CornerScribe

Writing Habits: Do something fun in your writing

First off, I just noticed that I let the writing habit section slide after just one entry. I’m not sure what that says about me; I guess I need to get in the habit of creating a habit? Talk about organizationally-challenged…

Oh well. You’ve discovered my terrible secret.

So, for this week’s habit, let’s do something fun each day that’s writing-related. Some interesting writing exercises might be fun. Here are a few I’ve used in the past with varying success.

1. Freewriting is usually a good choice for me. I enjoy the spontaneity of it.
2. Childhood events are a good choice. The trick is digging up a memory; this works better for me if it’s NOT something I readily remember.
3. Old family photos are good for triggering memories, and possible stories. Look at the people and things in the background. Maybe it’s the vase your grandmother gave you or the doll you got for your fifth birthday. If you look closely, something is likely to trigger an interesting memory or idea.
4. Think of a place from your childhood. Maybe it’s your room, a classroom, a playground, anything. It should be somewhere you spent a lot of time though. Draw the place in as great a detail as you can. Put in everything from the furniture to noting the color curtains and if you had a teddy bear on the bed. The more details you remember, the more likely the exercise will work.
5. Rewrite an event from your life and make it like you’d have liked it to happen.
6. Rewrite something that happened to you, but change the gender of the people involved.
7. Browse the internet, magazines, etc. and write a brief monologue for a person you encounter there.

I plan to take a camera on a little road trip this weekend and take some pictures that might serve as inspiration for some stories. If nothing else, they might make for some interesting blog posts.