Struggling to Write?

Don’t worry, we all have those days when we have a writing task to accomplish, but we just don’t feel inspired to write.

Writing is like working out. You can’t just rush to the gym and start bench pressing 200lb weights, or put on your running shoes and dash out your door to run a marathon. You need to warm up first, and writing is no different than working out.

Warm up your Writing Muscles with a Writing Prompt

You need to warm up your writing muscles. But, I’m not talking about the muscles in your hands and arms.

I’m taking about warming up and waking up the creative side of your brain. Sometimes that side of your brain gets a little lazy, and you need to tease it awake with a writing prompt to get it ready for the main writing event on your to-do list.

Writing prompts are an excellent way to stretch your writing muscles and get your head in the right space to carry-on with the other writing task you need to get done.

So if you’re procrastinating on a blog article, guest post, or next chapter of your travel book or memoir, put that task aside and set yourself 20 minutes to do a free writing session using a travel prompt. This will engage your creative side and once the inspiration starts to flow you’ll be able to work on your other writing task with more enthusiasm.

Here’s a list of travel-related prompts I’m compiling:

1. What travel memory is your most vivid?
2. How can you feed your sense of adventure, without leaving home?
3. What’s more important, the journey or the destination?
4. Explain what you love most about travel.
5. Write about the mode of transport do you choose most frequently.
6. Tell us about your most recent trip.
7. What has travel given you?
8. What has travel stripped you of?
9. Where will your next adventure take you?
10. Is packing and unpacking a chore of a joy?
11. What travel activity do you excel at?
12. What travel drama would you do anything to avoid?

Here’s a few prompts inspired by Movie/Film titles:

1. Pick a trip and tell us about The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
2. Tell us About Last Night.
3. Shine the Spotlight on your favorite destination (it can be real or imagined).
4. Tell us about The Dark (K)Night.
5. There Will Be Blood, but why?
6. Have any of your travels felt like Groundhog Day?
7. Where did you encounter a Pretty Woman.
8. Have you ever met The Englishman that changed your view or perspective?
9. What was your most vivid Airplane! drama?
10. What travel dilemma drove you to Fury?
11. Have you ever wanted to Escape from New York?
12. Does travel make you feel Footloose and fancy free?
13. What song would you Flashdance to in a foreign land?
14. Explain the souvenir that is Pretty in Pink?
15. What city/town has felt like a Labyrinth?
16. What’s the worst Taxi Driver you’ve encountered?
17. What’s the most exciting Chinatown you’ve been to?
18. Where would you most like to visit during Halloween?
19. What’s the worst Mean Streets you’ve walked along?
20. What’s The Conversation that inspired you to travel?
21. What do you love about Coming Home?

And below is a round up post of travel writing prompts sourced from the web. Some writing prompts may appeal to you, and others won’t but when you find prompts that get your creative juices bubbling, capture them in a notebook or on a note app, so they’re on hand when you need to do a writing workout.

Writing Prompt Roundup

Writing with Sharon Watson – 16 Travel Writing Prompts: Sharon lists 16 Travel Writing Prompts that are suitable for 5th – 12th graders. But they’re really appealing for adults as well who are new to travel writing. From a simple prompt to write a postcard, to a longer form prompt about a letter about what you miss about home.

16 Travel-Writing Prompts

TravelScrap HQ – 27 Travel Journal Writing Prompts:  Anika Lacerte from the Handcrafted Story guest posted on this list at TravelScrap, I’m drawn to the Write what how your expectations were different from reality prompts, but there are 26 other prompts on her list to inspire you.

Resource: 27 Travel Journal Writing Prompts

Becoming Who You Are – 15 travel journaling prompts: Hannah has put together a list of 15 travel writing prompts that will get you contemplating about how travel affects you. My favorite is Which do you believe is more important: the journey or the destination? Why?

15 Journaling Prompts to Inspire Travel and Adventure

Paperblanks – 30 travel-themed journal prompts: As well as selling travel writing journals, Paperblanks has put together some open-ended statements to trigger your writing spirit into action. They’re organized into The Anticipation, The Holiday Itself, and Reflection, categories. So if you’re about to travel, are traveling, or have just got back from a trip, there’s a writing prompt in this list for you.

Paperblanks also has a mobile app for journal writers who are stumped for ideas or simply looking for a new writing topic. Hundreds of journal prompt ideas that can be used with your favourite writing journal, diary or notebook.

You can adjust what type of prompts you see, in their settings menu on the app. I’ve set mine to Travel, and this was the prompt that I received today. You can also get more prompts, if the one you get doesn’t inspire you. You can also change the background designs.

You can also visit my writing prompts page to download one of my free writing prompt PDFs. Each PDF contains 10 writing prompts to get your creative spirit is soaring. So that’s 100 Travel Writing Prompts to inspire your writing and quell your procrastination.