July 13, 2025 Writing Prompts for the Week

July 13, 2025

Happy Sunday! There’s a joke that pops into my mind relatively regularly and it goes like this:

Two muffins are sitting in an oven. The first muffin turns to the second one and says, “Gee…it’s starting to get really hot in here.” And the second muffing screams, “AAAH!! A talking muffin!!!”

Obviously, this is about as absurd and silly as it gets. But I also think that’s why I like it: There’s actually a lot in the world that’s absurd and silly and we’re trained to just look past it. This week, I’d encourage you to look for the absurd and silly and, if not appreciate it, at least take note of it.

But before that, how about some prompts?

This Week’s Prompts*

  1. An elderly Abba tribute band was exactly what the occasion called for, Mayela concluded.

  2. My first husband, Arthur Jr., was where "destiny" and "density" converged.

  3. Take the first song that pops into your head and write a scene that describes what happens in the lyrics.

  4. "It's a spread of spreads," he announced, taking jars of Marmite, Nutella, and peanut butter out of his tote.

  5. I was, in the ripest blush of my youth, a simpering little weasel.

  6. "Kindly remove yourself from my classroom, Jason."

  7. It was the kind of hot where he just could mask his sweat: the sight or the smell.

*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

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Yes, this is one assigned by my book club, but I’ve enjoyed her books in the past. This one centers around the first few female astronauts in the NASA space program and the challenges that they faced. Frankly, it dragged a bit toward the middle but, by the end, I was glad I’d read it. (And not just so I didn’t get in trouble at book club 😉 ).

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

❝

I try to write a certain amount each day, five days a week. A rule sometimes broken is better than no rule.

Herman Wouk

🇬🇧 At first blush, American English and British English seem essentially the same. But this article (by a native BE speaker) explores what it means to be surrounded by a deeply similar but still strangely foreign language.

⏳ I think we can agree that “live like it’s your last day” is fundamentally silly advice. But what about living like you have two years left? This podcast interview discusses how a terminal diagnosis changes our perspective and what that can mean for how we live our lives.

🤸 Sure, writing habits are personal, but some of them are…downright weird. Here’s a slideshow of odd writing habits from 20 famous writers. If you test any out, let me know.

Top (Published) First Line of the Week

Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.

From Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

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

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P.S.

Worried that AI is going to take your job? (Or worried that everything is going to be written by AI?) Here’s a podcast you might want to check out.

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