What You’re Good At
What kinds of things do people ask for your help with? What are you good at that isn’t good for you?
One Page
I am on the page-a-day plan. One page. Written with a fat pen. There’s no room to get carried away. It doesn’t take very long to sit down and do it.
Summer Writing Classes
Come to class for fun, inspiration and friendship. Do some extra work and you can earn a Basic Writing Certificate.
Read It Aloud
You have to read it big. The discomfort is mild. Get over it. The more dramatic you are, the more you will learn.
Writing for You
It doesn’t matter what you try. Satisfaction and dissatisfaction can be your guides. Try something that seems like a good idea. Pay attention. Try something else.
Reading Writing
When somebody asks for feedback on some writing they have been working on, how can you end up having a stimulating discussion about it?
Sharing Your Writing
Remember that most of the time when you ask someone to read your writing, they won’t know what to say about it.
A Title, The Date
When you have finished writing a page, always give the page a title, and make sure the date is on it somewhere. You will be glad that you did.
Ridiculous Habits
Today, have a little fun with the ridiculousness of being self-destructive.
Circles In the Sky
You will do an exercise to relax your neck and improve your concentration. Then you will write about it.
Whatever You Want
Do you want to be taller, smarter, healthier, or less allergic? Do you want breakfast, a skateboard, a vacation, or grandchildren?
After Six Months
Recall that the goal of a writing practice is to bring the act of writing regularly into your life and accept whatever improvements that brings to you.
Another Thing
There are many different ways that something can be large in your life. Things that are large in your life often carry an emotional charge. What gets you excited? What is deeply satisfying to you? What is making you feel the way you feel right now? The large things in our lives take up our […]
Doing Things Right
You are the only one who truly knows why you do the things you do, so you are the only qualified judge of how well you do them.
A is for Admire
Are there things or people that always make you smile? What have you smiled at so far today? When has a smile struck you by surprise?
Not Sorry
Saying “I’m sorry” can be hard. And it can be healing. Have you ever been pressured to say that you are sorry when you didn’t feel sorry?
Get the Picture?
Pick something in front of you and draw it. If you “can’t draw,” draw it anyway.
The Invisible You
Are gut feelings in the gut? Where are your plans for the future located? Where is your ability to button a shirt? Where to you keep your talent?
Setbacks and Calamities
Whether your plans are for the afternoon, the coming year, or a lifetime, the chance of something not going according to plan is pretty high.
Pep Talk Voice
Pep Talk Voice is the most stubborn and single-minded voice in the choir. It is incapable of saying anything bad about you.
I Forgot
Sometimes things are forgotten for good. Sometimes temporary forgetting can lead to permanent remembering.
Change of Season
Seasons change without any input from us. You can’t encourage a new season to arrive faster nor can you tell it to wait.
Before That
What are you doing right now? What were you doing before that? And before that?
What Doesn’t Change?
Everything changes. Always. Or at least that’s what they say. Who is “they?”
Such a Useful Body
One thing that is certain about having a life in the world is that from start to finish, you do it in a body. Your body.
Soon, Also, and Then
Today, write about the future. Any part of the whole imaginary future that could be ahead.
Evaluation Station
Notice the word “value” inside the word “evaluation.” This means that evaluation is about finding the value in what you do. It’s not about finding mistakes.
Your Precious Hands
Think of the many things a hand can do. We use our hands to operate zippers, cars and snowshovels. Hands know how to catch, throw, point, scratch, and wave.
An Alphabet of Today
Take up your pen and write the letters of the alphabet down the left hand size of the page. One letter per line. A to Z. Then think about your day.
Standing Up in Silence
How do you spell the word for that sound you make when you stand up after sitting too long in a chair?
Take Another Look
Everything you can see is interesting in and of itself. A melted candle. The dent in the couch cushion. A book called I’ll Sell You a Dog. The stapler.
Using Writing Prompts
A writing prompt is the nudge that gets you going. In one direction or another. It doesn’t matter which. It will always be an interesting ride.
So Many Roads
Pick one place you’ve been lately, just one, and go over in your mind the route you take to get there.
A Special Friend
When you think about whether or not you have imaginary friends, you’ll hear some kind of conversation in your head. Who is talking?
Just the Junk
Maybe your junk drawer isn’t even a drawer. Maybe it’s the back of your closet, the floor of your car, or the bottom of your backpack.
What Did You Expect?
Write about being hurt. But don’t write about what happened, write about what you had expected would happen.
Freewriting
Sometimes your mind goes blank. Other times it is jammed and overloaded. Freewriting can get you unstuck.
In Praise of Your World!
Notice what is big and vast, such as thunder and the stars. Notice the pollen as well, and the mortar that binds the bricks in the buildings of your town.
The Opposite Game
When you play the Opposite Game, you must come up with opposites for many different words. Think of “opposite” as “somehow related, but definitely not the same.”
A Writing Practice
When you have a writing practice, you decide that you are going to do some writing. For yourself. To see what good it might do you.