My Writing Prompts
I've decided that I'm going to start putting daily writing prompts up on my website. I've been thinking about this for a long time and since it's almost the first of the month, I decided to start with February 2010.
There are two prompts for each day. There is a single word prompt and there is a longer exercise. They are not necessarily related, but they might be on certain days, like Valentine's Day. Feel free to use these exercises and get writing! You can do 1 minute, 5 minute, 10 minute, or 20 minute writing exercises.
And if you happen to write something publishable, drop me an email to tell me and if appropriate, give me credit for the writing prompt. Nothing formal, just a shout out.
2012
2011
2010
2011
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 Glasses You are kidnapped and your captors will only feed you Halloween candy. For days. |
2 Woman Go back to your first kiss. Memoir or fiction. |
3 Pencil You get a new boss, a woman who absolutely hates men, or vice versa. Are you a man or a woman. Does she (or he) like you or dispise you? |
4 Up You're walking through the local mall, carrying a few bags containing your purchases. Suddenly you're surrounded by security and cops, guns drawn, yelling at you to get down on the ground. |
5 Virtually All news has stopped. The major news channels aren't on cable anymore, the evening news is now a sitcom, and newspapers have ceased to exist. On top of that, no one but you seems to have noticed. |
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| 6 Daylight Savings Time Arrow You wake up in the middle of the night. You itch, all over. You must have been scratching in your sleep because it hurts to scratch now. When you finally get up and look into the mirror, you're horrified to realize that you're covered by a terrible rash. |
7 Delirious You glance at the Rubik's Cube on your bookshelf. It's been there for years, mixed up because you never figured out how to fix it. But suddenly, you know how. You pick it up and in just a few moves, it's solved. And you realize you can solve other problems too. It's like suddenly you're a genius. |
8 Election Day Brief You're at a dinner party, playing with a Magic 8-Ball. Someone asks a question and you turn it over to see the answer. It says, "Run Now!" |
9 Assistant The FBI comes to your door and says that you're under arrest for copying VHS and DVD movies illegally. |
10 Suffer You notice a sharp, hard, black, thorn-like something growing out of your pinky toe. |
11 Veteran's Day Apply You wake up and stumble into the bathroom to get ready for work. It isn't until you're brushing your teeth that you discover a front tooth is suddenly missing. |
12 Doctor You take a vacation in the Bahamas. You charter a small plane to take you from one island to another, but a storm suddenly blows up and takes you off course. You crash land on a deserted isle. You decide who lives or dies. |
| 13 Reason You live in a very nice neighborhood so nothing prepares you for the drive-by shooting one day. But you realize what it is when bullets start coming through the window. And then you realize that the car must have stopped right in front of your house becuase the hail of bullets doesn't seem to stop. |
14 Transaction Your spaceship is crashing. There are two of you on board, but only one escape pod. It's only large enough for one occupant. |
15 Cord You wake up to find your child is gone. You look in the safe and discover her passport is also missing. |
16 Bald You're chatting with a stranger on the street about the weather, when suddenly an arrow goes right through his throat and he falls over dead. |
17 Calculate You child went to the high school football game. You text to find out if he or she is okay. You get a response asking for ransom. |
18 Winter Walking downtown one night, you turn a corner and see a real sword fight, just like in the movie Highlander. |
19 Physical A mugging gone wrong, in the blink of an eye, your significant other is bleeding profusely and lying in the street. |
| 20 Follow You're thirsty and you get a big glass of cold milk...and then another, and another, and another. You can't seem to get enough. You go to the store and buy several gallons of milk, and you drink them all before the end of the day, and you still want more. |
21 Blizzard A stranger comes up to you on the street and says, "You know she (or he) loved you?" Later you find out your significant othter died at that exact moment. |
22 Living You wake up hung over and stumble through the routine of getting ready for work. But when you step outside, it looks like World War III happened while you were passed out. There's not another soul in sight, except for the bodies and the aftermath of battle. |
23 Early Did you ever get in a fight at recess or after school? It can be memoir or fiction. |
24 Thanksgiving Day Pheasant A stranger on the street comes up behind you and injects you with something from a syringe. Before you can even react, the person is gone. You begin to feel... |
25 Black It's Black Friday and you venture out, and what you see is anarchy! Women are brawling in the stores, actual fist fights, and no one is trying to stop them. It's pure mayhem. |
26 Mute A gunshot in the street. You rush to help the wounded man. He's dying. He says you can have everything he has, if you'll just take this one thing to his family for him. What is it? |
| 27 Emergency You accidently leave the front door unlocked. A total stranger walks into the house and before you can even react, kneels down and begins to pray for your salvation. |
28 Prediction Your phone rings in the middle of the night. You answer and the person on the other end says, "They're here," and hangs up. |
29 Nap You walk in on your child (or parent) masturbating. |
30 Tooth You walk into the house after work or running errands and there on the floor of the living room is a huge blood stain. No body, just blood. |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 Square It's Prohibition all over again. Are you for or against it? |
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| 2 Today You learn a secret about someone close. It's really bad. What is it and who is it about. And what do you do with the knowledge? |
3 Variable You wake up in pain. Your finger has been cut off and is bleeding profusely. You can't find the finger anywhere. And you don't know how it got cut off. |
4 Demonstrate You get up in the middle of the night to pee. You forget to flush and the next morning you, or your spouse, discover the toilet bowl is full of blood. |
5 Brain Your child wakes up screaming. And they won't stop. When he or she finally does, you make out that there's a monster in their closet. ANd when you check, there really is! |
6 Win You try to wake your child, but they won't wake up. Not even for the ambulance ride to the hospital. Doctors are baffled and don't know why. |
7 Broken A bird of some kind flies into your house and you can't get it to go out. |
8 Alien You and your date/spouse go on a tour of a haunted house. In the basement, you turn back to discover him or her missing, really missing. No one else remembers him or her being there. |
| 9 Genie That's right, you find a bottle or lamp with a genie in it. |
10 Columbus Day Addict You go hicking and discover a dragon egg, and the momma dragon guarding it! |
11 Stage Your doorbell rings at 3:00am, over and over. You answer the door and no one is there, but as soon as you turn away, it starts ringing again. |
12 Area Your boss declares in the weekly staff meeting that there will be no more firings. From now on, sub-standard performers will be shot. You think it's a joke until he pulls out a gun and shoots the person sitting next to you. |
13 Exactly You find a beautiful rock and pick it up. You stick it in your pocket and everything works out for you the rest of the day, much better than expected. You joke with your spouse about it being your lucky rock and carry it every day. Turns out, it is your lucky rock! What kind of luck does it bring. |
14 Plane You don't remember taking your medication, so you do it again, and again, and again. What kind of medication is it and what does it do to you? |
15 Fence You find a magic wand, something like out of Harry Potter. When you try it, it works. What will you do with your magic wand? |
| 16 Muzzle Using a Q-Tip one morning, you find that you're bleeding out of your ear, and it won't stop. |
17 Inconsolable The doorbell rings at 4:00am. The person is insistent, ringing it over and over. You go to the door and discover a baby in a carseat on your doorstep, with a note. No one else is around. |
18 King You find a seed. It can be big or little, but you don't know what it is. You decide to plant it and find out. But it's something bad. Maybe something alien. Maybe like The Little Shop of Horrors. |
19 Moonlight You perform a magic spell to get even with your boss or teacher. But it backfires. The magic affects someone else; someone close to you. |
20 Statement Cleaning the house, you discover a miniature sword. It's the size of one of those plastic cocktail swords they use to skewer olives with, but this one is metal, and looks to be very well made. And it's sharp! |
21 Interpret You go to your grandmother's house. You discover an attic you never knew about. What do you find there? |
22 Word You're in New Orleans and you go into a magic shop. There you see a big crystal ball on display and as you gaze into it, you see... |
| 23 Establishment Your doorbeel rings early Sunday morning, 7:00am or so. It's a group of church-goers. When you answer the door, they barge in and drag everyone out of the house, forcing you to go to church. |
24 Face You find a bat hanging upside down in your bedroom. Once you start looking around, you see a lot of them, dozens! |
25 Position You go to work one morning and discover that everyone else is speaking a foreign language and you don't understand them. Maybe it's you speaking the foreign language. |
26 Direct You go out for the evening to a popular night club. Lots of cars are parked, but you're surprised that there's no doorman/bouncer like there usually is. You hear the music blaring. When you go inside, it's a blood bath. Everyone is dead. |
27 Step A beautiful vampire of the opposite sex comes to your door and asks to be invited in. |
28 Valet You're talking to your psychiatrist. He or she indicates that you've done something very bad, but you don't remember it at all. What did you do? |
29 White You wake up to discover a word or phrase has been tattooed across your forehead. You have no memory of it. What does it say and how did it happen? |
| 30 Mind You go to use the vacuum. It turns on, but it has no suction. You work to empty out whatever has it plugged up, and discover a body part lodged in the hose. What is it? How did it get there? |
31 Halloween Mirror Your kid comes home from Trick or Treating. You inspect their candy and actually find razor blades and needles in the candy. |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 Lock You step onto your back patio just in time to see an airplane coming right toward you, literally falling from the sky. The engines are dead; you don't hear a thing. But it's like a train wreck. you can't take your eyes from it. |
2 Tool You get into a fight with a step-parent and spend the night in the shed in the backyard, with the lawnmower, wheelbarrow, and other gardening equipment. |
3 Window You go to bed and forgot to...something. Perhaps brush you teeth. Whatever it was, it keeps you up all night long. |
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| 4 Mark Back from church with the family, you walk into your house, only to be confronted by...a demon. That's the only word you can use to describe it (although it could be any kind of monster you want it to be). |
5 Labor Day Air There's nowhere to go but sideways. |
6 Success You didn't want to fight with your significant other, but he/she kept pushing, and before you could control yourself, you... |
7 Enough You go to a high school dance, but knowing what you know now. What would you do differently? |
8 Fundamental A hurricane rocks your city...in Iowa. You are a long way from the coast. |
9 Failure Your neighbor stops over and rings the doorbell. When you answer, she asks if she can borrow a corkscrew. You get it for her and when you return to the door, she says, "And a hatchet." |
10 Subway You suddenly realize, at 11:30 at night, that you forgot to pick your child up from school. |
| 11 Invest The neighbors stop by after church and want to know why you weren't there. They aren't asking nicely. |
12 Group You get sick and throw up in the toilet, but what comes out is a long, giant green slug. |
13 Alarm You're on a first date in a nice restaurant and you can't stop sneezing. Seriously, you can't stop. You can't even get a full sentence out before sneezing again. |
