Journaling + Fiction – May 14

“Chaos is merely order waiting to be deciphered.”José Saramago Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about the next part of your life you want to organize. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist identifies a pattern that misleads rather than illuminates.

Journaling + Fiction – May 13

“If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”Oprah Winfrey Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about what you need less of. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist realizes that getting what s/he didn’t have doesn’t solve the problem.

Journaling + Fiction – May 12

Affairs are easier of entrance than of exit; and it is but common prudence to see our way out before we venture in.Aesop Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about an experience when you got into a situation you didn’t know how to get out of. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist fails to extricate himself or herself from a socially awkward situation into which your...

Journaling + Fiction – May 11

“As soon as any man says of the affairs of the State ‘What does it matter to me?’ the State may be given up for lost.”Jean-Jacques Rousseau Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about a matter of public interest you know you should care about but don’t. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist’s ignorance of a matter of public importance puts her/him in a...

Journaling + Fiction – May 10

“He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.”K’ung Fu-tzu Journal prompt: Reflect on your previous journal entries and spend at least 20 minutes writing about an experience when you committed to achieve more than you could or did. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is forced to eat her/his words.

Journaling + Fiction – May 9

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,in secret, between the shadow and the soul.Pablo Neruda Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about a person or thing you love but other people cannot or would not understand. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must confront a person s/he loves but doesn’t much like about the behavior that creates the...

Journaling + Fiction – May 8

“If you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”Martin Luther King, Jr. Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about what you will do to move forward on something you have been too long static. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must crawl when s/he would prefer to...

Journaling + Fiction – May 7

“Learning never exhausts the mind.”Leonardo da Vinci Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about why you’d be excited to learn about a new subject you’ve been interested in for a while. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist exhausts an ally by trying to teach the ally a new skill.