Try these journal prompts daily for a week. Ten minutes a day is a great amount of time, but if you’re having fun just keep going.
All seven journal prompts below use science-backed tactics to target a release of dopamine that helps your brain enjoy the act of putting words on paper. In case you’re not a neuroscience nerd: dopamine is sometimes called the “happy” neurotransmitter. It’s one of the feel-good hormones that motivates your behavior. Craving dopamine is what makes you binge-watch Netflix and keeps you scrolling on Instagram. The good news is that we can leverage that same neurotransmitter to help you build a creative writing habit. All we have to do is load your writing process with dopamine.
Over the next week, you can use dopamine journaling to teach your brain to love and crave writing a little more than it does today. These journal prompts are designed as a weeklong challenge, but life happens. Go at the pace you can go at and skip days if you have to. Just don’t give up; persistence matters more than speed.
If you want to set a mood, here’s my guided journaling playlist:
A Week of Journal Prompts for Pure Dopamine
When you tackle the day’s journal prompt: try to write honestly, write quickly, and see what pops up. See if you can witness your thoughts without judgement and just keep your hand moving. Let’s get that dopamine and learn to love writing more.
DAY ONE: LOOKING FORWARD
(Why this works: anticipating a reward can release more dopamine than experiencing the reward itself. Science fact. )
Your journal prompt for today is to make a list of things you’re looking forward to that you reasonably believe will ACTUALLY HAPPEN during the rest of this calendar year. These can be massive (like a vacation) or small (like eating a favorite sandwich.) The only rule is you can’t list the same thing twice. Your challenge is to list as many things as you can. The all-time record I’ve had someone do in a live session with me is 115 things in ten minutes. (If you beat that record, email megan@howtowritesomething.com a photo of your list and I’ll send you a video of something incredibly cute.)
DAY TWO: SUNLIGHT SNAPSHOT
(Why this works: direct sun exposure is so heavily correlated with dopamine production that varying sunlight levels may be a cause of and treatment for depression. Science fact.)
Your journal prompt for today is to try and catch sunlight on the page. During daytime hours, go outside and find some actual sunlight. Spend ten minutes recording it in as much detail as you can. The feeling of it on your skin, the look of it on the ground. Anything you know or can imagine about its source, size, or speed. Get into some sunlight, feel it, absorb it, and communicate it. Create a written snapshot of anything about that sunlight which you’re able to name, notice, or dream up. (What if you can’t find actual sunlight because you live in a submarine or in Seattle, or need to journal at night? This song about sunshine has highly dopaminergic melodic, lyrical, and rhythmic content; it’s not the same as a ray of sunlight but it’s reasonably close enough to work for this exercise. Put it on repeat and write about the sound and feeling of listening to it. Music option. )
DAY THREE: MEMORY MEAL
(Why this works: even thinking about a specific real-world pleasure, like a favorite meal, can trigger dopamine release in the here and now. Science fact.)
Your journal prompt for today is to describe a favorite meal in every way you can using words alone. Tell the page what was in the meal, how it tasted, where and when you ate it, who made it or who shared it, and anything else you can find to say. If you’re feeling brave, you might go beyond sensible narrative description and take some strange risks. See if you can write a pile or list or cloud of words that “feel” like what you’ve eaten. How much of the meal is it possible not just to explain, but to evoke? See what you’re able to do. (It’s also enough just to write “lasagna” over and over for a few pages, if that’s what pops up.)
DAY FOUR: THANK YOU NOTE
(Why this works: dopamine has consistently been shown to be triggered by experiences and expressions of gratitude. Science fact.)
Your journal prompt for today is to write a thank you note to someone. You won’t ever send this, so you can be as blunt or embarrassing as you want to be. In the format of a letter, tell someone who’s supported or inspired you the whole truth of what they’ve done for you. It can be somebody you know and see regularly, someone you know who’s passed on, or someone you’ve never met. What about you (or about your life today) has someone made possible? Thank them for it and mean it. If you feel momentum with this journal prompt, you can write a few notes to a few different people; send them or don’t; none of us got here alone, and all of us have someone to thank. Even if it’s just the bus driver who helped us get home from work today so we could journal in peace.
DAY FIVE: TAKING ACTION
(Why this works: feeling a sense of agency in our own lives releases dopamine. Science fact.)
Your journal prompt for today is simple. Spend about five minutes on each of these two questions. What do you enjoy? What actions have you taken recently to bring more of something you enjoy into your life?
DAY SIX: SECRET ADMIRER
(Why this works: introducing “distinct novelty,” aka doing something you’ve never done before, activates dopamine release. Science fact.)
Your journal prompt for today is to write from the perspective of an object in your room which observes and likes you. If your bed, lamp, table, desk, floorboards, iPad, wristwatch, or wallpaper could talk, what would it say? Most importantly, what kind things might it find to say about you? This may seem quirky or silly to do, but it’s a “distinctly novel” task and one that can reframe your self-talk or your self-image in fascinating ways. Give a few pages of space to the imagined perspective of your bookshelf, mirror, windowsill, or tissue box. See what they want you to know about yourself. Let it be weird, flattering, strange, wonderful, easy, familiar, or anything else it wants to be. See if you can let yourself get surprised.
DAY SEVEN: HAPPY ENDING
(Why this works: experiencing moments of optimism floods the brain with dopamine. Science fact. )
Write a version of today that ends well. For today’s journal prompt, describe a happy ending for this actual day that you’re living. What would it take? Ceasefire? Lottery win? Your mother’s ghost appears with good advice? Name your dreams. This helps strengthen your perspective. Accept your answers. Be honest. How could this day end well? Give it 10 mins or one full page; whichever comes first. See if there’s room for where you are when this happens. What might you hear, touch, smell, taste, feel? Your journal prompt is: write a version of today that ends well. See if it starts something in you. (If you email me a favorite line, I’ll send you a meme that made me laugh. megan@howtowritesomething.com)
If you enjoyed these, I have some other free guided journal prompts you might like. Or if you want to push yourself as a writer (maybe even turning some of your journal entries into an essay or a book you can share?), I’d love to support you as a coach.
xo, megan
These (hopefully) really quite helpful creative writing tips offer what I’ve learned as an award-winning author who writes a million words a year, and what I’ve learned about supporting others as a private writing coach.
There’s no one way to write. There’s only your way. I hope some of my tactics and ideas can help you find it.
Yup, I’m a writing coach.
I work with folks at all levels of experience and all levels of income. My writers range from unhoused teens living on the streets to C-suite executives who want to up-level their communication. If you want a private coaching session but can’t afford it, email megan@howtowritesomething.com and ask for scholarship info.
curious/confused?: what does a writing coach do (and not do)
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