PROMPTuesday is a weekly creative writing prompt from San Diego Momma blog.

Something befuddling happens to me every five years that I’m hard put to explain. I get a most strange tingling in my hair follicles and am compelled to cut everything off my head. In other words, I go short. And every single solitary time, I hate it, and every time I forget I hate it [...]

(Photo from here)   I absolutely know I’ve posted different flavors of this PROMPT over the years, but I’m revisiting it now. Becoming who I’m meant to be is way on my mind these days because I’ve been fuzzy and auto-piloty for awhile. Like forever. I just did stuff. I let life lead me mostly, [...]

I hope you’ll check out some of the great recommendations from this week’s PROMPTuesday. There were several new-to-me book and song suggestions that rocked my boat, not to mention the inclusion of 2011′s inspiring lessons and 2012′s roads ahead for so many of you. Meanwhile, I played my own PROMPT game and answered the below [...]

I came across this 2011 recap yesterday and just dug it to kingdom come. I love the idea of cataloguing the year’s bests in one place (especially when there’s fashion involved), and decided it’d be something I’d like to do myself.   So for neatness sake (you know what my good friend told me yesterday? [...]

  I’m going to write a book someday!   It struck me the other day as I was riffing with my writing partner that I loved the creative process. Even if the messiness of it gets to me sometimes. You know that without-hope part when you’re kicking ideas around and there’s too many — or [...]

Hi! It’s that special time of year! A happy month of merrymaking and holiday cheer. Of friends, family, and fruitcakes. Of gifts from the heart and trees from the forest. Of chestnuts and golden balls.   Which brings me to…   The fourth installment of Bawdy Holiday Prose.   As I wrote back in December [...]

  Have you ever organized your desk, scoured the attic, or browsed garage boxes and found old letters from lovers, high school friends, or…yourself? Encased in dust, scourged by yellow, or just plain unread for years?   I did recently, and was amazed at how so much — and so little, really — has changed. [...]

I’ve completely absconded with this week’s writing prompt from Toasted Cheese (an amazing online literary journal).   Last week, I noticed Toasted Cheese tweeted a prompt and I loved it so much, I’m stealing it, but being honest about the theft.   So it’s not technically creative property burglary, right?   Here it is: Write [...]

I was driving to my dentist appointment when the phone rang.   My stepsister, Karen, got the words out right after hello. “Your dad is in the hospital.”   I blanked out for a moment and didn’t say a word in response. This was the moment I’d semi-prepared for and avoided thinking about since my [...]

Oh my loves. I apologize for dropping the PROMPT ball these last few weeks. I need to catch up on your submissions and general amazingness. And I will — Because it looks like today is a good day for catching up.   In the meantime, today’s PROMPT is:   The phone call.   Write about [...]

At one time or another, I’ve referred to all of “my” soul songs. These tend to be my go-to songs that center my heart and brain and blood. I listen to what they tell me and everything becomes still. And then my gut buzzes in my ears.   That’s how it should be, right? We [...]

Today, I want a list! A Top Five list. Give it to me, baby. Here’s some ideas:   Top Five Worst Movies of All Time Top Five Fashion Faux Pas (es)? Top Five Products You Cannot Live Without Top Five Most Inspiring Quotes You’ve Ever Heard in Your Whole Entire Life Top Five Reasons You [...]

Remember this song?     (You blocked out the graphics, right?)   Meanwhile…for today’s writing prompt…Let the music marinate a bit, and then write starting with this line:   “I hadn’t seen him since high school…”   (Feel free to change the gender.)   Please post your submission in the comments OR post in your [...]

Do you know those people who seem too good to be true? Or who are so extraordinary, you find yourself thinking “really?” As in “Really? You cured cancer while climbing Mt. Everest with prosthetic legs and a homeless Sherpa strapped to your back?” “Really?”   So right, I know those people, and many of them [...]

Write a letter forgiving someone/some people for something they did. You never have to show it to him/her/it.   But write it anyway.   First time to PROMPTuesday? Read a bit about it here. Want to see what’s been written in the past? Catch up on the PROMPTuesdays archive here.  

Let’s make it Book Review Day! Here’s one I wrote for The Book Thief awhile ago.   You do one too! Or if you’ve already written one, link it up here.   First time to PROMPTuesday? Read a bit about it here. Want to see what’s been written in the past? Catch up on the [...]

There was this one day. Before I knew it was one of the final days, but after I began to think it might be. My mom was confined to her bed, and we all thought she’d be up again. I’d come home to San Francisco from Los Angeles, a little drunk because I hate to [...]

It’s been awhile! But PROMPTuesday is back. Some things I miss too much.   Here’s today’s writing prompt:   You can re-live one complete day in your life. Which do you pick? Why?   First time to PROMPTuesday? Read a bit about it here. Want to see what’s been written in the past? Catch up [...]

You know? If I went chronological, we’d be on prompt #163 today, which got me thinking: I should post some of the old classics from years gone by.   If you’re looking for a little writing inspiration, check out these PROMPTuesdays from the archives, see if one resonates, and let your brain nosh on it. [...]

