History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Fun for Friday: Yet More DefConOne Instagram Writing Prompts!

| September 11, 2026

Here’s another batch of writing prompts from the DefConOne Instagram account! Write a piece in which a hug can be perceived as mean. Write a piece in which an orange makes or breaks a picnic. Write a piece involving a popsicle causing problems. Follow the DefCon One Instagram account for writing prompts on Fridays, or check them […]

Fun for Friday: The Big Pink Book Prompt 11, Blue Doors

| September 4, 2026

On Monday, I shared the eleventh prompt from the Big Pink Book. If you guessed that I was going to do something with blue doors, you’re absolutely correct. (It was probably pretty obvious.) Even though the image at the top left is a birdhouse, it had a similar shape and dimensions as the door at […]

The Big Pink Book Prompt 11, Blue Doors

| August 31, 2026

Prompt 11 from the Big Pink Book is another one with stickers at the corners, along a theme. In the top left, there’s a dark blue birdhouse with silver snow on the roof and a bow at the top. At the top right, there are two shiny aqua squares above a light blue and white […]

Fun for Friday: September 2026 Writing Prompts

| August 28, 2026

It’s time, once again for next month’s writing prompts! This time, we’re just about to head into September, which means autumn for the northern hemisphere! I’ve got a collection of older September art challenges that I haven’t used before this month. The first column is from Catember 2025. How did I never know there was […]

Recap of the Big Pink Book, Prompts 1-10

| August 26, 2026

I’ve now posted the first ten prompts from the Big Pink Book, along with how I used each one. Here’s a quick recap post. A Map We Go Together Like … It’s Funny … Magical Books Flags and Leaves Fantasy Theme Weird Combination Zen? Stars and Rainbows Free Spirit Out of these ten prompts, I […]

Fun for Friday: The Big Pink Book Prompt 10, Free Spirit

| August 21, 2026

On Monday, I posted the blank version of the tenth prompt in the Big Pink Book, which had themes of joy and happiness. Of course, I had to take it in a different direction. A while back, I wrote a drabble titled “Tarot Esoterica: The Black Lagoon,” which appeared in This Book Has Ghosts in It. […]

The Big Pink Book Prompt 10, Free Spirit

| August 17, 2026

This week’s prompt from the Big Pink Book is a mostly open page with four stickers, one at each corner. Clockwise from the upper left, they are: A card from the Winnie the Pooh tarot deck corresponding to a card that isn’t found in any other deck that I’ve encountered. Its meaning is joy or […]

Fun for Friday: More DefConOne Instagram Writing Prompts

| August 14, 2026

It’s time for some more prompts from the DefConOne Instagram account! Write a piece involving Atlantis. Write a piece involving candles and house plants. Write a piece about an unusual circus or carnival. Follow the DefCon One Instagram account for writing prompts on Fridays, or check them out when I post them here!

Big Pink Book Stars and Rainbows! (Prompt 9)

| August 7, 2026

On Monday, I posted the blank version of this page, and today, I’m back to show you how I used it. The first thing I did was to mark the text, “When it rains, look for rainbows. When it’s dark, look for stars,” to flip the elements, making it “When it rains, look for stars. […]

The Big Pink Book Prompt 9: Stars and Rainbows

| August 3, 2026

The next prompt in the Big Pink Book has a handful of small stickers, some washi tape, and a bit of text. The text reads “When it rains, look for rainbows. When it’s dark, look for stars.” The small stickers include three gold stars below the text. At the top left, there’s a Winnie the […]