Writing Challenge

Lifted from Song Talk with Morry Campbell.

This writing assignment involves working with a chapter in the book Writing Down the Bones.

So here's the challenge. Based on the chapter First Thoughts from the book: Get a notepad of some kind, and write in it for a pre-determined amount of time every day for a week. If you already keep a journal, then you're set. If you don't, start one, at least for the next week. Write every day, and write for the same amount of time. If it's five minutes, let it be five minutes. If it's ten, make it ten. Twenty minutes, thirty--whatever is doable for you. Keep in mind the following rules:

Keep your hand moving
Don't cross out
Don't worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar.
Lose control
Don't think. Don't get logical.
Go for the jugular
Ms. Goldberg goes into much more detail in the book, so read on for further advice on how to make that work for you.


Anyway, back to the assignment. After you've journaled in this way for seven days, on the eighth day, go back and read what you have written. Look for something, anything, that sparks your imagination, and write a song (or poem, or essay, or something) around it.

Soon we meet, yes?

January 21, 2009 - The Writer's Tablet

Take a piece of prose writing by a favorite author of which you are particularly fond. You will need a largish paragraph with which to work for this exercise; and you may want to try it more than one time, so multiple copies would be beneficial too. Scan through the paragraph circling every third word. Take a look at the words that you circled. Do you see a theme emerge? Try again. Scan through a new copy of the paragraph circling every fourth word. Any themes? Try a scan of every fifth word. You get the idea.

This is a fantastic exercise for writing poems and songs, as it narrows the focus beginning with a topic that one finds interesting. Sometimes, when writing, it is difficult to turn the focus of a piece outward since we are comfortable writing from the inside out. This helps the writer center a piece around a focus that is foreign to the ego, yet holds some connection for the intellect.

January 19, 2009 - The Writer's Tablet

Write the words "civil rights" in the middle of your page.

Use a brainstorming or listing technique to come up with as many associations as you can about civil rights. Jot down anything that comes to mind in the span of two or three minutes. If you don't come up with many things, allow yourself a couple more minutes.

Branching out from these associations, allow yourself time to write down associations for each of the secondary level topics. You can keep taking these associations out further and further until you feel the need to stop.

Extension Activity: These type of web activities are often used for organizing thoughts in essay writing, but they work well for creative writing too. Start organizing your connections on the web. You can create just about anything from this type of web, from a poem to a piece of art. The trick is to use only a portion of the web and concentrate your project on that portion.

Happy Birthday, MLK!

January 18, 2009 - The Writer's Tablet

Journal Activity (prose) for character development:

Think about your favorite section of the grocery store. Begin a list of items that you would find in that section. Your first list should be very basic (apples, lettuce, peppers). List items consistently for about five minutes. Return to the top of the list and write the following qualities about each item:

How does it smell?
How does it look (colors, cleanliness, etc.)?
How does it feel?
How does it sound when you pick it up or drop it in the cart?
How does it taste?

Once you have finished your list, think of five to ten people you know and compare each of them to one item on the list.

Finally, write a short skit using your five characters that is set at the check-out line of the grocery store. The conflict should center around their order in the check-out line.

by A.E. Bayne

A kite and a hopeless gesture,
too many trees to win today,
and no wind to carry the message.

Moon Tree

Someday this will all die down
And we'll find the rhythm of you and me
Is nothin' more than
a 2 2 beat

Let's make up a song
full of longing and lust
Dance down the road
Stir up the dust

Promise me when I fall down
You'll kiss my brow and make it right
Sew my gaping wounds up tight

Pick up my heart
blow off the dust
Sing me a song full of
hope, faith, and trust


That oak tree fell straight down
Right here in my yard
Pushed around by the storm

The full moon looks down
Have we been here before
In a red nightgown
Tip toe cross the floor

The mist is rollin round
The sirens sing a song of desire
While we dance through this fire

Back full of scars
Splinters in my heart
The rooster cries
Out of time out of dark

The crops have been cut down
The field now lays exposed
And now I can see the road

Sun's coming up
Everything is so clear
Our eyes adjust
Goodbye my dear

Someday this will all die down
And we'll find the rhythm of you and me
Is nothin' more than
a 2 2 beat

New song by Ruth, Emily, and Tim G

All Heart

All heart, you said you were all heart
Honest flesh and blood
A real man just for me
I believed everything you said

You said you were true
You said "It's only you"

Well your heart, stole my heart
then left it cold and alone
but my heart, my lonely heart
thought it had found a home

You said you loved me
You never loved me

Your heart, your hollow heart
It's just an empty shell
Like the one fell out of my gun
I'll see you in hell

You lied to me
You're dead to me

Oh my heart, it stopped my heart
When they carried you away
And my heart, my restless heart
Will never be the same

I'll always love you
With all my heart