- A maintenance man with Tourette syndrome.
- A Klezmer band.
- Write a poem or short story woven around your three favorite colors.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following five words: glazed, splinter, quiet, stare, overhead.
- Fill in the blanks: “are you ____ or not _____?”
- Use the phrase, “I feel like a cog in a machine”.
- “Do you want me to go home?”
- We knew the river was rising and the rain would continue.
- He drank Scotch, she Fresca.
- It was so quiet an acorn’s fall was startling.
- A person who collects hats.
- Let the change of seasons reflect your m/c.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following five words: prior, making, squinted, mud-caked, although.
- Write about something that is made up of (or can be broken into) three or more parts.
- Use the phrase, “Is there anything sadder than an unmade pot of coffee?”
- He took pride in collecting National Geographic magazine.
- “That woman is a verb short of a sentence.”
- A recycling bin, 2 fans, and a small propane tank.
- We were alone in the cold and clammy darkness.
- Describe the sound(s) of disappointment.
- Does the temperature ever change in your Utopia?
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following five words: front, Quasimodo, bass, impatiently, polka (bonus: proximity)
- Fill in the blank, “Giving billions to the rich is like ___________ to the poor.”
- Include the phrases “Meet you at the party, Richter” and/or “What harm could there be.”
- Play with math today. See if it can help your creativity.
- Avoid the letter i today.
- He looked as fragile as a baby blue bird.
- Celebrate your ancestry today.
- Describe a piano to someone who has never seen one.
- The smell of an old leather bound book.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Is a paperless world possible? Write about it.
- Write about the opposite of what this day is for you….weather, emotion,,,
- He always said blue was his favorite, yet never wore the color. Why?
- Write about the beauty of one who did not survive a holocaust or genocide.
- Be a mental grammar maven today, Listen to everyone with that in mind.
- Time to think about your 2012 writing resolutions.
Category Archives: WP 2011
December 2011
November 2011
Daily Writing Prompts
- Jellyfish tentacles drift through the water
- Write a story or poem based on an old wives’ tale
- Set your action during an unexpected early snowstorm
- “What are you going to do with all of that?”
- A strip of film negatives found marking a place in an old book
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following words: enlightenment, disposal, names, smiles, offer
- Use the phrase “curious arrangement.”
- Write about a reunion.
- The drive leading to the building could only be described as “treacherous.”
- Use water or another liquid as a theme or metaphor
- A box of tissues and a bottle of camphor on a bedside table
- Camping on a cold, clear autumn night
- A letter to Santa
- Use an item within your reach as a clue to a character’s personality
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following words: control, shape, floor, critical, worried
- Use the phrase, “Where did this come from?”
- Write about falling behind.
- Try writing a story or poem in future tense
- Write a conversation among football players on a field
- Use in a story/poem: stuff, energize, invade
- Find an abandoned piece and rewrite, cutting as many adjectives as possible
- Your MC is shocked by the arrival of a letter or email
- Open your story with weather different from today’s real weather
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following five words: morning, slide, seemed, never, dreaming.
- Write about illegible handwriting.
- Use the phrase, “more than I need”.
- Follow a character’s morning or evening rituals
- Write a comic panel or strip
- The story behind your character’s good luck charm
- Create the story of a character’s first time doing something
- Your MC fears someone will discover her/his secret obsession
- Write the story of a theft from the thief’s perspective
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following words: time, task, genuine, machine, increased
- Use the phrase “I can’t keep track.”
- Use the phrase, “not this time.”
- Fall clean-up: physically clean your writing space & organize your documents
- Write a memoir pp about a pet you had or fiction about one you wish you had
- An automatic light that fails to come on prompts the MC’s anxiety
October 2011
Daily Writing Prompts
- Dead of Winter Writing Contest opens.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter.
- Use the following five words: where, course, survival, situations, slacks.
- Fill in the blanks: “you want ____, you got ____”.
- Use the phrase, “A funny place to stand.”
- His good manners were not natural to him.
- The emotional pain was greater than the physical.