As usual, I’ve got a lot to say about this one…   But time and the cold sting of facing my demons precludes storytelling this morning. So again as usual…I’ll be back to write my soul in a day or two.   As for you…   Tell me about a time someone told you the [...]

We piled into the ubiquitous Buick Estate Wagon. Glitter cherry red punctuated by plastic wood and bike scratches. I took the back seat facing the disappearing road and threw the finger-peace sign to drivers avoiding my eyes. My parent’s best friends followed with their children a few station wagons behind us and I kept track [...]

Me, texting another mom: Playdate today?   Mom: I’m sorry. Who is this?   Me: Toots’ mom. You want to get together later?   Mom: Toots who?   Me: Ha ha! If you want just you and me can have a playdate. After 5.   Mom: I’m not sure who this is.   Me: San [...]

Sip by Lydia Ondrusek   When the rain doesn’t fall, it’s only all right for a little while. The planted stuff bargains with the ground.   Drawings made with brown crayons on crumpled grocery sacks. A constant phantom smell of burning.   When the rain doesn’t fall, and doesn’t fall, you begin to wonder if [...]

It was 1994. My flying phobia filled every part of me, but it was Christmas and I wanted to go home for the holidays. A few weeks before I decided to fly to San Francisco from Chicago, a plane corkscrewed into a midwestern farm field with hundreds of people aboard and I couldn’t sleep for [...]

Hello! It’s summer vacation over here. Playdates and pools and no time oh my! So what I’m trying to say is this week’s prompt will be pretty much here it is, goodbye. Because kids running ramshod all over my house.   Meanwhile… Today’s writing prompt is:   I can’t believe the time I…   First [...]

“I hate to tell you this,” he said with the hint of a grin, “but…”   But what?   Please post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments.   First time to PROMPTuesday? Read a bit about it here. Want to see [...]

Tonight I plan to take my friend out for her birthday, a feat that is amazing considering the scheduling back-and-forths of five other people. Because see, my friend’s birthday was last Monday. Last LAST Monday. But what matters is that we finally did it! God stars sprinkle from the heavens! At any rate, we will [...]

In this day and age of Facebook, I thought I’d ask a possibly relevant question:   Have you ever received a letter/email/friend request from a former lover? (This can be fictionalized)   Please post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments.   [...]

Pretty self-explanatory, right? My new pal Surfer Wife writes these celeb encounters so deliciously you ask for extra blueberry syrup on her outrageous prose pancake.   That didn’t sound proper in the least.   As for me, I lived in Los Angeles for several years and you better believe I got some stories. Coming soon, [...]

I still need to post my PROMPTuesday submissions for the last two weeks (prompts: “hoarder” and “road trip“), but in the meantime? Today’s PROMPTuesday is:   Is there someone in your life you let go who you wish you could reconnect with today?   Please post your submission in the comments OR post in your [...]

I’ve posted the “one word” prompts before, but I think they can be very helpful trigger words to spur stories or posts. So today? The one word is:   HOARDER.   Please post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments.   First [...]

Do you remember this?   Now it’s YOUR turn. Write about a road trip you’ve taken. Heartbreak optional.   Please post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments.   First time to PROMPTuesday? Read a bit about it here. Want to see [...]

Good God, it’s been three years of PROMPTuesdays almost to the day. That’s a long time of me sticking to something.   So let’s celebrate with some good old-fashioned storytelling!   Take a look at the picture below, and write a story in 10 minutes using the words “detective,” and “150.” (I returned to the [...]

I wrote this awhile ago for a Fiction Workshop, and just discovered it again. It needs work, but that’s the thing about flash fiction: It’s a great starting point for fleshed out stories. A fire starter of sorts. So…Today’s PROMPTuesday is:   Write a piece of flash fiction (write 1,000 words or less, don’t edit) [...]

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

Many of my prompts lately have shared the same theme and I hope you’re all cool with that angsty fact. Self-examination is healthy right? Until it becomes obsessive?   Not that I’d know anything about that.   So this week’s prompt comes from a good friend who I love dearly and with every cell. She [...]

This Saturday, I’m auditioning for something where I have to get up in front of people and talk. Boy am I nervous. I’ve written before that my fortes are pen, paper, and the keyboard. Say my words? Yikes. Sure I did it once before, but before I even began to talk I stood shaking for [...]

Today? This is your creative writing prompt mission:   If you could live within any book for a week, which one would it be?   Please post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments.   First time to PROMPTuesday? Read a bit [...]

Honestly? For the last few months or so, I’ve given much thought to retiring PROMPTuesday. There’s so many outstanding prompt websites out there, many which I visit regularly, that do it RIGHT. Stuff like full-on websites devoted to the prompting, Twitter parties, newsletters even. AND with all the prompt excellence, I don’t want to be [...]

Boy. First of all, I’m LATE. I know. It’s Wednesday. Secondly, I haven’t updated much lately. I’ve been other places, but still. I miss my space here. Thirdly, I am once again re-running a “Greatest Hits” prompt. This one originally came from May, 2009. But I love it, I really do, and I plan to [...]