14 Fighting World War III has been going on for years now. Everything is rationed. Food is scarce, as is everything else. You find a stash of...what? It can be anything. |
15 Briefcase You're in school and you discover that in just the right place in the library, you can overhear everything that is said in the principle's office. What do you overhear? |
16 Training It's not Halloween yet, but you're bringing the groceries in from the car and you get a sudden chill up your spine. Why? |
17 Chili You were somehow drugged and abducted. You come to tied up on the top of a very high bridge. Your abductor is threatening to cut the rope. If he does, you will fall to your death. |
| 18 Different Aliens. It used to mean the people who came into our country from the neighboring countries. Until today. Today, it meant extraterrestrial. |
19 Synergy You wake up to whispers. At first, it's indistinct, but you go to the window and gently slide it open. You hear what are about to burglers planning the death of you and your family...and they're discussing it right below your window. |
20 Rocky You disover drugs in your son's or daughter's room. |
21 Quit Naked people come to your door soliciting signatures for a petition. |
22 Bee You are the highschool geek, and the most popular boy (or girl) has just asked you out to the junior prom. |
23 Scope Something is wrong. You don't know what it is. Nothing is missing from your house, until you realize taht it's your child who is missing. |
24 Wristwatch Your therapist is also a hypnotist. You've been hypnotized by him many times. Today, in the paper, you see that several woman have come forward accusing him of sexual misconduct, but you don't remember anything that was inappropriate...or do you? |
| 25 Book Your favorite band EVER is playing this weekend, but you can't go because... |
26 View Bugs. Everywhere. And they aren't just any bugs. They excrete acid. To touch them is painful, and deadly. |
27 Mature You are a child (minor) and you've just been adopted. The problem is you don't know who the adoptive parents are; you've never seen them before. |
28 Elaborate It is unseasonably cold for September. You ran out for errands. You're only wearing light clothing but when you come out from the store, the car has a dead battery and won't start. |
29 Shoes As the car continued to roll over and over from the accident, it seemed to happen so slowly, and all you could think about was... |
30 Profit Write about a time you were embarrassed in front of someone you really liked. Memoior or fiction. |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 Suit Your house is burning. Everyone is out safe and you have a chance to go back and get one thing. Tell me about it. |
2 Gloves You go to the movies on opening night of a movie you've been dying to see. The leading man or woman is there, and asks if the seat beside you is taken. You had been saving the seat for your date or spouse. The show is sold out. There are no other seats available. |
3 Network Running for the schoolbus, you trip and fall, right in front of everyone, and it's bad. Your face is bloody and you may have knocked a tooth out. |
4 System You're very sick and you need a shot to get better, but when the nurse comes in with the syringe, the needle is almost a foot long! |
5 Care You have to go into work and you have a black eye. How did you get it? Memoir or fiction. |
6 Accident Trimming your hedges, you discover a gun hidden there. |
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| 7 Outside You're driving a stolen car and cops are chasing you on the freeway. This can only end bad...or can you get out of it? |
8 Impact You come home from work, tired and frustrated. When you arrive, you significant other is waiting for you, and he or she is clearly irrate. When you ask why, the slap down a pile of pictures on the table. The pictures spread out and you can see they're of you. And you doing...what? |
9 Application Your doctor tells you that you need to start exercising more, so you buy a new bicycle. But you discover that it isn't just like riding a bike and you don't remember how to turn, or stop or anything. And your first time out, you take a big tumble. |
10 Time Hiking, you discover a dead man. He's cold and has been dead for a while. Around him, there are $100 bills, hundreds of them. They are loose, flying around in the breeze. Just a few would get you out of debt. |
11 Hair You find a nice walking trail in a park that goes back into the woods along a river. It's beautiful! And almost no one uses it. But one day, when you do, you come across a drug deal, and they see you. |
12 Pie You're digging a grave in the backyard for a pet that died. You're almost done when the shovel breaks through and disappears into the ground. You discover an underground cavern or tunnel. Maybe it's a bunker. |
13 Few You're driving along in the southwest United States. Evidently you take a wrong turn, because you suddenly realize that you're in line to cross the border into Mexico. |
| 14 Knack You wake up one morning to find that your spouse is gone. There's no evidence of a struggle. It doesn't look like they took anything. Just gone with no explanation. |
15 Summary Financial catastrophe hits all of the insurance companies and no one has insurance anymore. Homeowner's insurance, car insurance, medical, dental, everything. It's all gone. |
16 Pier You wake up in the morning and run to the toilet, vomitting blood. You vomit a lot of blood. |
17 Oil Driving away from the grocery store, you think you heard something, like a thump against the car, but you don't see anything in the rearview mirror. But when you get home, you find a finger stuck in your door handle. It's been ripped off of the hand, and it has a police ring on it. |
18 Egg You just decide to stop going into work. And you don't go back. |
19 Work Technology stops working today. Everything. Cell phones, microwave ovens, TV, computers, digital watches, everything. |
20 Note A strange man approaches you on the street. He says, "Here. You'll need this," and hands you something wrapped in cloth and then runs off. When you unwrap it, it's a very fine, ornate dagger. |
| 21 Between You are suddenly confronted by your absolute worst fear. What is it? Show, don't tell. |
22 Fast A new app has been created for the smart phones. It's so addictive, you can't put it down, literally. You play it night and day, for days. People are beginning to die from their lack of sleep. |
23 Vomit At first they called it a drought, but after nearly a decade without rain, what would the world be like? Show, don't tell. |
24 From You've been stung by a strange looking wasp and you immediately start to swell up. What were you doing, what extremity was stung, and what are you going to do about it? |
25 Cross In the park, you discover a briefcase hidden under some bushes. Inside there are documents marked "Top Secret." What are they and what do you do with them? |
26 Tier Think of a time when you went to visit your grandparents. What did you do? It can be memoir or fiction. |
27 Europe You feel like your cat is watching you, studying you, as if it were an alien or something, trying to figure you out. |
| 28 Loop You discover that the Harry Potter books are nonfiction. You're thrilled until you realize that you're a muggle and you aren't allowed to witness any of the magic. |
29 Direction You buy a $1 lotter ticket and win $10. You buy another and win $50. You go to another story and buy a $10 ticket, and win $100,000. You go to yet another store, and buy another ticket. Does your luck continue? |
30 You're in the library one day, just looking through the bookshelves. You pull down a nondescript book on nothing in particular. When you open it, you discover that the pages have been cut out to make a pocket, where you find an old camera film canister. |
31 Support Someone, a good friend, who had passed away years ago, suddenly shows up on your doorstep. |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 Wise Aliens land on Earth and it's a big news event. They seem to be friendly, but suddenly there's a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan. You've been invited to join. |
2 Snot A meteor crashes through your house, through your roof and down into the ground beneath. |
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| 3 Access You're putting the finishing touches on your best novel, you're sure of it, when suddenly your hard drive dies, never to come to life again. |
4 Independence Day Blizzard You're at a picnic, having a good time, when everyone around you starts to freak out. The United States has been attacked. Where? By whom? And how bad is it? |
5 Strategy Aliens visit you at night. They give you the cure for cancer. When you wake up the next morning, you can't quite remember what it was, but you're positive it wasn't a dream. |
6 Bear You're in the bank to cash a check when bank robbers come in. You get knocked unconscious and when you wake up, you're locked in the bank vault...alone. |
7 Development A military helicopter lands in front of your house one day. A general gets out and says that the President of the United States needs to speak with you now, no questions asked. |
8 Natural You get a stupid paper cut. It hurts, but before long, it just won't stop bleeding. If anything, it starts bleeding more. |
9 Leftovers Saturday night, you get pulled over for speeding. You've had a drink or two, but you're not drunk. The cop finds an empty beer bottle in the back seat and things go downhill from there. |
| 10 Wastepaper You wake up to find that your front door has been left wide open all night. You search the house, but everythign's fine. The next night, you double and triple check to make sure the doors are locked, but the next morning, the front door is open again. |
11 Slug You're abducted and drugged. When you come to, you see someone you recognize. It's someone famous. Who and why? |
12 Refrigerator You go to the refrigerator one morning and discover that all the food in it has spoiled. Not just spoiled, it's rotten. But the refigerator is working. It's cold inside it. |
13 Through Something is in your attic. Whatever it is, it sounds big and mean. What is it? How did it get there? |
14 Facet Think about a nightmare you've had, but now the nightmare turns real. It can be memoir or fiction. |
15 Key A small kid comes to your door selling candy. When you don't buy any, the kid turns mean...horror-movie mean. |
16 Design A woman comes to your door late at night and starts banging on it, begging to be let in. You see that her clothes are in tatters and she looks scared. She keeps looking behind her. Do you open the door? And who — or what — is chasing her? |
| 17 Report You're digging in the garden when you find a shiny rock. When you look closer, it's glowing, pulsating with light. Maybe it's not a rock after all. What is it? |
18 Carpet You notice a depression in the palms of your hands. It's not a wound, there is not blood or anything. It all looks normal, except for the depression. Over the next couple of days, the depressions get bigger until you have holes through your hands, but still no wound or bleeding, just holes. |
19 Talk You see someone in the mall that you are inexplicably attracted to. It's crazy, you can't stop looking at him or her. You even start to follow them and eventually go up and introduce yourself. |
20 Swine You fall asleep at work, only to wake up after everyone else is gone. But you discover something else going on in the building. What is it? |
21 Increment You're playing around with liquors, trying come up with a new concoction, and you do. It's an elixir that brings about complete euphoria, for several hours, maybe even days. |
22 Bat People dressed in military-style uniforms break in through your back door at night. They aren't quiet or subtle. They tell you that they have to use your house to observe your neighbor, who is suspected of something serious. You and your family aren't allowed to leave. |
23 Portfolio You're alone in a dark alley late at night. Make up the rest. |
| 24 Nails You bang your head and pass out. When you come around, you know how to turn lead into gold. |
25 Confidential Think about a time when you were out of school for the summer. What did you do? What did you want to do? What did your parents make you do? Memoir or fiction. |
26 Sick You take up hiking. While you're at it one day, you discover...what? A dead body? Drugs? What? |
27 Account A blow to the head causes you to go deaf, forever. |
28 Thought A package shows up on your doorstep. You open it to find it's full of marijuana. |
29 Pen You discover the love of your life. You couldn't be happier, until he or she tells you they have to go away. They aren't going to another city or country, but another planet. |
30 Water Driving along a lonely stretch of back roads, a group of motorcycles comes up behind you. You realize there are dozens of them. Before you know it, they are all around your car and they start slowing down, forcing you to stop. |
