10 Topics to Warm Up the Writing Muscle

Sometimes we sit at our desks to write and can’t think of anything to write about.  We face the blank page.  We sit there until blood pours from our foreheads, as one famous author was heard to say.

Making a list can be good.  It makes you start noticing material for writing in your daily life, and your writing comes out of a relationship with your life in all its richness.

10 ideas for writing practice:

• Begin with “I don’t remember”. If you get stumped, just repeat the words “I don’t remember” on the page again and keep going.
• Tell about sound as it arises. Be aware of sounds from all directions as they arise:  sounds near, sounds far, sounds in front, behind, to the side, above or below.  Notice any spaces between sounds.
• Tell me about last evening. Dinner, sitting on the couch, preparing for bed.  Be as…