Your Path to Creative Flow
20 Reasons Prompts Have Boosted My Creativity, and How They Can Help You Too
Hello and welcome to The Curious Magpie, I’m Océane and once a month I write an essay about life, curiosity or creativity. My hopes, dreams, fears and anything else in between. Thank you for coming along and I hope you enjoy reading my words.
Creativity is something that can spring from anywhere, often when you're least expecting it. Anything in life can "prompt" a creative prompt (see what I did there?), even when you’re not actively looking for inspiration. Simple, everyday moments—like a conversation with a friend, something you spot on a walk, or even a vivid dream—can spark the beginnings of a new creative idea. Listening to music or encountering something beautiful or unusual can also be the nudge you need to get your imagination flowing.
Personally, the start of the pandemic in 2020 hit me hard, especially in terms of my mental well-being. I felt like I had lost my sense of freedom and the familiar rhythm of my life, so I started searching for it again in the only way I could—through connections, even if they were online. I joined creative classes like calligraphy, paper flower making, clay, and macramé. Each week, the exercises, or "prompts," we were given in my calligraphy class became a part of my routine, often the best part of my week. It was these small, intentional bursts of creativity that helped me regain a sense of control, joy, and connection to myself.
So what is a creative prompt? I’m sure everyone will define it slightly differently but I believe that at its core, it’s a simple, open-ended suggestion designed to inspire creative thinking and action. It can be anything—a word, a theme, a question, or a task—that encourages you to explore new ideas, spark your imagination, and jumpstart creative projects. Creative prompts are widely used in artistic practices like drawing, journaling, writing, photography, writing or crafting to help get through creative blocks and inspire experimentation. By giving you a focused starting point, they make creativity feel more approachable, even when time is limited or life feels overwhelming. It’s a gentle nudge toward creative exploration, helping you transform small moments into something meaningful.
When I started this publication in May, I made a promise to always write with honesty. There are so many things I want to share, and while I can’t write about everything, I aim for a balance of raw personal experiences and fun, engaging content. A few months ago, I joined Christin Thieme's publication, The Content Brief, to learn about what to write about my work and how to talk about it— and by ‘work’ I mean my paid and unpaid writing —in a way that feels good for me and for you, my audience. My goal here isn't just to grow in numbers or £, but to connect with people who will genuinely benefit from what I share.
Creative prompts have had a huge impact on my own creativity, and they’ve become a core feature of my paid membership. Every week, I offer a prompt called "Wednesday Wonder," and our monthly "Draw Together" online sessions also include visual prompts based on a specific theme. I also co-host a free pattern challenge on Instagram called 52 Patterns a Year, where we invite people to design patterns based on a word prompt.
So here are 20 reasons why weekly prompts have boosted my creativity, and how I believe they can help you too:
1. Weekly prompts have given me a clear starting point, helping me dive into creativity even with a packed schedule.
2. As a parent with a full-time day job, prompts offer structure that makes it easier to carve out time for creativity.
3. They’ve kept me consistent, allowing me to nurture my creativity without feeling overwhelmed by everything else.
4. When juggling family and work, a prompt helps me break through procrastination and just get started.
5. Weekly prompts introduce me to new techniques I might not have thought of on my own, keeping my creative practice fresh.
6. They’ve helped me experiment with different mediums—drawing, journaling, and photography—keeping things exciting.
7. Whenever I feel stuck, prompts pull me out of creative ruts by sparking new ideas.
8. They’ve become my creative workout, helping me keep those creative muscles strong week after week.
9. By focusing on a simple task each week, prompts prevent me from feeling creatively drained or burnt out.
10. I’ve found they help develop my own style, giving me space to explore and experiment consistently.
11. Seeing my skills grow week by week has been so motivating—prompts help track that progress.
12. Prompts have kept creativity fun, offering variety that prevents boredom from creeping in.
13. With a prompt, I feel accountable, knowing I’ve set aside time for my own creative self-care.
14. Weekly prompts remind me to make creativity a priority, even when life is busy with work and kids.
15. They’ve given me space to reflect and express what’s going on in my head through art or writing.
16. When I start overthinking, a weekly prompt helps me focus and create, instead of getting stuck in my head.
17. They encourage me to be curious, noticing little details around me that often inspire new ideas.
18. Even on days when I’m exhausted, prompts keep my creative spark alive by offering a small, manageable challenge.
19. The regularity of prompts has helped me build momentum—creativity has become a natural part of my routine.
20. Above all, weekly prompts have been my form of creative self-care—a small but powerful way to keep nurturing my artistic spirit, even in the busiest of times.
Having your prompts have definitely boosted my creative practice so I can highly recommend the use of prompts! As you say, it makes us explore something new.
I’m a big fan of prompts, too. I often join in with Instagram challenges because they open up my mind to…hmm…a sense of playfulness and possibility, maybe? It even influenced me to create a card deck!