| 31 Game Up in you attic, or down in your basement, you discover a hidden package. You're afraid to open it, but when you do, you discover... |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 Investigate You wake up on a beach, cold and shivering, and you don't remember who you are. You have amnesia. |
2 Texas Suddenly cell phones stop working everywhere. |
3 Minute You discover that you can hypnotize people and make them do whatever you want them to. |
4 Compliment You're in a bank when a masked robber comes in with a gun, demanding all the money. |
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| 5 Horse Grilling outside. Nothing unusual until the grill explodes. |
6 Necklace You see God and Satan having a chat at the local coffee shop. |
7 Revenue You suddenly become phobic of water. All water. Showers, rain, glasses of water, everything that has to do with water. |
8 Taste Someone has climbed out on a ledge of the building at work. They're going to jump and you're the only one there to talk them out of it. |
9 Surname It's four in the morning. You get up for a drink of water or to get ready for work. You poke your head into your kid's bedroom to check on them and they are gone. |
10 Memory Someone has a Rubik's cube at work. You pick it up and start playing with it, only to discover that you know how to solve it. You discover other things you can do too, like calculus. |
11 Intervention The President of the United States calls you to ask your opinion on something. |
| 12 Monopoly You're cleaning the house and you discover small, mystical-looking symbols around the house. There are lots of them. Is your daughter practicing witchcraft? How did the symbols get there? |
13 Design You and your spouse go out to dinner in a nice restaurant. For some unknown reason, out of the blue, you or your spouse (the female) takes off her top and is sitting topless in the restaurant, acting as if everything is normal. |
14 Flag Day Flag You're in a war. The flag bearer is shot and the flag has fallen to the ground. It's out in the open. There's no cover if you go to get it, but you feel like you must go pick it up. |
15 Steeple You find a ray gun, an honest-to-goodness ray gun, in the park. Thinking it a toy, you shoot someone with it. They disappear, just like in the movies. |
16 General You recognize a local homeless man in the Lexus dealership as you're looking at cars. You give a dollar or two to this man every morning, but now, he's dressed better than you are. He's buying a new car. And he's dressed better than you are. |
17 Wallet You get a thorn in your foot and you can't get it out. It keeps working its way into your skin until it completely disappears. |
18 Regions You start to see things that you've never seen before. Gnomes in the park, faces looking out at you from bushes and trees, sinister faces on people. You think you're going crazy. |
| 19 Father's Day Father Think of a time you did something with your father or a father figure. Can be memoir or fiction. |
20 Pleasant You wake up to discover you're a kid again. You have all your memories, but now you have to get ready for school. |
21 Lungs A song gets stuck in your head and you can't get it out. For days on end. When you wake up in the morning, it's the first thing you think of in the morning and it's in your head when you're trying to go to sleep. |
22 Weather Your child or spouse is up on a tall tower (water tower or cell phone tower). You think he or she might jump. Your only hope is to climb up to talk him or her out of it. |
23 Suitcase You decide to go see the late-night showing of a movie ina theater. You're the only one there. When the movis is over and you get to leave, you discover that everyone is gone and you've been locked in. |
24 Equal You wake up with blisters covering the bottom of your feet. They are very painful. |
25 Restaurant You come home to find your dog is growling and barking at you, not letting you into the house. The dog has never acted this way before. |
| 26 New The doorbell rings. You answer it to find a nicely dressed man |
27 Malaysia It's the first day of summer and you break a bone. What is it? How did you break it? How's it going to affect the rest of your summer? |
28 Broken You decide to stop taking your medications; all of them. What are they? What do they do? What happens to you? |
29 Knock You're watching a movie at night with the whole family. Suddenly, some boys (or men) break through the back door without warning. They are dressed in black and have guns; big guns. |
30 Grow It sounds like World War 3 is breaking out. Bombs are falling all around your house. What were you doing when it started. What do you do now? |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 May Day Pagan You notice that you have a loose tooth. When you start messing around with it, it comes out! |
2 Testament You discover that your child is using drugs. Not just pot, but worse. Is it paint? Heroine? What? And what do you do? |
3 Fight Your water heater goes out so you go to the local motel. You look the motel up on the Internet. It's close to your house, but you've never noticed it before. When you get there, you swear it's haunted. |
4 Addicted A man with a gun steps in front of you and demands your money. Suddenly, something, you can't claim it to be an angel, swoops in front of you and scares the mugger away. Just as quickly, the angel disappears. But deep down, you think it was more of a demon than an angel. |
5 Dignity You stub your toe so bad you break it. |
6 Conclusion Make up a conversation between two animals, a dog and a cat perhaps. It can be any two animals. What would they say? |
7 Shirt You get stopped by a police officer for speeding and without any explanation, he arrests you, handcuffs and all. |
| 8 Mother's Day Mother Think of a time when your mother did something for you. It can be memoir or fiction. |
9 Camera Going through your vacation pictures, you discover that you have a captured a murder in the background of your pictures. |
10 Wrong Your spouse is so certain on the outcome of an upcoming sports game (you pick the sport) that they bet all of your life savings on it. Do they win or lose? |
11 Test You wake up as a kid, but knowing what you know now as an adult. |
12 Church You wake up on a private jet flying somewhere. You're all alone with no explanation. |
13 Soul Digging in your garden, you find a coin. Not just any coin, it's a gold doubloon. You dig a little more and find another, and another, and another. |
14 Condiment It's Saturday and you wake up with a huge hangover. And a...? |
| 15 Heal You are feeling very ill. Your doctor tells you that you have, not days, but only hours to live. |
16 Last You discover rats in your house. Big, nasty rats! |
17 Judge Your car skids on icy roads, and lands onto a frozen lake. At first, the ice seems to hold the weight of the car, but then you hear ice cracking and the car is in the drink. To make matters worse, you can't get free of the seatbelt. The only way out seems to be cutting your arm off, if you are able. Time is running out. |
18 Tusk A nationwide manhunt is going on for a serial killer. When you see the report on television, you realize that the killer looks just like you. They could be your twin. |
19 Mansion You discover you have a secret admirer. They start leaving gifts like chocolates and other things. But you're married and everyone knows it. It starts to creep you out because you can't figure out who it is. |
20 Bottom Doctors discover that your blood is the cure to cancer. Unfortunately, for it to work, you will not survive. You will die. It's your choice. |
21 Horizon You fall asleep on the beach and when you wake up, you are sunburned so bad you can't move. |
| 22 Penetrate You're being held captive and the only way out is for you to shoot and kill one of your two children. Then you can leave with your other child. But if you don't, you all will die. |
23 Market In a trash can in a park, you discover a sack full of money. It's broad daylight. What do you do? |
24 Well You walk into a room just in time to see a complete stranger shoot himself or herself. Is it a suicide attempt or an accident? What happens? |
25 Certify You are in a crowded theater and someone yells "fire!" |
26 Solution You wake up in a motel room. You're alone. Without much effort, you discover you in the middle of nowhere and have no recolleciton about how you got here. |
27 Term You're in a public place, like a mall or grocery store, and you see a man hit his child. The man is huge. You don't dare confront him...or do you? |
28 Offer Your spouse wakes up screaming at the top of their lungs. They are inconsolable. |
| 29 Yesterday You discover something that shows your spouse isn't who they say they are. Assassin? Spy? Mob boss? What? And what did you find? |
30 Memorial Day War You reluctantly go with your spouse to the cemetery to put flowers on the the headstones of his or her dead relatives. |
31 Matters Going through customs, into another country or returning, they single you out and take you into a little room. |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 April Fool's Day Prank Write about a prank that goes bad. Maybe a firework mishap, or you scare someone so bad that you make them mad. |
2 Hairball Your spouse buys you a birthday or Christmas present. They're very excited about it and make you walk to the garage blindfolded. When you get then and uncover your eyes, you see that it's a... |
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| 3 Television Someone gives you a deck of tarot cards as a joke for your birthday, but you realize that you can really use them to predict things. |
4 Workload You are suddenly unable to speak your native language. It sounds familiar, but you can't understand what the words mean. |
5 Still For no reason, your neighbor comes out and tells you they are in the Witness Protection Program. Why? |
6 Taser (Stun Gun) For some inexplicable reason, all the milk in all the stores everywhere in the world has curdled. |
7 Business You have to write a catchy jingle for Betty Crocker. You can write the catchy jingle or you can write about writing the catchy jingle. |
8 Desktop There's been an overthrow of the government. The president is dead, as well as almost all of the congressmen and senators. |
9 Deer You turn on the TV and discover that there's nothing on but commercials, on every channel. It's nothing but commercials. |
| 10 Action You go out of your house on your way to work and discover hundreds of skunks sitting outside of your house, surrounding it. They are just milling around, but all around. |
11 Calf You are mistaken for someone else, but before you can say anything, this person shoves a huge wad of bills (money) into your hand and runs off. |
12 Buffer You notice, out of the corner of your eye, someone who has their back turned to you. For a split second, you thought you saw they had angel wings. |
13 Many Going through the security at the airport, one of the security dogs takes an extreme interest in you. Why? |
14 Teddy Roses are red, violets are violet. |
15 Tax Day Tax You're working on your tax return at the last minute. You don't believe it, but you've checked the return over and over; and you owe thousands of dollars in taxes! |
16 AKA (Also Known As) Your car gets stuck in the snow on a lonely road without much traffic. |
| 17 External You seeing a falling star and make a wish...and it comes true! |
18 Wreck You're in your favorite resturant and you see someone famous. Before the famous person leaves, they come over to your table and ask if you want to hang out with them for the evening. |
19 Bar You have expensive non-refundable tickets to a dream vacation, but a week before you're supposed to leave, your boss says you can't because your vacation wasn't approved. |
20 Steer It's your birthday and everyone forgets. Everyone. |
21 Inside Write something about fishing or fish. Memoir or fiction. |
22 Good Friday Mass You witness something that can only be described as a miracle. What is it? |
23 Seesaw Think of a time you did something as a kid that you regret and would take back if you could. Memoir or fiction. |
| 24 Easter Religion You go to the park for an Easter egg hunt. Something bad happens before you can stop it. What is it? |
25 Mad You're not a baseball fan, but somehow you discover that you can predict the winners of all the Major League games. |
26 Technology It takes you some time to realize it, but you are no longer aging. |
27 Administrative Professionals Day Bonnet Write about a cat that was yours or someone you knew. Memoir or fiction. |
28 Left You're in a small plane flying over wilderness. The plane crashes and the pilot is killed. You are unharmed but have to find out where you are and how to make it back to civilization. |
