Writing Prompt – Janet Eriksson

December 22, 2025

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.

December 15, 2025December 15, 2025

Writing Prompt: Christmas Scene

It’s that busy Christmas time of year. As writers, we often take a break to enjoy the season—as we should! But we may find it hard to feel reinspired in January.

During busy seasons, just writing a little something can keep the creativity flowing. When things calm down again, and we have more time to write, we won’t feel creatively sluggish.

November 17, 2025November 16, 2025

Writing Prompt: Thankfulness

It’s that time of year when we’re reminded of things we are thankful for. Thankfulness lasts all year long and is a wonderful habit to cultivate. But the beauty of Thanksgiving is that thankfulness sits in front of us. That makes thankfulness a great writing prompt for this season.

September 22, 2025September 15, 2025

Try a Photo Writing Prompt

Whether you’ve started writing a book or are preparing to start soon, you might find writing prompts a helpful exercise. You can do journal prompts, where you write in response to a phrase. You can do memory prompts, where you describe a particular memory. You can also write in response to a photo prompt, which is what we will try this week.

August 25, 2025August 19, 2025

Writing Prompt: Back-to-School Letter for Future Generations

One of the fun things about writing family history is you can experiment with different writing formats. You can tell a family story by writing a poem or a song, describing a photo, sharing a recipe and the story behind it, creating a diary-style note, or writing a letter.

Today, we’ll look at a writing prompt for a seasonal letter you can write. This letter is partly an encouragement to future generations of your family, and it’s partly a way to share your own memories.

July 21, 2025August 19, 2025

Writing Prompt: A Childhood Summer Memory

Writing a book begins with small steps. As you practice writing smaller pieces, the bigger project starts to come together. A writing prompt—where you write in response to a particular question or topic—can help you gain momentum.

Have you ever tried writing in response to a writing prompt? It’s good practice, it exercises your writing muscles, and it can often lead to insights for your book. I’m going to share one today that you can try.