My book In the Mid-Hours comes out in less than a week, and I feel too busy with promoting it and just feeling all the nerves as the release day approaches closer so writing anything new has been sort of difficult for me. So to help myself get out of my writing slump, and maybe this will help you too, I've written up some writing, some journal, prompts based on themes from ITMH!

1. A lot of my poems in ITMH no longer relate to the life I live now. I've let go of a lot of the hurt, the relationships, and the anger. Ask yourself these questions: What are some things you want to let go of? What is something you need to let go of? If you need to, turn your page into your therapist. Let everything out and write it all down. Later on, you can go back and sort out the words, maybe even get a good line or two to use in a poem or a backstory for a character.

2. My signed prints have a short and sweet poem on them about my favorite plant, and color, lavender. It's soft, it's calming, it reminds me of sunsets.

"You are my lavender,

my calm,

the purple in my setting sun,

the softness in my sleep."

Another question to consider is: Write about your favorite flower; what it means to you and how it makes you feel. You could write about sunflowers, how they're bold and bright. Or violets, which are sweet and are more "gentle" to hold.

3. If you usually write stories, this prompt will be good for you. A prose piece in my book goes over what I would do on my last night of what was basically summer. Another question to consider is: If you had one more night, to do whatever you wanted before the world ended, what would you do?

4. I like to think of my cover as sunrise and sunset, for good reason as that was the intention, but because like the sun every morning and night, it fades. I mentioned earlier that I've grown from my poems, but those feelings have faded, either away for good, or into new positive feelings. Can you answer these questions: What are some things you've noticed have begun fading away in your life? Are you sad they're fading, or do you welcome a new beginning?

I hope these prompts and actually being able to answer the questions help you out in some way or another. Even if you don't journal often, or ever at all, those prompts can very easily be turned into a theme for a poem, or for a longer prose piece. I would recommend journaling though, as it allows for us to write without the stress of there needing to be something perfect in the end. It's a way for us to let the words flow more freely, uninterrupted, and gives us a moment to reflect on ourselves. 

Happy writing, everyone!