29 Bearing You're outside working in the garden and discover that bees are starting to swarm around you. |
30 Percent Write a bit of fan fiction using a character from a favorite TV show or movie. |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 Frown You come into a room just in time to see a complete stranger kick the chair out from underneath and begin to hang himself or herself. You're the only other person there. |
2 Jail You're writing a story but the characters begin to take over and there doesn't seem to be anything you can do to stop it. You keep writing to find out what happens, and then your protagonist is killed. |
3 Late You get up in the middle of the night for a drink of water. You see something on the floor in front of you. You think it's your cat but when you flip on the light, you discover it's a huge rat! |
4 Build Walking along the street at night with your spouse, a woman approaches you with a gun and asks what you're doing with her husband. Feel free to change the genders as necessary. |
5 Team You're going through the security area of an airport and you're asked to step out of line. You are taken to a room, but you're not searched. But you're kept there for a long, long time. |
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| 6 Handbag You walk into one of your favorite nightclubs. As you step in through the door, you step right into the middle of a bar fight that's just beginning. |
7 Requisition You've noticed more and more kids around your neighborhood who look like they're in gangs. One night, there's a knock on your door. It's one of these kids. He's very polite, but tells you that you need to pay his gang protection money. |
8 Mission You look out your window and you see a bunch of animals, and they're all running in one direction. It looks like they're running away from something. What is it? |
9 Cigarette You don't usually do the family laundry, but you decide to do it one day. As you're pulling clothes out of the hamper, you discover a shirt that belongs to your significant other is covered with blood. |
10 Remote The garbage collectors go on strike in your town for weeks. Trash is piling up everywhere. It attracts vermin. You have to go outside and see it, and smell it, everyday. |
11 Wow You run into an old girlfriend on the street (or you're the old girlfriend). She has a kid with her. The kid looks like it could be yours, and the age is about right. But she's never said anything about it to you. |
12 House You're not into computer games (or maybe you are) but a friend talks you into trying one. Once you try it, you're addicted. you just can't stop playing, to the point that it's interfering with your life. |
| 13 Daylight Savings Time Clock You're an hour early, or an hour late, to a very, very important date. |
14 Ketchup You come home from work and find that coyotes are sitting all around your house. And they won't leave. |
15 Quiver You find out that your 12-13 year old child has hacking websites on the Internet. Seriously. Hacking. They're a computer genius and you didn't know. |
16 Meet Everyone's phone stops working. Everywhere. Phones, texting, everything. |
17 St. Patrick's Day Leprechaun Everyone has a story about getting drunk on tequila. What's yours? Memoir or fiction. |
18 Virtual You invent a device that allows you to tap into cell phone conversations that are happening near you. Listening in is kind of fun, and it's all fun and games, until... |
19 Global You having all of your teeth pulled and getting dentures. Why? |
| 20 Shotgun This is "you're in trouble with the cops" week. Today, you wake up to find that you're in jail. You have no recollection of the events before this. |
21 Fat You come home to find an army of police officers in your home. They have a search warrant and you see they're taking out your computers. |
22 Taster You're in a convenience store buying gum. A robber comes in and demands money. The cops show up. The robber decides to use you as a human shield to get away. You have to drive. |
23 Genuine You get stopped for speeding. The officer looks in the back of your car and before you know it, you're out on the ground, spread eagle, and they're about to put cuffs on you. |
24 Japan You witness the cops doing something illegal. You even get it on video. Now they're after you. |
25 Likely You're stopped for a routine traffic ticket. The cop is a member of the opposite sex, and clearly indicates that you can get out of the ticket if you do something for them. You don't know if it's a bribe or sex or what it is they want. |
26 Industry You're drunk and you open a door downtown and stumble into what looks like an underground fight club. But you quickly realize that it's all cops, dozens of them, except for the two guys they're beating up in the center of the room. |
| 27 Chilly You discover that you can move things with your mind. |
28 Good There's a new plague. Doctor's don't have a cure for it and it's killing people all over the country. So far, you don't show any signs of infection. |
29 Talking You go on a ghost tour, and you're scared out of your wits. Everything in your being tells you that the ghosts you're seeing are real! |
30 Understanding There's been a car wreck. You supply the details. |
31 Slide You wake up in what appears to be a basement. And you're in a cage. |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 Junior There's going to be a public hanging. It's the first one in over a century and it's going to be right in your town. And the criminal committed horrific crimes. Are you going? |
2 Groundhog Day Groundhog Have you ever had an encounter with a groundhog, armadillo, skunk, possum, raccoon, or badger? Maybe it was someone you know. Write about it. If you haven't, make it up. |
3 Winner For three days in a row, your child's teddy bear has been moved during the night. The disturbing part is that it's always put up on something high, higher than your child could possibly reach. |
4 Glaze You're walking out of the theater at night with your significant other. Suddenly a kid, no more than 8 or 9 years old jumps out with a huge gun and demands your money. |
5 Introduce You're on a date with the person of your dreams. You're having a nice dinner. While you're talking, you accidentally spit food out of your mouth. You apologize but when she looks closer, it's not food. It's a tooth! |
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| 6 Superbowl Sunday Document You're loading a gun. Why? |
7 Happy A noise wakes you up. It's a scratching sound at your window. When you look outside, it's a person, but then you realize it's a zombie. |
8 Ill You're in the park, enjoying the day with your family. Your kids are on the swing set. You're on a park bench twenty or thirty yards away. Suddenly a lion comes out from the cover and is near the swing set, stalking your children. |
9 Pants You're walking along the street, window shopping, when a car comes screeching to halt on the street beside you. The passenger window rolls down (or it's a convertible) and the driver screams, "Get in!" |
10 Groceries You take the day off from work. You it all planned out what you're going to do. No errands. No appointments at doctors offices, it just you. And then something happens to ruin your whole day. What is it? |
11 Across Homeland Security has turned the country into a police state. It's as bad as Nazi Germany. And you've heard a rumor that they've taken an interest in you and your family. |
12 Lincoln's Birthday Honesty Your best friend puts you in a terrible position. You saw him or her steal something from work, but now they're trying to blame it on someone no one likes to work with. Your friend turns to you and says, "Right?" |
| 13 Messenger You have a good heart and you pick up stray animals when you see them; mostly cats. You intend to find a good home for them, but before you know it, you have 30 cats and haven't given any of them away. You're a cat horder. |
14 Valentine's Day Flowers You decide to propose to your boyfriend or girlfriend in front of all your friends. They say no without a moment's hesitation. |
15 Notebook You hear church bells. Not just one or two, but dozens of them, all over town. And it's not Sunday. Why? |
16 Recycle You are going through your normal morning routine, but once, just for a second, when you glanced into the mirror, you would swear there was some kind of a worm coming out of your nose. |
17 Tuesday Out of nowhere, your significant other tells you they want a divorce. |
18 Verdict You come home and find a woman (or man) waiting for you. He or she tells you that you need to talk. It seems you are both married to the same person. |
19 Welcome You're at home watching television when the doorbell rings. You get up to answer the door and 5 men bust their way into your home brandishing guns and demanding money. |
| 20 Next You're walking through the mall and you see someone who could be your exact double, like a doppleganger. |
21 Presidents' Day Election The country is nearly run by gangs now. It's election day and the gangs have issued warnings that they will kill anyone caught voting. The police promise protection, but they haven't been very good at fulfilling their promises lately. |
22 Text Looking up in the air, you see what you first think is an airplane, but upon closer inspection, you realize it's an animal of some kind. A huge animal. |
23 Badge You've been stabbed and you're losing a lot of blood. What happened and why? |
24 Road Map Tensions have been rising for weeks, and it finally culminates. Civil war begins and it happens right outside of your front door. Pick whatever two factions you want. |
25 Scissors A deer suddenly runs out in front of your car. You're going too fast to stop |
26 Lawyer Something happened to the electricity everywhere. It's gone out across the country. Something destroyed the grid. And it won't be back on for several months. |
| 27 Family You love babies. You adore them. But a friend of yours has a baby and when you see the baby, you're appalled. It's not just ugly, you're positive it's evil. |
28 Latch You open your front door one morning on your way to work and there's an envelope laying on the step. It's thick, full of something. You put your things down and open it - it isn't sealed. It's full of $100 bills. |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 New Year's Day New Year Your boss calls you at home and tells you that's you're being laid off; on New Year's Day! |
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| 2 Calibration You're still hung over from New Year's Eve. At least you think you're hung over. What else could it be? |
3 Ginger You get a call in the middle of the night. You recognized the voice, but all they say is "I'm dying." The connection is lost after that. |
4 Earning You agreed to babysit for a couple of hours for your friend. They bring their kid(s) over, but then they never come back. Never. |
5 Nothing You have an opportunity to sit on a panel with two of your favorite, or least favorite authors. Maybe one of each. |
6 Deliver You come home to a surprise party in your honor. What's it for? |
7 Passport You win an all-expense trip to the destination of your choice. Where is the one place you'd really like to visit and why? |
8 Keyhole You're alone in the woods, and something happened. You're dieing and your cell phone doesn't have service out here. |
| 9 Wintry Travelling in your car, you hit a slick patch of ice or oil. You skid over to the edge of the road and start to go over, but like in the movies, you're car is precariously balanced. If you lean forward, you're afraid you'll go over the cliff. If you lean back, you see to be safe...for now. |
10 Embedded You've been driving across the country. You're rushing for some reason, and you're really tired of fast food. |
11 Opportunity You're stranded on the side of the road. It's night time and raining. A celebrity stops to see if you need help. Who is it? |
12 Generation You wake up and discover you're holding a knife at your significant other's throat. He or she can be awake or asleep. |
13 Warm A random person comes up to you on the street and slaps you. It's not hard, but they're insistent. They knock your phone out of your hand and keep slapping you, again, not hard, but it's starting to sting. |
14 Napkin You drive up to a corner and there's a panhandler there asking for money. They look dirty and unkempt. Suddenly you realize it's someone you know, perhaps from church or work. You know they're not homeless. |
15 Hamstrung You wake up and reach for your glasses. They aren't where you usually leave them. You can't find them anywhere. (If you don't wear glasses, then you wake up and everything is blurry.) |
| 16 Yawn You start coughing in the middle of the night. You finally get up and turn on a light. You've been coughing up blood. It's everywhere. |
