In Praise of the Writing Prompt

Craft Week Continued: Why I Still Love Writing Assignments, Decades into My Writing Career

my “writing desk” (but I rarely write at a desk)

One great question that came to me during Craft Week was about my What to Write This Week series, in which I provide a brief reading along with a writing prompt inspired by the piece. The prompt is often for flash fiction or flash memoir — a form I find to be creatively invigorating.

Sitting down to “write a novel” or “write a story” may feel daunting, but setting aside a half hour to dash off a flash fiction is doable for most writers. And really, sitting down and opening the empty Word doc is the hard part. With What to Write, I want to get writers to open the computer or the notebook and write the first sentence or two or three, because after that, you are often glued to your chair — to the detriment of your physical health but to the advantage of your writing.