Journaling + Fiction – September 11

“The most striking quality common to all primitive art is its intense vitality. It is something made by a people with a direct and immediate response to life.”Henry Moore Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about what you’ve learned about the value of living in the moment. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist discovers s/he has no time to think about how to...

Journaling + Fiction – September 10

“Thinkers aren’t limited by what they know, because they can always increase what they know. Rather they’re limited by what puzzles them.”Daniel Quinn Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about something that makes you ask yourself, “Self, why are things the way they are?” Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist skips learning something that later proves...

Journaling + Fiction – September 9

“Hope is the pillar that holds up the world.”Pliny the Elder Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about the hope you secretly fear will never be fulfilled. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist’s pillar crumbles.

Journaling + Fiction – September 8

“Punishment may make us obey the orders we are given, but at best it will only teach an obedience to authority, not a self-control which enhances our self-respect.”Bruno Bettelheim Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about the first time you remember obeying yourself instead of obeying a parent. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist disobeys an order from a...

Journaling + Fiction – September 7

“Life isn’t fair. It’s just fairer than death, that’s all.”William Goldman Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about the unfairness you fear most. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist watches a loved one die.

Journaling + Fiction – September 6

“What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”K’ung Fu-tzu Journal prompt: Reflect on your previous journal entries and spend at least 20 minutes writing about an experience when you treated someone as that person had treated you even though you knew better. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist gives as good as s/he gets.

Journaling + Fiction – September 5

“You can accomplish by kindness what you cannot by force.”Publilius Syrus Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about a moment when kindness prompted you to act in a way no form of coercion could Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist fails to achieve through force what a frenemy then achieves with kindness.

Journaling + Fiction – September 4

“Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.”George Eliot Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about something you did that’s since shaped you more than you shaped your action before taking it. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist proves s/he is something no one — including your protagonist — could have anticipated.