17 MLK Day Table You decide to take off from work to join a civil rights march to the Capitol. It's supposed to be peaceful, but 20 minutes into the march, the protesters are accosted by another group. It turns violent quickly. |
18 Lady You get backstage passes at the concert for your favorite band. |
19 Remember What do you remember about your grandmother's house? Memoir or fiction. |
20 Chest For some reason you want to sleep all the time. You go to the doctor, but they can't find anything wrong. |
21 Magic It's the first time you been in a nightclub in a long time. |
22 Weasel You're in a strange, foreign city visiting when your wallet and cell phone are stolen. All of your money was in the wallet. All of your contacts were in your phone. There're aren't many numbers you remember. |
| 23 Taxi You're eating dinner in a nice restaurant and you realize someone slipped something into your drink. What and why? |
24 Rabbit If you were to plan the absolute best day of your life, how would it go? Money is no object. |
25 Chair A UFO lands right in front of you one night. They seem friendly. They offer to take you with them, but they can't bring you back. |
26 Laughter You get up in the middle of the night and stub your toe. Why did you get up? What did you stub it on? |
27 Saloon You wake up to find that you are literally, the last person alive on Earth. Everyone else is gone. |
28 Question You come home from a business trip to find that your house is empty. EMPTY. |
29 Faucet Doctors discover a new strain of influenza. It's 100% fatal and there have been cases in your community. |
| 30 Hygiene You turn on the news and discover that vampires, or aliens, or bigfoot, or whatever is real. |
31 Divine You get a new job. The pay is great! More than you could have imagined. But you're in way over your head. You don't know how to do what you've been hired for. |
2010
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 String You're touring a museum and have to use the restroom. When you come out, the museum is closed and you're locked in. |
2 Writing You're at home all alone and the shower starts inexplicably in the middle of the night. Is someone in the house? Are you sleepwalking? |
3 Junior Write about a memory you have from the fourth grade. |
4 Grill You're following a dump truck on the road and it kicks up a big rock. It doesn't chip your windshield; it comes right through, punching a hole in it and spider-webbing the glass, making it hard to see. Does the rock hit you? |
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| 5 Cow You're on vacation when a volcano erupts and air-travel is halted. You're out of money but more importantly, you have to get home. It's over 900 miles. |
6 Split You just saw someone that you never thought you would ever see again. Who is it and why didn't you expect to see them. |
7 Contract It's the middle of summer in Texas, but instead of the temperature being in the hundreds, it's in the twenties. Everything is frozen. |
8 Shells You decided to try bungee jumping, but now that you're all harnessed up standing on the railing of a bridge looking down into a gorge, you begin to regret your decision. |
9 Leverage Your favorite food suddenly makes you violently ill. |
10 Solo You're riding a busy subway and you can't believe what happens. What is it? |
11 Railroad You're at home all alone, walking or running on the treadmill. You fall. It doesn't shut off the way it's supposed to. |
| 12 Chance You find a purse on the ground in a parking lot. When you open it up to look for identification, you discover $10,000 (you can make this more or less money if you want) in cash and nothing else. |
13 Own Spelunking week. A friend of yours knows where there's a cave you can hike to. It's not a modern cave. It's just a hole in the ground. You need to take your own lights, food, water, everything. |
14 Stand Following yesterday's prompt, you and some friends get to the cave and go inside. What's it like? |
15 Reverse Following yesterday's prompt, while underground in the cave, there's an earthquake. |
16 Transition Following yesterday's prompt, the main passage out of the cave has collapsed. The only way out is through this really narrow tunnel. You're not sure you can get through without getting stuck. The after-shocks make it dangerous to stay where you are. |
17 Delivery Following yesterday's prompt, you decide to try it. Do you get stuck, or do you make it through? |
18 July You're planting a tree in your backyard and as you're digging a hole, you discover a metal container. You dig it out and open it up. It looks like cat litter inside, but you realize it's the remains from a cremation. They're ashes. |
| 19 Workbook You're preparing food, chopping up jalapeño peppers, when a seed goes flying, right into your eye. |
20 Swallow Write about a memory you have from the tenth grade. |
21 Life Write about a school Christmas party or play that you were in when you were a kid. |
22 Breakfast You're in a nice restaurant on a date (it could be with your spouse) and when you go to pay, your debit card is declined, even though you know you just got paid. And all your credit cards are declined too. You have no cash. |
23 Limitation Was there a time when you weren't home for Christmas, or you were trying to get home? Write about it. Memoir or fiction. |
24 Chunk Over a few days, you notice that things don't taste the same. In fact the worse something tastes to someone else, the better it tastes to you. |
25 Christmas Opinion Write a memoir about a memorable Christmas when you were a child. Did you get what you wanted? Or didn't you? |
| 26 Moody Think of a first day at school and write about it. It can be any grade, even college. Make it memoir or fiction. |
27 Quarter A friend comes to visit for a few days, and then just won't leave. |
28 Context You're trudging through the snow. You're wrapped in winter clothes, right down to your boots and mittens. Where are you going? What are you doing? And why? |
29 Wrist You're in the worst traffic imaginable and you discover a bee in the car. |
30 Settle You find a purse on the ground in a parking lot. When you open it up to look for identification, you discover it is full of marijuana. |
31 New Year's Eve Party Write a memoir about a New Year's Eve party. It can be fact or fiction. |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 Wheel A month before Thanksgiving, your spouse decides that the entire family is going to be vegetarian from now on. (If you're already vegetarian, reverse it - your spouse decides the family is going to start eating meat.) |
2 Underwater It begins to hail outside. It's incredibly loud. You look out and you're shocked to see hailstones the size of milk jugs. |
3 Pyramid A person of the opposite sex comes up to you and it seems like they know you, intimately perhaps, but you don't remember them at all. |
4 Roller Coaster You are going to a job interview. When you get there, you find a very large, very nice building, but when you go inside, there isn't anyone there. No one. |
5 Proportions Write about a memory you have from the seventh grade. |
6 Cake You get a cold spash of water in the face, waking you up. Where are you? |
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| 7 Open You wake up on April 16th and suddenly realize that you didn't file your income tax return. |
8 Sole Army week. World War III breaks out. What started it? Who is it between? |
9 Call Following yesterday's prompt, they start up the draft. You are one of the first ones selected to go to war. |
10 Instruction Following yesterday's prompt, you get inducted and go to basic training. Write about it. |
11 Veteran's Day Major Following yesterday's prompt, basic training has been shortened and you get rushed out to your unit. You can barely shoot your rifle. |
12 Earring Following yesterday's prompt, you find yourself on an airplane with a parachute strapped to your back and your rucksack on your front. You can hardly move, but you're ready to make your very first jump into combat. |
13 Six You find a purse (or wallet) on the ground in a parking lot. You open it up to look for identification and discover it belongs to a famous person. Who is it and what do you do with the purse (or wallet)? |
| 14 Joy A week after you start a new job, you get a new boss, and they expect you to work much longer hours for the same pay. You were unemployed for a long time before taking this job, and you don't really want to be unemployed again, but you really don't like the new work conditions. |
15 Sweat Your nose starts to bleed and you just can't seem to stop it. |
16 Deliver What is your best recipe? Put yourself into a situation when you're cooking it. Who are you trying to impress? And why? |
17 Consult There is a huge demonstration marching by outside of your house. It turns violent and soon the police are firing into the crowd. Protesters run to your door seeking refuge. |
18 Robot You're the leader of a military group. You have to order soldiers to take a hill or a building, and you know that most of them will die, but if you don't take the building, hundreds, even thousands may die. |
19 Whisky You've just been offered your dream job. And they're willing to pay you a lot of money to do it. The only problem is that you would have to move to the most miserable place you can imagine. It could be the same country, same planet, or same universe - it's up to you. |
20 Extra You're out jogging at night and you find a small child, 4 or 5 years old. They are dirty and don't look like they've had a good meal in a long time. There is no one else around. |
| 21 Year Explosions suddenly rock your world. You run outside to see bombers attacking, dropping bombs all around. |
22 Sit You're wandering along a slow, meandering creek in a wooded area. It's summertime and the weather is perfect. Not too hot. Not too cold. Something happens. What is it? |
23 Here Without you knowing it, your 8-year-old child gets a screwdriver do take something apart, but they slice their hand open. There's no doubt it will require stitches. |
24 Wednesday No frozen turkey this year. Your spouse decides that this year for Thanksgiving, you are going to buy a live turkey, butcher it, clean it, and cook it. |
25 Thanksgiving Turkey It's Thanksgiving weekend. You have a feast laid out before you, but you can't eat any of it. You have a terrible toothache. |
26 Mouse You're been chosen for a reality show. What is it and what do you have to do? |
27 Sell You find a briefcase full of hundred dollar bills. It's broad daylight in the middle of town. Lot's of people see you. You don't realize it at the time, but when you finally get a chance to count it, it's over a million dollars. You realize it has to be drug money and someone is looking for it. |
| 28 Thing You're out jogging at night and you find a small child, 4 or 5 years old. They are dirty and don't look like they've had a good meal in a long time. There is no one else around. |
29 Choice Write about a memory you have from the third grade. |
30 Slack You're walking and the ground suddenly gives way. You fall into a well. Did you break something? Can you get out? |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 Ouija Board You call your spouse at work, angry that they're still there. They apologize and say they're coming home immediately. But on the way home, something happens. They... |
2 Dark You're driving down a 8-lane highway, bumper-to-bumper at 60 miles-per-hour. Suddenly you see a ______ in between two of the lanes. You're in one of the middle lanes and can't stop. |
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| 3 Demons You're running across the roof of a four-story building. You're chasing someone and you have to catch them. Maybe they have your child. They jump from the roof to the roof of the adjacent building. It's about an 10-foot jump, a little more than the length fo a sheet of plywood. You have to catch them. |
4 Dead Body You're stuck in an elevator. You're up high, eighty floors. There's no air conditioning and the car is full of people. |
5 Bobbing for Apples You wake up disoriented. You remember going out for drinks with friends, but now, you tied up and gagged, laying in the bottom of an open grave. |
6 Brain You're holding a pistol. All you have to do is pull the trigger. What are you aiming at? And why? |
7 Ghost You go to see a fortune teller, knowing it's all fake. But the fortune teller over reacts with you. She goes into hysterics and runs screaming from the room. |
8 Eye of Newt What's the worst thing you've done on Halloween? Did you smash pumpkins? Did you egg cars? It can be fiction or memoir. |
9 Cemetery You scratch yourself on a nail or something, you're not sure what. After a few hours, it swells and fills with pus. You go to the doctor. You have about six hours to live, and it's going to be very painful. |
