WRITING PROMPTS:
WEEK ONE:
Write about a place that feels like home.
Write about a plant you have loved.
Let me tell you about my grandchildren.
It was a dark and stormy night…
Put down what you’re holding. Look, observe it. write what you see.
Write about a time things didn’t go according to plan.
Medicine can be heavy, but it doesn’t always have to be. Write about a time you couldn’t stop laughing. (Srishti Mathur)
WEEK TWO:
Write about the shoes that didn’t fit.
Write about someone who was important to you when you were a child. (David Thoele)
Find your inner AI and introduce yourself to it.
Write a love poem from one inanimate object to another, seemingly unrelated, inanimate object. E.g. see Sarah Key’s love poem from a toothbrush to a bicycle wheel.
Every life has several chapters – what is this chapter?
What is keeping you up at night lately?
Write a thank you letter to someone from your training or current practice.
WEEK THREE
Tell me about your person.
Write about your day before you start work.
Write about something that brings you to tears.
Write a story from the perspective of a stuffed animal, come to life.
Open up to page 20 of the last book you read and write something inspired by what you read.
Tell us about a time you saw RED.
Write about a patient whose official record tells one story, but whose life tells another.
WEEK FOUR:
Explore the gap between a diagnosis and the person receiving it – what is lost or gained when a disease gets a name?
What stays with you? Not the dramatic cases – the quiet ones. The patient whose name surfaces at odd moments years later and why.
Think about a time you made a mistake. What was your inner dialogue? What story were you telling yourself?
Write about a time when you were astonished. (Bruce Campbell)
Write about a mundane event using a creative voice.
If you could leave one piece of you behind in a box, stow it away, be free of it, what would it be?
Find an object you find beautiful and write about it. Allow your writing to expand into metaphor if it wants to! (Brittany Bettendorf)
WEEK FIVE:
Write about a place that formed you or changed you.
A story about success that doesn’t look like success to anyone else.
Address a mythical figure from classics or modern media and ask for a miracle.
Write about a time that systemic issues keep you from giving the best care for a patient.
Are you pulling my leg? (Charles Vernon)
I opened the door and knew something was wrong.
Using Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” write down the things you carried as a medical student, intern, resident, attending.
WEEK SIX:
What is your current season?
Describe the last time you felt awe to 8-year-old you.
- Where were you
- What were you doing?
- What did you see?
- What did the awe feel like?
- Where was it in your body?
Where am I going? Do I know where I am going? (Charles Vernon)
Think about a topic/subject that is unsettling. Perhaps something that you haven’t quite been able to voice. Now, pick an object that embodies your feelings about it and use writing about that object a way to voice the feelings you haven’t been able to.
Write about a fork in the road.
Sunshine through the clouds makes me happy in spite of…
You have a magical hat where you can write a personal/professional/etc. problem on a piece of paper, put it in the hat and then take out another person’s paper. Your problem will disappear, but you will inherit the problem written on the paper you picked. What problem would you write on the paper? Would you be willing to trade your problem for someone else’s (known or unknown) problem? (Megan Jasicki, MS2)
WEEK SEVEN:
What healing looks like when it isn’t a cure.
Describe moving day from the perspective of the house or apartment.
Write about a traumatic experience of yours. Write about why it was the best experience. (Dana Ross)
Using Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” write instructions to your younger self in a period of training i.e. med student, resident, attending etc.
Attitude is gratitude: sit in silence for 1-5 minutes thinking of what you are grateful for. You might find that 1-2 things keep recurring in your mind. Take a couple minutes to write this down and reflect on why this is what touches you today.
Am I normal? Is my family normal? (Charles Vernon)
Write about what you inherited.