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 15 of 179).

How to Start a Fresh Blog Post When You’re Stuck

Everyone hits a blank now and then. Don’t get impatient with yourself. Take a quick break, make yourself another coffee, start a load of laundry or walk around the block once or twice. Then come back and use one of these to give your post a fresh start:

  • Use a statistic you find somewhere. Look for a surprising statistic, something unexpected or controversial.
  • Share something from your personal experience. Work on your storytelling.
  • Ask a question. The best questions are those which are sincere, something you really do want to know.
  • Write a description. Don’t forget all the 6 senses: sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. Share your vision.
  • Write a critique or review of something. Be honest and fair.
  • Rant about something. Throw your passion into it.
  • Use a metaphor, an analogy or a simile – remember your high school English classes and get clever.

 

Victoria Day: The Holiday Becoming Lost in Time

Victoria Day celebrates Queen Victoria’s birthday. This year it will be on May 21st. There will be people who don’t know who Queen Victoria (1819 – 1901) is. Maybe they know her for the century she influenced with Victorian fashion and protocol. They aren’t likely to know much about Queen Victoria herself. Some won’t even know who that fat woman in the old photograph is – her tragedy, her triumphs, her life as a young woman, a monarch, a wife, a Mother and then an old woman. It’s sad to see someone who was given a day of the year to be celebrated, now become forgotten gradually.

1835, Self Portrait by Queen Victoria

Victoria was –

  • Born in Kensington Palace, in London, May 24, 1819.
  • She was baptized Alexandrina, after one of her godparents, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, and Victoria after her mother.
  • Became Queen of an empire at 18.
  • Popular respect for the Crown was at a low point at her coronation, but the modest and straightforward young Queen won the hearts of her subjects. She wished to be informed of political matters, although she had no direct input in policy decisions.
  • Privately, she attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments. Publicly, she became a national icon, and was identified with strict standards of personal morality.
  • The longest reigning British monarch and the longest reign of any female in history, 1837 until 1901.
  • Married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1840.
  • The Mother of nine children – four sons and five daughters: Victoria, Bertie, Alice, Alfred, Helena, Louise, Arthur, Leopold, and Beatrice.
  • Widowed in 1861.
  • After Albert’s death she became withdrawn  and unpopular until reappearing in the 1870’s.
  • Had her Golden Jubilee in 1887 and her Diamond Jubilee in 1897.
  • Died in 1901 (January 22) at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
  • Her reign brought a revolution in British government, huge industrial expansion and the growth of a worldwide empire (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, and large parts of Africa.).
  • The national pride connected with the name of Victoria – the term Victorian England, for example, stemmed from the Queen’s ethics and personal tastes, which generally reflected those of the middle class.

The Official Website of the British Monarchy – Queen Victoria

Wikipedia – Queen Victoria 

BBC History – Victoria

Victorian Station – Queen Victoria

PBS: Queen Victoria’s Empire

What holiday is being swept into the past in your own country? What do you know about the background, history and the reason for the original holiday? How does knowing more change your feelings about the day?

Zombie Scenarios from the Zombie Safety Guide

From the Zombie Safety Guide

Zombie Scenario # 7 You find yourself holed up in an abandoned building in the middle of the night. You were forced to take shelter because there are Zombies crawling all around the street. You hear a peculiar banging coming from deeper within the abandoned building. You’re armed with a handgun, and only 12 rounds of ammunition left, What do you do? Do you investigate the sound, and chance being infected or attracting more by using your gun? Or do you ignore it and sleep the night away.

What would you do?

I’d create sound in some other area (away from myself) so that anything creating sound would be drawn there, away from me.  Then I’d hide in a closet until daylight.

51 Short and Simple Writing Prompts

  1. Describe the smell of popcorn.The allure and memories associated with it.
  2. Write a short history for a penny found in the shopping mall parking lot.
  3. You name your pet goldfish, Ichabod. What’s the story behind that?
  4. Dragons are real. Three of them just appeared in your living room looking for…
  5. Explore the world of cracked pavement. What stories are there in the wrinkles of tar we drive over?
  6. Watch for little things lost along the road next time you’re walking somewhere. How did they get there?
  7. Write a cheerleading cheer for a high school sports team. (Use a real school or make one up).
  8. You pick up a dime from the sidewalk. How does that change your day?
  9. Write a note you would post around the neighbourhood for a missing pet snake.
  10. Explain why garlic really isn’t a way to keep the vampires away.
  11. Write a grocery list from a dog’s point of view.
  12. If you had a robot housekeeper what would you have them do first?
  13. How would you write an ad to sell laundry soap?
  14. Out of all the non-eventful, ordinary days, which would you pick as your favourite and why?
  15. Use your real initials and choose a new name for yourself.
  16. Your parking meter has run out, what story do you think up to avoid getting a ticket?
  17. Write a memorial service speech for a bug you squished.
  18. You decide to start a community newsletter. What do you call it?
  19. They say there are rocks in your head, what kind are they?
  20. What’s the idol outfit for a Barbie doll?
  21. What was the last small thing you did for the environment/ green living?
  22. Think of all the different ways a book can end up soaked in water?
  23. Write about something really unusual spilled on your kitchen floor.
  24. You win a free day to travel in a horse and carriage, what do you do with it?
  25. A space alien visits you and asks for breakfast, what do you give them?
  26. You get the worst service ever in a restaurant. What do you do about it?
  27. You wake up, outside wearing a shower curtain and mismatched slippers. What happened?
  28. Invent a new flavour of tea, something just barely drinkable.
  29. You dream and are able to speak to insects. What do you talk about with them?
  30. How do you get their permission to throw mud pies at people to win a game show?
  31. Talk about chicken to a classroom of school kids.
  32. It’s a case of mistaken identity but how do you handle someone insisting you’re someone else?
  33. What’s the weirdest thing you would eat on toast?
  34. Think of a new way to reuse (repurpose) CDs/ DVDs instead of throwing them out.
  35. Without looking in your closet, what are three items you could do without to declutter?
  36. On a cooking show you have to create a designer sandwich. What do you make?
  37. Come up with a creative use for a long chain of paperclips linked together.
  38. Write a letter to a bird.
  39. In one word, sum up the feeling of walking in the rain.
  40. Write a speech for a puppet.
  41. Hold an argument with an inanimate object.
  42. You forget to put on your pants… but it’s not the nightmare you expected.
  43. Holding 500 helium balloon you discover you actually can rise into the air. What happens next?
  44. Write a review for a book you didn’t like. Find something uplifting for the author’s feedback.
  45. What’s the worst typo you can imagine?
  46. Write a “Day One” journal about living under the sea.
  47. Create a riddle then see if anyone can figure out the answer.
  48. Create a great female character for a video game. A real player, not a bystander with big boobs.
  49. Write the life of a pair of bedroom slippers.
  50. Think of a really creative way to gift wrap something, but stick to natural/ green living ways (no paper or plastic).
  51. What is your favourite colour and why is it your favourite?