| 10 Fatal You've been kidnapped for a long time. You're weak and malnourished. One day your captor comes into your cell and locks himself in. He shows you the key hanging around his neck. He puts his gun down by you and says, "All you have to do is shoot me." |
11 Grave For some reason, you decided to participate in the Running of the Bulls. You immediately realize your mistake. You try to get out but the spectators keep pushing you back in. |
12 Knife You're dying. Your doctor just doesn't know why. You just went through a battery of tests to determine why, but you'll have to wait a week for the results. |
13 Amulet An earthquake rips through your building at work. It's sitting right on the epicenter of the quake. It is sudden and total chaos. |
14 Death The telephone wakes you up in the middle of the night. You answer and no one is there. After the third time, you unplug it from the wall (or turn it off if it's a cell), but a few minutes later, it rings again. |
15 Terror You have a fungus under one fingernail. Medical help is not available, and you know that if left untreated, the fungus will travel up your arm and into your brain. The only way to stop it is to cut your finger off. |
16 Scary Movie Have you ever been in a cemetary at night? If not, imagine how it feels. |
| 17 Beware You have a rash and you're itching so hard that you're scratching your skin off, but you can't stop. |
18 Serial Killer Do you remember Trick-or-Treating when you were a kid? Write about it. |
19 Caldron What are you afraid of? What's your phobia? Can you write about it? |
20 Beheaded It's night. There's a thunderstorm raging outside, and your phone isn't working. You're scared. |
21 Werewolf Write about a Halloween party you had when you were a kid. Perhaps a school party. |
22 Labor You've been hired to exhume a dead body. Normally, you wouldn't even consider it, but you've been out of work and you really need the money. |
23 Spooky You've always heard that zombies were slow, and they are. You see this one coming from a hundred yards away and it's going to take forever to reach you. |
| 24 Rabies You have to dig a grave. By hand. Regulation size. Why? For whom? And why do you have to dig it by hand? |
25 Black Cat You wake up to discover that you're in a coffin being buried alive. What did you do to deserve this? |
26 Witch You wake up to find someone standing over you with a pot of scalding, hot water. This person is demanding your car keys. |
27 Goat Write a scary memory from when you were a kid. |
28 Vampire You find yourself in a situation where you have a choice. If you kill the person you love the most, you get to live, otherwise you both die. What's the situation? What's the inner monologue? What are you going to do? |
29 Buried Alive You see a ghost, but it's not a ghost. It's a real, walking, talking person you can touch. It's a friend of yours who died when you were younger. That was 20 years ago, but they look the same as they did then. |
30 Jack-o-Lantern That's a big frickin' knife. Where the hell do you even get a knife that big? |
| 31 Halloween Halloween This one's easy. It's Halloween night. You're a kid. You know something's going to happen, but you can't get any of the grown-ups to listen to (or believe) you. |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 Currency You wake up and realize that it's 300 years in the past. No explanation. |
2 Honey You get the same song stuck in your head and you can't get it out for days. And it's a really stupid song. |
3 Good Luck You are just putting the finishing touches on your masterpiece novel when I virus strikes your computer. It's all gone. |
4 Complaint Have you ever smoked? Even once? Describe the first time. Make it a memoir. |
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| 5 Singapore You discover a secret word that, when used, will make anyone do whatever you want. |
6 Labor Day Bullet You inherit millions of dollars. The only condition is that you have to continue to work, but you can do whatever you want. It can be volunteer work, but forty hours a week. What would you do? What's your dream job? |
7 Elephant You're working out in the garden and you see a snake. If you're not afraid of snakes, it's a poisonous snake. If you're not afraid of poisonous snakes, then you're surrounded by poisonous snakes. |
8 Tea You and your spouse are traveling in your car. You're lost. Who's driving and who gave the bad directions? More importantly, where are you and what's going on? |
9 Landscape Write about a memory you have from kindergarten. |
10 Better You're at work when a military helicopter lands outside. Several military personnel come to the door. A general asks for you and says the President of the United States needs to see you right now. |
11 Drip Civilization has fallen apart. You can't just go to the store and buy food. You can't go to the dentist, but you need to because you have a toothache. |
| 12 Sack You realize the odds of being struck by lightning are better than winning the lottery when a lightning strike hits right next to you. Where are you and why were you outside? |
13 Chirp It is winter on the equator, and everything is frozen solid. Everything. |
14 Port You're out hiking with a friend and you come across a buried treasure. It's gold. About a ton of it, maybe more. |
15 Mustard You see something that reminds you of last night. There was an alien in your bedroom but you'd forgotten until now. |
16 Biopsy For years you've play the same lottery numbers every week. But this time, while you're getting ready for work, you pick up the ticket and realize that one of the numbers is off. It isn't the one you usually pick. And when you look at the winning numbers in the newspaper...did you win because of the mistake or did you miss it by one number? |
17 Headphones You'st standing in line in a bank to cash a check and suddenly a bank robbery ensues. |
18 Elevator He or she is obviously the best looking person at an extremely large party, and they're eyeing you. |
| 19 Space You suddenly realize one day that you own 87 cats. You're a cat horder, but you never realized it until now. |
20 Moment Write about a clown; good or evil. Memoir or fiction. |
21 Lobster How far would you go to save the person you love the most. What is the worst thing you could possibly imagine doing to save them? |
22 Roll Write about a memory you have from the twelfth grade. |
23 Chime In a fog from just waking up, you took a pill. You thought it was one you were supposed to take, but now that you're a little more alert, you see two bottles sitting side-by-side. You're not sure which one you took. One is good, one is bad. |
24 Unique You stub your toe so bad it rips the toenail off. Blood is going everywhere. |
25 Bell Some people I know break an egg and put it into a pot of coffee, shell and all, that is percolating on the stove. They claim that it "clarifies" the coffee. What strange cooking habits are you aware of? |
| 26 Desperate Have you ever been shocked by electricity? Write something shocking. |
27 Asset You're walking along outside, not really paying attention to where you're going, when you've suddenly been bit by a rattlesnake. |
28 Chip Someone approaches you in a public place, like a mall. They clearly look like you...literally. The first words out of their mouth are, "Don't freak out" (or a similar phrase you would say). |
29 Motel You go into a bar and order 6 shots and a beer chaser. You slam the shots one right after the other. Why? What happened? What could happen that would make you want to drink like that? |
30 Shine Think back to the first grade. Write a memoir about something you remember. |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 Parts Write about a memory you have from the first grade. |
2 Hear You find a purse on the ground in a parking lot. When you open it up to look for identification, you discover a bunch of old gold coins. |
3 Backrub Walking along the street, you suddenly stumble and fall. When you look down, you see your leg is really bloody. You think you've been shot, but you didn't hear a gunshot or see anything suspicious. |
4 Monday You stop at a stoplight. It's a nice day so you have your windows open. Someone walks by and throws an envelope that looks like it's full of something into your car. The light turns green before you even have a chance to react. |
5 Profile Messing around the Internet one day, you stumble upon a website that is a camera of the Oval Office in the White House. There was no security on it or anything. You're watching it when you see someone come in and shoot the president. On the news, they say he suffered a heart attack. |
6 Rat Someone is showing off their new car to you. It was really expensive! You accidently drop something and put a ding in the paint, but they didn't see you do it. |
7 Massage You wake up to discover it's 300 years in the future. No explanation. |
| 8 Finger You work in a cubicle. The guy beside you, whom you don't know and he works in a different department, goes crazy. He's kicking the walls, he's throwing his monitor and computer, and he's screaming at the top of his lungs. (You can modify this for another type of working or classroom environment). |
9 Music You come across a vicious dog standing over an infant. The baby appears unharmed, but the dog won't let you come near it. |
10 Wagon You wake up to find that you're covered with grasshoppers; the really big ones that fly. |
11 Exact You're hiking in an unfamiliar area and you get stung by a scorpion. It's was a black scorpion about the size of your thumb, but you don't know if that's good or bad. |
12 Tissue You discover a secret door in the apartment you share with your significant other. When you open the door, there is an entire bank of computer systems inside. There is more computing power than you would find at NASA. |
13 Communication Think of an accident in a gym, with a treadmill, or weights. Maybe it wasn't an accident. |
14 Transparent You go to a friends house. He or she isn't home, but you have a key. You're just picking up a book from them. You go in and smell something delicious cooking. You take the top off of a slow cooker to discover a human hand in a broth with vegetables cooking. |
| 15 Baby You come home from a long day at work to discover a Dear John/Jane letter. Why? Was it something you did? |
16 Style You start a new job. From the job description, you were a perfect fit. The interview process went very well, but for your first assignment, it sounds like your manager is speaking a foreign language. You don't have a clue how to complete the assignment. And you have a very tight deadline. |
17 Underwear You climb high up in a tree and fall, or almost fall, your choice. It can be a memoir or fiction. |
18 Session You're in your bedroom with the lights off. You hear the door open. You can't see a thing, but you clearly hear the doorknob being turned and the door squeaking as it opens. |
19 Dog You wake up with amnesia. You're in your own home, but nothing is familiar. |
20 Target You're making out with someone when you suddenly discover they are an alien. |
21 Plump You're on a first date in a restaurant and they spill an entire bowl of soup into their lap. Not only is it all over their favorite outfit, but it's also scalding hot. They need to go to the hospital. |
| 22 Partner You find a genie in a bottle and you're granted three wishes. |
23 Enough A friend of mine and I used to each break a raw egg into a glass drink it down on nights we were drinking together. What have you done while you were drinking? |
24 Laser Police break into your house, and before you know it, they have you in a mental health institution and you're being sedated. |
25 Wheelbarrow You come out your front door on your way to work. Your hands are full. You're juggling things trying to get the door locked. When you finally get it locked and turn around, you're facing a lion. A real, live lion. |
26 Hippopotamus Write about a memory you have from the ninth grade. |
27 Save You are tied up. Men have a blow torch and are threatening to burn you, starting with your fingers, if you don't tell them where something is. But you don't know what or where it is. |
28 Circle Walking through the woods, you discover that you're terribly lost. You shouldn't be. You're familiar with these woods, but you're lost nonetheless. |
| 29 Chicken Your child has suddenly become totally disobedient and defiant. They will not do anything you tell them to do. This happened from one day to the next, without warning. |
30 Soup Your date inexplicibly breaks into sobbing tears in the middle of the restaurant. It's becoming awkward. It's nothing you did, but he/she won't tell you why they're crying. |
31 Hamstring You've been selected for a model shoot. You're not entirely comfortable with it, but they are paying you a lot of money. |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 Slot Machine You cook an elaborate meal for someone you're trying to impress (a date or your boss). They step away from the table for a second and your dog reaches up and licks their plate. They don't see it. |
