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- February 2, 2025 Writing Prompts for the Week
February 2, 2025 Writing Prompts for the Week
Happy Sunday! Here’s a question for you: How does your reading change when you’re leaning into your writing? Do you change it at all? Are you open to changing it?
Talking to writers I know, I’ve been hearing that it can be hard to write fiction in close proximity to writing it. Many of them say that, if they write in the morning, they read fiction in the evening to avoid the novel’s style influencing their own.
Something to think about. Speaking of writing…
This Week’s Prompts*
I am swollen, I am frozen, and I believe, ah yes, that I am trapped.
Think of a song and start your writing with the first four words (or the first four words you can remember) of the song.
Destiny hadn't called Lev; if anything, it yodeled..
Coronation Day hadn't changed much through the years: commemorative dishes, tipsy revelers, and big problems for one man in particular.
San Sebastian was unseasonably cool the morning Soraya Roi's hand washed up on the beach.
Bunnies, as far as the eye could see: Scads and scads of white and brown bunnies.
Write a scene in a doctor's waiting room, beginning with the receptionist explaining why the doctor is three hours behind.
*How to Use These Prompts: The italicized prompts let you create your writing entirely from scratch; the non-italicized prompts are intended as your first line and jumping off point. But, at the same time, there are no rules. Write on!
Book(s) We’re Reading This Week
While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence by Meg Kissinger
Meg Kissinger’s family, while tight-knit and loving, really went through the wringer. The journalist details her parents’ battles with alcoholism and mental illness, and her siblings’ battles with more of the same. It’s a compelling read with some surprisingly funny and refreshing moments and offers a compassionate view into one family’s not-uncommon struggle.
Grab it on Bookshop.org (and support local bookstores!)
Grab it on Amazon
A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.
Links We Like (And Think You Will, Too)
🖊️ Free writing workshops? Yes, please! PEN America is offering a series of workshops around the “You Are a Writer” theme to help you build a solid writing foundation.
📚 Splurge on great books…at a discount. Sign up (free!) for Bookbub, and they’ll let you know when ebooks go on sale in your favorite categories and by authors you follow. (Think: $2.99. Sold!)
💡 Having a little trouble wrapping your mind around your writing? Maybe you need a little help with nailing down the premise. (Or, really, getting clear on what a premise is.) And, if so, this is an article you’re going to love.
Top (Published) First Line of the Week
In the fall of 1980, when I was fourteen, a friend of my parents named Naomi Shah fell in love with me.
From Playworld by Adam Ross
Grab it on Bookshop.org (and support local bookstores!)
Grab it on Amazon
As someone who (years ago) used to work in a bookshop, I'm curious. Do you: |
P.S.
Wondering what kinds of careers are open to writers? Great question! Here’s a look at three of the top paying careers for those of us who happen to be adept with the ole’ pen or keyboard.
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