The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#30 Title Mania Plus Fever Dreams 05
For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose which uses one of the following as its title. For a bonus challenge use the additional exercise of five random constraints.
Titles:
Too Flippant
On Top of Spaghetti
Popular But Terrible Opinions
An Hour Before Sunrise
Buoyancy
Bonus Exercise: 5 Random Constraints (I recommend picking any required words or lines before writing with a little surplus for options, but with your chosen title in mind)
Your first sentence must include a list of three items.
You must include at least six words which begin with the letter combination "Pr".
You must include one full line from the wonderful listing poem "Dynamite Honey" in the newest issue of Jelly Bucket, Eastern Kentucky University's print literary journal.
If you'd like some background music to write to, try the instrumental album "Fever Dream" by the late great producer and rapper Alias aka Brendon Whitney.
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#29 Lakeside Six Word Shootout 03
For today's writing exercise write a piece that includes the following six words. While it perfectly sets you up for a sestina, feel free to write whatever you'd like (but ya know, give that sestina a shot!).
Required Words:Leak, Lake, Bare, Bruise, Steal, Red
Bonus Exercise: As all of the words are homonyms, even if you aren't writing a sestina, include at least 3 different versions of each of the words, or words that are only one letter different (Bare/Bark, Lake/Flake etc).
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If you'd like some background music to write to, try Sixtoo's album Duration.
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#28 Ekphrastic Lakeside Sunrise
For today, we're going to write a poem or prose piece inspired by another piece of art or an ekphrastic piece. The piece of art in question is the following image by French digital artist Clement Dartigues.
If nothing right off strikes you try the following exercises along with the image.
Imagine three different people who live in this building, one young, one adult and one elderly. In a simple paragraph for each describe their average day, or at least four events that would be commonplace.
Think of three strange occurrences that might happen in this location (a meteorite strike, a monster sighting, someone returning from the dead or from presumed dead etc) and write a paragraph or stanza for each of them.
Pick your favorite character from #1 and your favorite strange occurrence from #2 and write a piece that combines the two, perhaps using anaphora or listing of what 'normally' happens.
Pick what you think is the weakest, most boring paragraph or stanza from #1 or #2. Figure out why you don't like it. Write four alternatives to the part you don't like. Expand your new favorite to between 60 and 120 words.
Or, alternatively, complete these exercises:
The quality and tone of light indicates that this is morning sunlight. In a list of at least seven incomplete sentences describe what you imagine the scene would look like with sunset's light (coming from the left of the frame, and more orange as opposed to yellow). Now make a list of seven incomplete sentences describing the scene as it is.
Find your favorite thing listed in #5. That's how your vignette/poem ends. Add three more things from either sunset or sunrise to your list from #5. Pick your favorite from the opposite list (if your piece ends with sunset, now you're picking from sunrise descriptions), that's the opening of your piece. Add three more things to that list (sunrise/set). Pick your favorite - other things from each list. Think of it as 2 sections, sunrise and sunset, each section must include the words "At sun____" with the corresponding time at least 3 times. Now you have the scaffolding, just add the facade and, baby, you've got yourself a piece of writing.
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If you'd like background writing music try this mix of Studio Ghibli soundtrack music by the genius Joe Hisaishi.
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#27 Step Repetition
For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose which contains the following phrase at least four times (non-sequentially):
"One step after another."
Think of various things that might be either walked away from or strode towards. Good and bad, and even strange. Maybe you use the millipede as a metaphor for the monotony of someone stuck in a rut, or you're describing various punctuated events in one's life like boot camp, vacations, certain intense short-term jobs or school projects. Maybe it's someone injured and trying to walk away from the flaming plane before it explodes leaving them in the vast Mojave desert. Or do something completely different. Just be sure that the repeated phrase earns its worth in your piece. It should be necessary.
Bonus Exercise: Also include one descriptive sentence that contains exactly 17 syllables, and include the words "Whip" "Lubricate" "Momentum" and "Tweak".
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If you'd like some background music to write to, try the album "Cru" by Brazilian guitarist Seu Jorge (of Life Aquatic fame).