- Her words were lost in the wind.
- A clinkery of beer bottles.
- Use leather, rust and peppermint in a short story or poem.
- “Give Blood, Play Hockey” Create a t-shirt slogan.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter.
- Use the following words: threads, door, cloudy, stops, watch
- Write about an experience for which the character has no words.
- Fill in the blank: “When in doubt, _____”
- If you take away knowledge, you create myth.
- Describe a band setting up for a gig in a new venue.
- She wore her anger proudly.
- The path was covered with gem-hard ice.
- He was so good looking and so unattainable I wanted to weep.
- The words she spoke, when we woke, still haunt me.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter.
- Use the following five words: under, lying, mudcaked, imagination, thought.
- Write about running into the same person again and again.
- Write about being chosen.
- He was a famous, but quirky, footnote in history.
- The invisible connection of friendship.
- I have grown older and wilder.
- Write a poem or short story that contains the title of 3 books.
- Share a meal with your m/c today.
- Our family tree had poisoned roots.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter.
- Use the following words: hands, signs, first, tighter, upward
- Write about poor incense management.
- Use the phrase, “and that’s what saved my life.”
- Protected by the purity of nature.
- Ice covered bushes glittering like chandeliers.
- An abandoned house with curling shards of paint.
- I have learned by being burned by misinformation.
- His apartment decor was economic eclectic.
- A door covered with peeling peach paint.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter.
- Use the following five words: gently, chorus, imagination, himself, burning.
- Use the phrase, “My, you’ve changed.”
- Fill in the blank: “Is there anything sadder than _____ “.
- Few believed her, but everyone loved her.
September 2011
Daily Writing Prompts
- She eats peach cobbler for breakfast.
- Two guys ordering Flaming Doctor Peppers.
- “I have to give the cat her medicine.”
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following five words: adults, hitting, still, trees, moonlight.
- Use the phrase “by the dozen.”
- Write about being distracted by a ring or other item someone is wearing.
- A character who speaks only in cliches.
- A parent who accompanies his/her child to university.
- Start with a tweet from a dead writer.
- If I could live anywhere (real or imagined), it would be…
- Use a vintage photo as inspiration.
- “They want to treat the symptoms instead of the cause!”
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following five words: failure, driving, deeper, rhapsody, orange.
- From @bsteitler: ” ‘Just let me finish this train of thought,’ she said, swallowing her beer.”
- Write about observing a tradition whose justification is no longer valid.
- They went to the fair and ate deep-fried Pop-Tarts.
- A present-day character who repairs typewriters for a living.
- A room empty except for an unmade bed.
- MC unable to resist sales on leftover back-to-school supplies.
- Write about the process of making your favorite meal.
- “I think my best friend has joined a cult.”
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following five words: pathways, twirling, maple, surface, before.
- Your character is (self-?) introduced in a handful of words.
- Write about not being able to remember someone’s name.
- Finding a shoebox full of Polaroids.
- Write about a literal or metaphorical quilt.
- A worn paperback hidden under a mattress.
- Start with a hashtag that’s trending right now.
- September Equinox — write about early fall or spring.
- “Everything’s better with bacon.”
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following words: curling, unbalanced, frame, without, today
- Write about a name-dropper.
- Use the phrase: “It doesn’t work that way.”
- A birthday cake sprinkled in glitter.
- Cougar (mountain lion) attacks one of your characters.
- Write about a familiar place now and then.
- A problem is solved with a handful of jellybeans.
- MC decides to self-publish or stick rejected 1st novel in drawer.
August 2011
Daily Writing Prompts
- She wept mascara.
- We passed each other without a word.
- He didn’t have much to do, or any place to do it.
- Procrastination is the thief of time.
- “I hope she’s with a good man.”
- Let your favorite artist inform your writing today.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following five words: number, major, gently, spent, them.
- Fill in the blank: “A day that will live in ________.”
- Write about Zombie X, where X is something zombies usually aren’t.
- All I woke up with was a hangover.
- Three times that day she smelled the musk of skunk.
