Journal Resolution ~ A Daily Prompt
1.8.12: As of this writing, one whole week of the year 2012 is behind us. Are you a resolution maker? I am not, mostly because I am a lousy resolution keeper. Sometimes, though, I trick myself into resolutions: “This year I will try to eat more sensibly.” “I want to be nicer to people this year.” “By the end of this year, I hope I…” You see how this works? I don’t use the word resolve; I “try” instead of “promise;” I express my wants, not my plans; I give myself flabby, far-reaching deadlines. No matter how the year turns out, I can look back at these non-resolutions and claim some success: I tried! I wanted! I hoped!
Okay, all of that said, I am going to make a resolution right here and now. Ready? I resolve to regularly write in my journal. Oh, you know this one? You’ve made it yourself? This one won’t be too too hard for me, because I am a rather regular journal writer already. I have been for years. But this year, 2012 (from today onward,) I WANT to TRY to write in there daily. I HOPE I do.
And just in case you WANT to TRY to join me in this journal resolution, I will put up daily prompts here–on this page–for you to use or to ignore. Now, the idea of prompts sort of goes against my grain; I believe that we all have something to write, something to tell, without being prodded by someone else’s creative impulses. But these are my own impulses–you can make your own if you prefer. My intention with these is to keep them as loose and open as possible, and if you do choose to use them, do so in any way you want. These don’t have to be first words or sentences or even any part of what you write. They might stimulate a memory, a story, a drawing, a rant, or something entirely disconnected and random. I encourage you to follow the tangents, to write it hot, as they say. Don’t worry about what you will do with them or what they give you to see, imagine, remember, tell. If the prompts are not useful, then forget about ‘em. If they are helpful, let me know.
Cool? Okay, here goes:
Prompt #141, May 27, 2012: It made us very sad.
Prompt #140, May 26, 2012: They were easy marks.
Prompt #139, May 25, 2012: “Don’t,” she said.
Prompt #138, May 24, 2012: It only happened when she was mad.
Prompt #137, May 23, 2012: Okay, I’ll make this short.
Prompt #136, May 22, 2012: They were misunderstood.
Prompt #135, May 21, 2012: The thing about family…
Prompt #134, May 20, 2012: The noise woke me up.
Prompt #133, May 19, 2012: When you look at it this way…
Prompt #132, May 18, 2012: On my bookshelf…
Prompt #131, May 17, 2012: I couldn’t bring myself to tell her.
Prompt #130, May 16, 2012: The things I learned from my mother:
Prompt #129, May 15, 2012: It made me very nervous.
Prompt #128, May 14, 2012: We were the sort of family that…
Prompt #127, May 13, 2012: It was his favorite.
Prompt #126, May 12, 2012: I yearned for something different.
Prompt #125, May 11, 2012: He laughed when he said it.
Prompt #124, May 10, 2012: Who is running the show?
Prompt #123, May 9, 2012: It came in a box.
Prompt #122, May 8, 2012: I thought he was dead.
Prompt #121, May 7, 2012: He was kind of a jerk.
Prompt #120, May 6, 2012: We needed something to celebrate.
Prompt #119, May 5, 2012: I swear this is the truth.
Prompt #118, May 4, 2012: I found it on the dresser.
Prompt #117, May 3, 2012: My weirdest memory…
Prompt #116, May 2, 2012: They watched through the window.
Prompt #115, May 1, 2012: May Day! May Day!
Prompt #114, April 30, 2012: It happens every spring.
Prompt #113, April 29, 2012: We were among friends.
Prompt #112, April 28, 2012: You can’t make me do this.
Prompt #111, April 27, 2012: We were broke.
Prompt #110, April 26, 2012: I didn’t mean to hurt her.
Prompt #109, April 25, 2012: It was an unexpected kindness.
Prompt #108, April 24, 2012: It seemed like any other day.
Prompt #107, April 23, 2012: He was always pretending.
Prompt #106, April 22, 2012: I needed a place to stay.
Prompt #105, April 21, 2012: We were in good company.
Prompt #104, April 20, 2012: It came to me in a dream.
Prompt #103, April 19, 2012: Around the corner…
Prompt #102, April 18, 2012: I remember this place.
Prompt #101, April 17, 2012: We expected more.
Prompt #100, April 16, 2012: I’m late.
Prompt #99, April 15, 2012: Didn’t we…
Prompt #98, April 14, 2012: They said it wouldn’t hurt.
