Tag Archives: novel writing

Hello June! No Fear Creativity Challenge

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Hello June

 

In the month of June make a daily effort to face your creative fears. Challenge yourself to step outside of your comfort zone and try new things. Take your creativity in a direction that you may have thought was out of your reach.

Why?

Because sometimes you don’t know how long your arms are until you try to reach for something you thought was too far away.

Take some risks. Write that memoir. Write the essay that has been on your mind for a long time. Write the poems you have been afraid to write. Try a different art medium. Take the pictures you have dreamed of taking. Try a new art form. Challenge yourself to journal, draw, or blog every day. Write the lyrics that you haven’t written for fear no one would get it. Start that novel that you’ve always wanted to write and work on it every day. Create a character that challenges and even scares you.

Don’t let fear keep you in your comfort zone.

No one has to see what you are working on but you. You are accountable to yourself. Prove to yourself that fear is not going to stop you from taking your creativity to the next level.

Ready…

Set…

CREATE!

What are your writing fears? Preparing for the June Writing Challenge.

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We are coming up on another month with 30 days in it.

What a great time to create a new writing habit and complete a new challenge.

 

In preparing for next month, begin to think about what you are afraid of when it comes to your writing. What subjects are you afraid of addressing? What forms are you afraid of writing in? Where are you afraid to take your characters?

Begin to compile a list of these things.

Starting June 1st, you are going to tackle them. Write the story, poem, or article you are afraid to write. Put pen to paper and get down huge sections of the memoir that has been haunting you. Tackle forms and genres that you have found difficult.

June will be when you face your writing fears.


Get prepared now.

30 in 30: Day 30 – I hope you didn’t need a prompt to finish…

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I hope you didn’t need a prompt to finish.

But if you do…

Write about accomplishing a goal. No matter how small it is, write about what it means to either you or your character.

Happy Writing!

30 in 30: Day 29 – Embrace change

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Change something about your project today. Change your character in some way. Alter their perception or change their mind about something important. Change your direction. Turn left when you were clearly supposed to go right. Change the way you write a poem. Pick today to rhyme. Change the way you approach an essay. If you typically do a lot of research, go off the top of your head today.

 

Embrace change today and have some fun with it!

30 in 30: Day 27 – Insert your favorite dish

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Give something edible a staring role. Take the focus off of conflict, drama, or whatever else is going on in your writing and focus on the food.

Make sure to use all five senses.

Most of all, make sure to have fun writing!

30 in 30: Day 24 – Channel your energy

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Have you ever had someone tell you to write it out?

Even if you are feeling something that doesn’t seem to fit with what you are working, you should always try to find a way to channel that energy and throw it into your project.

This doesn’t always mean that your characters or your piece has to match the emotions you are feeling. Sometimes you  need to turn those emotions into motivation and write them out. Turn that stress and frustration into a beautifully creative piece. Use boredom as a time to throw your imagination into emergency boot camp.

 

So take whatever you are feeling and channel it. If you need to, time yourself to up the challenge factor.

 

Try to have some fun with this.

30 in 30: Day 22 – Expansion

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Take a short poem, like a haiku or even a six word story/poem, and expand on it. Fit it into what you have been writing. Use one you haven’t written. Why? Because you need to imagine what the story is behind the piece. Imagine what was going on in the writer’s mind and run with it. How does that fit with what you are thinking with your writing.

Stretch the piece. Stretch your creativity.

Happy writing!

30 in 30: Day 14 – Go ahead. Get it over with.

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Okay, so you know that topic you have been avoiding. You know, the scene you really don’t want to write. There is always that poem you have on your mind but don’t want to go there just yet.

Guess what, tomorrow might not happen.

WRITE IT NOW!

No matter how awkward or troublesome it may be, put it down on paper or type it out. You can always trash, burn, or delete it later. You never know, it may add something wonderful to your collection or story. If anything, you will have leapt that hurdle and can move on to the next one.

Happy Writing!

 

30 in 30: Day Twelve – Turn left… here!

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Okay. Insert an argument. Let this argument start out with some tie in to what you have written previously or something deeply rooted to your character or theme. Then let the argument go left.

You know… when an argument takes on a life of it’s own and is no longer about what it started out to be about.

Yes. Do that.

Take it there.

The more absurd the better.

This makes for beautiful poetry and prose. It takes the reader on a journey that they are captivated with even though they clearly realize they are going in circles.

Have some fun today!

30 in 30: Day Ten – Insert random story

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Throughout your travels, take a moment to people watch. Pick a particularly interesting person out. Add that person to your mix. Do not approach them or ask them about who they are. Imagine it. Write their story. What brought them to the place where you saw them? What is their current set of circumstances? What goes on in their mind?

Variety in a longer story adds spice. It can add freshness to a collection of poems, essays, or short stories.

Have some fun with it!

 

Happy Writing!

 

 

*Sorry for the delay in this post. I thought I hit publish.*