Tag: writing exercises

30DayStarChallenge
Take the #30DayStarChallenge with me!

Take the #30DayStarChallenge with me!

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If you haven’t seen my post earlier, then please, take a minute to go visit it HERE. On that post, I explain the motivation for doing it, and a little about the details. There’s also a downloadable calendar for you, if you want to use it.

The whole point of this challenge is to help get you (and me) motivated and back to a writing habit. Believe me, when you sit down and make yourself write, even if its total garbage and for only ten minutes a day, it becomes easier and easier to get those words out of your head and onto paper. Writing isn’t about being perfect the first time around. Its a process – you’re going to have the terrible first draft, and then you’re going to edit and polish it into something really awesome. It won’t happen in one draft – I don’t know any writers whose novels didn’t need serious edits. But if you never start, you can never finish, and that’s the goal – to finish!

I’m not saying that you’ll start and finish a novel in these 30 days – this isn’t NaNoWriMo! I just want to help you get writing into your daily routine. And, honestly, I need to get it back into mine!

The Details:

All you have to do to participate in the challenge is pick a word count goal – 200 words a day or 1000, it doesn’t matter. Just make sure you pick something that is realistic for you.

Print out the downloadable calendar I’ve made, or use your planner or other calendar, and get a set of small star stickers. I buy mine in Michael’s.

On April 1st, pick a time and sit down to write and meet your goal!

Every Friday, take a picture of your calendar and share it with the hashtag #30daystarchallenge on instagram, twitter, and/or Facebook. Encourage each other!

If you aren’t sure what to write, or you don’t have a novel started but you want to get those writing habits going, then think of participating in the #AprilCreativity posts that I’ll be posting each day of April. Every day will be a different prompt. Take a look, and use it as a warm up, or a way to get some inspiration!

 

Don’t Be Discouraged!

You are probably going to miss a day. Don’t let it make you stop! There are always times when maybe you aren’t near your computer, or life just got in the way. It happens. Just brush yourself off and try again tomorrow. Seriously. This isn’t about adding more stress to your life.

Don’t compare yourself to others either – take a look at their photos, encourage each other, but NEVER let it get you down. Just because someone writes 2000 words a day doesn’t make them a better writer or more of a writer. They just happened to write more words that day. It doesn’t matter how fast or slow you are – it matters that you made the attempt!

 

Connect!

Writing can be a lonely occupation. Take a few moments and connect with other writers participating using the #30daystarchallenge hashtag. Ask each other questions. Make friends! The writing community (especially the children/YA lit community, though I’m biased) is a really awesome place, with some truly amazing people. Use the opportunity to make connections with other writers!

 

30DayStarChallenge

Will you join me? I hope so! Let me know in the comments or connect on Twitter, FB, or Instagram!
#AprilCreativity – Day 5 – Photo Prompt

#AprilCreativity – Day 5 – Photo Prompt

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Okay! Here’s today’s first photo prompt! If you’re art journaling, you can sketch your version of the photo, print it out to use, or do something related or completely unrelated but inspired by the sketch. If you’re writing, then I’d suggest studying the picture, setting your timer, and free writing for five minutes. You could even add to a previous story or prompt if you think it would relate. 

Don’t forget – if you want to share what you’ve come up with, you can do it here in the comments or on social media with the hashtag #AprilCreativity.

#AprilCreativity – Day 4

#AprilCreativity – Day 4

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For this prompt, we’re going to do something a little different. Get out a sheet of paper.

Now, go and read this news article.

Now, spend 3-5 minutes making a mind map of some kind about the article and the ideas that it brings to mind. Brainstorm. After you’ve finished, you can either stop there, or you can:

​Writers: free write for 5 minutes.

Art Journalers: Think about the emotions you would have in this situation. Create an art journal page about those emotions.

#AprilCreativity – Day 2 – Dreaming

#AprilCreativity – Day 2 – Dreaming

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I’m starting you off slowly – so don’t worry. This one is pretty easy. Today, I want you to think back to a dream you had. Maybe it was last night, maybe it was one from a couple weeks or months ago that really stuck with you. If you can’t remember a dream that you like, or will think will work, call a friend or two and ask about their dreams. Then take that, and spend five minutes writing about it. You can describe it. You can write what happened after you woke up. You can write about something totally different. Entirely up to you!

If you’re doing an art journal, then draw a character from the dream. Doesn’t have to be human. Or draw a scene. Whichever will work best for you.

Don’t forget – if you want to share what you’ve come up with, you can do it here in the comments or on social media with the hashtag #AprilCreativity.
Day 1 – #AprilCreativity

Day 1 – #AprilCreativity

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All right! I’ve got pens and pencils at the ready, and my trusty writing journal/art journal with me. Time to start the prompt! Remember – I’ll be posting my spread from today (April 1) tomorrow in the comments of this post, as well as on instagram. This allows me time in the evenings to work on the journal, because I rarely have time before then. Feel free to post your own whenever you finish! It can be in the comments, or instagram or other social media – whatever works best for you! Be sure to use the #AprilCreativity tag when you do!
#AprilCreativity – A Month of Creativity

#AprilCreativity – A Month of Creativity

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April is the beginning of Spring (at least in my mind) and as such, it’s a good time to start new things. I’ve decided that I need to get back into my writing and art in a big way. So I’m trying something new this month – a month of art and writing journal prompts!

Now, I hope that others will join me. I’m going to post every day’s journal on my Instagram, blog, and FB pages with the hashtag #AprilCreativity so you can see what I’m doing (or not – accountability, right?). I hope you’ll join me. Feel free to post in the comments section here, and on twitter or Instagram – but make sure you add the hashtag so we can scroll through each other’s entries easily! Some days will be boring, full of words in the photos. Other days, it might be artistic and full of color. Either way, I hope it will inspire all of us to get back into the creative groove!

Here’s how it’s going to work:

Each day around 9 I’ll post the prompt for the day. They will be everything from photo prompts to music clips. At some point during the day, I’ll (and hopefully you as well) will sit down, use the prompt as the catalyst, and create.

It might be a free write about a photo prompt. The same photo prompt could be sketched, printed and used in a collage, or used as the inspiration for a seemingly unrelated piece of art. The key is that you create something – even if you don’t like it, or it doesn’t have any sort of relation to the prompt. The point is that you’ve stretched your creative muscles, and the more you do that, the easier it is the next time.

Like anything else, it requires practice to be creative. I can’t tell you how much harder it is to sit down and write when I’ve stopped for a while. But if I sit down and pound out 500 words a day – even if they’re crap and I’ll delete them later, the act of sitting down to write really makes it easier. If you look at my calendar and I do this on a regular basis, the amount of words written per day just goes up and up if I stick with it every day. When I do it sporadically, the numbers are low, and it’s easier to find other things to distract me.

In April, I’m making a real effort to create, and to help set a standard for myself that I will do my best to stick with for the rest of the year. I hope you’ll join me, and I hope you create amazing things!