Reporting back on yesterday’s workshop. Rather than forty-five minutes of free writing, the session had a big more structure, as the instructor came with handouts. The handouts suggested ways of turning every day’s lunch hour into a writing exercise. For example:
These may sound kind of cheesy, but her central thesis was that by forcing yourself to write from some pretty mundane prompts, you’re bound to stumble across something good. In other words, you’re bound to find a seed somewhere along the line, and if you plant that seed you might end up with a short story (or whatever it is that you write).
With fifteen minutes remaining, she asked us to write about breakfast. For ten minutes, fifteen writers scrawled as quickly as they could. And then she made us read. Not an option. Around the room (counter-clockwise, which seemed wrong), each of us read our first and last sentences. It wasn’t that awful after all.
I promise something more interesting tomorrow… Tying up loose ends in my novel’s ending is sucking the life out of me…
Just for the hell of it, here’s what I produced in that ten minutes yesterday… Ain’t pretty.
I’m never hungry so soon after waking, but my stomach grumbles for tea and caffeine. A year ago, before I met her, I had never sipped hot tea. (Impossible! you protest. But true.) Now a dozen varieties are arranged neatly in a flip-top chest on our counter. I set the water to boil and drop a tea bag in an empty cup. A year ago the word “bergamot” was not in my vocabulary, never mind its scent one I could recognize from across a crowded restaurant.
That’s what you get in ten minutes without editing…
Labels: Writing
01-15-2007: Contacted first agent with my novel.
01-06-2007: Revamped home page launched!
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jason@jasonshaffner.com