Journaling + Fiction – February 7

“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”Robert A. Heinlein Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about your feelings following an experience in which you put someone else’s happiness ahead of yours. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist fails to realize another person is expressing love for your...

Journaling + Fiction – February 6

“Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.”Calvin Coolidge Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about a talent you believe could make you successful at something you’re not currently doing. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist fails despite doing the most and best s/he possibly could do.

Journaling + Fiction – February 5

“If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old.”Peter Drucker Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about a new habit you plan to adopt to displace a current habit. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist misses an opportunity because s/he could not stop doing the same old thing.

Journaling + Fiction – February 4

“The inner fire is the most important thing mankind possesses.”Edith Södergran Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about a subject that kindles your inner fire but that you haven’t done enough to sustain. Fiction writing prompt: Write the scene in which your protagonist first encountered that which ignited his/her inner fire.

Journaling + Fiction – February 3

“No one is is sure of his premise as the man who knows too little.”Barbara W. Tuchman Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about a different perspective on a topic about which you believe you’re overconfident. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist learns the hard way that s/he didn’t know as much as s/he believed.

Journaling + Fiction – February 2

“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”Ralph Waldo Emerson Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about the trail you most want to blaze for others to follow Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist encounters danger because s/he left the trail.

Journaling + Fiction – February 1

“There is only one duty, only one safe course, and that is to try to be right and not to fear to do or say what you believe to be right.”Winston Churchill Journal prompt: Reflect on your previous journal entries and spend at least 20 minutes writing about a moment during which you could have been braver than you were. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist creates more problems by choosing...

Journaling + Fiction – January 31

“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them become what they are capable of being.”Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about a time you helped someone become their best self. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which a person your protagonist counts on as a leader treats your protagonist as less than capable.