(3 min read.) You can use this set of guided journaling prompts for creative writers as a writing warm-up, or as a standalone exercise if you’re feeling blocked or stuck and need some fresh energy and vision. If you want to ask personal questions, you can try my monthly journaling prompts. But if you want a guided experience that specifically tackles the writing life, this is the post for you.
From my years of experience as a writing coach, I offer these seven questions as journaling prompts in an intentional order that can help you make fresh connections about your writing. You know all this stuff in your gut. But putting it into words can bring clarity or surprise, especially when you lay it out one answer after another.
I suggest pen and paper. Even if your handwriting is messy scrawl, handwriting activates the mind and memory differently than typing (science fact), so go for it if you can. (But as always: type or dictate if that’s best for your access needs.) Whatever tools you choose: see if you can keep the words flowing (even if they don’t seem to make sense) and simply stay open to whatever pops out of your mind.
See what happens if you spend about five minutes on each question. It won’t feel like enough time. It’s not! The goal with these prompts isn’t to find answers; it’s to stir up new thoughts and ideas that can ignite your creativity and open fresh possibilities. See what you can shake loose. If you tackle all the prompts in one big go, it’ll take forty-ish minutes, like watching a single episode of Teen Wolf. You can also journal it all out doing one prompt each day for a week, if that feels fun.
If you want to set a mood, here’s my journaling playlist of warm instrumentals:
Guided Journaling Prompts for Writers
1. Whose writing have I loved reading, and why did it matter to me?
2. What comes easily for me as a writer?
3. What feels hard for me as a writer?
4. What non-writing activities do I easily succeed at?
5. What helps me succeed at those things, and how can I bring some of those qualities to my writing practice?
6. What am I proud of having written, and why?
7. What have I enjoyed writing the most, and how can I make my next project more like that?
Okay, you’ve journaled. Now what?
You may immediately know what to do. Sometimes just writing it down makes everything obvious. Every time you journal, you give the brain a chance to blow you away.
But if nothing felt bright or strong or actionable from today’s exercise, an outside eye can speed things up. If you’d like some help turning insights into action, come see me for one affordable (sliding scale) private hour where we can talk frankly about your writing and how to take it where you want to go.
But if talking to a coach isn’t your style: I invite you to re-read your answers to the above questions (or write new ones!) about once a week. Keep doing that for as long as the answers feel relevant. When they start to feel stale, do the journaling exercise again and see what’s changed. Repeat the cycle forever, or until you’re happy or bored. (That plan is a free, relatively easy way to self-coach your way to a more satisfying writing life. It’s great to work with someone supportive, but it’s also beautiful to simply engage your intelligence and give it space to work.)
The brain’s natural desire is to solve and organize, so if you’re not getting results from journaling right now, try again later. Give your mind time. By repeatedly asking your brain to solve and organize your thoughts about writing, you create the conditions where your intelligence will gently start to sort confused muddles into simplicity and insight. Good ideas can’t be lost, but they do take a while to show up if you don’t prompt them, so: prompt good ideas as often as you can.
xo, megan
Or just go home to the blog.
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)
THANK YOU to this month’s generously supportive patrons who are helping me build a digital library of free writing resources to support writers with different access needs! Three cheers for A.J., Dan, Jason, Jennifer, Jessica, Josh, Katherine, Kathleen, Marianna, Nell, Sarah, and some anonymous folks who’ve asked not to be named. Come on in, the Patreon’s fine.