- They were twined together in a terrible partnership.
- “Love life and live well.”
- A pair of sculpted gold hoop earrings on the neck of a wine bottle.
- The mood was slowly shifting to cheerfulness.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following words: reason, origins, credit, impossible, caution
- Fill in the blank: “I am a _____”
- Write about choosing among more than two options.
- She had a juicy red face.
- Inside voices children, inside voices.”
- The chaos of goodbye.
- Her blouse was the vivid artificial green of Astroturf.
- He was no friend, rather a bitter muse.
- Write a poem or short story about a dying garden.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following five words: formation, thump, slowly, inhabit, critters.
- Write about something happening in a parallel/dream world.
- Use one of the following two phrases: “I’ll buy you a jar of mustard if you’ll be quiet.” Or, “But you guys *said* we were married!”.
- “This is my sanctuary.”
- Burglary is thrilling.
- Kippered herring and saltines kept me alive during my unemployment.
- He was harder to get rid of than a summer cold.
- There was no destination in that journey with her.
- If yesterday had been a fish, I would have thrown it back.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following words: certain, liquid, edges, kicked, detail
- Use “tone of voice” to describe something that’s silent.
- Write about a superpower.
- He did not take action, he was a result.
- Write about your favorite color as a texture.
- He looked like a bulldog with a permanent.
July 2011
Daily Writing Prompts
- Write longhand… in a spiral from the inside to the edges of the paper
- “It’s like I played leapfrog with a herd of unicorns.”
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following five words: differences, satisfied, taking, large, prevail.
- Write about the return, in a new context, of an often uttered phrase.
- Write about regrets inspired by forgetfulness.
- Setting: a hayride during a display of shooting stars
- “It’s 9:24 on a Tuesday night. Where else do you think I would be?”
- Write an (alternative) ending to a weird news story
- Use yesterday’s prompt work as a beginning for a new story/poem
- W/o planning, write immediately after listening/watching any version of this
- Write a story/poem about something in your fridge or freezer
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following words: metal, uniform, false, regardless, gazed
- Write about a retail transaction or sale.
- Write about multiplying or copying something.
- Find a song that evokes unique emotions. Listen on repeat while writing.
- A character carries a $5 bill, two baby teeth, and a bent key
- Google your first name. Use a result as an opening line or plot complication
- “I’m sick of being told I’m wrong, especially when I’m not.”
- “It’s not a seven year itch. It’s a three year glitch.”
- A warm jar of Nutella with two plastic spoons
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following five words: leather, necessary, little, being, spirit.
- Use the phrase: “for no one.”
- Use the phrase “In the fullness of time.”
- Use a pet peeve as the impetus for the action of your story or poem
- The answer is more troubling than the question ever was
- She loves her iguana more than her fiance
- MC is a florist whose romantic partner is a mortician
- “Her Facebook profile pics are always either fairies or cats.”
- Use the a story/poem: blade, dance, edge, curse, leap
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following words: table, essence, progress, track, night
- Write about weeds.
- Write about regional/exotic food.
- The story invented after the fact of the tattoo that tells it
- He buried his money in canning jars along the edge of a swamp
- Setting: a traveling chapel in the trailer of an 18-wheeler (articulated lory)
- “The end of my rope is somewhere up there. The knot unraveled.”
- An online photo of her pedicure draws the admiration of foot fetishists
- Eve of Harry Potter’s birthday: Write about turning 11.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following words: spent, still, entombed, noting, seethrough.
- Bob: make something or someone go poof
- bo: Incorporate at least two of the following three — a person, a place, and a pet — using the given fragments: person = “were-[something]”, place = “… of doom”, and pet = “… laser cat …”
- sabeth: Fill in the blank: “There’s nothing like _______”
- ana: “Zydeco,” she said, and slammed the door.
- janra: Include some music that hasn’t been heard for a very long time.
- toxicfur: Use the phrase “Where’s the capybara?”
- aethucyn: It’s the end: write about death, graduation or closing credits.
June 2011
Daily Writing Prompts
- A chorus of lawn mowers and leaf blowers.