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#26 3x5x10+ Wordbank 04
For today's writing exercise complete the following steps.
1) Pick one word from each of three groups and write a sentence that includes all of the words, feel free to change tense, pluralize, gerund etc.
2) Repeat the process ten (10) times using different combinations. No dawdling!
3) Now write five (5) sentences that are five words or fewer in length that use any two (2) words.
4) Now write three (3) sentences that use four or more of the words.
5) Now write a piece of fiction or poetry that uses at least three (3) of those sentences. Try to use as many of the sentences as you can, or parts of the sentences if the whole thing doesn't fit or works better altered.
Word Bank 1:
Trophy
Zip
Clutch
Shatter
Plaque
Wordbank 2:
Bassoon
Golden
Steel
Grip
Pitchfork
Wordbank 3:
Ferret
Quarry
Tyrant
Torch
Reap
Bonus writing exercise: Include three different locations in your piece, beginning with the ruins of a castle or barn.
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Want some different background writing music? Try Jan Jelinek's "Loop-Finding Jazz Records".
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#25
Pez to SandBeginning & Ending 04
For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose which begins with one image, scenario, line of dialog or place and ends with another, and an optional additional requirement.
Begin With: Any specific vintage pez dispenser opening.
End With: A liquid spilling onto sand.
Extra Credit Requirements: Include someone speaking over a loudspeaker or radio, and the words: "Sluice", "Erode" "Bit" and "Veil".
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If you'd like some background music to write to, try "Road to Knowhere" by Tommy Guerrero of The Bones Brigade and Gleaming the Cube fame.
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#21 Micro 101 Episode 04 Hungry Hungry
For today's writing exercise you will write a few micro-poems or micro-fictions. These will be either poems under 12 lines or stories under 100 words.
Don't worry about them not containing a complex message. Aim for a surface level with one metaphoric level. Focus on interesting juxtapositions, something out of place and why—either why it is in that place, why it's out of place or why it actually fits in for some unexpected reason. Real Estate is expensive in a micro so avoid too many phrasal verbs and using too many articles when possible. But also don't expect a micro to explain the world in 100 words.
Micro Exercise 1: Make a list six foods that would be considered salty, and describe their color and texture (overlap in texture is ok). Pick your three favorites and use them when you write a micro where the narrator desires something salty, but is pointedly using that desire to ignore a much larger issue which they should be addressing. Micro Exercise 2: Pick the food from #1 which you know the most about preparing/making. Write a micro where someone is making that food and they are interrupted by an unexpected visitor. Perhaps write a 'How-to' that describes the interrupted preparation as though it were how the dish is always prepared. Micro Exercise 3: Write a micro which uses one of the two unused foods from #1 and write a micro dialog with no more than 2 tags, and 2 action beats aside from the dialog, no narration. Micro Exercise 4: Write down 4-7 interesting phrases/titles from this Random Title Generator, use it as many as ten times if you need to. Use one of those as the title and include a second in the micro. Try to include 2-4 additional snippets for extra fun.
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If you'd like some background music to write to, try the Moody Blues' album "Long Distance Voyager".
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#23 Title Mania Plus with Accordions 04
For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose which uses one of the following as its title. For a bonus challenge use the additional exercise of five random constraints.
Titles:
En Route
Cobwebs, Dust, Broken Windows and Other Signs
Recklessness
Floating on the Lake, 4 a.m.
A Christmas Present Shaped Like a Baseball Bat
Bonus Exercise: 5 Random Constraints
Your piece must include at least one paragraph or stanza that is four words or fewer.
You must include at least five words which begin with the letter combination "Fl".
You must include one section of at least four consecutive words (from / to /) from the poem "Hotel Monterey" by Yongyu Chen with its great enjambment from the newest issue of Diode Poetry Journal.
You must include a homophone that has at least three different meanings, and it must be used at least three different ways.
You must describe something being planted (literally or metaphorically).
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If you'd like some background music to write to, try this mix of Norwegian folk music (accordion trigger warning).
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#22 Thirsting for Repetition
For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose which contains the following phrase at least four times (non-sequentially):
"I'm thirsty," she said.
