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January 26, 2025 Writing Prompts for the Week

January 26, 2025

Happy Sunday! Have you ever considered “cross-training” for your creativity muscles? In fitness, cross-training means working your muscles and body in a way that’s different from what you normally do to get the biggest overall benefit for your body. (If you’re a runner, you might cross-train by lifting heavy weights or by swimming.)

As a writer, how could you cross train? Maybe by doing creative activities outside of your normal milieu (and even ones you’re uncomfortable with). Trying your hand at sketching, pottery wheel throwing, cross-stitching, glass blowing, or any number of activities could shake up your writing in exciting new ways.

This Week’s Prompts*

  1. An iris really shouldn't be that color, she thought, as she lifted his left eyelid.

  2. Write a scene in which a student who expected to fail a test gets an "A" instead, and explain why.

  3. At one end of the table, a party; at the other, a funeral.

  4. The dough sprang back from the touch of his finger, asserting its intention to rise.

  5. Write a scene in which someone is cheering on marathon runners, only to see their own estranged mother among the runners.

  6. With each ping, ding, and chirp her eyes narrowed and her grip on the controllers tightened.

  7. "Happy Anniversary of the Day We Got Divorced!" he said, lifting his glass in my direction.

*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

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson
When artist parents raise their children by including them in all of their most provocative performance art pieces, you might expect those children to grow up to be a bit…unusual. The Family Fang is an interesting and entertaining exploration of how our families shape us and where our own responsibilities lie.

Grab it on Bookshop.org (and support local bookstores!)
Grab it on Amazon

❝

Don’t resist the urge to burn down the stronghold, kill off the main love interest or otherwise foul up the lives of your characters.

Patricia Hamill

🧵 Hey, remember how you and I were talking trying out new creative pastimes? The Domestika website features thousands of creative courses and regularly runs great sales or “free to join” offers.

🗺️ Who draws the maps for books? Well, in J.R.R. Tolkien’s case it was a young cartographer by the name of Karen Wynn Fonstad, and her story is well worth the read.

🍿 Synchronize your reading and watching schedule! LitHub has pulled together a list of the top book-to-movie adaptations to keep an eye out for this year.

Top (Published) First Line of the Week

At a certain point in his career the artist G, perhaps because he could find no other way to make sense of his time and place in history, began to paint upside down.

From Parade by Rachel Cusk

Grab it on Bookshop.org (and support local bookstores!)
Grab it on Amazon

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P.S.

Hey, did you know that I’ve written a book myself? It’s non-fiction, but some have found it rather helpful. If you, like those readers, are interested in copywriting as a career, might I also recommend this training about copywriting? You never know when the perfect career for you is going to reveal itself…

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