- Use rock, study and parking in a short story or poem.
- A gray haired man and woman in matching warm-ups.
- The smell of bacon cooking.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter.
- Use the following words: obviously, locked, sitting, degree, meaning
- Write about a power failure.
- Write about returning to somewhere you haven’t been for a while.
- He was a man who liked the rhythm of routine.
- A day when cell phones stopped working.
- “I’m fed up with being an invalid.”
- The most dangerous thing in the world is too much safety.
- A lonely man in crisis.
- Her smile puffed with importance.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter.
- Use the following five words: exact, drifting, wailing, where, needed.
- Supply a value for N in the statement: “There are N kinds of people in the world.”
- Use the phrase, “The only way I stay in touch with (him/her) is…”.
- The thick, swirling mist of unknowing.
- She was comfortable but not content.
- “Your work is not your life.”
- The dark fugue of grief.
- “Do I have to wait long to see you again?”
- Earth kissed by the fragrance of orchards.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter.
- Use the following five words: diagonal, shape, crescendo, little, quiet.
- Write about doing something at an unusual time.
- Use the phrase, “Ran off with my ______”.
- Her worry was parasitic, eating her away from the inside.
- He suffered from personal anarchy.
- “If I don’t start walking, I’ll lose my balance.”
- His eyebrows quivered.
- Any thing outdoors was his life.
- Use 3 dogs, a wheelbarrow and a box of matches in a poem or short story.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter.
- Use the following words: starting, connection, stars, forth, gradually
- Write about passing on a message.
- Fill in the blank: “______ and love.”
- Make a collage with your favorite words.
- Kudzu made the trees look like green ghosts.
- She was only happy at night.
- Use the verb career in a poem or short story.
May 2011
Daily Writing Prompts
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following words: break, water, left, pause, burned
- Write about a near miss.
- Use the phrase “just the beginning.”
- “I’ll have a Coke with no ice and two straws.”
- Use in a story/poem: laugh, scoop, thrust.
- Setting: an urban ghost town’s underground tunnels.
- Work with this as character flaw: temperance.
- Pink stretch pants and a cup of cold coffee.
- Write a modern fairy tale or rewrite a classic for today.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following five words: bench, drifted, across, weight, shovel.
- Write about borrowing or lending something of significant value.
- Use the phrase “an abomination would be better.”
- “If you don’t housebreak that dog, I’m selling it.”
- Use in a story/poem: display, feather, luminescence.
- Setting: the interior of a ship.
- Work with this as character flaw: patience.
- Three children sneak out of a first floor window.
- Begin to write a monologue or one-act play.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following five words: maple, thick, undulating, smell, seemed.
- Write about interrupting someone who’s busy.
- Use the phrase “I forgot to say it was a dog.”
- “We’ll need flashlights, bungee cords, and a tarp.”
- Use in a story/poem: discipline, mouth, interest.
- Setting: an idyllic park in a college town.
- Work with this as character flaw: photo-perfect memory.
- Cheating on an unwritten test.
- Find a story fragment and rewrite or continue it.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following five words: survival, destiny, portion, right, spirit.
- Write about planting corn.
- Use an impossible metaphor, such as “it tastes blue, only rounder.”
- “His money’s so old, it comes in colors.”
- Use in a story/poem: drink, quench, violet.
- Setting: the bedroom of a ten year old redheaded boy.
- Work with this as character flaw: compulsion to be honest.
- Opened boxes on a porch as a light rain falls.
- Base a story/poem on one of today’s most popular tweets.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter
- Use the following five words: mixing, bottle, trench, glazed, slowly.
- Use the phrase “part of me wanted him to be right” (with apologies to @postsecret).
- Write about birdsong.
- “She’ll never remember, no matter what method you try.”
- Use in a story/poem: cusp, explosion, verify.
April 2011
Daily Writing Prompts
- A garden sculpture carved out of a tree stump.
- His aftershave reminded her of chocolate and basil.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter.