Since today's repeated phrase is dialog, feel free to remove the tag and just use "I'm thirsty" as the repeated phrase. Just be sure that the repeated phrase earns its worth in your piece. It should be necessary.
Bonus Exercise: Also include at least one list that has 4+ items, and include the words "Cactus" "Popsicle" and "Abrade".
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If you'd like some background music to write to, try Rachmaninoff's "Piano Concerto #2 in C Minor, Op. 18".
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#21 Ekphrastic Empty Streets
For today, we're going to write a poem or prose piece inspired by another piece of art or an ekphrastic piece. The piece of art in question is the following image of an eerie empty Chicago freeway by artist Michael Salisbury.
If nothing right off strikes you try the following exercises along with the image.
Whenever you see an empty city in the movies it indicates some traumatic or cataclysmic event. Make a list of five possibilities that are plausible (if unlikely) and five extremely unplausible reasons for the empty streets.
Write at least five vignette paragraphs that each describe different types of businesses (bakery, Kinko's, Police station etc) and what normally occurs in them if you were to be looking at them on a normal day. Be specific and if what you're describing isn't inherently interesting, be sure to use a couple good words.
Try to imagine the exact opposite locale. Whether you think of it as a super crowded place or somewhere very rural or both. Write two vignettes describing this imagined place first from a positive perspective, as though you (very much like the place) and then from a negative perspective (as though you hate the place).
Pick your two or three favorite paragraphs from #2 and your favorite vignette from #3 and find a way to combine the four.
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If you'd like background writing music try La vie Parisienne, French Chansons From the 1930s & 40s.
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#20 Spontaneous Six Word Shootout 02
For today's writing exercise write a piece that includes the following six words. While it perfectly sets you up for a sestina, feel free to write whatever you'd like (but ya know, give that sestina a shot!).
Required Words:Sight, Date, Palm, Rose, Park, Ring
Bonus Exercise: As all of the words are homonyms, even if you aren't writing a sestina, include at least 2 different versions of each of the words (cite/site, date-fruit/date-occasion, palm-tree/palm-of-the-hand/psalm ring-phone/ring-finger/wring etc).
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If you'd like some background music to write to, try Bobby McFerrin's "Spontaneous Inventions" performance.
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#19 3x5x10 Wordbank 03
For today's writing exercise complete the following steps.
1) Pick one word from each of three groups and write a sentence that includes all of the words, feel free to change tense, pluralize, gerund etc.
2) Repeat the process ten (10) times using different combinations. No dawdling!
3) Now write a piece of fiction or poetry that uses at least three (3) of those sentences. Try to use as many of the sentences as you can, or parts of the sentences if the whole thing doesn't fit or works better altered.
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#18 Erasing The Crystal Egg 8
For today's exercise we have split paths for fiction and poetry, though I highly recommend that even fiction writers try the poetry exercise.
If you insist on fiction, write a piece which includes the phrase "a matter of opinion" at least three times, and ends with the phrase "matter of fact."
For poetry do an erasure or black-out poem from the following selection of H.G. Wells' short story "The Crystal Egg". An Erasure/Blackout is really simple: you take the given text and remove many words to make it your own new piece. One way to go about the erasure that I like to do is to copy the text and paste it twice into your document before you start erasing or blacking out (in MS Word set the text background color to black), that way if you get further into the erasure and decide you want a somewhat different tone or direction, it's easy to go to the unaltered version and make the erasure/black-out piece smoother. Another tip is to look for recurring words, in this example Cave and crystal both occur many times and could be good touchstones for your piece.
Erasure Selection:
from The Crystal Egg
Such were the first general impressions of Mr. Cave. The story is curiously direct and circumstantial. From the outset, when the valley first flashed momentarily on his senses, his imagination was strangely affected, and as he began to appreciate the details of the scene he saw, his wonder rose to the point of a passion. He went about his business listless and distraught, thinking only of the time when he should be able to return to his watching. And then a few weeks after his first sight of the valley came the two customers, the stress and excitement of their offer, and the narrow escape of the crystal from sale, as I have already told.