2 Raft You're waiting outside of work to get picked up by your spouse. You left your cell phone at home. You can't badge back into the building, and your spouse isn't there to pick you up. It's dark. You're cold. Someone is coming toward you. |
3 Hall You're at a picnic in the park. Everything is perfect, until... |
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| 4 Independence Day Independence Write about a time when you felt patiotic. It can be a memoir or fiction. |
5 Run Write from the perspective of a cat. Any kind of cat; house cat to lion. |
6 Monkey Bars Did you ever lick the beaters from the mixer when your mom was cooking? Or did you lick the bowl? |
7 Dock Imagine a future where you're going in to a government facility to have your ID chip installed into your arm. And while you're there, terrorists or rebels attack. |
8 You somehow discover that the Earth is about to be destroyed and there's nothing you can do to prevent it. You're also the only one who posesses this information. What do you do with it? Do you tell someone? Or do you just let life go on until the final moment. |
9 Hard Write about a memory you have from the second grade. |
10 Swing You are in a situation where you are barely hanging on by your fingers of one hand. If you let go, you will fall to your death. Where are you, how did you get there, and how are you going to get out of it? |
| 11 Fact At the store, you buy a normal can of chicken soup. When you open it, you find it has a finger in it. |
12 Eleven You get stopped by the police for not completely stopping at a stop sign. Something makes the officer suspicious and he/she removes the keys from the ignition and opens the trunk. You had no idea it was in there, but when the officer looks through the trunk, he/she finds... |
13 Kin You are in a park and suddenly have the opportunity to take a hot-air balloon ride. You go. After about 20 minutes, you realize that the person taking you on the ride doesn't know how to operate a hot-air balloon. |
14 Snake Your boss comes up to you and asks you to do something illegal and unethical. |
15 Laundry You're cooking on the stove. You have a pan of hot oil that suddenly ignites. |
16 Ate You're in a plane without a pilot. He/she died, jumped out, whatever. What are you going to do? |
17 Snack You go into work, just like any other day, only to discover that you don't know anyone else there. All of the co-workers you knew are gone and other people are there doing their jobs now. Everything else is the same. |
| 18 Keyboard You prick your finger on a rose thorn in the garden. You ignore it, but suddenly you realize that it's bleeding more than it should and that you've already lost a lot of blood. |
19 Moat Good luck with that. |
20 Tired You're in a hotel room and you happen to look under the bed. There you discover… |
21 Challenge You look at your bank account online and see that your paycheck is much larger than it should be. From what you can tell, it looks like they added an extra zero at the end. |
22 Design Your mother-in-law absolutely hates you, no matter what you do. You go to visit and your spouse insists that you stay with your in laws. Reluctantly you agree. You wake up in the middle of the night with your mother-in-law standing over your bed. |
23 Seven Write about dancing. It can be fiction or memoir. |
24 Employee You're in a burning building on the third floor. The only way out is to jump. |
| 25 List Write about a time when you were embarrassed. It could be an embarrassing moment, or a time when you were embarrassed to get up in front of a group of people. |
26 Carnival You're in the toilet in a public place. You're in a stall and someone of the opposite sex walks in. You suddenly realize that you're in the wrong one (you're in the men's restroom instead of the women's, or vice versa). |
27 Fore You're doing something at home and discover a secret compartment in a wall. Maybe it's a secret passage. What's in it? |
28 Coast Now that we know he's a pedophile, there were a lot of things he said and did that made us wonder. |
29 Engage You set me up to fail. How would you expect me to react? |
30 Social You're at a romantic Bed and Breakfast with a lover/spouse. You wake up on Saturday to discover one of the guests has been murdered. For some reason, the owners are adamant that they do NOT want to call the police. |
31 Track You would be okay if the baby would just stop crying. But it won't, and it's driving you nuts. |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 Beard Your child, spouse, or parent is being held hostage by kidnappers. What would you do to save them? |
2 Pork You start a new job, but everyone is a little...off. They seem friendly enough, but there is just something different about all of them. |
3 Chew You're cooking at home, getting ready to fry a chicken. Suddenly the pan of oil on the stove bursts into flames. |
4 Darling You are having a party. You've done a lot of work to make sure everything is perfect. You have a big cooler full of beer and ice. Your first guest arrives. You offer them a beer and when you open the cooler, there's a severed arm laying on top of the ice. |
5 Timeline You're the security guard for an Egyptian exhibition in a museum. You're there all night, all by yourself, when you start to realize that strange things are happening. |
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| 6 Tree You don't know it beforehand, but you check into a haunted hotel room. It's not in any of the haunted hotel guidebooks. But it's certainly haunted. |
7 Mattress You have to pee so bad, you can't stand it. You try, waiting patiently ourside of the guest bathroom of a friends house but the person occupying it is taking forever. You can't wait any longer. What do you do? |
8 Surgery You go to the drive through of your favorite fast food restaurant to get your favorite meal, but they give you a hard time about it. They tell you it's no longer on the menu, and then rudely tell you to talk to their manager. |
9 Sixteen You're living with sisters (or borthers). You realize that you're in love with the wrong one. Both of them seem oblivious to it. |
10 Member I drew a bead on the prey and started to squeeze on the trigger, but before I could feel the familiar recoil of the bullet's explosion, I relaxed my trigger-pull. The rabbit looked innocent and even though we needed food desparetly, I just couldn't do it. I couldn't kill the Easter Bunny! |
11 Sun You've been married a long time, but tonight, you pushed your spouse too far. The next thing you know, you have the barrel of a gun pressed into the side of your head. What button did you push? |
12 Can't The plane is going to crash. There's no doubt about it. There are enough parachutes. Now, all you have to do is strap one on and jump out. |
| 13 Puzzle You see your childhood sweetheart at a bar. You haven't seen her/him in years, and you're married. That was long ago. But suddenly he/she throws themselves at you. You barely have time to breathe, let alone resist. |
14 Store You think your significant other is cheating on you. You watch and discover the password for their computer. When you go in to check, they aren't cheating. But they aren't telling you the truth either. You discover that they're worth millions! |
15 Yellow For whatever reason, you let your friends talk you into seeing a psychic. You go in, not expecting much. But when the palm reader (or tarot or whatever) begins her reading, she gets spooked. She looks at you like she's afraid of something, and runs out of the room. |
16 Check You're listening to the radio one day on your drive home from work. Your song comes on, the one with you singing. It's thr number 1 hit, and you recognize it, except you don't remember recording it. You thought it was a dream. |
17 Hoot You go to the school to pick up your kid, but he/she doesn't come out. You go in to find out where he/she is, but they tell you they have no record of that child attending school there. |
18 Thumb You are staying at a decent hotel, but the neighbors next to you are making a lot of noise. After some time, you finally call the front desk. They assure you there is no one staying in the room next to you. The room is empty. |
19 Dew You had a dream about the winning horse. The next day, you go to the track and find it exactly like it was in your dream. Convinced, you bet your life savings on an underdog with forty-to-one odds. Do you win? Or do you lose? Tell me! |
| 20 Father's Day Dad Did your father ever spank you? If not a spanking, what did he do to punish you? And for what? |
21 Storage You're driving drunk and have eighteen kilos of cocaine in the trunk of the car. What's the worst thing that could happen? You guessed it. Red and blue lights show up in my rearview mirror. |
22 Dragon You're checking out of the hotel while your wife is going out to get a cab. The luggage is with her outside. You finish checking out and go outside to see your wife climbing onto the back of a motorcycle that then goes speeding off. She left your luggage just sitting there. |
23 Harsh Write about a memory you have from the eleventh grade. |
24 Oleander I open the revolver to check. I've got one bullet left. |
25 Wax You tried to kill your spouse...or your spouse tried to kill you. Either way, it didn't work. Now what? |
26 Eviction You wake up abruptly. You realize that you're riding on an old train with a steam engine. You're out of place, and out of time, and you're being held up by train robbers. |
| 27 Steam You're a hiker. You see a bear and suddenly it charges you. You're only escape is to jump from a high cliff (and I mean high) into the river below. |
28 Heroin You and your date somehow sneak backstage at a concert. You hear someone coming and hide. Peeking out, you see it's the lead singer. He's your favorite. And he's with someone. She's resisting. You see him stab her. She falls to the floor and he throws the knife over by where you're hiding, right at your feet. |
29 Cookbook You step into an elevator. Someone calls "hold the elevator." You do, and a group of thugs with guns run into the elevator, along with what appears to be a hostage. She's young, female, and scared. |
30 Clip You're in a swimming pool at a friend's house. The pool is only about 4-feet deep, but for some reason, you're drowning. You're trying to call for help, but you keep getting water in your mouth. You can't scream. But you see that everyone on the side is pointing at you...and laughing. |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 Sample You fell asleep early last night and when you woke up, everything is missing. Your family, your furniture, everything. |
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| 2 Rain You have a dream about your mom, but she's not your mom. She's a lizard, or a bear, or a fish, or an alien. And then you discover it's not a dream. |
3 Stapler Where the hell are we? |
4 Tequila You're fishing. You hook into something and you relize it's big. You reel it in, only to discover it isn't a fish. It's a... |
5 Wolf You're in an art museum and you notice that one of the very famous paintings is not on the wall where it should be. There's no sign saying that it is being restored or anything, it's just missing. |
6 Company You wake up to a knock on the door. You realize you're alone in a cheap motel room. You don't have any of your belongings, including your clothes. You also don't have any recollection of how you got there. |
7 Allergy You're walking out behind your house in the country. You're about a half mile from home when you break your leg. There's no one else around. |
8 Kind You're doing some routine house repairs. You tear out one of the walls in your bedroom to remodel and you discover... |
| 9 Mother's Day Mom Remember a time when you were in trouble with your mother. How did you feel? Looking back, was she right or wrong? |
10 Matter Write about a memory you have from the fifth grade. |
11 Cough Drop You wake up and everything is entirely different. You're a different person on a different planet. You think you're about to lose your mind until you reach in your pocket and find your iPod. It's your iPod with your music on it. |
12 Due Did your parents catch you with something you shouldn't have had when you were a kid, like porn, cigarettes, or condoms? Write about it. If you didn't get caught, make it up. |
13 Rhinoceros You wake up all wrong. You used to be rich, but now you're poor...or vice versa. |
14 Listen For the last several days, you've noticed that things are a little off, like people are suddenly smoking in restaurents again. But that's not all. There are other things. Everyone else is acting like it's all normal. |
15 Deliberate For whatever reason, you have to slip a pill into someone else's drink. Why? And what's going to happen when you do? |
