Currently viewing the tag: "first line"
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Crying

It was the baby, of all things, that woke her up. Not her husband. Not the police. Just the baby and his crying. -Todd Ritter, Bad Moon

Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.

Journaling Prompt: What is usually your first indication that something is wrong at your house? Describe how it happens.

Art Prompt: The Curious Incident of the Baby in the Night Time

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write a humorous piece about your personal security system, whether it be a baby, a dog, or something else.

Photo Credit: rabble on Flickr
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Miraculously Given A Second Chance

“Jonah was dead for a brief time before the paramedics brought him back to life.” -Dan Chaon, You Remind Me of Me

Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.

Journaling Prompt: Write about a time when you felt like you were getting a second chance and what it meant to you.

Art Prompt: Risen from the dead

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write a piece with the theme of resurrection or second chances.

Photo Credit: ER24 EMS (Pty) Ltd. on Flickr
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sleeping with the light on

Archie Sheridan slept with the light on. -Chelsea Cain, Kill You Twice

Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.

Journaling Prompt: Have you ever slept with a night light? Why or why not?

Art Prompt: Sleeping with the light on

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Give your audience information on how to establish healthy sleeping habits.

Photo Credit: creating in the dark on Flickr
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Shadows and light on a summer morning in Platt Fields Park in Rusholme, Manchester, UK

“There were once two little girls who saw, or believed they saw, a thing in a forest.” -A.S. Byatt, Little Black Book of Stories

Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.

Journaling Prompt: Write about how being in a forest makes you feel.

Art Prompt: Mysterious thing in the forest

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: prompt here

Photo Credit: Alex Pepperhill on Flickr
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paper wad

What happens is I write a first sentence, then I read the sentence that I’ve just written, and then I immediately erase that sentence; then I begin anew by writing another first sentence for a completely different story; then another first sentence for another story, so on and so forth.” Courtney Eldridge, Unkempt

Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.

Journaling Prompt: What do you do when you have trouble getting started writing in your journal?

Art Prompt: Abandoned Beginnings

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the importance of beginning well and the dangers of getting stuck.

Photo Credit: Anthony Mianzo on Flickr
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Ewenton House c.1854

“The madwoman in the attic was standing at the window.” -Peter Rushforth, Pinkerton’s Sister

Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.

Journaling Prompt: Sometimes our thoughts are like a madwoman in the attic. What thought is standing at the window of your mind today?

Art Prompt: Madwoman in the Attic

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about how thoughts can drive us crazy and what we can do to get them under control.

Photo Credit: Balmain Heritage on Flickr
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Krazy man in the mirror @w2mediacafe

Kortovsky gave himself a final once-over in the elevator mirror before he reached the hotel lobby. -Gerald Elias, Death and the Maiden

Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.

Journaling Prompt: How concerned are you about your appearance?

Art Prompt: First impressions

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: First impressions

Photo Credit: roland on Flickr
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Snake Oil

Snake oil sales
were slow.
-Kevin Young, Black Maria

Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.

Journaling Prompt: Write about something that is touted as healthy that you think is as bad as snake oil.

Art Prompt: Snake Oil

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Inform your audience about how they can avoid health scams.

Photo Credit: Benjamin Chun on Flickr
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the train will be leaving soon (annoyed gentleman next door)

When Emily Daggett Weiss boarded the Twentieth Century Limited in the spring of 1913, bound for a brief sojourn in the West, one or two old biddies gave her the hairy eye. Woman traveling alone. No better than she should be, as her mother used to say about young women of low moral standards. Worse than the biddies, a traveling salesman winked at her. -Irene Fleming, The Brink of Fame

Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.

Journaling Prompt: Imagine traveling a century back in time. What would be the most difficult thing for you to get used to?

Art Prompt: 1913

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about how women’s place in society has changed in the last century.

Photo Credit: phlubdr on Flickr
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Messy.

“As most New Yorkers have done, I have given serious and generous thought to the state of my apartment should I get killed during the day.” -Sloane Crosley, I Was Told There’d Be Cake

Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the first line of the week as the starting point or inspiration for a scene, story, poem, or haiku.

Journaling Prompt: Write about your cleaning routine.

Art Prompt: Messiness

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the rituals you do every day just in case something happens to you.

Photo Credit: JessicaHume. on Flickr
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