Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Would You Do a Writing Prompt?

After participating (and winning!) over at KT Literary's blog (with my prompt below this post), I started to think...hmmm...wouldn't it be fun if I could do this once a month? But interactively with others?

I was once the type to give excuses. "I don't have time for writing prompts." "I can't stray my focus away from my project." "I don't have time." "I wouldn't know where to begin." "I don't think I can fit it into my schedule."

But it took being completely done with my manuscript (can I get a HOOZAH for that, anyone?) and staying active with the blog peeps I follow for me to make a "what the heck" decision over the weekend. And I'm so glad I did! (not just because I won, I swear!) It was not only rewarding, regardless of results, but nice to write something other than what I write every. single. day. And it was nice to let my mind be free, and flow whatever direction it wanted to. Mind you, I do plan on keeping these PG-13, sorry!

With that said, I figured if there's interest (or maybe if there's not) I'll do a monthly writing prompt, give a few prompts to choose from, and those who participate post on their blog, linking in the comment section here. I even like the idea of writing a hook for your prompt (what better practice for coming up with those pesky things?) There will be no contest (yet, anyway, maybe later), but lots of blog-loving, reading, and commenting, and . . . we might even get better at this thing called writing!

So, give me some ideas for prompts in the comments and in a week I'll have the first one up!

PS I'm fiddling around with the blog look, so bare with me. It won't be set in stone until my website is up and running.

12 comments:

  1. Whoops! ;) Sure, I'd do it. I love me a good prompt now and again.

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  2. sounds like fun. for some writing prompts, try here:

    http://canteach.ca/elementary/prompts.html
    http://jc-schools.net/write/create.htm
    http://meredithsuewillis.com/writingexercises.html
    http://writingfix.com/

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  3. Hey--I'll give it a try--why not? Not totally sure what participating in a writing prompt entails, lol, but then again, I didn't know what a query letter was about 6 months ago, either! :)

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  4. "Writing literally saved Kara's life..."

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  5. Thanks Janna, and Sarah, some great stuff, Thank You! houndrat, it's pretty simple once you figure it out. You're giving a choice of different lines to start your story with and go from there, like Angie's example. (and thanks for your idea for a prompt, Angie, I like it!)

    verification: tertibok (sounds like slang or a different language for um, I won't say lol)

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  6. For those of us who don't have a blog yet (no time to keep it current), can we post our prompts in your comments area?

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  7. Sure thing! Or, I could even post them on this blog? Whichever you guys think works best. Possibly the comments, might be easier to keep track of. Heck, if a lot of people end up participating, maybe I'll get a separate blog started or something. For now though, I like your idea of posting it in the comments. Thanks for stopping by and wanting to participate, K!

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  8. Great idea. I've been posting daily prompts on my blog. You are welcome to repost any that you think are useable. (http://writeidea.wordpress.com).

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  9. I used to really like writing prompts, but right now I am so crazy busy that I hardly have time for my "real" writing (and am taking a couple classes that provide "prompts" for me...of course those are graded and non-fiction)

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  10. I love stuff like this!
    Definitely count me in. :)

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