Journal Prompts for Aspiring Writers
Journal prompts for aspiring writers
Journal prompts are a great way to kick off a writing session when you’re feeling uninspired.
We all have days when creative writing ideas are nowhere to be found, but that doesn’t mean you have to go a day without writing.
In fact, on those days when my muse is being elusive, I like to take some time to either work through some writing exercises to stretch and strengthen my writing muscles – or I evaluate my writing goals.
Often, this means I spend time making notes about my writing goals to see how far I’ve come as well as where I’m going and how much work I have to do before I get there.
By looking over some of the writing I’ve done about my goals, I was able to come up with ten journal prompts, which are perfect for assessing your goals and aspirations. Do you know what kind of writer you want to be? Have you set any writing goals yet? How close are you to reaching them? What projects are you working on?
These and other questions form the basis for the following journal prompts.
10 Journal Prompts for Aspiring Writers
- As a writer, my dream come true would be…
- The difference between my dreams and my true goals as a writer is…
- The number one goal I want to achieve as a writer is…
- To reach my main writing goal, I need to…
- In order to reach my writing goals, I have done the following things in the past week…
- During the past month, I have worked toward my writing goals by…
- Things that have been interfering with my goals include…
- I can eliminate these interferences by…
- In one year, I will be closer to fulfilling my writing ambitions. I will have…
- Finally, write three journal prompts for next time building on what you’ve already written…
How to Use Journal Prompts to Reach Your Goals
By revisiting these journal prompts on a regular basis, you can consistently assess your goals to see how much you are accomplishing in terms of reaching your writing goals.
Some of these journal prompts will be useful to revisit every year. Others would be worth revisiting on a monthly or weekly basis.
Next time you’re not sure what to write about, or whenever you’re feeling like it’s time to take a hard look at your goals and accomplishments, set aside twenty or thirty minutes and start tackling these journal prompts one by one.
You’ll learn a lot, and you’ll keep on writing.
Got any ideas for assessing your goals or suggestions for journal prompts? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.
Melissa Donovan is a website designer and copywriter. She writes fiction and poetry and is the founder and editor of Writing Forward, a blog packed with creative writing tips and ideas.
Melissa, this is a good post! It is always good to have ways to write even when the creativity bug is missing! In one of my creative writing classes my teacher gave us this idea for when we had no ideas. Start by writing the word Remember three times. It never fails to invoke some sort of memory and you just start writing. I’ve done some of my best work when I’ve done this. I even wrote a post on it at my blog, that is how powerful it is to me.
Thanks for the new tips!!
Jennys last blog post..Not My Omega
Remember. Remember. Remember.
Yes, I can see how that would call up some memories worth writing about. That’s a good tip, Jenny. Thanks
Great set of prompts.
I particularly like your first prompt since it can be pragmatic or fantastical … write the life you want to lead, write the person you want to be, write the world you want to see … dream big, Disney-style. It’s a think it, write it, do it formula that works.
Your overall thought process shows clarity and precision so it’s great scaffolding for others. Rock on.
J.D. Meiers last blog post..Avoid Mental Burnout
Thanks J.D. Yeah, the first prompt could easily spawn an entirely different set of fun and fantastical prompts. I’ll have to remember to put my Imagineer hat on and come up with ten “dream big” journal prompts for next time!
Good prompts all around. I agree with J.D. My favorite was the first one, though I had some fun with the 7th one. I ended up writing in this sort of Godfather-esque gangster voice about the things interfering with my writing.
Gabriel Gadflys last blog post..A Love To Die For (With Audio)
Thanks Gabriel. I love that you added a particular voice to the exercise. That adds a fun twist. You’ve just given me a new idea for a writing exercise in voice. Hmm.
I wish I got tagged on Facebook with something like this. However, some of the responses I’d give are painful (I don’t recall writing anything last week or moving any closer to a goal), but that would be motivation to get moving.
t.sterlings last blog post..fripodding and watching: the watchmen experience-reviews and stuff
Hey, that’s a great idea – turning this into a Facebook tag. I didn’t even know you were on Facebook!