What is your favorite outdoor activity? Is it water-skiing at your lake house? Maybe rock climbing in one of our majestic National Parks? Or maybe you have a favorite running trail that makes your heart rush to the beat of local flora and fauna. Whatever your desired way to play, think about your relationship to nature while enjoying this activity and write about how you feel in the great outdoors. Think about how the impact of pollution and human influence might have on this activity and how it would change your enjoyment. Or, if you're feeling really adventurous, considering looking at your favorite outdoor activity from the perspective of an animal or plant! 

Use some odd bits of overheard conversation to jump-start your writing. Here are a few one-liners to stimulate your creativity:

1. “I just don’t understand how it happened but it did.”

2. “I felt like the lollipop was going to kill me.”

3. “He was always nice until he ran his neighbor over with his car…”

4. “The lights were so bright, I started to cry!”

Whenever you’re suffering from a bad case of writer’s block, try to stop focusing on the block and, instead, shift your attention to your surroundings. What’s being said around you? Take it and write! Just remember that the feeling of writer’s block is temporary.

Creativity is to writers what fuel is to cars; sometimes all it takes is a little inspiration to refuel and get back into drive.

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Write an open letter—a letter that addresses big issues and that may be suitable for public reading—to your children, yourself, or simply to the world at large. Express your hopes for the future, and tie them in with past experiences that shape you. Infuse your letter with passion expressed and see what develops.

What was the name of your first childhood pet? Why did you choose this name? Were you hoping for a dog and got a frog instead? Describe your pet’s fur, shell—or lack thereof—and what s/he looked like. What do you remember most about this pet, and what did it mean to you as a friend? What did you learn from taking care of your friend? If you didn’t have a childhood pet, did you want one? If so, what kind? If you felt deprived because you never had a pet, create a virtual one. Create several.

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If you had the ability to add one holiday to the calendar, what holiday would you create? Why would this day be considered important? In what way would people celebrate this holiday? Would you be offended if the holiday became an opportunity for retail stores to hold sales? How would you keep the value of your own holiday? Would there be special foods associated with your special day? Would you take the day off from work to celebrate? Would you want the whole world to celebrate with you, or is this holiday just for you? Share your newly invented holiday with us by posting it here.

REMEMBER TO CHECK OUT OUR LIST OF WRITING CONTESTS and ANTHOLOGIES! You won’t find a better list anywhere (AND IT’S FREE!) of upcoming anthologies, special-themed journals, and contests. Find it by visiting:
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First, remember why you love your work. List why you love to write and why you became a writer in the first place. Generate the positive feelings before the fear of failure and looming deadlines started to negatively impact the excitement and joy of writing. Your life’s work is a huge source of energy, either positive or negative, and by adjusting our attitudes, we can help create a positive flow rather than a negative one. Keep this list in a place where it will remind you why you are a writer, even on those days when you wonder about it yourself.

Second, identify factors that decrease your energy and result in low expectations. Depression, fatigue, poor diet, seasonal affective disorder, disorganized or noisy work spaces—all of these can leave you listless and unmotivated. Now create a third list of things that energize you—like gardening, cooking, or spending time with family members. You can now begin to eliminate or address items from the first list that block your positive energy and try to incorporate things that create good feelings. For example, address the issue of a poor diet, and add some gardening time to your daily routine.

We’d love to hear about your number one reason for being a writer. Please feel free to share your thoughts by posting a reply. Let’s share all of the positive energy we create as writers.

REMEMBER TO CHECK OUT OUR LIST OF WRITING CONTESTS and ANTHOLOGIES! You won’t find a better list anywhere (AND IT’S FREE!) of upcoming anthologies, special-themed journals, and contests. Find it by visiting:
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In the heat of the moment, do you find the right words hard to come by? After an argument or disagreement with your significant other, boss, or parent, do you find yourself going over the conversation but adding the words you should have said? Have you decided that “Yeah…well…you’re wrong!” was perhaps not the best response? Can you rewrite your part of the dialogue? Outline a conversation but add what you would like to have said instead of your less-than-perfect, heat-of-the-moment words. Perhaps you can move some of the negative thoughts and words to a more positive outcome.

Ever wish you could escape to your own deserted island? Where would it be? What would you name it? What would it look like? Would anyone else know its secret location? What conveniences would you bring from home? Write about your own personal paradise, and be creative with it. Make it snow on your island, or create a tree that grows your favorite food. It’s your island—make it the perfect place for you, no matter how crazy it may seem!

Did you thoroughly enjoy the Beijing Olympics? Or did you tire of hearing about them? What would happen if athletes were awarded something rather than gold, silver, or bronze medals? Did Michael Phelps deserve a platinum medal? Do you prefer swimmers’, gymnasts’, or long-distance runners’ body types? Why do commentators ask athletes about what went wrong even when they win a gold medal? Write about which sport would be yours if only you had the discipline to train for six hours a day. How about the uniforms? We know your name isn’t Speedo or Nike, but how would you redesign them? Or did you simply love the judges’ blue jackets?

