Writing Prompts

“Most commitments that keep me from my writing are masks that I put up to hide my fear and my failure to do what I need and want most to do. If my belief in my own work is strong, other commitments will adjust themselves. Human beings have free will. “If I could speak to […]

“Scars mark the places where life and sanity were threatened, ordeals endured, wounds opened and closed. They evoke a queasy awe in the best of us. We stare and look away, want to ask what happened but don’t dare broach the subject, as if these patches of mended flesh identified experience beyond the realm of

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs . . . ask yourself what makes you alive because what the world needs are people who have come alive.” —Rainier Maria Rilke What makes me come alive?

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” — J.R.R. Tolkien, The

“The page is no place, today, for what is pulling at my heart. Notebooks get misplaced; they lie around; they flip open in the wind. Who might see these pages, read them?  My heart is a secret place, especially now. The wide open plain of a page is a place with no boundaries, no etiquette, no conventions. How would

“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right,

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” —Maya Angelou Tell me about a moment that took your breath away.

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” —Neale Donald Walsch Take a large sheet of poster paper or butcher paper, some markers, crayons or pens. Draw a picture of your comfort zone as if it were an actual landscape—a neighborhood, an ecosystem, a country—with topographical details, as if it were a real physical

The Artist’s Creed I believe I am worth the time it takes to create whatever I feel called to create. I believe that my work is worthy of its own space, which is worthy of the name Sacred. I believe that, when I enter this space, I have the right to work in silence, uninterrupted,

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” —Eleanor Roosevelt Tell me about a time you were afraid and acted anyway.

“Listening has the quality of the wizard’s alchemy. It has the power to melt armor and produce beauty in the midst of hatred.” —Brian Muldoon Tell me about a time that listening or being deeply listened to changed something profound in you or another person.

“Someday, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love. Then for the second time in the history of the world, we will have discovered fire.” —Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Tell me about when you discovered or learned a truth that changed your

“There is no freedom like seeing myself as I am and not losing heart.” —Elizabeth J. Canham Tell me who you really are, today, just as you are. No holding back. Tell me everything you see. As you write, try to write with acceptance of who you are and what you see.

“There were times when I could not afford to sacrifice the bloom of the present moment to any work, whether of head or hands. Sometimes, in a summer morning, having taken my accustomed bath, I sat in my sunny doorway from sunrise to noon, rapt in a reverie, amidst the pines and hickories and sumacs,

“We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.” —James Baldwin Tell me about a time you stood up to hatred or injustice—a slur, a slight, or an attack on you or someone else. Or tell me about a