Try This for A Creative Start to Your Day

Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, it's good to start your day with a little creative writing practice.

It gets your juices flowing—so no matter what you spend time writing the rest of the day, the writing seems to come easier.

Plus, if you try this on a regular basis, you'll get better at writing dialogue, using sensory details, and creating dramatic tension in your work.

Here's what to do.

Get a new spiral notebook and use it just for your creative writing practice.

I say "practice" because most of what you write in this notebook won't be full-fledged stories, just snippets of stories.

Still, the longer you stick with this morning writing practice, the more creative you will get.

And, after a while, you'll find that you might be writing complete stories using the prompts.

If so, good for you.

But the main purpose of the prompts is just to give you some creative writing practice every day.

Here are some visual and written prompts to help you get started:

1. "Where are we going?" Evan asked his sister.
"You'll see," she said.

2. Nathan frowned. "You never told me you had a cat," he said to Martha. "I'm allergic to cats."

3. Logan had waited all day for Lacy to text him. But there was still nothing from her. What's going on with her, he wondered.

4. Maggie sat looking out at the water. Her dog, Max, sat next to her. Her boyfriend, Richard, had dumped her this morning when they met for breakfast.
"At least you'll never leave me," she said to Max.

5. Casey wanted to keep running forever. But she knew she'd eventually have to stop running and go back home and face everyone.


First thing every morning, choose one or more writing prompts and spend just 15-20 minutes writing in response to the prompt(s).

Make a commitment to do this for one week and see what happens.

Try it!

Suzanne Lieurance is the author of over 35 published books and a writing coach. Visit her website at www.writebythesea.com for more articles and resources about writing. And, for daily tips about writing, get your free subscription to The Morning Nudge at www.morningnudge.com.