4 Books for Writing Prompts

Another month, another series! This month, I want to talk about writing: how to become better at writing, how to effectively set writing goals, and much more. So many people love writing, but when it comes down to it, it can be tough to get started. Writing can seem intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. In this series, I hope you’ll take the opportunity to really jump into writing. Thanks for joining me! You can see all posts in this series by clicking here. 

Happy Saturday! Today is always a great day to rest and indulge yourself in a few of your favorite hobbies. Maybe you already write a lot (like I do) or maybe you just want to get into the habit. Maybe you just want to relieve some of your weekly stress. 

Either way, I wrote this list of books with the intention that these are a great, low stress way to begin writing every day. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of feeling like you have an idea—and if you are drawing a blank, grabbing a book to start your daily journaling or a quick paragraph of writing is one way to get yourself started. Let’s dive in. 

1. 52 Lists for Calm by Moorea Seal

Have I talked about the 52 Lists books enough? Maybe, maybe not. These are my favorite writing prompt books. They’re more personal, obviously, which makes them perfect for daily journaling. Grabbing a book and finding a single prompt to write about has become part of my daily habit. I love 52 Lists for Calm; it’s focus on releasing stress, addressing what makes us stressed and how we feel, and finding ways to support ourselves to calmness. 

2. 52 Lists for Happiness by Moorea Seal

I just bought 52 Lists for Happiness and it goes without saying: I already love it. Right now, I think we all are trying to find joy wherever we can. These prompts have been really helpful to me the last few weeks in trying to find joy in little things and focusing on joy instead of feeling like I have nothing to look forward to. (No shame: one of the prompts inspired me to put up some Christmas decorations because they simply made me happy.) This is another great that is perfect for personal daily journaling, but may help inspire you for creative writing or nonfiction pieces. 

3. Coffee Break Writing by John Gillard

I ordered this book in late July 2019, right after I got laid off. I was unhappy, worried, and trying to find a way to fill the time while I waited to find a job. (In case you’re wondering, it did help a little bit.) I’ve been working my way through it slowly but surely. I typically list books that have prompts I can either write in the book itself or write in my journal with, and these work perfectly. The focus of this book of prompts are ones you can write on quickly during a coffee break. There is a ton of variety and they work for a variety of mediums—whatever you want to write (journals, short stories, poems, blogs), you can adapt them to work for you. 

4. Burn After Writing by Sharon Jones

This book has gone viral on the internet several times. I’ve actually owned 2 copies in my life: the one I have now and one I had I think in college that I really tore up. I can’t remember what I did with my college copy, but I still love this book as much now as I did then. This is another one that is perfect for personal journaling that can inspire you to write creatively. I also love that it’s easy to make this mixed medium: you can paint, draw, tear up, experiment, whatever, while writing about your life, or a make believe life, or whatever is in-between. If you’re looking to really stretch your creative muscles, this is a great option. 

5 Writing Prompts to Get Your Creativity Flowing Every Day

The most important part of writing is doing it.

I’m actually not a fan of the old adage that you should write everyday, regardless of how you feel. If that works for you, then gah bless ya, as they save. It actually is something I practice myself—but I recognize that sometimes the amount I write day-to-day isn’t sustainable or healthy, and my desire to write everyday sometimes doesn’t come from having anything to write about, but rather a feeling that I “need to get things done.” There is also, of course, the fact that my writing is what pays my bills at this point.

This is all to say: if you want to write more, but the thought of having to write every single day to take yourself seriously is overwhelming and stops you, please know you don’t have to write literally every day.

It also goes without saying that it isn’t sustainable to try to write all day every single day. Like I said, writing pays my bills—but I’m not writing 8 hours a day.

If you are looking to write more frequently, or even every day, it can be really easy to get writer’s block. But sometimes all you need is to write something once and then the rest starts flowing. I like to do short writing exercises in the morning. I have a few books I pull from: Coffee Break Writing, The Story of My Life, and 52 Lists for Calm are 3 I keep on my desk to pull and work on. After that, I usually feel good enough to head into my work tasks.

I have a few other prompts that I keep on hand for when one of those 3 books just isn’t doing it for me. I thought I’d share my 5 favorites to help you get started in developing a writing habit!

1. Write a List

No, not your to do list (although you should do that too, trust me, if only to get a handle on your time management skills.)

Sometimes, I write a list of whatever I’m thinking about: things I’m thinking about; funny tweets I’ve seen; books I want to read; tv shows I’ve been meaning to watch. Other times, I write more creative lists, like: my favorite flowers & what they look like; my favorite smells; things that remind me of my childhood Christmas; or things in coffee shops that annoy me.

How long I make the list is entirely dependent on how into it I get. Sometimes, they end up quite long. Other times, quite short. Sometimes, writing those lists will inspire me to write something else: a poem about Forrest or a blog post or an Instagram caption. Either way, they’ve done their job. Plus, it’s nice to have a bunch of lists to look back on.

2. Read Something You Love—then Reimagine It

This can be anything: read an article, a poem, a section of a book, a scene in a movie—and write a short reimagining of it. Write The Hunger Games from Gale’s perspective. Rewrite that famous William Carlos Williams poem. Turn Harry Potter into a story about Penelope Clearwater. Take Frankenstein’s monster and put him in Brooklyn, 2020. Whatever you choose, reimagine it as something else entirely—whatever that means to you.

If what I imagine is longer than what I can write in the 30-40 minutes I’ve given myself, I often just write a synopsis or a few bullet points about what would change. Sometimes, I’ll write one short scene of it or a prose poem. If I’m reimagining a poem, I might write it as an Instagram post or a TikTok video. It helps me think differently, make something new out of something very familiar. Be playful. Have fun. This is just for you.

3. Write American Sentences

What are American Sentences you ask? American Sentences were invented by Allen Ginsberg, as a 17-syllable sentence that mimics a haiku. (Haikus follow the 5-7-5 syllable rule; added together, it’s 17 syllables total.) This is a good rundown on American Sentences that has a ton of examples.

American Sentences require you to think carefully about what you’re trying to convey in your writing, as well as the rhythm of the words themselves. To me, it’s very helpful to write this way because it forces me to be more concise and direct. (You may have noticed my tendency towards being verbose. No apologies.) For me, it’s fun to play with language in this way when no one is looking—and it helps me feel more creative. Read some examples and try your hand at writing a few. I think you’ll be surprised!

4. Reread Your Old Writing

Whenever I’m feeling particularly stuck, I go and reread something I’ve written. At least once a year, I reread my former NaNoWriMo novels—and often find myself rewriting parts of them, tweaking the storyline or descriptions. I also will sometimes reread stories I started, but never finished. A prime example is a short story I’m currently working on, that I actually started nearly a year ago; I considered working on it for NaNoWriMo, but couldn’t nail down a plot. I reread it recently and started working on it again—getting an idea for at least 10,000 words.

Sometimes, rereading things we’ve written before will give us new ideas—or at least give us a few minutes of working on something that reenergizes us. This kind of writing specifically is helpful because it works on editing, which is a valuable skill we all need.

5. Write About the Weather

Recently, I started a weather journal. This was partly inspired by Nick Cave, but mostly was just a way for me to journal without putting pressure on myself to actually produce something or write something meaningful. Very often writing about the weather turns into me writing something else—things I want to remember, things I’m doing, what Forrest is up to, how I’m feeling.

Every day, write about the weather as you see it from where you are: what do you see? What do you smell? How did you have to dress that day? What does it remind you of? Describe it. Use all your senses! It doesn’t have to be more than a paragraph or two, but it feels like a lot at the end—and might give you ideas for something else to write about.