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.
2010
2010
| 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? |