Odds are that your world has changed quite a lot in the past few weeks, whether it became more chaotic, more challenging, or more limited. Writing is a way to process complicated thoughts and feelings — especially when we write as part of a supportive community. So we wanted to help.
During the month of April, we’ll publish a new writing prompt every day right here on Discover. If you’re struggling to find the time or focus for your blog, prompts are a quick, low-friction way to get going. And if you wish to connect with other writers and bloggers around the world, with prompts it’s easy to find new readers and extend your community.
Hmm, writing prompts… say more?
For anyone looking for quick instructions, we have a cheat sheet just for you.
How to participate:
- Check out the daily Discover Prompt.
- Write a new post on your site in response to the prompt.
- Tag your post with
Discover Prompts
and click Publish.- Head to the Reader to engage with other participants’ posts.
Need more details? Here you go:
- Every day at 10 a.m. UTC (that’s 6 a.m. in New York, 11 a.m. in London, 3:30 p.m. in Mumbai, and 9 p.m. in Melbourne), we’ll post a new, one-word writing prompt. It’s always fun to see how people’s interpretations vary despite identical starting points. In case you enjoy more guidance, each prompt will include a few ideas on how to respond.
- Once you see the prompt, gather your thoughts and start writing away on your own site. Don’t overthink it — just go wherever your mind takes you. Any format, genre, or media are welcome (photographers and other visual artists: please join us too!), and you’re free to adapt the prompt to your (and your website’s) needs.
- Ready to publish? Fantastic — there’s just one thing left, but it’s an important one. Add the
Discover Prompts
tag to your post so that everyone else can find you in the WordPress.com Reader. All posts tagged withDiscover Prompts
will appear on the tag’s Reader stream. - Once you’ve hit “Publish” and taken a second to bask in the glory of your own post, it’s time to venture out and pay a visit to some of your virtual neighbors: head to the Discover Prompts tag stream, and check out what others have shared. Click on a few, read them, and, even better, leave a comment on at least three other posts. Nothing kicks off a good conversation — and sometimes, an actual friendship — like a thoughtful comment.
Not sure how to add a tag? Here’s a quick how-to.
As a totally optional step, consider adding the prompt word to your post title (for example, “Day 22: Clowns”) so others can find posts from specific days more easily.
A couple of final notes
Yes, we plan to publish a prompt every day in April, but this isn’t a “Write X Posts in X Days” challenge. If you’d like to take part every day and not miss a single prompt, that’s amazing! But we also know it’s a tough time for many, and whatever level of participation you can pull off will earn you an admiring, virtual pat on the back.
That’s it — we wanted this to be as straightforward and accessible a process as possible, so everyone can focus on sharing, reading, and connecting. If you have any questions about these prompts or on how to participate, feel free to ask in the comments.
Yes I will enjoy and want to be guided more precisely.can we write even after these times?
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You can use these prompts at whichever moment you find them useful!
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I’m so excited!
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Hey jus seen this hope am not late. I believe this will help me a lot haven’t posted for some time now. Although want to know how I will see the topics should I type in yo page each time or shud I jus turn on the notifications
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Never too late! The prompts are published on Discover every day, and are available via email (if you’re an email subscriber to Discover), in the Reader, and on the site. They’re all collected on this page: https://wordpress.com/discover-wordpress/tag/discover-prompts/
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Can’t wait!
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I found my post at the bottom of the Discover Prompts feed, so I think I answered my own question. Is there any way to re-publish an older post so that it shows up currently? Thanks in advance.
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I’m not sure what happens when you re-publish, to be honest, but I think there’s a good chance that if you bring the number of tags/categories to under 15 and update the post, it would show there as well.
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Great inspiration!
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Love this idea! Thank you so much
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Yes…we too are waiting for it..please do it..it’s a new step towards globalisation
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Hi! Can I post in French?
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Of course! It’s your site/blog, so whichever language you prefer works.
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The tag stream is not loading for me now no matter how I load it >.< anyone know the 3rd word???
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You can find all prompts collected on this page: https://wordpress.com/discover-wordpress/tag/discover-prompts/
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Hi Ben,
My Post isnt showing on Reader Tag? 😞 am I doing something wrong? Tagged like you said, with only one Tag.
Do check?
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Hello — I checked the Reader tag stream for Discover Prompts, and saw your post there — I wonder if perhaps you might have checked soon after publishing your post? Sometimes it takes a short while for the stream to update and load more recent posts. In any case, it’s there now — but Let me know if you run into any issues in the future.
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Thankyou Ben, I found a 15 mins later…. delighted! Thankyou so much. 🙂
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This field helped me greatly in creating a post today ‘song’. I would be glad if you all check it out and leave a comment on it.
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Meanwhile, I look forward to many other contents😋
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This is great!
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Ben H. it’s always a pleasure readers love your articles as myself.
I like clarity in understanding which you give about other’s and your understanding which makes things easier to viewers to comprehend like myself also.
Thank you Sir
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I’ve been doing a 21 day challenge around the pandemic since I’m in India and weare currently locked down for 21 days. Thanks for this update. Would love to get my head into something more wholesome. Have tried to keep my posts as uplifting as possible although the subject is a bit dark.
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Thank you. A blessed Sunday, everyone! Be safe and smile.
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O seu posts são excelentes. Parabéns!
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I love this!! Just found this on the discover page and started from Day 5, haha hope im not latee
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Never too late!
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Hey i tried many times by tagging “Discover Prompts” and Publish but my post doesn’t appear in the respective page. It would be great if you could help me out. Thank You
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Hello! I see your most recent post has a Discover Prompts category, but to appear in the tag stream, Discover Prompts needs to be a tag — that’s what pulls all similarly tagged posts into the Reader tag page.
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Im sorry im a newbie to this. How can i do that?
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No worries at all! If you return to your post draft, on the right-hand side of the screen, there’s a sidebar with various settings and options for your post. Categories is there — that’ where you added Discover Prompts. Just below it is Tags — just type in the tag Discover Prompts, press Enter, and update your post. You should be all set then!
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Would love to join
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Great. Looking to join in and deliver some great writing.
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This is great!!
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