  I sit here with a high-fevered little girl and to-do list stuffed to the gills…so I am re-running a PROMPTuesday from many moons ago. I hope you find it enjoyous.   Today’s PROMPTuesday is lifted from Naomi Epel’s The Observation Deck, and is:   Show, don’t tell! — a cardinal rule of writing — [...]

I tell myself you bleed like I do. I say that a lot. Over and over like a totem; a psalm to ground me. Same color blood. Same color blood. Same color blood. You hurt. You defend. You love. You need. You live in the same world. Same world. Same color blood. Same. Same. Same. [...]

I’m sure you’re all familiar with The Secret, right? Manifest your destiny? Make your dreams real? Wish for a cup of coffee and it appears? That kind of thing. And you’re probably all over the Vision Boards, too. You know, cut out magazine pictures of how you want your life to look, paste them on [...]

{{My PROMPTuesday submission…}}   I am angel heart and devil fire Seeing eyes and burning soul   I am trapeze and open hands   I am mother and motherless   I am gravel and soil Pasture and sheep   I am traveler I am home  

This PROMPT is based on one I wrote in 2008. As I said then: “I think this started as a meme. I’ve read several outstanding versions of it over the last year, and I thought I’d like to offer it as a PROMPTuesday, so…   I am.   This week, tell us who you are, [...]

It was Spring 2006 and I was eight months pregnant with Booger. I’d signed up for a weekly discussion group through my church and showed up for the first meeting a little nervous and a lot unsure. I knew I wanted to connect with people in my community, and church seemed a good a place [...]

Way back in April 2008, I introduced PROMPTuesday. Looking back, I see that I never ever not ever issued the prompt included in that introduction. So now I am:   It’s a doozy. You ready?   Write some flash fiction (write for three minutes, then stop.) These are your prompts:   “Egg” and “Horror genre.” [...]

For today, something simple. Maybe. Probably not.   Either way, please consider the prompt:   What have you always wanted to do, but haven’t done yet?   Please post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments.   First time to PROMPTuesday? Read [...]

Dear Mom:   Do you remember when you and I were driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 1996? And I told you that if dad died, I would play Power of Two at his funeral? And you nodded when I told you the lyrics, but also felt a little sad — I could [...]

Hi! It’s that special time of year! A happy month of merrymaking and holiday cheer. Of friends, family, and fruitcakes. Of gifts from the heart and trees from the forest. Of chestnuts and golden balls.   Which brings me to…   The third installment of Bawdy Holiday Prose.   As I wrote back in December [...]

Last Thursday, I attended a friend’s White Elephant gift exchange, and stole the most perfect gift ever: The Writer’s Toolbox. I have to tell you: It was touch and go there for awhile. I very nearly resigned myself to not owning this most fabulous piece of magical wonder, but then as luck would have it, [...]

Courtesy of my friend, Paul: Today’s creative writing challenge should you choose to accept it, is to:   Write an everyday, “boring,” straightforward activity as if it were p$rn. Make it scintillating, but not too p#rny. We’re a family blog over here at San Diego Momma.   HA HA!   I make me laugh.   [...]

Do you remember him or her? I do — to a T and completely.   I was a fourth grader at a Foster City, California public school that was a little Montessori and a little rock and roll. Our hippy dippy principal made sure we took music class every week with Dennis, a friendly pothead [...]

{{This prompt is inspired by Ellie…}}   Your writing challenge today?   (Photo from this place. While you’re there, check out the poem too.)   Write about surrender.   Whatever that means to you.   Please post your response in the comments and write about it on your blog and leave me the link.   [...]

Write a story about a vice.   Not a vise.   Or a vise.   You know. We’re pretty open over here at PROMPTuesday.   Please post your response in the comments and write about it on your blog and leave me the link.   First time to PROMPTuesday? Read a bit about it here. [...]

This is my PROMPTuesday submission for today.   He sat in a shredded leather recliner, something shabby he’d hauled from apartment to apartment for 20 years. The chair faced a mirror, an ages-old oxymoronic gold flaked monstrosity so out of place among the chipped wood tables and leaning bookcases that populated his tiny one-bedroom like [...]

  Today’s creative writing prompt: Look in the mirror for one full minute. Don’t flinch or look away. Now close your eyes. What words come?   Write them down. Perchance, tell a story using those words.   Please post your response in the comments and write about it on your blog and leave me the [...]

  Oh Autumn, my Autumn. How you dredge up images of misted lakes and overgrown roads. Of beany soups and plastic princess masks that stole my breath. I will never forget your drifting leaves and crackling fires. Your dry hay swirls and new schoolbooks. The way you make me want to tell stories.   And [...]

Just yesterday, as I was straightening my ill-used and under-utilized cookbook pile, a piece of parchment fell to the floor. I couldn’t tell which book it’d shaken loose from, and I didn’t recognize the script, the recipe, or the name written on it. I hadn’t bought a cookbook in many moons, and as far as [...]

