I blew $40 on a used writing prompt deck at a garage sale in Reno, and I finally get why they never worked

Derek Ramirez · 2026-10-12T02:05:03.66718+00:00

I bought a 300 card prompt deck for $40 at a garage sale in Reno about a year ago, thinking it would get me writing every morning. I used maybe 20 of the cards before I gave up. Every single one was the same thing: a vague line about a door, a storm, or a stranger with a secret, and I would stare at it for 20 minutes and write nothing. What changed my mind was a free list I found in an old library book sale: prompts that named a place, a person, and a problem in one line, like 'a pool cleaner in Tucson finds a wedding ring.' I now write my own cards on index paper with those three parts and I have filled two notebooks since March. Has anyone else used a deck that actually gave you something to hold onto, or do you all just write your own too?

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I blew $40 on a used writing prompt deck at a garage sale in Reno, and I finally get why they never worked | Creative Writing Prompts - nhfree.com