WRITING PROMPTS

Monthly Theme For December

The reason for the season

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

For the month of December, the theme here at Promptly Written will be

The reason for the season

December is filled with holidays from around the world. Many of these are religious holidays. And many of them celebrate the unselfishness of gifting to others. Here is a list of some of the December holidays — for a more complete list, check out this site (if yours isn’t listed, please let me know and I will update this list):

Religious Holidays

Hanukkah (also known as Festival of Lights)— Nov. 28th-Dec. 6th
Dhanu Sankranti — Dec. 12th
Geeta Jayanti — Dec. 14th
Yule (also known as Winter Solstice)— December 21st
Christmas — December 25th
Kwanza — December 26th-Jan. 1st
Boxing Day — December 26th
Omisaka (in Japan) & New Year’s Eve — December 31st

Other Global Holidays

December 1st — United Arab Emirates (National Day)
December 4th — Ghana (Farmer’s Day)
December 6th — Finland (Independence Day), Spain (Constitution Day)
December 7th — Thailand (King Bhumibol’s Birthday)
December 10th — Thailand (Constitution Day)
December 12th — Mexico (The Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe)
December 13th — Malta (Republic day)
December 16th — Bangladesh (Victory Day), South Africa (Day of Reconciliation)
December 18th — Qatar (National Day)
December 24th — Libya (Independence Day)
December 25th — Pakistan (Birthday of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah)
December 26th — Slovenia (Independence and Unity Day)
December 29th — Sri Lanka (Unduvap Full Moon Poya)
December 30th — Philippines (Rizal Day)

So as you can see, December is a very busy month for many faiths and countries around the world. What better way to celebrate all of these than to remember — The reason for the season!

Just as most prompts in November helped guide you toward a grateful heart, the prompts for the month of December will help you remember why we celebrate all of these glorious holidays during December.

How To Use Monthly Themes

1. Write specific poems, fiction, essays, or articles related to the theme — try using the Writing Sparks.
2. Choose a Daily or Weekly prompt, or select a Writing Spark, and center your piece around the theme.
3. Remember to tag your work appropriately and if you wish, use #monthlytheme as one of your tags if your work is centered around the theme.

Writing Sparks

1. Share how you and your family celebrate during the month of December. What holiday(s) do you celebrate? What are your family traditions?
2. Write a poem about your fondest childhood memory that took place during a December holiday.
3. Use the month of December to share the gift of readership for your fellow writers. Create a list and add the story of everyone you read on that list and then share the URL of your list on all of your own stories during the month (You can definitely do this on stories you submit to PW, but follow the guidelines of other Publications that you submit to and only share your list on the ones who allow it). You may want to name the list “December Read List”, “December Gifting” or something similar. You can create a list by clicking on your icon at the top of your page, selecting Lists, and then clicking on New List on the lists page. To share it, click on View List to open the list page, copy the URL at the top and then paste it into your posts (remember to click enter!). It will automatically update each time you share it.
4. Write a holiday story. The story can be as long or short as it takes to allow the story to unfold. It can be a happy-ending story or a sad story. You can write your story based on whatever religious holiday or global holiday you celebrate. Keep in mind the theme of The reason for the season.

Have a great December everyone! Enjoy your holidays with your families and friends. Do not stress yourselves out by attempting to keep up with the writing prompts here at PW. They will be available whenever the inspiration strikes!

~Ravyne Hawke, EIC