  Before I left for the mountains Saturday morning, I’d been feeling a bit out of sorts; caterwauled, twitterpaited. For months, I’d been a receptacle for millions of megabits of input from hundreds of other people, mostly via various social media channels. Information kept hitting me upside the head from all sides, begging for response, [...]

When I was an eighth grader, I decided I wanted to be just like Julie Hinnegan. Athletic and popular, Julie had this amazing long, straight hair, even white teeth and a lispy girly laugh. Since I couldn’t be athletic OR popular and because my hair resembled chicken fluff, I only had the teeth and the [...]

Hiya folks. No PROMPTuesday this week. But we’ll both be back.   Here’s a storytelly PROMPT from days of yore, if you want to check it out.   See you soon.   UPDATED: Here’s the story (from 9/08′s prompt). I feel bad for abandoning PROMPTuesday today and want to give you something.   He’d fallen [...]

You’re right. This story needs a good fictional ending. So please read it again and then tell me:   What’s in the basement?   Write the ending.   Please post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments.   First time to PROMPTuesday? [...]

Plain and simple, here’s this week’s PROMPTuesday creative writing prompt:   When is the first (or last) time you felt like a square peg in a round hole?   Post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments.   First time to PROMPTuesday? [...]

You know how you look back on your life and recognize certain moments that changed things forever? How you could have gone this way or that way, but you choose the way over there, and you’re a different person because of it?   For me, that moment was when I moved from Chicago to Los [...]

I don’t know why, I really, really don’t: But the lines I’m going to share below have repeated in my head lately. I first published this sometime in 2008 (PROMPTuesday #13 to be exact) and I want to provide the story starter again. I feel like it’s singing a siren song.   You get that, [...]

Today’s creative writing prompt is pretty cool, if I do blog so myself.   Check it:   Do you have a vivid or regularly repeating dream that stays in your mind long after you’re awake? Take some elements from this dream (or parts of a bunch of different dreams you remember) and write a story. [...]

I admit it. I’ve given brief pause to retiring PROMPTuesday from my blog. What once used to be a joy and a challenge, has now turned into something “I must do” and that concerns me. But after careful reflection, I decided to be a tough old broad who hangs on until the last breath. You [...]

Today? Please write a poem. Free form. Except…I do require one word be included: Halcyon.   Do it for me?   Please post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments.   First time to PROMPTuesday? Read a bit about it here. Want [...]

I am a girl from Chicago I shiver whenever the wind blows It reminds me of when The snow didn’t end And snot flowed freer than fro-yo   **************************   I live in a town with moms Sometimes it reminds me of prom Who goes with whom and what’s with the boobs Jewelry parties go [...]

The Rock helped me out with this one. Tired and spent last night, I couldn’t put a PROMPT together for nothing. So my husband got on Ffffound and procured several images to inspire my thinking. I am including most of the pictures here. This week, I’d like if you were to pick one and write [...]

Today? Teach us something. How do you flirt? Make a smoothie? Achieve balance in your life?   Step-by-step instructions please.   Thank you.   Please post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments.   First time to PROMPTuesday? Read a bit about [...]

Let’s return to bare bones this week, what do you say?   I was given this exercise in a college writing class, and I clearly remember observing an older man who was eating alone. During my 15-minute study, I absorbed his every move and translated it to my writing. The way he carried the tray [...]

This is a companion piece to last year’s PROMPTuesday. Read the link first, then come back and give me what you got! (That’s what SHE said…)   I shouldn’t eat more Christmas dessert My intestines are really starting to hurt Though eat it I shall I’m that kind of gal Butt sure ain’t pretty under [...]

What’s the grossest thing you ever did for somebody because you loved him/her/it?*   *Inspired by this weekend’s toenail-cutting adventure. Toenail cuttee will remain anonymous to protect my innocent dad.   Please post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments.   First [...]

I’m having a hard time feeling the holidays this season. It’s bothering me, all this groping for meaning and coming up empty. So…would you share something that’s moved you recently? Or a spiritually uplifting moment you’ve experienced? Where were you? What happened?   I would love to know. I think it could spark something in [...]

You know that game “I Never?” I’m the absolute worst at it. Mainly because I’ve never done anything outlandish or too illegal or controversial. I avoid the game at all costs without fail, because at the ripe old age of 41, I still end up looking like a lame Puritan. It’s embarrassing.   I mean, [...]

“In the thickest center of the woods, a circle of stones waited.”   Please post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments.   First time to PROMPTuesday? Read a bit about it here. Want to see what’s been written in the past? [...]

  I’ve long been frustrated by my astrological sign. As a November 22 birthday, I dangle on the cusp of Scorpio and Sagittarius, and oft wish to be one or the other so I’m not loafing about in no man’s land. I feel identity-less, especially when people say, “He’s such a Taurus,” or “Well, what [...]

Sometimes the simplest things nudge us irrevocably in one direction or another.   That’s my thinking this week as I introduce today’s PROMPT.   Start off with an uncomplicated, “I never knew…” and see what path you travel down as you write.   Please post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog [...]

