Absence

Sometimes, the absence of something is as telling as its presence. Something missing, hidden, undeclared, veiled. A person, an object, an emotion. Write a short piece (max 200 wds) around something or someone who isn't there. Any style. 

Empathy

Ascribing human characteristics to objects isn't always the best writing technique, but for the purposes of exercising the imagination, answer these questions as though you were the object:
- what is the most secret thing you know?
- what is the worst thing about your job?
- what do you crave?
- where is home?
- what feels good against your skin?
- what are you jealous of?
- what makes you raging mad?
- what would you like to smash?

Show, don't tell

If you try to explain something, you are doing the work for the reader, and not very well. Write from your senses, without comment or abstraction, and readers will conjure up their own images.

Pick a detail in this picture. Write down what you would see, hear, feel, taste, smell, if you were close to the objects – and conjure up an emotion that infuses the description with meaning.

Nuance

My friend in Transylvania speaks fluent - almost bilingual – English and we have great discussions about language. We passed a house painted a ghastly shade of pink and I said drily 'What an extraordinary colour'. Bogdan laughed, understanding completely that I was being cautiously polite while expressing my distaste. That afternoon he commented on something being 'interesting' in the same way that the house was 'extraordinary'. Romanians, he said, had the same ability as the English, the French and Italians to lay waste with compliments. The legacy of centuries of diplomacy.

Your task, then:
Come up with a sentence using the seemingly complimentary words 'extraordinary' or 'interesting' (or similar) where the context alone creates a marked difference in tone and intention.

Cream crackered

When you're completely exhausted, and have a stack of things to do before you can collapse in a heap, the world looks, feels and sounds very different, compared to a world viewed through sparkling clear eyes (not raddled old bloodshot ones with huge bags underneath).
Write a short piece (max 200 wds) from the perspective of a wrung out, knackered individual facing a tedious household chore.

Je ne regrette rien

It's often said that at the end of your life the only things you regret are the things you didn't do.
So here's your chance.
Think back to a time you said 'No'.
This time, say 'Yes!'
Relate the consequences.
(200 wds max)

The next in line

When you're next standing in a queue, take a good look at the person in front of you. Act as their fortune-teller and predict their destiny for that day, based on the clues you have (every detail of appearance, body language, posture, what they're buying).
I suggest you DON'T make your subject aware of your predictions - they may not appreciate it. This is a mental exercise only – unless you are entranced by the possibilities and pursue them (the possibilities, not the person) on paper or screen, later.