“I’ve been making a list of the things they don’t teach you at school. They don’t teach you how to love somebody.”Neil Gaiman Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about what you learned after expressing love for someone in a way the recipient didn’t appreciate. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist finds exactly the wrong way to express love for someone...
“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.”John D. Rockefeller Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about what happened after a moment that you now believe you should have taken a bigger risk than you did. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must let go of something valued and trusted to obtain something that’s only potentially...
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”Albert Einstein Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about an experience when creativity outperformed intellect ins finding a solution to a challenge. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist’s knowledge proves insufficient to achieve an important goal.
“A sense of humor, being born of perspective, bears a near kinship to philosophy; each is the soul of the other.”Will Durant Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about a time humor helped you through a difficult moment. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which new information inverts your protagonist’s perspective on a prior serious event.
“Hear the words of prudence, give heed unto her counsels, and store them in thine heart; her maxims are universal, and all the virtues lean upon her; she is the guide and the mistress of human life.”Akhenaten Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about a time you acted without prudence and achieved a positive or successful outcome in spite of it. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in...
“Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.”Diogenes Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about what you learned from observing someone you respected surrounding him or herself with people you did not respect. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist realizes all her/his allies lack the wisdom necessary...
“We should always allow some time to elapse, for time discloses the truth.“Lucius Annaeus Seneca Journal prompt: Reflect on your previous journal entries and spend at least 20 minutes writing about a situation that after time turned out differently than you’d originally understood it. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist learns a truth that defies his/her most important...
“A sharp sense of empathy can make a huge difference, and with it in an ability to manipulate, to gain cooperation, and to deceive.”Edward O. Wilson Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about what you learned from a person whose apparent empathy caused you to be deceived. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist learns s/he was deceived by a person previously considered an...