🤔21 Writing Prompts For Journalism, Advertising, PR & Marketing Folks In 2021
People, let's do some writing prompts: The Neal Ungerleider Newsletter #68
I’ve always gotten a kick out of writing prompts.
Basically, writing prompts are questions or ideas writers use getting started brainstorming or journaling on topics.
And because 2020 has (ahem) been a weird year, I thought we all could use some writing prompts to help make sense of 2021.
Take the ones that feel relevant to you—one prompt, three prompts or all of them—and write a paragraph for each one. See what new ideas you can come up with from them.
WORK LIFE
What are your favorite and least favorite parts of your job? What can you do to make sure you’re doing as much of possible of your favorite things and as little as possible of your least favorite things?
How would you define your company’s work culture? How does day-to-day work go, how do managers and executives interact with employees and contractors, what are the expectations around leisure time? Does your company’s work culture align with your own personal work style?
How would you explain your job to someone who doesn’t work in your field at all?
What is worse—a client whose business practices are ethically questionable or a client who is difficult to work with?
What technology are you uncomfortable working with day-to-day? Is it something you can avoid without consequence or something that impacts your job?
If so, why don’t you like it? Is it the fact that it’s difficult to use, is it the fact that there are better alternatives you can’t use for whatever reason, is it the fact that you just don’t know how to use it?
How do you define your audience? Do you have a good idea of who is actually looking at and consuming the content you put out?
Do you think your boss understands your organization and your industry? Your boss’ boss? Your boss’ boss’ boss? Imagine you are suddenly thrown into a new role at your same company doing something you don’t have much experience doing. How do you tackle it?
If the worst happened and you lost your job or your business failed, what would your next moves be?
When you're working on projects, do you do better working independently or as part of a group? How come?
Which is the better metaphor for politics inside your organization—pro wrestling or high school cliques?
If your job involves social media, how do you differentiate between performative social media use, coordinated social media activity and trolling for the sake of trolling?
LIFE OUTSIDE OF WORK
Do you have to live in your current area for work? If you’ll be working remotely indefinitely, would you like to live somewhere else for a while? What is stopping you from doing that?
When you’re learning new skills, are you an independent learner who can learn from watching online videos or do you need a more structured environment with classes or workshops that meet at a particular time?
Using social media: Something you enjoy, a necessary evil, something to avoid at all costs?
Look at a media outlet with the exact opposite political orientation as yours. How are they framing news stories differently? Now look at a media outlet you’re politically aligned with. What framings can you find?
Do you prefer to get your news from television, going directly to a website, from email newsletters, from social media, from podcasts or from friends? How does that effect how you understand the world?
Is it possible for journalism to be objective? And is it better for journalists to minimize objectivity in stories or for them to put their biases up front?
Imagine two paths: One where daily life largely resumes pre-COVID routines by July, and another where we’re still social distancing and hospitalizations are rampant in July. How will your job be different?
In your industry, how does networking take place? Is it primarily over alcohol, over coffee or online? Are there biases that help or hinder you in networking? How do you make networking better work for you?
I hope these helped and I’d love to hear some answers to these prompts in the comments.
That’s it for this issue. Email me here and please don’t hesitate to contact if I can be of assistance. Thank you for taking the time to read this damned thing.
Love and coffee,
Neal
About This Newsletter: Neal Ungerleider is a strategic communications consultant who works with individuals, agencies and brands. He writes this weekly newsletter about the media communications industrial complex and hopes that you found it of use. Check out his bio, his portfolio, and current projects.
Connect on Twitter or LinkedIn and learn more about at nealungerleider.com. To reach Neal, reply to this email or drop a line in the comments.