Now, while the thing was Mr. Cave’s secret, it remained a mere wonder, a thing to creep to covertly and peep at, as a child might peep upon a forbidden garden. But Mr. Wace has, for a young scientific investigator, a particularly lucid and consecutive habit of mind. Directly the crystal and its story came to him, and he had satisfied himself, by seeing the phosphorescence with his own eyes, that there really was a certain evidence for Mr. Cave’s statements, he proceeded to develop the matter systematically. Mr. Cave was only too eager to come and feast his eyes on this wonderland he saw, and he came every night from half-past eight until half-past ten, and sometimes, in Mr. Wace’s absence, during the day. On Sunday afternoons, also, he came. From the outset Mr. Wace made copious notes, and it was due to his scientific method that the relation between the direction from which the initiating ray entered the crystal and the orientation of the picture were proved. And, by covering the crystal in a box perforated only with a small aperture to admit the exciting ray, and by substituting black holland for his buff blinds, he greatly improved the conditions of the observations; so that in a little while they were able to survey the valley in any direction they desired.
So having cleared the way, we may give a brief account of this visionary world within the crystal. The things were in all cases seen by Mr. Cave, and the method of working was invariably for him to watch the crystal and report what he saw, while Mr. Wace (who as a science student had learnt the trick of writing in the dark) wrote a brief note of his report. When the crystal faded, it was put into its box in the proper position and the electric light turned on. Mr. Wace asked questions, and suggested observations to clear up difficult points. Nothing, indeed, could have been less visionary and more matter-of-fact.
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If you'd like some background music to write to, try Dvorak's "New World Symphony".
For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose which begins with a mad lib. It happens to be a mad lib of a relatively famous short poem, but don't let that sway you. Fill out the following word or phrase requests then click down and plug them into the mad lib below the jump.
First: Imagine someone whimsical or mysterious, not of ill-repute (in fact a good person in their way) but not the ordinary person. This is Person A. Whenever Person A is referenced, think of this person.
Your words:
1) Verb with an -er suffix that you'd associate with Person A (something you'd imagine them doing that speaks to the characteristics we've focused on in Person A):___________________________
2) Quantitative Adverb (mostly, slightly, partially, wholly etc):__________________________
3) Adjective you'd use to describe Person A:_______________________________
4) A positive (affirmative/good) adjective:____________________________
5) Positive/romanticized way of describing something damp or moist:____________________
6) Adjective:__________________________
7) Adverb:____________________________
8) A manner of purchasing something (charge, buy, order, venmo etc):_____________________________
9) Article of clothing:___________________
10) An accessory or smaller item of clothing:_________________________
11) A movement verb:________________________
Now write out the following poem with your words in the indicated places and we'll get to the meat of the exercise.
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#16 Counting More Repetition
For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose which contains the following phrase at least four times (non-sequentially):
"Again we counted."
Think of various things that are done repetitiously. Whether it's something like setting the table for dinner, starting a fire, gutting a piece of livestock, washing hands. Try to use either the same one thing multiple times or use multiple things to show the difference between things regularly done and things that are unique. Or do something completely different. In today's case, I would suggest adding "And" or "So" to the beginning of the sentence occasionally to switch it up just a little bit. Just be sure that the repeated phrase earns its worth in your piece. It should be necessary.
Bonus Exercise: Also include at least one list that has 4+ items, and include the words "Chute" "Frozen" and "Elicit".
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If you'd like some background music to write to, try the album "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel.
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#15
For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose which begins with one image, scenario, line of dialog or place and ends with another, and an optional additional requirement.
Begin With: The image of a citrus fruit in someone's hand.
End With: A description of Alpenglow.
Extra Credit Requirements: Include a green car including its make and year or model, and the words: "Eclipse", "Trooper" and "Supine".
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If you'd like some background music to write to, try the Daytime Ambiance and Music from the game Skyrim.
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#14 Title Mania Plus with a Dive 03
For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose which uses one of the following as its title. For a bonus challenge use the additional exercise of five random constraints.
Titles:
Inhale
Watching The Princess Bride for the Hundred and Third Time I Have a Revelation
Trinkets for Sale
North Las Vegas, 3:25 a.m.
