Writing Exercises

I used to write writing prompts and writing exercises daily and weekly for my site, Word Grrls. These are my posts from that site. I will add fresh writing inspiration now and then.

There are 1,788 posts filed in Writing Exercises (this is page 13 of 179).

Canadian Themed Teacup and Saucer Collection

Today I found the second of these Canadian series of bone china teacups and saucers. I love to have something nice, sort of romantic and traditional and Canadian too.

But, I’ve learned to be less casual about what I bring home as a collection of anything. If a collection does nothing but gather dust bunnies, unseen by human eyes most of the year… why do you really keep it around? The dust bunnies don’t lack for entertainment.

Think of something you have collected but never use, almost never see and could really do without. Bring your collection out where you can see it. Clean and dust it off, make it look presentable again. Then take some photographs of it all. Take close ups of patterns and details you like. Take far off shots to include the whole set. Take as many photographs as you want, all the photos you need to remember your collection and the reasons you valued it.

Now write about why you should keep the collection or how it’s time you let it go and gave yourself the space, removed clutter from your life. Write for and against keeping it. Debate with yourself and be fair to both sides of the argument. When you’ve finished writing the debate either keep the collection displayed where you can see it and enjoy it or find a new home for it. Most things can be donated to a local charity where they can be auctioned off or sold to someone else who will treasure and value them.

 

Simple Irony

Bad circumstances have a way of ruining things that would otherwise be pleasant.

  • From A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket.

 

Can you write something simple with the irony of Lemony Snicket?

Travelling Life Together

A boyfriend sent me this years ago. I don’t know where the original card is any more but I’m so glad I retyped it into my old LiveJournal account. Today I found it there.  If it has a title I don’t know it. I didn’t type a title.

Take my hand.
Let’s travel life together…
but let’s take time
to savor where we go.

We’ll measure distance,
not in miles but kisses.
We’ll pack our smiles
and leave our cares behind.

Instead of postcards,
we’ll collect embraces,
and I’ll memorize your face
on moonlit nights…

We’ll leave the road
for meadows, beaches, cafes,
and secret places
only we will know.

Life’s too short
for us to ever finish
a journey that explores
our heart’s desires,
so let’s go now…

We won’t regret
one minute
of traveling life together
hand in hand.

Alarie Tennille

In #Writer Hell….

In #WriterHell you find a post like this on Twitter and spend your day writing Twitter posts.

Everyone in #WriterHell has deadlines –  no specific dates,  just deadlines.

In #WriterHell there is no form of actual writing. No one can actually write anything down.

In #WriterHell there is only longhand and really dull pencils.

No one leaves #WriterHell unless they score A+ on the mathematics exam.

Found Money in the Laundry

I found a $20 bill in the washing machine today. What’s your best cash score from the washing machine (or the clothes dryer), when it’s not your own money?

Write about finding money in the laundry. Or, write more and give a story to who had the money, how it was left in the laundry and what happened when they original owner of the money realized the money was gone.

Canadian Cemeteries

People are interested in cemeteries for an assortment of reasons: local history, genealogy, and an enjoyment of religious artifacts and old things in general.

Canadian Cemeteries

Ontario Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Ontario

Elgin County Gravestones

Buried in Niagara

Niagara Cemeteries and Spooky Places

Vancouver’s Cemetery – Mountain View

I’ll probably find more links later. I started looking on Flickr and found enough to keep me busy awhile.

Why would you explore a cemetery, during the day when you can actually see what you’re looking at. Write about an adventure that happened while exploring an old cemetery.

Canadian Lighthouses

 The deadline was May, 2012, but until then you could have become an owner of a Canadian heritage lighthouse. Would you like to live in a lighthouse? What could you do to make a lighthouse profitable, as a business?

The deadline has come and gone. But it would have been interesting to live in an historical lighthouse. Pretty expensive renovations.
Links for Canadian Lighthouses:

Wikipedia: List of Lighthouses in Canada

Canadian Lighthouses

British Columbia Lighthouses

Lighthouses of Newfoundland and Labrador

Lighthouses of Prince Edward Island

Lighthouses of Nova Scotia

Ontario Lighthouses

Ontario: Bruce Coast Lighthouses

Save Canada’s Lighthouses

Lighthouses in ASCII Art

Create a character who lives in a lighthouse. Build up a background story for this character and work out how they fit into a story you’re currently writing (or reading).

Bare Naked Breasts?

How do you feel about the issue of women being topless in public?

The idea comes from men being topless in public and how, if  things are equal, women should be able to choose to do the same rather than being discriminated against. It’s a complicated issue, with more things involved than modesty, traditional values, etc.

I wrote about women having the right to bare their breasts. What would you write about the idea, as both a theory and an issue? Try to think of it from different angles and points of view.

Ecard Writing Tips from SomeEcards

Tap into a jarring thought, a complex emotion, a contradictory behavior, an absurd scenario, or a general societal observation – however rude, embarrassing, or illegal. Try to not make your card as overwrought and pretentious as the previous sentence. Make every word count. The key is that your sentiment rings true, but also feels like something people haven’t quite heard before.

Let the image help tell the story – a glance, outfit, time period, unexpected pairing, odd gesture, or age can do wonders to elevate a well-crafted dick joke.

Keep your card to one sentence with no question marks or exclamation points. This is a general rule of the site for the sake of compactness and consistency. Rules can be fun!

Do a gut check on whether it’s "sendable." Would someone want to receive your card? Will they "get" it? Will they read too much into it and think the sender is desperately unhappy in his or her job or relationship with them? If you answered "yes, "yes," and "I’m an unemployed loner" then it’s probably fine.

If you love your card right away, something may be horribly wrong. Take a break, then come back to reevaluate. Is your card clear in its intended message? Is it a mind-blowingly profound insight on the human condition? Is it sort of funny? Maybe run it by a few friends to check. Then edit the words or image for a long enough time span that you can’t even remember what you’re doing or why. Continue this until you confidently admire your card or start feeling incomprehensibly alone in the universe. That means you’re done!

-Brook Lundy, co-founder & head writer

via Writing Tips | someecards.com.