Language Journal

Journal

All prompts

Choose a prompt to start writing. Today’s prompt · Story openings

Beginner

Everyday

Reflection

  • Medium

    What was difficult about today/week? How did I deal with it?

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  • Challenging

    What is something I’m currently worried about? Is the worry justified?

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  • Challenging

    What is something I used to care about that I don't anymore?

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  • Challenging

    What is something I understand differently now than I did a year ago?

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  • Challenging

    What is something I need to accept rather than try to control?

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Growth

Self

Creative

  • Medium

    If I could wake up anywhere tomorrow, where would I be? Describe it.

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  • Challenging

    Write a letter from your future self to you today.

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  • Medium

    Describe an imaginary house you would love to live in.

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  • Medium

    You have one completely free year with enough money to live. What do you do?

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  • Medium

    Describe your perfect day — but make it completely unrealistic.

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  • Challenging

    Describe the life of a stranger you saw today. Who are they? Where are they going?

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  • Medium

    You discover a mysterious object in your room. What is it?

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  • Medium

    Imagine you can have dinner with anyone, living or dead. Who do you choose and what do you talk about?

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  • Medium

    Start with: “I knew something was different when I opened the door…” and write for 10 minutes.

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Opinion

First contact

  • Medium

    Write about the last time something genuinely surprised you.

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  • Easy

    Describe the view from your window. What does it tell someone about where you live?

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  • Medium

    Write about a habit you have that you suspect is unusual.

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  • Medium

    Describe a place in your city that a tourist would never find.

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  • Medium

    Write about something you changed your mind about in the last year.

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  • Medium

    Describe a conversation you have been thinking about long after it ended.

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  • Medium

    Write about something you learned recently that genuinely interested you.

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  • Medium

    Describe your relationship with the language you are writing in.

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After a few letters

  • Medium

    Write about a choice you made that turned out better than you expected.

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  • Medium

    Describe a place that matters to you but means nothing to anyone else.

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  • Challenging

    Write about something you find impossible to explain to people who did not grow up where you did.

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  • Medium

    Write about a book, film, or song that made you see something differently.

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  • Medium

    Write about a skill you are trying to develop and why it is harder than you expected.

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  • Challenging

    Describe a problem you are thinking about that has no obvious solution.

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Going deeper

  • Challenging

    Write about something you believed when you were younger that you no longer believe.

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  • Medium

    Describe the way time feels different depending on what you are doing.

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  • Challenging

    Write about a version of your life that almost happened.

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  • Medium

    Describe someone who shaped how you think without ever intending to.

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  • Challenging

    Write about the gap between how you appear to others and how you feel inside.

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  • Challenging

    Describe something you have never told anyone, and why you have not.

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  • Challenging

    Describe what you hope someone who knows you well would say about you.

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Cultural exchange

  • Medium

    Describe a meal that means something to you — not just what it is, but what it represents.

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  • Medium

    Write about a celebration or ritual in your culture that is hard to explain from the outside.

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  • Challenging

    Describe how the place you grew up shaped how you think about time.

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  • Challenging

    Write about a value you were raised with that you now question.

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  • Medium

    Describe something about your country that you are proud of, and something you wish were different.

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  • Challenging

    Write about the relationship between your generation and the one before it.

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  • Medium

    Describe a piece of language — a word, phrase, or idiom — that has no good equivalent elsewhere.

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  • Medium

    Write about what a stranger in your city gets wrong about what it is like to live there.

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  • Medium

    Describe the difference between being a tourist somewhere and actually living there.

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  • Medium

    Write about something that is normal where you live but seems strange to outsiders.

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Short and specific

  • Easy

    Write three things you noticed today that you would not normally notice.

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  • Easy

    Write about one decision you made this week, however small.

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  • Easy

    Describe a colour — not what it looks like, but what it reminds you of.

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  • Easy

    Write one question you want to ask someone but have not asked yet.

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  • Easy

    Write about the last time you felt genuinely curious about something.

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  • Easy

    Describe a word in your language that you love, and why.

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  • Easy

    Write about something you did recently for the first time.

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  • Easy

    Describe the weather where you are right now, and how it affects you.

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Breaking the surface

  • Easy

    Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why?

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  • Medium

    If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?

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  • Challenging

    Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?

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  • Easy

    Name three things you and your pen pal appear to have in common.

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  • Medium

    If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?

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  • Medium

    Take four minutes and tell your pen pal your life story in as much detail as possible.

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  • Medium

    If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?

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A little closer

  • Medium

    If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future, or anything else, what would you want to know?

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  • Medium

    Is there something that you have dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?

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  • Challenging

    If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why?

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  • Challenging

    What roles do love and affection play in your life?

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  • Medium

    How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people’s?

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  • Challenging

    How do you feel about your relationship with your mother?

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Getting personal

  • Medium

    Make three true “we” statements. For instance, “We are both in this room feeling…”

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  • Medium

    Complete this sentence: “I wish I had someone with whom I could share…”

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  • Medium

    If you were going to become a close friend with your pen pal, share what would be important for them to know.

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  • Medium

    Tell your pen pal what you like about them — be very honest this time, saying things that you might not say to someone you just met.

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  • Medium

    Share with your pen pal an embarrassing moment in your life.

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  • Challenging

    When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself?

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  • Easy

    Tell your pen pal something that you like about them already.

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  • Challenging

    If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven’t you told them yet?

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  • Medium

    Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?

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  • Challenging

    Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why?

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  • Challenging

    Share a personal problem and ask your pen pal’s advice on how they might handle it. Also ask them to reflect back how you seem to be feeling about the problem you have chosen.

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