| 16 Stain You and your date are having the time of your life. You've just been seated in a posh restaurant and are about to order when your date suddenly goes crazy. You can't believe the things she's saying, but she's not just saying them. She's screaming them, accusing you of everything from underage drinking to rape. |
17 Blood You discover the Ring of Gyges. It allows the wearer to become invisible when they wear it. What will you do while you're wearing it? |
18 Non-stop A famous, rich celebrity has taken an interest in you. You're already happily married, but they are willing to give you anything you want to run off with them. |
19 Ashtray You've been married to your spouse for eighteen years. You're dusting one day and discover a wall safe behind one of the pictures in your living room. |
20 Swear Your spouse doesn't come home from work. You call and find out they're workign late. They're still not home when you go to sleep. And then you're abruptly awakened by what you can only describe as mob thugs. They demand to know where your spouse is. |
21 Thank You You wake up to the sound of a burgler trying to break in. You don't think to grab your cell phone to call 9-1-1. Instead, you grab... |
22 Role You're standing in line in a bank to cash a check when suddenly a fist fight breaks out between two patrons. |
| 23 Frustration You've just worked a long day. You come home exhausted, ready to kick your shoes off and relax, but when you get home, you discover... |
24 Locker Write about a memory you have from the eighth grade. |
25 Border Everyone has at least one secret. What is yours. (This is a writing exercise, not a confession. Use your imagination.) |
26 Oregano Write a memoir about an embarrasing moment. Be descriptive. |
27 Wind Your spouse/significant other is asleep beside you...at least you think they are asleep. When you reach over, they are cold (dead). |
28 Amputate Your new date likes a certain kind of illegal drug. You don't do drugs, but you're not opposed to them. You decide to get him/her some for their birthday, but when you go to buy it, red and blue lights suddenly come on. You're busted. |
29 Ego The Last Chance Saloon |
| 30 Cap You're at a very high-profile event for your company. You're going to get a big award, but suddenly you get a nose bleed for some reason...and it just won't quit. It's almost time for the announcer to call you up on stage for a big award, but the blood is still gushing from your nose. |
31 Memorial Day Alliance You're being accused of something you didn't do. What is it? |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 April Fool's Day Inspiration It's April Fool's Day. Write about a prank that you've pulled on someone else, or someone's pulled on you. |
2 Buy It's all over the news. The world will be destroyed tomorrow. What is the one thing you need to do before that happens? How are you going to accomplish it with all the ensuing chaos? |
3 Point I don't know how it happened, but when I came back into the room, they were sitting naked across from each other. They didn't even mind that we were there. |
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| 4 Easter Resurrection You have somehow garnered the attention of an unwelcome suitor. Write about it. |
5 Goodbye Your child is missing. But you find a cat in your child's bed. You know it sounds crazy, but you're positive that your child has somehow been turned into this cat. |
6 Spades Summertime in Texas. It's the Friday of a 3-day weekend. You stay for drinks with friends and don't get home until late, and when you do, you discover the electricity has been turned off. No air conditioning until Tuesday. |
7 Pistol You notice a lottery ticket on the ground and pick it up. You normally wouldn't but the lottery amount is much larger than usual. When you check the numbers on the ticket, you discover it is the only winning ticket. What would you do with it? |
8 Handcuffs I think it looks like... |
9 Sports Police storm into your house and arrest you for something you didn't do. Write about it. |
10 Cricket Put yourself in a situation where you're somewhere you shouldn't be, and you see something you shouldn't see. Where are you and what do you witness? |
| 11 Skillet Write about a time when you were stopped for speeding but didn't get a ticket. Make it a memoir unless this has never happened to you, then make it up. What would you do to get out of a ticket? |
12 Dice Sitting in a bar, you notice people coming in from outside, one at a time, and going behind the bar, where they disappear. Where are they going? What are they doing? Who are they? Write about it. |
13 Uniform You are cooking dinner for your date. It's the first time you've cooked for him/her and you've gone all out. It's perfect! Until... |
14 Back You wake up one morning and for no apparent reason, one of your fingernails falls off in the shower. Not a fake nail, the real one. It doesn't hurt, but it obviously freaks you out. |
15 Tax Day Forms You were on your way to mail off your tax return before midnight, but the car broke down. It didn't just break down, it died. You don't get your tax return in on time. |
16 Cigar All I can say is... |
17 Notice Write a memoir about cockroaches. |
| 18 Lethargic This is air week. Everything will be about heights. Today, you are parasailing. They hook you into a parachute and the boat takes off, lifting you up into the air. But something goes terribly wrong. |
19 Nerve You are up on the roof of the tallest skyscraper in the world. It's an observation deck. Suddenly the building begins to shake. |
20 Jaguar Speaking of skyscrapers, someone offered you a large sum of money to be a window washer for a day. You're a hundred stories up, hanging by little ropes, standing on a tiny platform. |
21 Peanuts Write about a memory you have from the sixth grade. |
22 Foxhole The plane is going to crash. There aren't many onboard and there are enough parachutes for everyone. Or are there? |
23 Opium You get to ride in a helicopter. It's the kind that doesn't close their doors and you have a window seat. |
24 Heart Attack Against your better judgement, you get into the very front seat of a new roller coaster to please your date/spouse. It's supposed to be the world's highest and fastest. |
| 25 Eccentric If you were to be reincarnated as an animal, what would it be? Now write a story from that animal's perspective. |
26 Wheelchair They say that getting away with murder is all about the details. What details would you pay attention to if you were going to kill someone? Write about it. |
27 Meat Your spouse just surprised you with a dream day. What would your dream day be like? The spa? Flowers? A clean house? |
28 Bikini You find yourself in a situation with a group of others. One person has to stay behind to save the others from certain death, and you drew the short straw. |
29 Lamp Have you ever been stranded in the middle of nowhere? Write about it. No cell phone, no food, and nothing but miles between you and civilization. |
30 Loaded Make it happen. |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 Sound Effect You discover that you have superpowers. You can... |
2 Lifeguard What does that mean to me? |
3 Killer Whale You walk into work and suddenly everyone starts pointing at you and laughing. |
4 Bicycle They're just jockying for position. |
5 Sweet Get this plane off the ground! |
6 Picture That's part of the problem. |
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| 7 Rattlesnake This is witness protection week. Imagine yourself going into witness protection. What did you see that you need a new identity for? |
8 Grilled Cheese Sandwich Speaking of witness protection, where (city, state) do you end up? What is life like there? |
9 iPod More on witness protection. What is the one thing, above all else that you are going to miss by being in the witness protection program? |
10 Ticket You're tired of witness protection, and you run. Let your imagination run wild. |
11 Sailboat Still witness protection week. You've been forbidden from contacting any of your old friends or relatives. And you abide by it, until you see something in the news, and you just have to break the rules to make just one phone call. Who is it and for what? |
12 Dessert You discover that your spouse is making phone calls to old friends or relatives. This puts you and your children at risk. |
13 Trail You're still in witness protection. The only problem is that you and your spouse are getting a divorce. How does that work? What now? |
| 14 Crackers Just make a decision. |
15 Cabbage Who is the girl or guy that you always watched from afar? Looking back, what would you do differently? I suggest that you change the name to protect the innocent. |
16 Pimple It was someone called Greg. |
17 St. Patrick's Day Shamrock You go out for drinks on St. Patrick's Day. The bar is full of people, and something happens. What is it? |
18 Scalding A group of friends is staying in a resort for the weekend. A thunderstorm heralds the discovery of a dead body. |
19 Dust Your car is in the shop and you don't have a choice but to take public transit. While you're on the bus, you see two people... |
20 Motorcycle Her feet were on the desk. |
| 21 Monkey Don't confuse movement for action. |
22 Click You put gravy on your what? |
23 Gigantic It might help if I shared. |
24 Wrestle That felt different. |
25 Beer What goes on behind the scenes? |
26 Iceberg That's why I sit in the back. |
27 Electric Write about the quirky habits of an old roommate or sibling. |
| 28 Box You can spend an evening with anyone you want to. Anyone. Who is it and what will you do? |
29 Sorry You wake up in a strange city. Where are you? Think globally. |
30 Friday The sidewalk suddenly chips up in front of you in a spot about two inches across. It happens again right beside you and you realize that someone is shooting at you. |
31 Quail Is this all there is? |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 1 Concrete Who is your dream guest to come over for dinner? What would it be like? |
2 Groundhog Day Shadow You wake up and you are at the Grammys (or Emmy's or whatever) and you relize they just called your name. You won! What would it be for? |
3 Pillow Ever have that dream where you went to school naked? How are you going to get out of it? |
4 Rice You heard a noise in the middle of the night that woke you up. As you listen you hear it again. |
5 Moon You have a week to live. Money isn't a question. What is the one thing you want to do before you die? |
6 Island You smell something that reminds you of being a kid. What's the smell and what does it remind you of> |
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| 7 Arm Think about being in the first grade. What is your first memory? |
8 Slow You're at a swank party on the shore of a lake. You're in your best attire and you accidently get pushed into the lake. |
9 Falling An old song comes on the radio. What is it and what's it remind you of? |
10 Truck You wake up and realize that you're tied up. Someone is standing above you telling you that it be easier if you just tell him what he wants to know. |
11 Evil Who do you want to see most at your class reunion? Or who do you want to see least? |
12 Lincoln's Birthday Truth You're standing at the Lincoln Memorial with the man or woman of your dreams at night. |
13 Born You're driving along in the country and suddenly there is a UFO above you. |
| 14 Valentine's Day Love Write a short memoir about your first kiss. |
15 Presidents' Day Vote What big news event do you remember from your childhood? An election? A rocket launch? A war correspondent reporting? |
16 Charm You discover you have a superpower. What is it and how would you use it? For good or for evil? |
17 Long You've had a little too much to drink and you realize that you don't recognize where you are. And your cell phone is missing. |
18 A+ You just won the lottery and will never need to work again. What will you do? |
19 World You come home from work and discover the hose to the washing machine is broken and it flooded the house. |
20 Lawn You're at the horse races and you bet on a longshot...and win! |
| 21 Swim You have just been laid off, when you thought you were at the top of your game. |
22 Strong You've just left on vacation. You're on a plane flying away and you realize that you forgot to... |
23 Ball You're sitting on the couch watching a movie. Who are you with and what's the movie? Try to include all five senses. |
24 Blue Did you have "bath night" when you were growing up? What do you remember about it? |
25 Ring Think abotu a family vacation growing up. What was it like? Or how could it have been? |
26 Piano You wake up and realize the last 10 years of your life have been a dream. What would you go back and fix? |
27 Feisty What would you do if you were sinking in wet cement? Or if someone you loved was? |
| 28 Girl What are you most proud of in your life? |