 

How to Write a Postcard

I’m writing a post about postcards on HubPages. I found a couple of links where someone had written about writing postcards. A nice idea. So here are a collection of tips for writing postcards.

Write about how you got there, the journey so far. Are you going by bus, driving yourself or did you fly in?

What was the first thing you did when you got into town (the city, etc.)?

Did you find a great place for coffee, a burger, breakfast..?

What are you doing right now. Literally, right at this moment?

Write about something that really stood out. A really funny, bad, silly, delicious, spontaneous event along your travels.

If you don’t want to write at all, draw something. Illustrate your adventures. Use stick figures, draw cartoon characters, or an all out great masterpiece.

Finish off with the traditional "Wish you were here" or something far more stylish and personal.

—

From Slouching Somewhere:

  • First, pick a postcard. Pick one that’s unexpected–from the shape to the image.
  • When you write about the place, write beyond what’s on the photo.
  • Write about the food you ate.
  • Throw a little bit of humor in it if you can.
  • Write about a place the postcard recipient knows little of. Add details.

via How to write a postcard « slouching somewhere.

SITS Girls Spring Fling

We’d like to formally invite you to our Spring Fling, completely geared at being easy, fun, and interactive. From May 7th to May 18th, here is what you can expect from us:

One entire week devoted to building your following on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Google+. {And don’t worry a bit if you do not already have any of these accounts. We’ll be showing you how to get started too.}

Another week spent helping you to “spring clean” your blog by figuring out ways you can improve your blog design, About Me page, Best Of page, and other key elements.

Sign up for the SITS Girls Spring Fling Blogging Challenge.

Theme Song from The Dudesons

I’ve got hooked on watching The Dudesons on Saturday nights. Late Saturday they run 4 – 6 episodes back to back. At first I thought it was too crazy to watch. It kind of grows on you if you don’t turn the channel. Now I think of them as "those crazy Vikings" and I usually watch after midnight every Saturday.

I’d been wondering about the theme song on the show. I spent some time this morning tracking it down. It’s called Once Upon a Time by Damn Seagulls. Here are the lyrics:

That night I’ve been in every single street in this town
And after that I took another round
I was trying to get wasted in this abandoned station
I thought I could trick myself away
I was wrong and I acted like a stupid kid
And I know I haven’t changed
I try to be brave but I wasn’t okay
I wasn’t okay, not at all
I kept it all inside, and began to full

Yeah, once upon a time
Yeah, there was a boy who wanted to fly
Yeah, one day he died trying
Yeah, he said it was worth a try

Good morning everybody
Oh how much I need to do
I got to save the world and you know the rules
I finally come back home

Good morning everybody
Oh how much I need to do
I got to save the world and you know the rules
I finally come back home

It’s getting harder all the time
To get up in the morning
You know I’m just trying to survive
I got to take over my mountain and build up new bases
Or I’m gonna get stuck in the mud
I gotta get out, it’s so empty here without you
And I’m scared that you’re not coming back
My friends, I need you now so I wouldn’t feel so lonely
Lord, please give me something else to think about

Yeah, once upon a time
Yeah, there was a boy who wanted to fly
Yeah, one day he died trying
Yeah, he said it was worth a try

Good morning everybody
Oh how much I need to do
I got to save the world and you know the rules
I finally come back home

Good morning everybody
Oh how much I need to do
I got to save the world and you know the rules
I finally come back home

Oh yeah! Woo-oo! Hey!

Yeah, once upon a time
Yeah, there was a boy who wanted to fly
Yeah, one day he died trying
Yeah, he said it was worth a try

Good morning everybody
Oh how much I need to do
I got to save the world and you know the rules
I finally come back home

Good morning everybody
Oh how much I need to do
I got to save the world and you know the rules
I finally come back home