Artwork “La Polentina” by Joey Guidone: https://www.joeyguidone.com/shop/
I’ve recently accepted, sadly, that I’ll be home a lot longer than I had hoped. What to do? At first, I thought it would be a great time to write but it’s been hard to stay motivated. Then I found myself writing a little too much about how tired I was of sitting alone at home. That sure didn’t perk me up! So, I decided to think up some writing tricks.
What am I doing?
On small pieces of paper, I have written out genres of writing, including: rhyming poetry, haikus, prose poetry, fiction, memoir and children’s story. I can add more as time goes by and more ideas come to me. I’ve put these paper pieces in a shallow bowl. When it is time to write something new, I randomly select one of the slips. Then I go into a room that contains a number of items such as books or knick-knacks or kitchen utensils or cosmetics or… you get the idea, eh? I close my eyes, spin around a few times (but not enough to get dizzy), point my finger, open my eyes, and write about whatever it is that I’m now pointing toward.
So far, I have written a rhyming poem about berry-scented hair conditioner, a children’s story involving a pancake flipper and I’m now working on a memoir based off my favourite Louise Penny novel.
Try it. It’s fun!
Marnie Shepherd