​Keeping the Juices Flowing - 25 Summer Writing Prompts

By Francine Puckly
 
While summertime can be filled with creative restoration, it can also be a time when many of us struggle to capture enough writing time. For those of us who work on larger projects, the summer holidays often disrupt our usual writing schedules. Visitors, vacations, and “bored” children requiring care and entertainment make focusing on larger projects practically impossible. But the summer months don’t necessarily mean we have to put our imaginations on hold. We just have to figure out how to create differently.
 
Carving out a few minutes each morning or evening to put pen to paper can keep the creative juices flowing throughout the summer. If you’d like to keep your writing going this summer but not sure your current project can handle the inevitable interruptions, here are 25 summer-y prompts to help you persevere! Pour a glass of lemonade (or sangria!), steal away to the back porch, and write as fast as you can. You might get a new idea, but at the very least you’ll keep the brain (and pen) moving!
 
25 Summer Writing Prompts

• The curtain billowed in the morning breeze. From my window, I could see...
• As the wave crashed on the shore, I noticed…
• The bell on the bike rang out in the still evening air...
• She grabbed my hand and yanked me toward the roller coaster…
• It took fifteen minutes, but finally Sue stood in front of the ice cream window. She stared at the 73 flavors and couldn’t make up her mind. The irritated customer behind her…
• Tracy stood at the entrance to her Aunt Mary’s backyard and surveyed the scene…
• It was the fourth time since noon she had had to sweep the sand from the kitchen floor…
• The bonfire crackled and...
• Joan picked up her sangria and dumped it in Jason’s lap…
• It wasn’t the first star she had seen that night but Nora decided to try her luck anyway…
• The bat swooped low and, to Kara’s amusement, entangled itself in Judith’s hideous beehive...
• Marcia grumbled. Whose idea was it to see the sunrise anyway?
• Dennis shouted hello as he walked into the kitchen. The house was dead quiet…
• Robert spotted the strawberry pie sitting on the counter and, seeing his wife asleep on the sofa,…
• Rebecca stood sixth in line at the convenience store. She was parched, covered in salt and sand, and overcome with the urge to throttle the whining child in front of her…
• Samantha ducked behind the stuffed animal display when her dad walked into the store wearing a garish Hawaiian shirt, plaid shorts and yellow flip-flops…
• The flowers dripped with morning dew as Peter carefully arranged them in the vase Mark had given him last September…
• Caroline sat back in her beach chair and gazed out over the choppy waves. She missed Andrea most when…
• Greg cupped the visor of his cap and stood motionless watching the bald eagle soar overhead. Unfortunately, he missed the crack of the bat and the fly ball heading straight for his head...
• Bridget was absolutely, positively the only girl from Rothschild Middle School going to the fireworks with her parents…
• Jeremy and Jacob tugged on the plastic bucket, each screaming he had it first.
• Little Jimmy Jenkins decided if Annie Culver could open her lemonade stand on his sidewalk, in front of his house, then he was going to set up an art gallery in front of hers…
• Arianna’s bikini strap had broken for the final time…
• Kyle sat down on the bench next to the fountain and uncapped his latte…
• By the time Nick had ducked into the hotel lobby, his bald spot was searing with pain and… 

 
Happy writing!
~ Francine

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