Prompt #97, April 13, 2012: It was my mother’s birthday.
Prompt #96, April 12, 2012: They used to wear…
Prompt #95, April 11, 2012: Let’s talk about the weather.
Prompt #94, April 10, 2012: In other words…
Prompt #93, April 9, 2012: We pretended…
Prompt #92, April 8, 2012: It was just one of many car trips.
Prompt #91, April 7, 2012: In the library…
Prompt #90, April 6, 2012: What matters is this:
Prompt #89, April 5, 2012: If we had all the time in the world…
Prompt #88, April 4, 2012: My mother promised. My father…
Prompt #87, April 3, 2012: I am in the weeds here.
Prompt #86, April 2, 2012: Is it true that…
Prompt #85, April 1, 2012: They thought we were fools.
Prompt #84, March 31, 2012: Everywhere you look…
Prompt #83, March 30, 2012: We thought we were rock stars.
Prompt #82, March 29, 2012: If only…
Prompt #81, March 28, 2012: Let’s keep it in the family.
Prompt #80, March 27, 2012: Home?
Prompt #79, March 26, 2012: Was it too good to be true?
Prompt #78, March 25, 2012: They call this place…
Prompt #77, March 24, 2012: Everyone else thought it was funny.
Prompt #76, March 23, 2012: My father would have been proud.
Prompt #75, March 22, 2012: A moment in the sun.
Prompt #74, March 21, 2012: Before the end…
Prompt #73, March 20, 2012: This burns my heart.
Prompt #72, March 19, 2012: Once upon a…
Prompt #71, March 18, 2012: Everyone’s got a story.
Prompt #70, March 17, 2012: And after, I just felt dirty.
Prompt #69, March 16, 2012: In case of emergency—
Prompt #68, March 15, 2012: We waited. They waited.
Prompt #67, March 14, 2012: It’s gotta be good, right?
Prompt #66, March 13, 2012: We’d never seen anything like it.
Prompt #65, March 12, 2012: Maybe it was the best they could do.
Prompt #64, March 11, 2012: We thought it was forever.
Prompt #63, March 10, 2012: I was never any good at this.
Prompt #62, March 9, 2012: In the distance…
Prompt #61, March 8, 2012: When the telephone rang…
Prompt #60, March 7, 2012: Well, here’s a can of worms.
Prompt #59, March 6, 2012: When the sun shines over the tops of buildings…
Prompt #58, March 5, 2012: Speak up. They can’t hear you.
Prompt #57, March 4, 2012: We waited for it to be over.
Prompt #56, March 3, 2012: If she had given it more thought…
Prompt #55, March 2, 2012: Here’s what I believed in.
Prompt #54, March 1, 2012: It was not our choice.
Prompt #53, February 29, 2012: My mother’s hands…
Prompt #52, February 28, 2012: Be careful whom you trust.
Prompt #51, February 27, 2012: In the middle of the night…
Prompt #50, February 26, 2012: Okay, let’s try this again.
Prompt #49, February 25, 2012: And when we woke up…
Prompt #48, February 24, 2012: So here’s my plan…
Prompt #47, February 23, 2012: I need to write this down.
Prompt #46, February 22, 2012: Nothing was the same.
Prompt #45, February 21, 2012: In case you were wondering…
Prompt #44, February 20, 2012: I’d rather not remember…
Prompt #43, February 19, 2012: And another thing—
Prompt #42, February 18, 2012: We gathered…
Prompt #41, February 17, 2012: Please. Don’t make me.
Prompt #40, February 16, 2012: Names from the past.
Prompt #39, February 15, 2012: On our block…
Prompt #38, February 14, 2012: Just once.
Prompt #37, February 13, 2012: When my mother…
Prompt #36, February 12, 2012: All right. It is time to tell this story.
Prompt #35, February 11, 2012: They say that family…
Prompt #34, February 10, 2012: The way of girls.
Prompt #33, February 9, 2012: Under a full moon…
Prompt #32, February 8, 2012: Here’s how it all started.
Prompt #31, February 7, 2012: It was the best…
Prompt #30, February 6, 2012: And sometimes there is good news.
Prompt #29, February 5, 2012: So what if the…
Prompt #28, February 4, 2012: I didn’t know this place.
Prompt #27, February 3, 2012: If my father…
Prompt #26, February 2, 2012: What the neighbors saw.
