Never heard of 'em until I was reading a post a couple of days ago and a poster mentioned the term, with no further explanation. I'm not sure where the post was. This seems like a good idea. Who here does it? If so, what would they comprise of? I see there are writing challenges and so forth on the forums but, to me, that does not seem like a warm-up exercise. I'm all ears.....
...ditto that!... i can't imagine anything like that for writers... though it's a must for athletes and dancers, to get the blood flowing and the muscles loosened up, the brain is not a muscle and doesn't cramp up, when 'jump-started'... ...what i do do, however, to keep it sharp and in tip-top condition, is to 'work out' in my non-writing time, with the nyt sunday crosswords and the hardest acrostics i can find [i buy both in collected/book form]... it's also a very good way for those who are starting out as writers to improve their vocabulary, if that's needed...
Well, you might want to rotate your head a few times and shake the tension out of your shoulders, to forestall any neck/neck/shoulder cramping...
the most intimidating thing to a writer is a blank piece of paper, a good excersize is to attack the paper and ink it up real good. In college I had a Professor who was into 'stream of consciousness' writing to warm up creativity. (I think there are better methods for promoting creativity, but it was cool) Basically, for a few minutes striaght, sit down and just start writing and dont stop until the time you have set runs out. Just spill out words, write anything that comes to your mind, even if its nothing, write that 'I have nothing to say now' and keep writing. It forces the unconscious to come forward and take over. Usyally I just wrote down what I was thinking about, at the time I was taking alot of political science classes so it was leftist propaganda, but it was a healthy excersize because it forced me to write and keep writing. One time my hand just woke up and started writing on its own without me, when the Prof said 'stop' I was still going! mostly good for quantity over quality, but yes, good for shaking out cobwebs and getting SOME result other than blank pages.
jonathan hernandez13, You said "I think there are better methods for promoting creativity" I was just wondering if you would share you're thoughts on those as well.
I think there are many different techniques you can utilize. I always keep a seperate journal on me at all times. Then, each day i write an entry usually two pages long as someone else with a fictitious life. I try to make it suspenseful and interesting, while keeping it short. It gets those juices flowing, and i have also sparked some ideas just from those entries. Im not sure if this would work for anyone else, but i enjoy it and it helps me focus by making sure i write at least a little everyday.
I keep an extra, smaller notebook next to the notebook in which I'm actually writing. In this smaller notebook, when I've stopped writing in the bigger one, I start to scribble or write random words or sentences. For some reason just that act of keeping the ink flowing really helps me gather my thoughts and see things through. My productivity has gone through the roof since introducing the second notebook.
some of the friends I hang out with are cool to drink beers with and dont even read books, and talk about...nothing really. some friends are brilliant and critical thinkers and understand why you like to write and may encourage you to write more. certain environments and people promote creativity, they foster it, some things and people can't and only hinder it. Thats why I dont go out with the fellas to sip down beers anymore, its pointless and time-wasting. Average people talk about other people Above average people talk about events. Influencial people talk about ideas. Hang out with the people who talk about ideas.
I've never heard of any exercises, but I've been having trouble motivating myself, so this seems like a good thing to get me going.
Thanks to everyone for contributing. There are some great ideas here. I especially like the idea of keeping an extra notebook and writing as a ficticious character. I've attempted stream of consciousness jotting before and I can never make it happen. Some days, like today, I just can't write. I have the ideas to work with but the prose comes out stiff. Going to try out some of the techniques posted here. Thanks again....
