-- Camille Pissarro
- Write for ten minutes.
- Write continuously, without stopping.
- Write without worrying about correctness in spelling, content, form, or subject.
- Write for only your eyes (don't think about audience as you write)
- Write on any topic you wish.
If you prefer a more focused approach, give yourself an assignment. For example, go for a walk and write down everything you see that is red. Make connections between the items. Compare them. Turn them into a story, a poem, or a drawing. If you are unable to get outdoors to walk, look through magazines, or go online and look at sites like Pinterest. You may want to make a list, or you may find yourself writing in a more narrative style.
You never know what might bubble up! Here is a free verse poem I wrote using this exercise.
SUNDAY MORNING, SEEING RED
Unfurled red umbrella
in the field beside the church.
Full blown, due east.
No Entrance. Full metal tunnel
on the playground.
Metal inside. Metal out. Blue.
No Parking.
Do Not
Enter.
Green acorns underfoot.
Yellow plywood. Golden ripe wood.
Blue graffiti on brown brick.
Buried Cable: Before Digging
Call This Number.
Number the cars. Number the
Taillights. taillight. taillight.
Diesel odor, taillight, taillight. Trailing
one vibrant oblong leaf in the puddle near the
school. One car going too fast,
one “STOP!” showering splash.
One spinning
umbrella
in the field beside the church.
Full open. Facing south.
No Entrance.
No Parking.
No end.
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Remember--writing in your journal is not a problem to be solved. It is an exercise designed to both clear and challenge your mind. Over the next week, I will present my readers with a few writing prompts and some creativity exercises. Please feel free to post comments and creative responses. And, of course, if you have questions or concerns, share those as well.