From the Editor, Summer 2016

Looking for a little inspiration to keep those creative juices flowing this summer?

 

We’d love to help you unlock the stories that are waiting to be told and hope you’ll take advantage of our writing prompts. We published more than 200 of them on our blog from 2010 to 2015 and have published a writing prompt to complement each Literary Reflections essay since 2007. Read some of our favorites  below and then dive into the entire list by exploring our archives.

And don’t forget about our After Page One series. These short guest posts offer support and encouragement about getting started, getting back to a writing project, integrating writing with motherhood, reading, or having a positive attitude.

We hope you find these blog posts as refreshing as a glass of lemonade on a hot day!

We’ll be back in mid-September will another issue of Literary Mama. Until then, keep in touch by reading our latest blog posts and by perusing our archives.

Thanks for visiting!

Karna

 

Writing Prompts

• Have you visited a place that was once significant in your life? That brought memories flooding back—a younger self? A different time? What was it like? How did it feel? What did it tell you about where you’ve been, who you are, where you’re going? Read more in “Going Back.”

 

• Do you search for flawlessness, or can you find beauty in imperfection? Is it easier for your child to overlook imperfection than it is for you? Read more in this For Your Journal prompt.

 

• Write about your child making mischief with a childhood playmate, and pair it with a story about when you made mischief as a child. Write from your own or your child’s point of view in the first person. Use present tense to add a sense of immediacy. Whose idea was it? Who got caught? How? What were the consequences? Read more in Making Mischief in Your Journal.

 

• Think about meeting one of your heroes, literary or otherwise. Did it happen by chance? Did you seek them out? How did you feel about the meeting? What did it mean to you? Read more in this Free Write prompt.

 

• List all the places you’ve lived. Note your age and approximately how long you lived there, and then describe one memory from each home. Now, create a similar list with your children of the homes they’ve lived in. Read more in Home(s).

 

• Think about the tools you use to write. Is the pen never around? Do you end up using your son’s skinny markers? How does your writing change with the elegance of a gorgeous ball pen? What helps and what hinders? Enjoy your tools and the relief your writing brings. Read more in this Free Write prompt.

 

• Consider how you make space and time for quiet and stillness. In a world of buzzes and beeps, overcommitting and overextending, and mile-long to do lists, how do you slow down? What does it feel like when you do? Read more in Standing Still.

 

• Write about something your child does or has done to follow in your footsteps. Is it a good hobby, or a bad habit, or something else entirely? How does he put his own spin on the task? How does he copy you? Do you like his copycat behavior or not? How does it feel? Read more in this For Your Journal prompt.