April 11, 2007 by Lani Voivod, Chief Scribbler.

You know that “Reality Re-write” exercise I mentioned in a previous post? Let’s direct it toward “The Writer Mystique,” shall we?

THE DIRECTIONS:

RIP IT. Write a firm, blazing monologue about all the reasons you are most certainly NOT a real “Writer.” (Are you an Apologist? Hobbyist? Modicum-of-Success Writer?) List all your reasons in glorious detail. Flash your shame. Put yourself down and bury your hope until your toes hit Hades.

Now…

FLIP IT, baby! See what the confident, egomaniacal version looks like. Does it list all of your countless accomplishments? Are you stunned by your prolific work? Would you kill for your own autograph? Right on. THAT’S your golden ring. Lock your sights on it, and LUNGE for it!

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January 12, 2007 by Lani Voivod, Chief Scribbler.

Let’s face it. For some people, avoiding FAILURE is part of their DNA, and the fear of failing is too entrenched to defeat. If you’re one of those people, this exercise is for you.

THE DIRECTIONS:

Write down these life-crushing FAILURES TO AVOID wherever you can see them regularly, then avoid them at all costs!

• Failure to act.

• Failure to seize an opportunity.

• Failure to believe in yourself and your abilities.

• Failure to trust the inner voice that keeps telling you the answers, while you keep ignoring them.

• Failure to live your life on your own terms, according to your own talents and passions.

• Failure to dream.

• Failure to think BIG.

• Failure to make your own sparkling, one-of-a-kind fruit punch with the mixed bag of produce you were born with (lemons and all), because you were too busy craving and coveting everyone else’s plantains and papayas!

A Supplementary Exercise (Only for Advanced Students of Life):

1. Write down examples of times you haven’t avoided each one of the above FAILURES.
2. Then write down how much you regret it now.
3. Finally, write down a solemn pledge to yourself that you will never make that same mistake again as long as you live!

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October 22, 2006 by Lani Voivod, Chief Scribbler.

This one is from Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones, in a three-page chapter entitled “The Action of a Sentence.”

THE DIRECTIONS:
To begin, simply fold a sheet of paper in half the long way.

1. On the left side, list ten nouns. Any ten. (Her examples? “Lilacs, horse, mustache, cat, fiddle, muscles, dinosaur, seed, plug, video.” But go on – come up with your own!)
2. Now turn the paper over to the right column.
3. Think of an occupation (i.e. a doctor, a carpenter, a cook, etc.)
4. List 15 verbs on the right half of the page that go with that position. (A cook = sauté, chop, mince, slice, cut, heat, broil, taste, boil, bake, fry, marinate, whip, stir, scoop.)
5. Open the paper.

You’ve got a bunch of nouns on the left, and a slew of distinctive verbs on the right. Now take a word from each list and fuse them together to create fresh, surprising sentences, such as…

• Dinosaurs marinate in the earth.

• The fiddles boiled the air with their music.

• The lilacs sliced the sky into purple.

Go ahead – try this one. Watch how your brain is forced to go places it hasn’t gone before. Make imperfect connections. Combine metaphors. Mix it up! Add some verbal Tabasco to that simmering soup of yours – you’re bound to find a few exotic flavors you’d like to keep in your cookbook.

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May 1, 2006 by Lani Voivod, Chief Scribbler.

Course creator and writing dude Steve Manning says your mind needs only three words to create a complete story, a complete scene, a complete picture of imaginary events, or real-life information. Three words are all that’s needed.

In that vein, here’s an exercise he recommends. It’s called THREE MAGIC WORDS. Don’t run for the door. Don’t freak out. It’s speedwriting. It’ll be over in five minutes.

Yup. That’s right. Just five minutes. You must write as fast as you can for five minutes. Write as quickly as you possibly can. Don’t worry about spelling, grammar, sentence structure, or story. Just write.

Next rule: No thinking! No second-guessing. No editing while you’re writing. Whatever comes into your brain, that’s what you put down on paper. Anytime someone has difficulty with this exercise, it’s because they were thinking too much. Don’t do it.

So here’s the deal: You’re going to write a story. A coherent, understandable story. Don’t simply list a string of random thoughts. This is a STORY. It’s not a biography. You’re not in it!! Don’t use the word “I.” And it’s not a speech, where you get to riff on what you think about something. It’s a story!! Yes, you may want to write non-fiction, but for the next five minutes, you’re a story writer. Not a biography, not a speech, not news, not weather… a made-up, fictional, story, please!

Now for the gift: I’ve got three words waiting for you at the bottom of this post.

THE DIRECTIONS:
You must start your writing with one of the three words. The other two must appear in the first paragraph. So you can’t start your writing with ‘It…’ ‘A…’ ‘The…’ ‘Once upon a time…’ nothing like that. You must start your writing with one of the three words below, and the other two must appear in the first paragraph.

As soon as you see the words, put pen to paper and start writing. Steve Manning insists that the faster you write, the better your writing will be.

Here are the THREE MAGIC WORDS: CLOCK – FIRE - CERTAINTY

Now…go!

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