Chinese Finger Traps, String Cheese and Pixy Stix
Bonus Exercise: 5 Random Constraints
Your first sentence must be five words long and end with the word "End".
You must include at least six words which begin with the letter combination "Str".
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#13 Ekphrastic Moon Service
For today, we're going to write a poem or prose piece inspired by another piece of art or an ekphrastic piece. The piece of art in question is the following image entitled "Full Moon Service" by artist Erik Johansson.
If nothing right off strikes you try the following exercises along with the image.
Who is the boss of this service company? Show us some behind-the-scenes of this moon service company.
Write the scene happening, a commonplace moon servicing, and invent some interesting conversation which has little or nothing to do with moons.
What was the moon like before this service? Write of the company's origins.
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If you'd like background writing music try the album "Bullfrog Blues" by Rory Gallagher.
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#12 Swingin' Six Word Shootout 01
For today's writing exercise write a piece that includes the following six words. While it perfectly sets you up for a sestina, feel free to write whatever you'd like.
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#11 3x5x10 Wordbank 2
For today's writing exercise complete the following steps.
1) Pick one word from each of three groups and write a sentence that includes all of the words, feel free to change tense, pluralize, gerund etc.
2) Repeat the process ten (10) times using different combinations. No dawdling!
3) Now write a piece of fiction or poetry that uses at least three (3) of those sentences. Try to use as many of the sentences as you can, or parts of the sentences if the whole thing doesn't fit or works better altered.
Word Bank 1:
Fraught
Humbly
Trinity
Flatten
Hay
Wordbank 2:
Thorn
Heir
Climactic
Fit
Fender
Wordbank 3:
Chute
Hedge
Lilac
Tarnish
Fasten
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If you'd like some background music to write to, try the 1980 album No Problems by the Chet Baker Quartet.
The Notebooking Daily Fall Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
#10 Erasing The Crystal Egg 7
For today's exercise we have split paths for fiction and poetry, though I highly recommend that even fiction writers try the poetry exercise.
If you insist on fiction, write a piece titled "Lichenous Trees and a Jeweled Fan"
For poetry do an erasure or black-out poem from the following selection of H.G. Wells' short story "The Crystal Egg". An Erasure/Blackout is really simple: you take the given text and remove many words to make it your own new piece. One way to go about the erasure that I like to do is to copy the text and paste it twice into your document before you start erasing or blacking out (in MS Word set the text background color to black), that way if you get further into the erasure and decide you want a somewhat different tone or direction, it's easy to go to the unaltered version and make the erasure/black-out piece smoother. Another tip is to look for recurring words, in this example Cave occurs many times and could be a good touchstone for your piece.
Erasure Selection:
from The Crystal Egg
Mr. Cave’s statements, Mr. Wace assures me, were extremely circumstantial, and entirely free from any of that emotional quality that taints hallucinatory impressions. But it must be remembered that all the efforts of Mr. Wace to see any similar clarity in the faint opalescence of the crystal were wholly unsuccessful, try as he would. The difference in intensity of the impressions received by the two men was very great, and it is quite conceivable that what was a view to Mr. Cave was a mere blurred nebulosity to Mr. Wace.
The view, as Mr. Cave described it, was invariably of an extensive plain, and he seemed always to be looking at it from a considerable height, as if from a tower or a mast. To the east and to the west the plain was bounded at a remote distance by vast reddish cliffs, which reminded him of those he had seen in some picture; but what the picture was Mr. Wace was unable to ascertain. These cliffs passed north and south — he could tell the points of the compass by the stars that were visible of a night — receding in an almost illimitable perspective and fading into the mists of the distance before they met. He was nearer the eastern set of cliffs; on the occasion of his first vision the sun was rising over them, and black against the sunlight and pale against their shadow appeared a multitude of soaring forms that Mr. Cave regarded as birds. A vast range of buildings spread below him; he seemed to be looking down upon them; and as they approached the blurred and refracted edge of the picture they became indistinct. There were also trees curious in shape, and in colouring a deep mossy green and an exquisite grey, beside a wide and shining canal. And something great and brilliantly coloured flew across the picture. But the first time Mr. Cave saw these pictures he saw only in flashes, his hands shook, his head moved, the vision came and went, and grew foggy and indistinct. And at first he had the greatest difficulty in finding the picture again once the direction of it was lost.
