I just finished teaching a group of teens at the Sage Hill Saskatoon experience.  Great group.  Great writing.  Great to be surprised by their work as the week went on. 

Here’s one simple exercise I used (modified) with the group for you to try – we did it on the first day to get words flowing:

DON”T LET YOURSELF STOP WRITING UNTIL THE TIME IS UP – even if you’re writing the same word over and over. 

Go: Freewrite for 10 minutes on your earliest memory.  Stop.  Freewrite for 10 minutes on someone you admire.  Stop.  Freewrite for 10 minutes on the word window.  Stop.

That’s 30 minutes writing all together.  Somewhere in the words you’ve got down there will be ideas and maybe even sentences that you can use later on.  Freewriting helps you discipline yourself to pour words out and stops you editing yourself before you’ve got something to work with.  Try it.

It’s Sunday and hopefully you’ve got a window of time today where you can write.  Sit at the computer or get out a pen and paper and make sure there can be no distractions.  Switch off your phone, cut your internet connection for this exercise.

And now you’re going to write without thinking, without stopping, for twenty minutes.  Free writing will help you relax into the words and free you up to let your creative side go.

Use the word fight to get you started.  Write anything that comes to mind, even if for a couple of minutes you just have to write the word fight over and over again.  The idea is to get writing.

Sometimes you really don’t feel like writing. Not one bit. The thought of getting any words on the page is scary or tiring or just impossible with all the other things going on in your life. I find it hard to turn to a blank page with the distraction of the internet – news about the ash cloud or the election, facebook to check, twitter to scroll through, my inbox to deal with – or the millions of daily tasks that seem to grow in number every day.

Right now, I want to work on a new book. I have ideas which come to me late at night or when I’m doing one of those millions of tasks. But getting myself to actually write is challenging. If this is happening to you, then here’s my advice. Give yourself a break. Let yourself off writing for a few days. Build up a head of steam. Tell yourself that on (choose day) at (choose time) for (choose length of time) you WILL be writing. During your time off, let yourself think about the project you want to work on. Allow the words to tumble through your mind. By the time it gets to your chosen day, you’ll be glad to get all those words that are pressing at your brain down on the page because while you’ve given yourself a break and stopped nagging yourself you’ll have let some of the joy come back into writing.

And remember, when you get to the blank page don’t worry about every word being perfect. Just let yourself write and have fun.

It sound so easy when I write it for you! Now I just need to really give myself a break…allow myself some time off…build up a head of steam…