8 Writing Prompts to Welcome in the New Year 2026!

8 Writing Prompts to Welcome in the New Year 2026!

I’ve revised my New Year’s Writing prompts for 2026. You may recognize a few of my classics and some new ones as well. I hope they inspire you today and serve as a catalyst for a magical and fulfilling year for you!

Choose one writing / journaling exercise or try them all! You may just discover the most empowering and exciting year of your life!

The Prompts

1. What feelings do you want to feel most in 2026? List them all. Explore one or more of those feelings. What actions might help you feel that way?
2. What creative accomplishment(s) would make 2026 most meaningful and fulfilling? List them. Then imagine each scene as you accomplish your vision and write it down as if it has already happened.
3. Imagine one specific day in 2026 that represents your wildest dreams. Use sensory details to write the story of that day, scene by scene.
4. How do you want to contribute to others in 2026? List those people and causes you care about. Choose one or two to explore how you can make a difference in a way that feels joyful and expansive.
5. What do you want to experience in 2026? Is there anything you haven’t experienced that you’d love to try? A hot air balloon ride, a trip to Cambodia in a volunteer capacity (I know someone who can help make that one happen), a live qigong training program with a master you’ve studied with online (yes, that was on my list the first time I shared this exercise and actualizing it led to more breakthroughs than I can list here! You can check out that training (which I will be attending) with Qigong Master Robert Peng at Kripalu in the Berkshires if it intrigues you!). Whatever experiences you choose, write about why you want this experience and what it means to you. Explore how you can make it happen and when. Maybe even write it into your calendar. Or register now and set your dream experience in motion.

6. 

   Whom do you want to get to know in 2026? Is there a writer or “paper mentor” whose work has impacted your life? Would you like to to meet them? What might that be like? What would you ask them? What do you imagine might happen? Explore. Play. See what comes up as you write. Maybe you can sign up for a workshop with them, as I did with Robert Peng!

7. How do you want to grow in 2026? I’ve been expanding my qigong practice and recently began attending a practice group online held five days a week by my friend Luakini. I plan to increase my attendance – it’s easier and often even more powerful to practice in a group. I find that qigong is helping me grow in many ways: I’m calmer, more aware of my own projections and habits (and sometimes even able to stop myself before I say something rash!). I’m looking forward to seeing how qigong helps me grow this year–in physical strength and flexibility, vitality, wisdom, mental calm and compassion. How about you? Ask yourself where you want to focus your growth—health, work, creative pursuits, relationships, finances, or specific areas of personal growth and healing? Write about what you envision and how you might stimulate, nurture and foster these pursuits.
8. What do you want to be open to in 2026? Are there ways you experience rigidity or protect yourself from life? Where would you like to take a risk and open yourself to new ways of thinking, believing, behaving and creating? Explore the possibilities in your journal!

Let’s Welcome 2026!

Join me in welcoming the new year. Write one or more of your insights, visions, dreams or goals for the new year as a comment below. Feel free to share your writing in detail!

PS If you want to experience a breakthrough in 2026–in creative/abundant mindset, in creative commitment or in completing a project, check out the Creative Abundance Writing Retreat that Robin Kall and I are offering January 24 and 25 in beautiful Narragansett, Rhode Island—surrounded by sea in three directions and absolutely breathtaking nature all around!