1. Write a short story that involves a creative writing teacher, an urgent debt, and an unexpected windfall. Have these seemingly disparate topics intertwine seamlessly in a satisfying ending.

2. A man wakes up one morning and suddenly has an amazing idea for a new business that would turn a profit very quickly, but requires no start-up costs or specialized skills. Write a story about what this man does next. Be sure to include a detailed description of his business and everything that he needs to know to run it.

3. Imagine you are a very successful Wall Street trader who invests in volatile stocks that are undervalued and just waiting to skyrocket. How do you pick what companies to invest in? What are these amazing stocks? Use any connections your friends and family have to real companies to make this as realistic as possible.

4. Write a story about a young boy who is bored on a summer afternoon and decides to find out if he has any wealthy relatives he did not know about. How would he go about this search? How does he contact these relatives and politely ask them for money?

5. Your main character discovers that Vegas bookmakers are not considering an important factor when setting their odds for sports games. Write about how this character acquires and uses this knowledge in only a few hours.

6. Imagine a clever thief who focuses on stealing small but very valuable items from places without much security. Write about this man’s exploits. What kinds of things does he steal? Do you think he gets caught? What would you estimate is the probability that he would get caught?

7. A man is sitting in the parking lot of a hardware store in his 1988 Ford Fiesta when a stranger approaches him. The stranger offers the man a lucrative job that is not very dangerous. This job will only take a few hours. What is the job? Where is this hardware store? If you think this meeting would take place in a different setting, where exactly would that be?

8. Rewrite the previous story from the perspective of the stranger. How are you in a position to pay the man so much money? Would you consider loaning money to someone you did not know but seemed trustworthy?

9. What would it take for you to give or lend money to someone that you did not know very well but perhaps respected as a wise teacher. This teacher is a good man. With all that he has given you, it would be hard to turn him down if he really needed it. Wouldn’t it?