Learn How to Use Daily Prompts

Over the years, I’ve had a number of people ask me if I outline my work. When I say yes, these people almost invariably ask, “What goes in the outline? What does it look like?” For years, I would explain that it was a concentrated version of the story. Each paragraph boiled down to a scene.

Prompts are intended to help you spark new ideas and, often, to help you build new skills. They are meant to be open to interpretation and use; how you handle the prompt is completely up to you.

This morning, as I was thinking about the enormous challenges that a tiny microbe has managed to throw in our collective path, my husband walked into the room and announced his intention to try to get to bed early every night.