Writer's Workshop

For years now I have said I want to be a writer. I want to write a book. Sometimes I even get brave and say I don't just want to write a book, I will write a book! Someday. Later. It's always someday later. And so, nothing happens. So I just set myself a new goal. I will write every day. Even if it's completely worthless, at least it's still good practice and gets me in the habit and sooner or later something will come of it.

Luckily my sister is also interested in writing. Actually two of them are. So here's the fun we've been having lately...

I got this book at the library called Fast Fiction. It has over 300 prompts in it and what you have to do is set a timer for five minutes, randomly select a writing prompt and then go from there! The writing prompts are very general ("write a story about a wish" or "write a story about forgiveness... death... flying... a lost object... a color... waves... etc." so you could come up with anything, and it's great because in five minutes you don't have time to be critical or second-guess yourself (my biggest writing hang-ups). There's no time to worry about impressing anyone or trying to sound clever. In fact you don't have time for anything but writing - if you're going to finish your story before the time runs out.

We have done about 10 exercises now and I am loving it. Most of what I come up with is not amazing, but some of it is surprisingly good and all of it is great practice. And already I'm finding bits of stories or characters that could eventually be part of a short story or even a novel. Very exciting.

It's also been nice to write with a partner because we can share and compare our stories and ideas and talk about what we like and don't like about our own and give encouraging feedback to the other person. Plus it helps me to not cheat or give up.

So maybe I really will write that book. Someday. Sooner!