Here we go! This week, use the below in your first paragraph somewhere:   “You’re not going to win you know.” She couldn’t look at him when she said it.   “Maybe not. But I take heart in knowing that neither one of us will be the same when it’s all over.” He pushed the [...]

So today my pediatrician says, “Influenza,” and I say, “Are you thinking H1N1?” and he says, “I AM thinking H1N1 because it is the only strain out there right now,” and I say, “But H1N1 isn’t supposed to be real…it’s supposed to be a construct of my imagination that slowly drives me insane until April,” [...]

Today, write about a time you almost gave up on something, but didn’t.   Please post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments.   First time to PROMPTuesday? Read a bit about it here. Want to see what’s been written in the [...]

It’s story time!   Today’s PROMPT is:   A new maid comes to your home to clean, and as you’re about to leave to run an errand, you find her to say you’ll be right back, but instead of dusting, you see her in your bathroom rifling through your medicine cabinet. Tell the rest of [...]

Today’s PROMPT comes courtesy of Mama Mary, and it’s a doozy. In a good, thinkey kind of way.   I’m going to let her explain your mission for today (actually, you’ve got several days to do this…):   “Let’s say I am casting for a new reality tv show/web series called “Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda.” Either [...]

I’m itching for a good old fashioned style prompt and so I’m going to indulge myself today.   In 200 words or less, describe a day in the life of an obsessive twitterer.   I know it’s been done, but the Twits in Twitterland are so asking for it.   Please post your submission in [...]

After a recent evening out, The Rock and I arrived home at 12:06AM and wondered aloud what to pay the babysitter. She’d arrived at about 7PM and since we were between hours, the payment protocol was all off. Should we pay her from 7PM to 12AM? Or, 7PM to 12:30AM? Or 7PM to 12:15AM? And [...]

You’re in a mental institution. What finally drove you crazy?   Please post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments.   And also — First time to PROMPTuesday? Welcome! Read a bit about this weekly writing exercise here.   (Want to see [...]

Once in my early 20s, a cheating buttwad of a boyfriend lent me his grey Toyota Tercel hatchback. I drove it from Los Angeles to my family’s home in San Diego and planned to meet him there because he was a marine and often stayed at my mom and dad’s place between his Camp Pendleton [...]

Three words today:   Ancient, visionary, coma   Extra bonus points: Incorporate words into a dream sequence.   Please post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments.   And also — First time to PROMPTuesday? Welcome! Read a bit about this weekly [...]

Lately, I’ve found my pockmarked brain really enjoying children’s programming. (Except for Yo Gabba Gabba. Do not watch Yo Gabba Gabba. My friend, Island Girl, is right when she says that show is like a kid rave.) That, and Kidz Bop, are why all our children are making out in second grade bathrooms.   At [...]

Hi, it’s me. No, don’t worry. I’m fine. It’s just there’s so many holes to patch (oh, metaphor), and paints to brush, and cartons to pack, and whines to have, and frozen dinners to artificially warm that make me feel like less of a mom.   What? When will I ever not have an issue [...]

I got the below line from somewhere and can’t recall from where. Can you imagine a greater treason if you’re a writer? Still, it’s a great prompt starter and I can’t resist, even if I’m unable to give the original author credit.   So please, write a story using the line “Flying through the streets [...]

I’m scared to fly. Best of all and super exciting is that I get to do it next month for my brother’s wedding. In New York. (Can’t you people get married where there’s easier ground transportation? And in a city of closer proximity not necessitating air travel?)   For God’s sake.   At any rate, [...]

We got a meme this week, folks. And I’m going with it because the topic intrigues me and I love to lie for sport. So by way of Green Girl, this meme/PROMPT is as follows:   “Sometimes you can learn more about a person by what they don’t tell you, or from the things they [...]

The Rock and I are in the process of making some major decisions on our future. Really BIG decisions. Ones that can change lives. Alter the trajectory of our existence even.   We might move to the suburbs.   I know.   But this is good, right? Costco proximity? Cul de sacs? Girl scouts? Crazy [...]

  We’ve got all kinds of friends, haven’t we? The serious ones, the anal ones, the silly ones, the lost ones, the distant ones, the ironclad ones.   Today, let’s write about the fun ones. Do you have a friend who makes you laugh and is a guaranteed good time? Write about this friend. Tell [...]

I imagine that every person in the world at one point or another, says, “I should write a book.” Whether it be a how-to parenting guide, a memoir about your life in the circus, or a good old-fashioned murder mystery, we’ve all thought it, right?   “I should write a book.”   Or maybe you [...]

I think I’m re-using PROMPTuesday titles. And I suppose I could check, but I’d much rather put my energy into posting this kick-ass prompt sure to blow your shirt up (a mentalist device otherwise known as “trying to convince oneself”).   Here it is, my pretty, pretty foxes (stands next to the curtain ready to [...]

  I’ll just put it out there this week:   What was your favorite toy as a child? Write a vignette about playing with it. (What did you feel? Who were you with? Where did you live?)   Let’s hopelessly date ourselves with this one. What do ya say?   Meanwhile, for any new readers, [...]

