There are many benefits to writing regularly, but developing that habit can be challenging. How do you start? When do you write? Where do you write? What do you write about? The answers to the first three questions are actually pretty simple.
How do you start?
You just start. Sit your behind in a chair (either before a keyboard or a blank piece of paper) and start writing.
When do you write?
When you write is not important. What is important is that you make it a regular habit. Some writers like to start their day with writing while others use it to close out their day and still others just snatch moments during the day to write. Find a small pocket of time to write and then just write. Some writers have the luxury of choosing the time of day, but for many of us it is more about carving time out of our busy lives.
Where do you write?
Similarly, where you write depends on what is available. Some writers like to travel around their home (or hometown) to write in various locations and other writers are forced to do so by the vagaries of life. You do not need a dedicated space to write and, in fact, might find variety is the spice of life.
What do you write about?
The final question is one that perplexes many would-be writers, which is in part why I provide the following collection of writing prompts, but as you develop your writing habit you will find that you rely on prompts less and only return to them for inspiration when you want to play or experiment or simply need a writing break.
These prompts can help jumpstart your writing habit and might help you learn something about yourself and your world in the process.
And now, #JustWrite using one of these writing prompts:
- Writing Through Our Time of Change
- Doors opening, closing on us
- Open and Closed
- We Wear The Mask
- Masks
- Menacing
- Writing the Resistance
- Windows?
- #ThroughMyWindow – Reflecting on the Current Moment
- What Counts?
- Writing In, Writing Small
- The Table
- Food
- Uncertainty
- Praisesongs of Place
- First Lines
- Pockets
- Listening
- When this is over
- Windows
- What is unseen?
- Comfort
- Walt Whitman’s Song of My Self
- How Are You?
- Writing Through The Pandemic
- Re-vision
- Lift A Line
- #LexPoMo 2019
- To and From
- Keeping Secrets
- At What Price
- The Games We Played
- Writing About Loss
- Consider “The House That Built Me”
- Freewriting May Seem Crazy, 2 Reasons You Should Do It Anyway
- What is your gift?
- About Your Mark
- The Travelogue
- The Art and Practice of Flanerie
- Thinking About the Hinge
- A Poem A Day
- Capture A Moment
- Make A List
- Writing Walkabout
- Solve for X
- Fresh Earth
- Where Is Your Writing From?
- Self-Healing With Writing Therapy
- Heart Maps and #OLW
- Feeling Lost? Write It Out