Need a Writing Prompt?

When I was teaching writing lab and even Language Arts, I always used writing prompts which helped the students jump start their writing. Recently I made up a list to help a fellow teacher still in the trenches trying to get kids to write. There are many writing books that have prompt lists to help writers see a new angle for writing.



Today I opened up Caryn Miriam Goldberg’s blog and found a list of writing prompts. (Goldberg is the present poet laureate of Kansas and you can read her blog at http://carynmirriamgoldberg.wordpress.com.) I found two unique writing prompts that I thought you might find interesting as well. See below.

Imagine your life as a river. Tell where you started, and share where you flowed, paused along the way, merged with others, found deep water, ran fast or slow, until you arrive at where you are now.

Write the story of your life as a garden. What’s planted there? What grows wild? Who works in the garden, and who plays and naps in it occasionally? Tell of what plants, animals and people live in or visit the garden. And write about how the garden is tended.

Pictures can also be prompts. What would you say about the yellow truck in yellow aspens above?