Have I done this one before? I’m way too tied up with my soy taquitos to check. Also, The Rock has raging infections in both eyes and I’m trying to nurse him back to health by sitting way over here at the kitchen table while berating him to wash his hands and not fling bacteria [...]

This week, I wanted to return to the first line prompt, because I’m feeling all fictiony and sublime and I have no idea what that means, so ignore me.   Still here?   Oh good! I love you people.   Here’s PROMPTuesday #51: Please finish the story begun with these sentences:   She lifted the [...]

  Hi-ho! Good to be here. Of course, my eyes water and the head swims from over-editing of businessy documents and such like, but I think I will survive with the creative salvation that is PROMPTuesday.   So, this week, let’s look in our purses and billfolds, poppets. Pull something out. Tell a story about [...]

UPDATED: If you left a link in the comments, consider leaving it here too, and participate in an online wedding proposal event!   This is a special one. Someone I dearly like a lot is going to get engaged soon — she just doesn’t know it yet. To celebrate, this PROMPTuesday is all about love. [...]

Hi, and things have been hard. I’m waiting for my universe to right itself again. Or rather, I’m working to right it again, but meanwhile, I’m popping in with a PROMPTuesday.   Because gah, I’m sick of thinking about myself.   This week’s writer’s helper comes from Toasted Cheese, a website for writers founded and [...]

(Amazingly beautiful photo from Chad Pollpeter)   I’ve got something to tell you…and will write it here tomorrow or soon after, but the gist is humility. So in honor of humbling myself today to (please God) be better, I’m adopting the theme for this week’s PROMPTuesday.   Here it is: Write a story about when [...]

  So I’ve revived my manuscript-in-progress, quite surprised to find I’m further along than I thought. Plus, I’ve corralled the journals, scraps, and napkins that link my plot like a cotton candy locomotive, and I’m incorporating the airy tufts, making them real. Best of all, I started to muse again. Gosh darn, I love this [...]

So I’m putting PROMPTuesday up early this week. For two reasons. One: It’s pretty much done for me with the whole post tag team thing we’ve got going, and Two: I expect to be up all night busily searching boxes for old high school photos of me wearing pajamas to class (un-ironically and intentionally).   [...]

Music — such lyrical salve. My cell nuclei thrums to beautiful, raw words set to pounding — or rolling — melody, and my white light positively beams at live shows, where I sit somewhere close to the amplifier, each piece of skin, bone, plasma, pulsing, exploding. I bear witness to a singer’s true face, soul [...]

This week (all exhausting day-and-a-half of it) has been rife with ups and downs, bumps and glitches, despair and redemption, so I’m making this PROMPTuesday akin to comfort food. That means I’m returning to a traditional prompty set-up, where I issue a situation and a word and you go to writer town. Yes sir, I [...]

So tonight I basically asked a man why he was in a wheelchair.* If “basically” were “I did.” And since I’m still toothpicking toenail shards from my teeth, I’m phoning in an easy PROMPTuesday this morning.   This week, tell us about your first job. As I recently twittered, I worked at the Jelly Bowl [...]

This week, let’s do something fun! And fakeducational! Or loopy! Depending.   My friend Kizz inspired this PROMPTuesday, even busy as she is working her way through all the PROMPTuesdays of yore.   So Kizz’s idea was to do something funny. And THAT came to her as she watched Inside the Actor’s Studio with Ricky [...]

So obviously, I’ve veered from my typical PROMPTs these past two weeks. But that’s all part of being creative, right? Departing from the norm? Mixing it up? Puttin’ on the ritz? (I don’t analyze this stuff, folks, I just blog past my bedtime and hope it all makes sense in the morning.)   Either way, [...]

This is a little more unorthodox than my usual PROMPTuesdays, only because I recently saw a list of 101 Things For A Mom Blogger to Write About, and the starter “The Best Book I Ever Read Was…” jumped out at me. Now I know it’s not a fresh topic, nor bawdy nor random, but I [...]

Well, well, well, here we are again. It’s PROMPTuesday time already. I’ve got to tell you…this week’s is one of my favorites. For two reasons: the picture below has always intrigued me, and I love the song that accompanies it.   I know I’ve done the whole study a photo thing before, plus I’ve included [...]

(One more day for the Stocking Stuff Giveaway!) It’s over, baby. **********************************************************************************   I apologize for delaying publication of this week’s PROMPTuesday. Thank you for the notes threatening me with non-specific injury to my person if I didn’t get on the stick. It’s just that I needed to know someone loved me. I know, I [...]

Look, I’m sorry to do this to you, but it has to be done. Why, I can’t say. I don’t tend to examine my inspiration. It’s so often demented and idiotic.   What I regret perpetuating upon your writerly person is this: For today’s PROMPTuesday, please compose a holiday limerick.   As you may or [...]

I often pretended Maura Dominiak’s nooks and crannies house were mine. Big, rustic, rife with wood, and usually empty of parental supervision. Full of antique stoves and stained glass and porcelain knobs. After fall’s football games, we’d drive up to the detached garage with the warped edges that never shut properly, park behind the Peugeot, [...]

