TOP TEN SENTENCE PROMPTS
Copyright 2006 Writer's Eye Advisory Service
There are many ways to find prompts and ideas for journaling.
Some journal-keepers develop ideas easily. Others prefer to use
outside sources. Still others like to mix and match both outside
sources and their own ideas. Whether you fall into one or the
other categories, this list of prompts should help you get
started with your journaling. Once you become more comfortable
and proficient in journaling, you will be able to branch out and
try a variety of techniques in your entries.
Prompts come in the form of "I" statements (including
identifying feelings, thoughts (I want, I will) describing
actions, scenery and interactions with people, completing
sentences and writing poems. You may also randomly pick words or
phrases from a dictionary, interesting headlines, titles from a
table of contents or television or radio show titles. You may
also use a name of objects (flowers, animals, pets, plants or
trees), song titles, word association phrases or words. After
you have tried at least one prompt from this list, then, try
writing a list of 100 words, phrases or ideas, you may repeat
some until you finish the list. Read through the list and pick
the first three prompts that stand out to you. You will have
ninety-seven other ideas to use the next time your journal.
(this exercise is used courtesy of Kathleen Adams, Journey to
the Self)
I've listed a hint in parentheses, for each prompt, if you have
trouble,