An actor practices and hones their craft of creating emotion where there is none; creating entire characters from words on a page; becoming something they are not and yet pieces of themselves show through their work.

Writers need to hone their craft too. Writing exercises help us think outside the normal boundaries we set for ourselves; sometimes even extending those boundaries.

You can find many websites that have writing prompts. I like the poet Bernadette Mayer’s Writing Experiments. They really make me think, and you know I love that.

Here’s one:
“The uses of journals. Keep a journal that is restricted to one set of
ideas, for instance, a food or dream journal, a journal that is only written
in when it is raining, a journal of ideas about writing, a weather journal.
Remember that journals do not have to involve “good” writing-they are to be
made use of. Simple one-line entries like “No snow today” can be inspiring
later. Have 3 or 4 journals going at once, each with a different purpose.
Create a journal that is meant to be shared and commented on by another
writer—leave half of each page blank for the comments of the other.”

I haven’t been a great journal writer. I begin well but quit and I don’t go back to them; its part of the process of learning my own way of doing things. I start a journal on the computer and nothing ever comes of it. However, if I put pen to paper, it’s as if I can feel the thing evolving out of me and I seem to stick with it longer.

It makes no matter if you create these journals in a file on your computer or in notebooks under your bed, the point is to learn about yourself and how you create; what you can contribute; your style.

I’m off to convince one of my dearest oldest friends to create a joint journal with me. I’ll let you know how it goes. In the mean time, if you aren’t sure what kind of journal you should start, start with writing letters. Write a letter to someone you know, or someone you don’t know; someone you are close to, or some historical figure. If you have ever wanted to tell someone something but couldn’t, or thought of something you wanted to say but were kept from it because the conversation went elsewhere, write that thing.