Romance – June 24

Jacqueline Bouvier and US Senator John F. Kennedy announced their engagement on this date in 1953. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist expects to be asked to accept a proposal of marriage and is surprised not to receive it.

Romance – June 23

Today I have so much to do I must kill memory once and for all I must turn soul to stone I must learn to live again – Anna Akhmatova, born this date in 1889, in her poem “The Sentence” (translated here by Judith Hemschemeyer). Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist tries to kill a memory.

Romance – June 22

“Truly wealth, which men spend all their lives in acquiring, is a valueless thing at the last.” – H. Rider Haggard, born this date in 1856. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must seek help from a former paramour your protagonist rejected in favor of someone who has since left your protagonist with nothing.

Romance – June 21

“I like a man who can run faster than I can.” -Jane Russell, born this date in 1921. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist fails to catch someone s/he is chasing.

Romance – June 20

“People change and forget to tell each other.” -Lillian Hellman, born this date in 1905. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist fails to achieve an important goal because s/he has changed in a way no one else realized.

Romance – June 19

“Throughout human history, the apostles of purity, those who have claimed to possess a total explanation, have wrought havoc among mere mixed-up human beings.” -Salman Rushdie, born this date in 1947. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which a confident person takes advantage of your protagonist’s mixed-uppedness.

Romance – June 18

“Love at first sight is easy to understand; it’s when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle.” -Amy Bloom, born this date in 1953. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist realizes s/he despises someone s/he spent a long time believing s/he loved.

Romance – June 17

On this date in 1631, the wife of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan died. He was so grief-stricken by her death that he spent the next 22 years building a mausoleum commensurate with his memory of her: the Taj Mahal. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must decide how to commemorate the life of a person important to your protag.