Idea Seeds! Start your page with any of the following and see where your creative muse takes you:

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Dialogue is one of the most difficult writing skills for many writers. Today’s exercise is to write a scene of dialogue between your main character and a close friend. The main character is comforting his/her friend on the loss of a loved one. Whether or not your main character knew the deceased is up to you.

Write about your favourite restaurant/coffee shop/fast food outlet. Why do you like to go there? What makes it so special? Describe the interior, the staff and the menu. Then write a review of the place as if for a local newspaper.

Your exercise today is to incorporate all of the following words into an article, short story, poem or whatever comes to mind. You must use all of the words (in any order) to complete the exercise, but the context in which they are used is up to you. Think about the words for a few minutes before you start to write and see what pictures come to mind - then see if you can weave them all together into a piece of writing.

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Describe a themed party you’ve either attended, given, or would like to give. What was/would be the theme, how was/would the theme be carried through the party by way of decoration, food etc. If you don’t like themed parties, write down an explanation for why these don’t interest you.

Idea Seeds! Start your page with any of the following and see where your creative muse takes you:

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Have your main character write a letter to his/her parents where they reveal a hurt that was inflicted long ago and still remains a scar. The parents could have inflicted the hurt, or they could have stood by and not done anything about it. Your choice. The point of the exercise is to use words that convey a strong emotion - reading it afterwards, can you feel the pain of your protagonist? If not, go back over it and change a few words and see if you can emotionally charge the letter.

Write the title “Seashells and Rockpools” at the top of your page, set your timer for 20 minutes, and then start. Keep the writing going until your timer goes off. Fiction, non-fiction, personal memory - it doesn’t matter. Whatever the title brings to mind, write it down. When your timed session is over, read through what you’ve wrote - maybe there’s the start of a new work in progress there, or the bones of an article just needing some meat on it!

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Your exercise today is to incorporate all of the following words into an article, short story, poem or whatever comes to mind. You must use all of the words (in any order) to complete the exercise, but the context in which they are used is up to you. Think about the words for a few minutes before you start to write and see what pictures come to mind - then see if you can weave them all together into a piece of writing.

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