Prompt #25, February 1, 2012: In the cool light…
Prompt #24, January 31, 2012: On his birthday, we’d…
Prompt #23, January 30, 2012: What happens when…
Prompt #22, January 29, 2012: She warned me.
Prompt #21, January 28, 2012: When I wasn’t looking…
Prompt #20, January 27, 2012: Make a list. (Or two. Or three.)
Prompt #19, January 26, 2012: We were so embarrassed.
Prompt #18, January 25, 2012: It looked like the perfect spot.
Prompt #17, January 24, 2012: We had a lot to learn.
Prompt #16, January 23, 2012: It was hard to breathe.
Prompt #15, January 22, 2012: They made us go.
Prompt #14, January 21, 2012: The thing is…
Prompt #13, January 20, 2012: It was a silly superstition.
Prompt #12, January 19, 2012: If we’d gone a different way…
Prompt #11, January 18, 2012: The sign read…
Prompt #10, January 17, 2012: If it hadn’t been for…
Prompt #9, January 16, 2012: You used to say…
Prompt #8, January 15, 2012: The way she saw it…
Prompt #7, January 14, 2012: It wasn’t always like this.
Prompt #6, January 13, 2012: The boys liked…
Prompt #5, January 12, 2012: My father was rarely…
Prompt #4, January 11, 2012: We were never sure what happened.
Prompt #3, January 10, 2012: And this is how they get you.
Prompt #2, January 9, 2012: I always thought…
Prompt #1, January 8, 2012: On another winter morning…
Like this:
Be the first to like this page.
Leave a Reply
1.8.12: As of this writing, one whole week of the year 2012 is behind us. Are you a resolution maker? I am not, mostly because I am a lousy resolution keeper. Sometimes, though, I trick myself into resolutions: “This year I will try to eat more sensibly.” “I want to be nicer to people this year.” “By the end of this year, I hope I…” You see how this works? I don’t use the word resolve; I “try” instead of “promise;” I express my wants, not my plans; I give myself flabby, far-reaching deadlines. No matter how the year turns out, I can look back at these non-resolutions and claim some success: I tried! I wanted! I hoped!
Patty, I do the same thing with the “flabby far-reaching” deadlines. Starting tonight I will write every night in my journal and use your prompts. Thanks for this. It makes me feel accountable to someone other than my “flabby” self! Good writing!
Thanks, Lucricia. Keep me posted on how it goes for you.
Wrote with the prompt last night, I always thought I would “feel” like an adult at some unspoken, magical point.
Still don’t feel that! Got two pages from that prompt and will tweek it today to post on my blog! Then on to the next prompt. Have a wonderful day.
Thanks, Lucricia! Glad to know they helped. I’ll be hopping over to your blog later to see what you are up to over there!
This is fun! Thanks, Patty.
Great, Jana. That’s the best we can hope for, yes?
Patty: I usually write “cold” in my journal, first thing in the morning, starting with my dreams and shooting for 3 pages, longhand. I’m sticking a post-it in my brand new journal right now and, starting tomorrow morning, I’ll use your day-before’s prompt for inspiration. Thanks.
Hi, Susan! Don’t let my prompts get in the way of your own good instincts. Just use ‘em if they are helpful…Good to hear from you!
Hey Patty, you and I just talked about my resolution for 2012…the series of portraits. pumped you’re interested. see you soon. hillary
Yup. Way cool.
Have the fortune to ride public trans throughout Prague on a daily basis, which lets me make copious notes on my novel, do some writing of scenes/dialogue (albeit short, usually), and get my daily dose of reading (read 47 books last year … quite amazed at that). But for years I didn’t have this luxury of writing time. This is my fortune. I feel like a leprechaun chained to his pot of gold.
Hi, Mark. You are living a writer’s dream life, I think.
I had an epiphany this past week that writing a daily journal could be good for my health. In order to make sure I stay on task I’ve been creating my own prompts. Today, however, I needed a bit of inspiration. Thank you for providing it.
Glad it helped. Write on.
What a terrific resource–thank you for sharing! FYI: I just started blogging about the writing life and include prompts at the close of all of my entries–in other words, I’m happy to share, too.
Thanks for reading, Barbara. I’ll check your site out, too.
[...] you start? There are so many books and websites that offer daily writing prompts (stop by Patricia McNair’s website for starters), but there are also writing prompts everywhere around [...]
Thanks, Christi Craig, for the shout out. Always enjoy your site, too.