Concerts can be exciting…the anticipation of which songs the artist will play…the unexpected, extended jam sessions and alternate interpretations…the encore. Write about the best song you have ever heard performed live at a concert. Think about it carefully, because this song may be surprising to you. Focus on one specific song performance that had that special something. Can you remember what you felt as this song was playing? Did it give you goose bumps? Thanks to the content of the song, were you reminded of a person or place or time? It has been said that music is the universal language…how did that language speak to you? Try a bigger challenge and write a poem based on your experience.

Write about the vacation you're going on this summer. Who are you going with, and what are your destinations at that vacation spot? Or are you the spontaneous type of person who recuperates at home with a good book? What? No plans yet? Here's your time to get your ideas out and to write your plan into reality. Write about how you will budget your money and/or time to give yourself the treatment you so deserve. Even if you opt not to write a personal essay, writing personal goals on paper can be one of the healthiest things you can do for yourself and your spirit.

Songs have played a vital role as background pieces for movie scenes time and time again. In fact, some scenes are remembered more for the song that was playing than the actual scene. Which song, in your opinion, was best used to accompany a scene from a movie? You know, the one scene that made you double over because the song selection truly drove the point across. Describe why it meant what it meant to you, how it affected you, and why you believe it was a perfect audiovisual onscreen marriage. If you're feeling ambitious, try to write a movie scene with a specific song in your head to revolve the scene around. What picture does your selected song create inside your head as you listen to it? Map it out on paper. Write about whether or not music has helped or hurt movies as a whole. Or maybe we're getting carried away...

REMEMBER TO CHECK OUT OUR LIST OF WRITING CONTESTS and ANTHOLOGIES! You won’t find a better list anywhere (AND IT’S FREE!) of upcoming anthologies, special-themed journals, and contests. Find it by visiting:
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When you wake up in the morning, do you whack the alarm clock to shut it up, or do you lovingly press the snooze button to show your alarm clock just how much you appreciate the job it does? When you get home from a long day, do you take your sneakers off and fling them to the side without a second glance, or do you kindly untie them and give them a nice, cool "bath" to help them relax? Did you ever take notice of how much we abuse the objects we use in our lives? Write a story or a poem from the point of view of something that you use every day—such as your cell phone, your hairbrush, your toothbrush, your car, etc. Give them a voice to let the world know just what it's like to serve you, literally, hand and foot.

REMEMBER TO CHECK OUT OUR LIST OF WRITING CONTESTS and ANTHOLOGIES! You won’t find a better list anywhere (AND IT’S FREE!) of upcoming anthologies, special-themed journals, and contests. Find it by visiting:
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We challenge you, even if you're not a poet, to write a poem about whatever you want, in whatever form you want, even if you're not a poet. Write about how you're feeling right now—what makes you feel sexy, what makes you angry, what motivates you, what makes you cry. Don't be afraid to confront these feelings. Some of the best poetry comes from this buried intensity.

HOME . . . what does it mean to you? If you've been out apartment or house hunting, you probably have a list (next time remember to ask the universe for more closet space)! Write about what you want your home to be. Don't worry about grammar, punctuation, or making any real sense. The sky's the limit. Would you like a loft in SoHo? Or a log cabin far away from the maddening crowd? Home is where the heart is, isn't it?

President's Day is around the corner, and it seems the whole world is gearing up for the United States' next president. If you're not happy about any of the candidates running, write about who you would vote for. What sort of personality traits and political/social issues are important to you to have in a political figure? What traits would make YOU a good president?

Freewrite your way to a television show that you would like to watch. Do you like character-or plot-driven episodes, or maybe a little of both? What genre would your show be? Would your show be a miniseries or one of those made-for-TV movies? Regardless of whether you’re a fan of television, this exercise is designed to encourage the writing of your next short story to submit.

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Write about that holiday miracle that rejuvenated your spirit. Or write about a holiday event that was different from your standard, celebratory ritual.

Imagine you wake up tomorrow in the body of your favorite superhero, literary character, or celebrity and that you have one week to live as this other entity. How would you lead your life differently? How would you live this other persona's life differently? After this week ended, what do you think would change about your real life?

REMEMBER TO CHECK OUT OUR LIST OF WRITING CONTESTS and ANTHOLOGIES! You won’t find a better list anywhere (AND IT’S FREE!) of upcoming anthologies, special-themed journals, and contests. Find it by visiting:
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Write about an adventure that you want to embark on, but haven’t yet. Has it been because of time and/or money? Or you haven’t been brave enough? Whatever the reason, write it all down, examine every emotion that you have toward that activity, and why you haven’t done it yet. Don’t be afraid to go beyond your comfort level. Once it’s written, you might find that you can do that wonderful thing sooner than you realized.

Write about eating your favorite ice cream dessert, whether it's in a cup or cone. Once you've described all the possible ways you love it, now write about it without your sense of taste and smell. How do you make that hot fudge sundae appealing to someone who has never had fudge or ice cream before? This writing prompt is designed to bring out the poetics and metaphors in you. For more help finding your muse, check out Poetry—Finding Your Inspiration.