- Use the following words: constant, watch, frame, pulse, better
- Use the phrases “Can you _____?” and a sarcastic repetition: “*Can* I?”
- Write about missed timing.
- Write a limerick about 1st grade.
- Light penetrated her blondness.
- A woman sitting at a bar looking anxious.
- Describe your m/c’s imaginary Adonis.
- Uneasy awareness shading into panic.
- “I’ll never trust a preacher again.”
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter.
- Use the following five words: untainted, brown, inside, right, therein.
- Fill in the blank: “I never thought I’d say this, but _____”.
- Write about a toy found out of place, for example, a rubber duckie at sea.
- Her nervous giggles were irritating.
- He tried to paint a majestic rainbow.
- A homeless person stirring a mud puddle.
- “Leave my mind alone.”
- A saxophone player in a public park.
- Three heads of broccoli left by the front door.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter.
- Use the following words: twelve, nose, arrived, little, vapor
- Write about fidgeting.
- Write about turning something on or off.
- Use 3 quarters, sunglasses and a faded house dress in a poem or short story.
- “Technology sucks.” Why?
- Their dance in the fading light reflected their lives.
- “It’s time to kick out the dog and find a brand new cat.”
- Listen today and find a story.
- His memories of her had vanished.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter.
- Use the following five words: gripped, remembered, motions, slowly, mother.
- Fill in the blanks: “All ____ and no _____.”
- Use the phrase “the green was on the inside.”
- Adopt a new word today.
- A sunbather drowsing on a beach towel.
- “All I want to do is go fishing.”
- She judged people by the way they walked.
- A day at the zoo.
- “There’s little time, lassie.”
March 2011
Daily Writing Prompts
- MC is asked “What would you have me do?”
- A dog sitting on a stoop with a cigarette in its mouth.
- A guitar case in one hand, a bag of Chinese takeout in the other.
- Getting unstuck: change (or remove) a character’s religious beliefs.
- A couple repainting a bedroom together.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter.
- Use the following words: unending, remain, mirrors, smaller, differences
- Describe drawing a diagram to help figure something out.
- Write about a shift in balance.
- Her nails are short but her hair is long.
- Work with your MC’s perceived greatest weaknesses… are they true?
- A plate of chocolate-dipped strawberries and Jello shots.
- “I told you it was rotten. You wouldn’t listen. Now look what’s happened.”
- She returns early from the groomer because they’re out of pink dye.
- An antique globe, smashed into seven pieces.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter.
- Use the following five words: smoldering, diagonal, which, crossed, light.
- Time marches forward. Or does it?
- Write about being unable to apologize.
- “Even for a five year old, he’s remarkably stubborn.”
- Get unstuck: your MC discovers a letter/email thought to have been lost.
- Snow falling past an orange-bulbed streetlamp.
- A bartender closing up on St Patrick’s Day finds a loose $100 bill.
- MC on holiday desperate to discover the local delicacy.
- Celebrating her half-birthday, Lucy demands a two-tier cake.
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter.
- Use the following words: matches, chalk, wrong, geometry, fewer (bonus word: incommensurability)
- Write about choosing a personal crisis.
- Fill in the blanks: “I’ve got ____ but I’m not a _____”
- Open a story with a sudden & unexpected change in the weather.
- MC quotes a movie to someone who doesn’t get the reference.
- Write what you don’t usually write: fiction, poetry, essay, CNF, etc.
- A cloud of violently yellow smoke fills the train.
- Two children digging in a sandbox suddenly scream and run away.
- “After this, I’m off to Jamaica and, no, I’m not bringing you a souvenir,”
- Get today’s Sunday Brunch Prompts at Twitter.
- Use the following five words: turned, overhead, maybe, exact, towards.
- Write about being interrupted.
- Use the phrase, “If all else fails, read the instructions.”
- “That’s the most evil-looking cat I’ve ever seen, which is saying something.”
- Write something inspired by a “random article” click at Wikipedia.
- “You should’ve fought for me!”
- Use “spiritualism” as inspiration for story / character (not “spirituality”).