Mystery – June 30

In 1870, Ada Kepley became the first woman to graduate from an accredited law school in the USA. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is upstaged by a person of a gender not typically associated with his/her success.

SciFi/Fantasy – June 30

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.” -Albert Einstein, who on this date in 1905 introduced his theory of relativity in “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies.” Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist determines the elegantly self-evident solution to an experience considered utterly inexplicable by everyone else in the world you’ve...

Literary – June 29

“Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.” -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, born this date in 1900. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which a person your protagonist dearly loves refuses to believe s/he and your protag are not looking the same direction.

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.

Big Questions – June 29

What’s the biggest lie you’ve told to protect a friend? 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...

Romance – June 29

“To live is to be slowly born.” -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, born this date in 1900. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which a single event awakens within your protagonist a stranger totally unknown to her/him.

Mystery – June 29

Patrick Kenzie wakes up in a stranger’s apartment on this date in Dennis Lehane’s A Drink Before the War. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist uncovers a much darker crime while failing to find a missing person.

SciFi/Fantasy – June 29

“You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, born this date in 1900. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist tames something considered irredeemably wild by the other people in the world you’ve created.