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?