Journaling + Fiction – July 1

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched—they must be felt with the heart.”Helen Keller Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about a person, experience, or object you love more with your heart than with your physical senses. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist feels emotionally a contradiction with what s/he feels...

Journaling + Fiction – June 30

“We improve ourselves by victories over ourselves. There must be contest, and we must win.”Edward Gibbon Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about why a particular victory you’ve tried to win over yourself has to this point eluded you. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist loses a battle for self-control because her/his antagonist possesses greater...

Journaling + Fiction – June 29

“We cannot escape history.”Abraham Lincoln Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about a location or issue in your community that troubles many people but continues to exist because of historical inertia. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which a person or event your protagonist left behind long ago re-emerges at exactly the wrong time.

Journaling + Fiction – June 28

“The heresy of heresies was common sense.”George Orwell Journal prompt: Reflect on your previous journal entries and spend at least 20 minutes writing about the most conventional wisdom that you have reason to doubt. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist comes to doubt her/his common sense.

Journaling + Fiction – June 27

“He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”Emily Brontë Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about the first time you encountered a soulmate. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is betrayed by the person your protagonist believes to be his/her soulmate.

Journaling + Fiction – June 26

“The opposite to courage is not cowardice. The opposite to courage is automaton conformity.”Rollo May Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about your experience the first time you remember going along to get along. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist encounters peril because s/he conformed instead of showing courage.

Journaling + Fiction – June 25

“The zipper displaces the button and a man lacks just that much time to think while dressing at dawn, a philosophical hour, and thus a melancholy hour.”Ray Bradbury Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about a device you thought would improve your life but made it worse. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which a device your protagonist procured to surmount a particular barrier makes overcoming...

Journaling + Fiction – June 24

“I, for one, have never met a fanatic with a sense of humor. Nor have I ever known anyone capable of making a joke at his own expense become a fanatic.”Amos Oz Journal prompt: Spend at least 20 minutes writing about what you’ve learned observing someone with no sense of humor. Fiction writing prompt: Write a scene in which an ally skewers your protagonist for taking a subject too...