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The Journal
Journal Keeping for the Creative Writer
Your inspiration rescue system
Your journal idea for this issue of
Words Words Words is simple: inspiration! What better way keep
inspired than to have a source book full of ideas and musings 24/7?
Among the things you want to jot down in this journal are ideas, thoughts,
prompts, exercises that seem to kick start your imagination, even
clip-outs from magazines that get your motor running.
You can call this one "In Case Of Writer's Block," "Writer's First
Aid" or something fun like that, because once you start filling out the
pages you can always turn to them in times of need.
Here are a few prompts & exercises to get you started:
- I could never
be the colour...
- Living in this
city/town has taught me...
- I could live
forever in a bucket of ___ ice-cream
- That's why this
particular part of my body is made of steel.
- It was the
ultimate after hours party...
- To me, pink lip
stick means...
- Roses compel me
to...
- My nickname
should be...
- I have been
oppressed by...
- I have to
confess...
- You remind me
of my bedroom...
- If Hamlet &
Macbeth were in the same castle together...
- If Jesus &
Buddha were in the same temple together...
- If the
Madonna and Madonna were in the same...
- When the sky is
gray, I...
- If I could live
a day as...
- Think of a
word. Write the first verse of a poem about that word. Let someone
else write the second verse. Let someone else write the third verse,
then you finish the poem with the last verse.
- Write a poem
based on a favorite quote, line of poetry, bumper sticker, graffiti,
etc.
- Write a poem
about: your favorite animal, your favorite tradition, a relative you
admire, one of your favorite childhood memories, a voice poem of
yourself right before you were born into this lifetime, while on your
deathbed.
- Play a word
association game with yourself and write a poem using the images
- Write a poem at
bedtime about your day
- Write a poem
about your favorite place
- Write a poem
about your least favorite colour
- Write a poem
for someone who’s never been in your home so they can visualize what
it’s like
- Write a poem
about the way you see god
- Write a poem
about your favorite holiday or special occasion
- Write a poem
with an allusion: refer to another work or character in your poem
- Do 2 minutes of
free writing: writing everything that comes to your mind
- Look for a
moment that can be made into an event or occasion, and write a poem
about it
- Write a poem
about a picture
- Write a poem
about something from your childhood backyard
- Find an article
in the newspaper that you feel strongly about, and write poem about it
- Write a poem
about a dream you’ve had
- Write a poem
about your astrological sign
- Write a fairy
tale poem
- Write a poem to
your unborn child
- Write a free
verse with some kind of parallelism
- Write a poem
about something useless in your junk drawer that you can’t throw away
- Write a poem
about strawberries
- Write a poem
about water
- Choose 4 out of
12 words to write a poem with
- Write about
flowers, winter, a strong feeling
- Write a poem
for voices
- Write about a
subject of change
- Think of a
number between 1 and 500 then turn to that page in the dictionary.
Think of a number between 1 and 15 and write a poem about the word on
the page that equals that number
- Write a poem
with 26 words, each word starting with letters from the alphabet from
A-Z
- Think of a
word, then see how many words you can get out of that word using the
letters. Don’t double any letters.
- Write a poem
about your last kiss
- Write a poem
using one of these to start it off: Her eyes hung like…, His body
became as still as…, his nostrils flared like…, Her lips pierced his
like…, Her voice rang like…, His arms reached out like…
- Write a poem
where every word begins with the same letter: Babes by bliss boldly
basking full blood bears being breaking burning blushing
-
Take a poem by any author and replace all
the nouns and verbs with yours
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Words Words Words. All Rights
Reserved. |
