Tag: writing prompts

A Gift to Spark Your Creativity – 30 Free Writing Prompts

It’s that time of year again!

I’m not talking about Halloween, wearing flannel, or drinking Pumpkin Spice Lattes. I’m talking about my birthday, silly!

And every year around my birthday I like to take a day off and spend a good chunk of the day with me, myself and I.

I work out, I take myself to a slow lunch at a nice restaurant, I go to the beach, I go shopping, I think.

It’s always fun to see where my mind goes when I quiet the noise around me.

Last week, while on said birthday date, I took out pen and paper and jotted down a list of 30 creative writing prompts while enjoying a Spicy Thai Salad and Cucumber Collins.

If you’ve been here long enough, you know that every November, I write 30 children’s stories based on short prompts to get the creative ideas flowing. I do this for a national challenge called Children’s Book Writing Month or #ChiBoWriMo. This is a spin-off of the long-standing challenge – #NaNoWriMo , but way more fun, in my opinion! 🙂

I like to share the list ahead of time for those that also want to challenge themselves to get in the habit of getting creative each day.

For me, the stories I write in November end up being the starting point for what gets published the following year.

For instance, my newest release How to Sell a Flower, was written last November and published this September.

Give yourself the gift of creativity by setting aside thirty minutes each morning to take a prompt and put pen to paper.

Please don’t take each prompt too seriously. These are meant to be rough (rough) drafts.

The more important aspect is to show up each day and challenge yourself to start each and every story.

Sometimes, it takes a while to get started. Don’t be afraid to sit with a prompt and twist it over in your mind for a bit. This specific part of the process may be more valuable than the actual story you come up with.

Think of it this way:

You will be building your creative muscle every single morning.

What a cool gift to give yourself!

(I’d rank it right up there with giving yourself the gift of alone time)

Get Writing! 30 Free Story Prompts for Kids Books

Last year I wrote THIRTY children’s stories in the month of November.

Want to join me? I made it easy. Just download this list of writing prompts

Last year I wrote THIRTY children’s stories in the month of November.

I was inspired by some friends that were doing #NaNoWriMo and writing an entire novel in one month. Based on a children’s book word count of 500-1k words, I figured I could handle writing a book a day for the month, and thus Children’s Book Writing Month (#ChiBoWriMo) was born .

Kya Mouse, a character created during a writing prompt

I was able to use the stories I wrote last November to publish three books this year (Check out the Smart Girl Fairy Tale Series), and I hope to do it again.

Want to join me? I made it easy. Just download this list of writing prompts here.

Hang it somewhere special and plan at least thirty quiet minutes a day to sit, think, and write.

Trust me, I know a prompt may seem odd when you first read it, but give it five minutes and see where your mind begins to go. Before you know it, you’ll have a rough draft before you.

And a rough draft is all we are going for here. At the end of the month you can read your stories over and pick a handful that deserve a second draft.

Use #ChiBoWriMo on your social posts so we can cheer each other on.

Once you finish the challenge, you can always do another round with these additional prompts.

And don’t forget, this is supposed to be FUN! Let your silly side out.