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Writing Prompt: A Quiet Love

February is a time to celebrate love. With Valentine’s Day and anticipation of spring, it’s easy to carry love in our hearts.

Love appears in a variety of ways: love for a spouse, child, parent, sibling, friend, neighbor, pet, place, hobby, way of life. Love shows up in big and small ways. Sometimes it’s in the smallest moments when you notice and remember love the most.

For this month’s writing prompt, focus on a quiet way someone loved you. Not a big way, but something meaningful yet easily overlooked.

Write about a simple memory of being loved. Photo by CGabriel at Unsplash

It might be the memory of a caregiver’s routine, a meal someone made, a habit that made you feel safe, a time that made you feel noticed in a loving way.

Whatever comes to mind, set your timer for 15 minutes and write freely. If the topic shifts, that’s okay. Just write. Pour your heart onto the page. Follow your ideas wherever they go. Don’t edit or second guess. Just write.

A writing prompt like this may inspire an idea for your writing project. Or it may be simply a time to feel creative and practice writing. Either way, it’s a great way to remember feeling loved.

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Writing Prompt: Describe a Winter Scene

A writing prompt is a way to practice creative skills while having some fun with writing. If you ever feel stuck, try a writing prompt. It helps you regain momentum. You might even find a new path forward in your writing project.

Writing-prompt exercises are meant to be short and free-flowing. Turn off your inner editor and loose your creativity onto the page. There is no right or wrong approach. Just write.

Set your timer for 10-15 minutes, start writing in response to your specific prompt, and see where it takes you. Resist the urge to stop, delete, perfect, brainstorm, start over again. None of those belong in a writing-prompt exercise.

Just free write and keep going. If your writing moves in a different direction away from the prompt, that’s fine too. Enjoy putting words on paper without knowing where you’re going. Savor the moment.

Winter scenes, whether indoors or outdoors, make wonderful writing prompts. Set your timer for 10-15 minutes and capture all five senses in writing. Photo by Ray Hennessy at Unsplash

Winter is a wonderful time for writing. A cozy writing nook beats braving the cold. Shorter days mean more reflective early evening time. While winter weather may not always be pleasant, winter scenes are beautiful to describe.

Our writing prompt for January is this: Describe a winter scene. The scene can be indoors or outdoors, as you prefer. Try to describe it with all five senses: what do you see, smell, taste, feel, and hear?

You might start with one winter scene and jump to another. Or you might end up writing longingly for a summer beach. Anything goes. Main thing: keep writing.

Sometime this week, set 10-15 minutes aside to write about your winter scene. Enjoy the creativity. Get caught up in the moment. Take this opportunity to have fun and grow as a writer. Stay warm!

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One Journey at a Time: How to Know What Belongs in Your Book

When starting a new book, most writers don’t struggle with a lack of ideas. Instead, they feel overwhelmed because they have too many ideas. They care deeply and want to share everything they know about a topic for the benefit of their readers.

That’s a great problem to have, but it feels daunting. For good reason. When a writer puts too much information into one book, it’s too much for readers to follow and too complicated and overwhelming to organize and write. Most often, the initial manuscript pages end up sitting incomplete and abandoned in a computer file. 

If this struggle feels familiar, here’s a way to help you focus on what your book actually needs.

Continue reading “One Journey at a Time: How to Know What Belongs in Your Book”
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Writing Isn’t a Goal, It’s a Lifestyle

With the new year on its way, it’s common for writers to say, “This is the year I will finally write my book.” By February, life has intervened, and the dream seems to be slipping away. Pressure, disappointment, and defeat set in. Writing becomes a race against the clock instead of an enjoyable adventure. 

Here’s a different way to approach writing in the new year: not as a time-related goal but as an ongoing journey of discovery. Something you explore a little at a time each week. 

Continue reading “Writing Isn’t a Goal, It’s a Lifestyle”
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A Family Recipe Can Enrich Your Writing Project

As Christmas approaches, I’ve been remembering the cookies my grandma and great aunts used to make. I’ve also been cleaning out my kitchen as part of a puppy-proofing purge. In the back of a cupboard, I found a wonderful surprise: a printout of some of my grandma’s and great aunts’ recipes, including the Christmas cookies.

Now, I’m not exactly a baker, so it’s unlikely I’ll try to make the cookies. Although we never know when inspiration can strike. However, as a writer, I am very excited to include the cookie recipe on my family history blog. That prompted me to reflect on different ways we can use favorite family recipes in any kind of writing project.

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Like Snowflakes, No Two Stories Are the Same

When you’re shivering out in the snow, it might feel like all snow is the same. But if you look closely at two snowflakes, they are different from each other. Each snowflake is unique, and that’s amazing.

It’s the same with the stories we write. We may feel like we are writing the same story as someone else, like our story has been done before. But that’s not true. Your story is as unique as you are.

Continue reading “Like Snowflakes, No Two Stories Are the Same”