 2) It gives you something specific to pick up on if you want to keep going.
  3. Make notes about what you might do with this piece of writing – where it might lead you, other ideas and associations it throws up.
  4. If you’re compelled to keep writing about it now, use the line or phrase you’ve highlighted as your starting line.
  5. When you’re done, put the piece of writing away somewhere safe… even if it does not seem useful now, you never know when it might be.

February Prompts:
Birdsong through the window | The view from here |In for a penny |An afternoon at the movies | Snow on snow |Birds of a feather | The sounds of silence |New beginnings |The fly in the ointment | Raising vegetables |Hoping against hope |Pick up |Love is not enough |Behind closed doors | It snowed so much that… |In the classroom at recess |I give you this flower as a token of…|Cleaning windows |Elephants everywhere |We went to the beach | Birdwatching |Kitchen capers |High Days and Holidays |Underneath the awning |Write about anything you associate with rocks and/or stones | ‘And so we set off…’

January Prompts:
“They brought the bed downstairs, one piece at a time / “They rarely eat together, instead they…” / On Sunday morning / In the old house / Snow time – show time / Checking the calendar / Ouch! / “S/he/they set off, carrying a …” /Begin “Yesterday…” / ‘She/I always wondered…’/ Around and around and around / Write a scene of fiction in which one character asks the other, “Where have you been?” and the other lies or dissembles. / “On Sunday morning…” / “All wrapped up” – literally or figuratively /A first… kiss, bike ride, home, love, baby… /Begin… “I/she/he couldn’t know how it would turn out when…’ / Tea in the garden / As cold or hot as you’ve ever been /Early one morning / In stitches / Begin, ‘I remember him/her because…’ / Use your five senses to describe a school classroom / Begin ‘From up there/here…’ / Write about a favourite/ memorable piece of clothing and a situation in which you or your character wore it / This Painting by Andrew Wyeth / Barefoot / My father’s shoes or My mother’s hands or vice versa. Or both. / Lost and/or Found /Something (person, incident, item) about Christmas just gone