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Literary – January 31
“There was that law of life, so cruel and so just, that one must grow or else pay more for remaining the same.” -Norman Mailer, born this date in 1923. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist deconstructs a moment from earlier in her/his life when s/he had a choice to grow or stay the same … and has since paid for making the wrong decision.
read moreJournaling + 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.
read moreBig Questions – January 31
What scares you? Journaling prompt: Spend 15-20 minutes writing your answer in the spirit of exploring yourself and the world around you. If you can answer with a simple “yes” or “no,” explain the sources or implications of your response. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene that forces a character in your story to answer the question, or spend 15-20 minutes answering the question in the voice of a character you want to know more about. Photo from Unsplash, the internet’s source of freely-usable images.
read moreRomance – January 31
“Every moment of one’s existence one is growing into more or retreating into less. One is always living a little more or dying a little bit.” -Norman Mailer, born this date in 1923. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must choose between growing and living, or retreating and dying, a little bit.
read moreMystery – January 31
“Anyone can love a perfect place. Loving Baltimore takes some resilience.”- Laura Lippman, born this date in 1959 (the same day on which Homicide: Life on the Street — based on a book about Baltimore — premiered in 1993). Writing prompt: In your protagonist’s voice, describe a place s/he loves that everyone else finds a little less than perfect.
read moreSciFi/Fantasy – January 31
“I think we shrink from the immensity of the purpose we are here for.” -Norman Mailer, born on this date in 1923. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist shrinks before the immensity of her/his purpose.
read moreSecondary – January 31
In Zane Gray’s best-known novel, Riders of the Purple Sage, he wrote, “At the end of the day faith is a funny thing.” He was born on this date in 1872 and started writing after studying dentistry on a baseball scholarship at Penn. Write your best definition of faith.
read morePrimary – January 31
3M began selling Scotch tape on this date in 1930. Describe why you’d like to leave behind something that’s sticking to you right now.
read moreLiterary – January 30
“Finding is losing something else. I think about, perhaps even mourn, what I lost to find this.” From “Loading Mercury with a Pitchfork” by Richard Gary Brautigan, born this date in 1935. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist loses something important because s/he finds something else.
read moreJournaling + Fiction – January 30
“Life is either a great adventure or nothing.”Helen Keller Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about the greatest adventure you’ve had to date. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist stumbles on his/her first step to a planned great adventure.
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David B. Schlosser is an author of award-winning fiction and non-fiction, and an editor of award-winning fiction and non-fiction.
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