Big changes today. My son moved into residence at a local university, and even though he’s not far away, his absence will change our lives significantly. A cheerful, talkative, smart young man and talented musician, he’s leaving us with looking for ways to keep the house from feeling so quiet and so empty. It’s time for him to move on to the next part of his life, and for us to sort things out here, too. Interesting times are ahead for all of us, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. If you’re heading to school this September, as teacher or student, I wish you every success as you take more steps to grow and learn and decide what kind of person you want to be and what kind of future you want for yourself and those around you.
For my Facebook friends today, September 1st seemed more like New Year’s Day–full of plans for new projects, new directions and resolutions to make much-wanted changes. If one of your resolutions is to write more, here are some writing prompts for September.
1. Use one, some or all of these words in a story or poem:
a) Bus, trap, rain, pen, dread, grey, coin
b) Rail, gold, title, wind, surprise, empty, fall
2. See if one of these opening lines inspires a story:
- Are you sure you’re okay on your own?
- I don’t know what comes after this.
- Does that car look familiar?
- When the last time you saw Rick?
- I thought he was going to win.
- I’ve lost it. Again.
3. Here are some lines of dialogue that you can use to write a scene or include in a story.
- Move over.
- Why?
- I can’t see.
- Have you heard from Henry lately?
- No. He’s been awfully quiet.
- That’s not like Henry is it?
- No.
- Are you ready to try again?
- I wasn’t ready to try the first time.
4. Maybe one of these titles will give you a story idea:
Bricks and Sticks, Meeting at Sunrise, The Blue Throne, Mystery on the Red Planet, The Hunter, Open Book, Game Day.
5. Leo Tolstoy wrote: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Think about what it would be like to live in a family different from yours. If you have lots of siblings, imagine going through a day as an only child. If you have sisters, imagine your life with brothers of vice versa. You get the idea. What kind of families have you created for the characters in your story? Make a list of the details that you thought of while imagining a different family and see if you can use them to help build the families of your characters.