Sometimes the prompt of a partial sentence can get your imagination soaring and your fingers flying. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing fiction, nonfiction, a memoir, or even sci-fi. The nudge of a prompt to form a scene or the story’s opening may be all the inspiration you need. 

One warm spring day, I suggested we hold class outdoors. The birds welcomed us with their soprano notes, the squirrels played tag across the lawn, and the air rejuvenated our senses.  

Rarely do I ask students to write in class. Mainly because I don’t create well under timed pressure. I can virtually hear the seconds ticking away. My thoughts echo — Any words that land on this page will be my worst first draft ever! But on this day, everyone had a suggestion for a partial sentence. The group agreed on one. 

Here is mine. 

Suddenly, there was an explosion…and we were in the midst of hell. The side of the building burst into...

Will you have written that story you’ve thought about for years?

Is the story of your dreams in the hands of readers today?

How will you feel when someone says, Thank you for sharing your story?

I’ve asked myself these questions many times. I still do. I’m not one to rest on my laurels, so my published articles from kayaking to the art of Feng shui and sundry others may count in the general scheme of things, but I know there’s a lot more to come.

You see, my notebooks and journals are overflowing with story ideas. Fiction, nonfiction, and occasionally a poem will surface from overheard conversations. Memories of growing up as a military brat,* the loss of loved ones, and even deciduous trees and broken seashells invite me into their natural worlds without hesitation. And I’m so very grateful. 

It’s as if my DNA is laced with never wanting to miss a thing — even the chance to watch a room full of people sitting mostly...

How do you come up with all those different prompts and lessons? Over the past five years, this is the question I am most often asked.

My standard reply is that after hearing the stories, essays, or poems created from an assigned prompt, it magically pushes my creativity onward. And I embrace and welcome the challenge. But, honestly, a creative nudge that lights up the senses, encourage a list of What if questions, and produces results that the writers are happy with, is all it takes.   

Ever so often, I plan to share some interviews with you here. It may be with an author who has their book under the Stories Worth Sharing tab, like Bill Beecher’s Double Agent Stallion, or excerpts from others’ short stories. Ones that I hope will encourage you to write either on your own or through one of my Six-Week Sessions online. 

Whether you are at work on a current project, want to write and don’t know how to begin, or feel you are not complete unless you are...