It’s Wednesday, which means…it’s Writing Prompt Day! There’s nothing that jumpstarts a writer faster than responding to a writing prompt. Why? Because the prompt takes one of the challenges of writing — coming up with a topic — and does it for you, so you can focus on what you really want to do — write.

Just read the prompt below and then spend 5-10 minutes writing about it. That’s it. Sounds simple, but it works.

Chicanery: n. 1. The use of clever but tricky talk or action to deceive, evade, etc., as in legal dealings. 2. An instance of this. Synonym: See deception. — Webster’s New World Dictionary

Show a man using a bit of chicanery to get his inattentive wife to pay attention to him, even if she’s just complaining or reporting a problem. Maybe he hides her car keys so she can’t leave for work in the morning and comes to him all frazzled. Maybe he throws away all the salt in the kitchen, even when she buys more, so she starts to think she’s going crazy.

By “show” I mean instead of this:

The man kept hiding his wife’s car keys just to see her get flustered.

Do this:

The minute his wife’s back was turned, Jeffrey grabbed her car keys off the counter and stuck them in his pocket….