Sometimes I want to do a quick free write, so I keep it simple. I grab the nearest book, open it up and put my finger down on the page. The first word I read is my starting point. Right now the closest book to me is The Everything Learning German Book (I’m working on learning more than just Hallo and Auf Wiedersehen). The word my finger hit is ALONE. Had it been a German word, I would have used that as my starting point. Occasionally I pick one or two more words to use as well. Do whatever feels right, just WRITE!
Another simple way to find a writing prompt is to act like a three-year-old and look around the room and then pick out an item that speaks to you. For example, looking across my kitchen right now, I see my daughter’s cactus sitting in the windowsill. I have been babysitting it since she left to Taiwan a year and a half ago. She has stayed there because Covid19 is controlled in that country and she can live safely. Not only does that plump little cactus make a good story all it’s own, I now feel all sorts of stories ready to escape.
Don’t make it hard on yourself, pick out a word or an object, and just sit down and write.
WRITING PROMPT 1: Choose a word (or two or three) from a book or magazine, and write.
WRITING PROMPT 2: Look around you, what object speaks to you? Use that object as a starting point and write.
WRITING PROMPT 3: Jasmine set her book, The Great Pretenders, down, looked around her room and…
