9 Notable Gratitude Writing Prompts by Bob Jones

Over thirty years ago, motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, challenged me to be a good finder. To become the kind of person who consistently looks for the good in situations and people. It’s easy to see the bad and act like a critic. You have to look a little longer and dig a little deeper to find the good.

 

Mr. Franklin Holmes was a volunteer chaplain working in prisons in Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. He taught a program in those prisons about the importance of looking for the good in every situation. Those men and women took his prompt seriously. They came up with over thirty things they were grateful for about the place where they were incarcerated.

 

Sometimes find good just takes is a little prompting. Notice things you like to do, the people you get to do life with, and the opportunities life presents. Some of the observed good will not only be inspiring but useful as subjects for articles. If any of the following prompts create a path for you, I’ll be grateful.

 

NINE PROMPTS + A BONUS

 

ONE / Write about an act of kindness from another person.

This could be an act of kindness from a good neighbour, friend, co-worker, family member, or even a total stranger. This might be a small thing. Sometimes small things at the right time make the biggest difference.

 

TWO / Write about something that brightens your day when you’re feeling down.

Is there something that lights you up on a bad day? Describe it and write about why or how it makes you feel better.

 

THREE / Describe your favorite time of the day.

What is it and why is it your favorite time? When we focus on small moments, we recognize the importance of each day. Think about the day you are having now. What is special to you?

 

FOUR / List 4 things you are grateful for today.

It doesn’t matter if these are small things. List them. I had a simple, daily gratitude habit. Every morning I arrived on campus at the church I served for 29 years, I thanked God for the opportunity. This prompt started me on a positive note every day.

 

FIVE / Describe your favourite person and list all of that person’s good qualities.

Who is the person? Write about one or more of those qualities.This prompt pushes you to not take people for granted and to appreciate those around you.

 

SIX / Recall a success you had. Write a one paragraph thank you speech describing who helped you achieve the success. 

Identify one person who helped you reach that goal.  What did they do and how did their action contribute to your success? After writing your speech, share it with the person who helped you succeed.

 

SEVEN / Write about your favourite hobby.

What is your hobby? What about it makes it good? How does your hobby make you feel?

 

EIGHT / Write about something you did to make someone happy today.

See the good in what you did today. Describe how what you did made the other person feel. Be thankful that you could reach out and make someone else feel joy.

 

NINE / Write about something good you saw in your church or how your church is a blessing to your community.

Are there volunteers who stand out for their faithfulness and second mile kind of attitude? Is there a program that helps people? Write about the impact it has on you. 

 

BONUS / Write about a pet and what makes or perhaps made the pet special.

The pet could be yours or another person’s. Maybe it’s a pet you see a few times a year on special family occasions. What makes that pet special? How does the pet make you feel?

Are you grateful for writing prompts? Do you have a favourite source for prompts?

 

Thank you for reading.

 

Follow Bob’s writing at REVwords. 

Shoot For The Moon - A Lesson Learned from Apprenticeship - Gloria Guest

Super Moon - Photo taken by Reg Guest

I’ve never really thought of my life long pursuit of writing in terms of an apprenticeship but upon looking up the definition I realized that is what it has been. I particularly related to one definition which basically defined it as someone who works under an employer to learn a skill while agreeing to low wages. That pretty much sums up my entire time working in the trenches as a reporter; one of the more gruelling ways you can attempt to make a living with your words, but one well worth it if you are looking for excitement, love to work with deadlines or just have newspaper ink in your veins. Regardless, the lessons you will learn will be immeasurable and invaluable to your writing career and your life.

 According to another definition, an apprenticeship is a way of training in a trade or profession, often while employed but also including studying.  As writers we are always in some form of on the job training even if the job is simply our own task at hand; to submit an article, to publish a book or more. Life as a whole becomes our classroom as does the internet, writing groups, and/or writing classes.

This past fall I entered into an apprenticeship that has proven of immense value to me through partaking in two on-line writing classes from the University of Toronto; Intro To Creative Writing/Fiction and Writing Through Reading. Both classes are a part of a larger Creative Writing Certificate I hope to attain. In the first class, although I expected to know most of the material since it was an introductory class, I was surprised to find that there were many things I hadn’t learned previously. I am still more of a beginner than I realized! Writing is a craft after all and we never fully come to the end of developing that craft.

In the Introductory class I was challenged to go deeper with my character and plot development and gained a lot of insight into my own writing style through the comments of my instructor and other classmates. A strength that was pointed out was my realistic dialogue, with the suggestion that I could possibly do well writing script for plays, something I have thought of once or twice but hadn’t seriously considered. A weakness I discovered was Point Of View; learning how to use it best for each piece of writing I did and to not shift out of it. I so appreciated all of the constructive feedback that brought me along in POV.

Writing Through Reading was an immensely interesting class whereby we read various authors works and discussed them thoroughly within the group, thereby gleaning much knowledge as to story structure, plot, character and many other aspects of the piece. We then completed our own assignment based on what we had learned and often had the chance to re-work a piece for another assignment. In this class I developed my critique reading skills and editing skills. I was also strongly encouraged by my instructor and others to keep on writing my memoir; parts of which I had shared with them.

I have been bogged down in my writing life for quite a few years with aimlessness and no particular goals in sight. As Zig Ziglar said, “If you aim for nothing, you will hit it every time.” From taking these two classes I have now set a personal goal to finish my memoir within a year. I also plan on continuing with the classes to attain my Creative Writing Certificate and to start the Editing Certificate through Simon Fraser University in B.C.

These goals are setting the bar pretty high for me and I don’t expect them to be easy. I may even fail at some of them or at all. But as Norman Vincent Peale so famously said, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.”

Writing Goals - Susan Barclay

I have about a dozen writing goals for 2012, but my top three are:

• participating in 12 x 12, the challenge issued by blogger Julie Hedlund to write 12 picture book drafts in 12 months,
• completing my adult novel, and
• writing a new Christmas-themed short story for adult readers

Why these three? Well, they're all possible, for one thing. Twelve picture books may sound like a lot (or perhaps not so many, if you're among those who think writing such books is a snap), but we're talking drafts  here, not fully polished beauties :)  As for the novel, I'm in the home stretch, and started it about eight years ago, so it's definitely time to wrap it up. I wonder, if as Ernest Hemingway postulated, I'm so close to the end that it's almost scary to write it. But write it I must. I don't feel I can start any of the new novels that are churning in my brain until this one is complete. The Christmas-themed short story already has a publisher, involves characters I already know and that readers have asked for more of, so it would be stupid not to do it.

I've found a new tool, too, for goal-setting and tracking. It's called Pick Four and is an updated, simplified version of Zig Ziglar's Performance Planner. I've done the preliminary work now, and had planned to start tracking my goals today, but I've come down with a cold that's sidelining me for the time being. Once I get my health and energy back - which hopefully will be soon - I'll let you know how it's working for me.

In the meantime, I hope all of you are tackling your goals with great success, and are popping your vitamin C with regularity!

[For more of my writing, check out my website and my writing/general interest blog.]