I’m going for easy peasy lemon squeezy today. Emphasis on “squeezy,” because I KNOW we’ve all got something squeezy to share for this one.   So think back to when you were 15. Let the year play itself back to you. Pick one memory — even if it’s just a mere moment that stands out [...]

I took today’s PROMPTuesday from One Word to keep it simple this week (especially after the labyrinth-like PROMPT from last Tuesday.   So this week, write on this:     Just look at the word. And write. That’s all. (Oh were but it that simple, right?) (Or — “but were it that simple?”) (Is that [...]

Let’s see if I can write this without getting my tongue tied:   This PROMPTuesday, write a story about someone faking a skill to gain the attention of someone else, which only forces him/her into a situation where s/he must use this skill in order to save him/herself from a bigger threat.

Include:
a cast-iron lamp
and
two nuns [...]

  (Painting by Rebecca)   This PROMPTuesday, make up a story inspired by the picture above. Include the link to your story/post in the comments or feel free to leave your submission here, also in the comments section.   I’ll be back to submit my take on it tomorrow, but… meanwhile…to bone up on PROMPTuesdays, [...]

History’s being made, can you feel it? The bubbles in the atmosphere? The sense that when they pop, the air around them will change? Or else the they’ll float into space, bouncing like sound waves, carrying the news of today into tomorrow?   So where were you when history was laid down? Was the TV [...]

I think this started as a meme. I’ve read several outstanding versions of it over the last year, and I thought I’d like to offer it as a PROMPTuesday, so…   I am.   This week, tell us who you are, what’s inside, where you’re from. Share your memory fragments, those visions in your head, [...]

  For today’s PROMPTuesday, I ask that you write about a trip or an excursion that left you changed in some way. Did you conquer a fear on your trip? Learn something about yourself? Learn something about another person? Break up? Get together? Consider hospital time for the largest walking blister this side of Manhattan? [...]

In light of my upcoming trip this Wednesday, today’s PROMPT is short and sweet (and selfish).   Can you tell me a story of a fear you’ve overcome? Fiction is of course, welcome. As are poems. Or one-liners. In fact, anything goes.   Anything.   Go!   (And thank you.)  

Would you guys bear with me for a few more weeks? I’m sucking, I know. It’s just that I’ve been so busy. (And you know, panicked.)   Annnnyyywayyy.   Here’s the thing. My mom used to collect wine corks from dinners or parties with friends, which she’d ask everyone at the dinner or party to [...]

Excellent writer and super cool blogger, Tap Dancing on the Edge of Reason, provided me with her son’s writing prompt, which I think will work just fine for this PROMPTuesday. Just fine indeed.   It is:   “You are in a corn field, with your dog, when all of a sudden, a plastic…”   Imagine [...]

I saw a pretty funny movie on Showtime this weekend. TV Set. Have you seen it? It’s not the best thing since a burn-free face, but it IS a delightful, fluffy romp. It’s about a writer whose TV pilot script is “revamped” and “restructured” by television producers who don’t know what they’re doing. In short, [...]

Today, write a poem including the following lines in any order:   “I tie a ribbon in a foolish way”   “The delicious fragility of this travesty”   “Where we still laugh and wish” (Prompt courtesy of CreativeWritingPrompts)   Go for it! And really, you’re all so good, I don’t want to hear any about [...]

He’d fallen asleep at the wheel. Must’ve been just a second or two, because his truck never strayed from its straight course. Then again, since he crossed into Wyoming’s Great Plains, he’d been going straight. He shrugged his shoulders, squinted at the road, and stuck his left ear out the window as far as it’d [...]

Today marks back-to-school time, and when I was a kid, I loved this time of year. It’s why I adore autumn. All summer, I anticipated the week before school, when I’d hurry out to buy my school supplies, stick pennies in my loafers, and carefully cover my textbooks.   But I was a geek.   [...]

Word: Egg. Genre: Romantic Comedy. What? Write a movie synopsis. Or a pitch? Maybe a snippet of dialogue. Perhaps a story. And include an egg(s). Go.   The Rules: You must write your entry in 10 minutes. This encourages top-of-mind, primal thinking before the ego and judgmental brain kick in. Just set a timer, make [...]

The fantawonderful couple, Paul and the Cocktail Maven, recently proposed a PROMPTuesday idea, which caught my fancy, so I’m making it official here.   As they wrote:   William Carlos Williams’s poem “This is just to say…” is basically about people who know they are supposed to say I’m sorry and apologize — but skirt [...]

Today’s PROMPTuesday is lifted from Naomi Epel’s The Observation Deck, and is sponsored by the dog days of summer, the lethargy unleashed after consuming three urns of buttered popcorn, and menstruation-induced anemia.   So, from the Observation Deck: Show, don’t tell! — a cardinal rule of writing — is another way of saying “be specific.” [...]

Dear Everyone,   You are all fabulous. You offer advice, bolster my confidence, provide support, say you’ll fly with me to New York to stall my inevitable nervous breakdown, AND play with me every Tuesday. I think you’re great. Also, those pants/Crocs/Underoos/chaps really bring out your eyes.   Thank you.   Love, Mrs. San Diego [...]

