Begin with the End

Did you know that the “Writing Tips” section of my website includes a series of short instructional essays for student writers? I was reviewing one of the pieces, called “Begin with the End,” and it struck me that it not only contains good advice for writing stories, but also good advice for goal-setting:“You may not know everything that is going to happen along the way. In fact, you probably won’t. Most of us start off with much that remains to be discovered. That is part of the fun … making discoveries along the way. But if you know your ending, you will have your story under control from the first line.”In other words, trying to fully imagine an outcome can give us a jumpstart on meeting that same goal!As a creative writing prompt, why not ask your students to imagine where they hope to be a year from now? It might be just the thing to give them a strong start on their new year.