His next clear vision, which came about a week after the first, the interval having yielded nothing but tantalising glimpses and some useful experience, showed him the view down the length of the valley. The view was different, but he had a curious persuasion, which his subsequent observations abundantly confirmed, that he was regarding the strange world from exactly the same spot, although he was looking in a different direction. The long façade of the great building, whose roof he had looked down upon before, was now receding in perspective. He recognised the roof. In the front of the façade was a terrace of massive proportions and extraordinary length, and down the middle of the terrace, at certain intervals, stood huge but very graceful masts, bearing small shiny objects which reflected the setting sun. The import of these small objects did not occur to Mr. Cave until some time after, as he was describing the scene to Mr. Wace. The terrace overhung a thicket of the most luxuriant and graceful vegetation, and beyond this was a wide grassy lawn on which certain broad creatures, in form like beetles but enormously larger, reposed. Beyond this again was a richly decorated causeway of pinkish stone; and beyond that, and lined with dense red weeds, and passing up the valley exactly parallel with the distant cliffs, was a broad and mirror-like expanse of water. The air seemed full of squadrons of great birds, manoeuvring in stately curves; and across the river was a multitude of splendid buildings, richly coloured and glittering with metallic tracery and facets, among a forest of moss-like and lichenous trees. And suddenly something flapped repeatedly across the vision, like the fluttering of a jewelled fan or the beating of a wing, and a face, or rather the upper part of a face with very large eyes, came as it were close to his own and as if on the other side of the crystal. Mr. Cave was so startled and so impressed by the absolute reality of these eyes that he drew his head back from the crystal to look behind it. He had become so absorbed in watching that he was quite surprised to find himself in the cool darkness of his little shop, with its familiar odour of methyl, mustiness, and decay. And as he blinked about him, the glowing crystal faded and went out.
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If you'd like some background music to write to, try the album Tim by Avicii.
I believe strongly that keeping a notebook of snippets and interesting tidbits of information, dialogue, quotes, observations etc. is of great use to a writer. For one, I think the act of writing it down strengthens your memory of the thing you thought might be memorable enough to write, despite the inability to sit down at the given time to write an entire piece. It also serves as a reservoir of fragments to draw from when you are writing. David Kirby spoke well to the idea of a writer's notebook in an interview with Stephen Reichert of Smartish Pace when he said:
I’d have the young poets maintain a stockpile of linguistic bits: stories, weird words, snatches of conversation they’d overheard, lines from movies they’d seen or books they’d read. Most young poets will say something like, “Well, I have to write a poem now. Let’s see; what can I write about?” And then they end up writing about their own experiences, and, let’s face it, we all have the same experiences. So what all poets need is a savings account they can raid from time to time
This site is both a general writing blog, and one to help spark the writer's mind for ten to thirty minutes a day with short exercises which may not be full stories or poems, but will hopefully serve as a reservoir for future works.
I'm a writer living and teaching in San Diego. I received my BA from California State University, Long Beach, and my MFA from The University of Washington where I was the coordinating editor at The Seattle Review as it transitioned into its current "Long View" form. My writing has appeared in The Southern Review, The North American Review, The New York Quarterly, Permafrost, Bayou, 5AM, The California Quarterly, The Evansville Review, The Georgetown Review, Dark Matter, Cutthroat, Cairn, Miller's Pond, Pearl and The Lullwater Review among others and is forthcoming in ONTHEBUS's long awaited double issue, The Cape Rock and Exit 7. I've been once nominated for a Pushcart Prize and once did not receive a Pushcart Prize. I'm giving facial hair a go now too. Go figure.
If you have a piece that you really need another's opinion on, I may be able to help. Email zebulonworkshops@gmail.com if you would like to begin a correspondence. Critiques begin at $39 for 2 rounds of edits on a single poem and publishing advice.