New to PROMPTuesday? Welcome! Find out more here.   Meanwhile, today’s writing prompt is going to be simple (in name only).   Write about deception. Whatever that means to you. Can be fact or fiction.   As always, here are PROMPTuesday’s rules:   You must write your entry in 10 minutes. This encourages top-of-mind, primal [...]

The spider entrenched on my patio door provided an apt metaphor. Its metallic legs dug into my screen, seemingly attempting a break-in. I watched its bulk from the corner of my eye as I dialed number after number into my boyfriend’s pager. I’d been collecting these phone numbers for months. Either I’d seen them appear [...]

I’m a big fan of using music for writerly inspiration, and so I thought I’d try that here, with you.   To evoke your own inspiration, listen to the song here, then write the pictures that appear in your mind. You don’t need to craft an entire paragraph, although of course you can. Rather, let [...]

First time to PROMPTuesday? Read a bit about it here. Want to see what’s been written in the past? Catch up on the PROMPTuesdays archive here.   In the meantime, for today’s exercise, I’d love you to add to the sentences provided below. Complete the paragraph and continue the story.   **********************************************************************************   “Wait!” I [...]

So my friend The Cocktail Maven, book clubber extraordinaire and creator of the ever popular “Cocktails in Historic Places” group, e-mailed me with the news that PROMPTuesdays inspired her to complete a 2,000-word short story.   And I was pleased.   So pleasured was I that I thought she should create this week’s PROMPTuesday prompt. [...]

This week, please humor me by writing an infomercial for this product:     OK, go! (But first: Are you going to make this an infomercial for a super-duper jumbo turbo vibratron? Really? Me too!)   Well, before you proceed, here are the “rules” (YAWNNNN):   You must write your entry in 10 minutes. This [...]

Welcome to PROMPTuesday! Glad you’re here. So, lucky number 10, huh? Right? Holy cridoodle. There’s been 10 PROMPTuesdays already! You’re all growing up right before my eyes. Soon, you’ll be pouring whiskey into Clinique trial hairspray bottles and sneaking into the janitor’s bathroom during your high school homecoming game to get buzzed. But you’ll forget [...]

Today’s PROMPTuesday keeps it simple.   Read this poem (one of my favorites):   Disillusionment of Ten O’Clock by Wallace Stevens   The houses are haunted By white night-gowns. None are green, Or purple with green rings, Or green with yellow rings, Or yellow with blue rings. None of them are strange, With socks of [...]

This PROMPTuesday is about what lies beneath. So this week, I’d like you to look at this picture:     …and very quickly write down the first three words that come to mind. Now, start writing, using those words anywhere in your story. (Be sure to name the three words in your post or comments [...]

  (Thank you everyone who called and e-mailed me, I’m humbled. I really am. I’ll update on my mental state soon. The news isn’t all bad.)   On to this week’s PROMPTuesday. So as I was thinking of what to do this time, my wise and creative friend, Kristine, reminded me of the “first sentence” [...]

Happy Memorial Day! Hope it was a good one. I, for one, percolated over PROMPTuesday. This time, I wanted to do something unique, something block-busting, something random and ridiculous…and I feel confident that what I came up with will confuse and befuddle you. But that’s OK! Because confusion leads to creativity! You’ve read that somewhere, [...]

First of all, let me say, thanks. Your participation in PROMPTuesdays has been inspirational, fun, heartbreaking, thought-provoking and motivational. Just as good writing should be. And I appreciate it.   I also hope to appeal to the lurkers and encourage you to submit something for PROMPTuesdays. There’s so judgment here and we’d all love to [...]

No intro today.   Just this: Write about your first love. Work the phrase, “Beauty in the shadows,” into the piece. This one can go to 250 words.   Other “rules” (air quotes implied and used ironically):   You must write your entry in 10 minutes. This encourages top-of-mind, primal thinking before the ego and [...]

PROMPTuesday came around quick, didn’t it?   And here I was, just a few short hours ago, sitting at book club, innocently forgetting that shortly, a new writing prompt must be posted, so I, without a care in the world, poured myself another glass of wine…   But: I’m BACK, suckas! And as such, a [...]

Allrighty oh! It’s PROMPTuesday again! Time to rev your writing engines. Lube your brain. Check your filter at the door. (What? I don’t know. I just blog here).   OK. For your background and historical reference, here is a primer on PROMPTuesdays. And here is the first PROMPTuesday exercise from last week.   And now, [...]

Here we go! It’s out first PROMPTuesday! And remember: ANYONE can participate. This is for fun. Even if you don’t care a hill of beans for creative writing prompts or, for that matter, creative writing in general, you are welcome in this place of non-judgment and happy color rainbows! Yeah! Miss Mary/Barry Sunshines all over [...]

  Let Your Imagination Bear Fruit.   So I want to be a writer. How about you? Or, maybe you just want to play with words, take pleasure in the creation of something thought-provoking, humorous, insightful?   Either way, I’ve decided to do something on San Diego Momma to inspire me, flex my writing muscles [...]