When we’re between projects, or not writing for whatever reason, there’s nothing like trying, what I like to call, writing out of the blue.
Writing out of the blue is often what we find ourselves doing if we sign up for a workshop. It’s fresh writing, writing we weren’t expecting to do and which involves no planning and no intended outcomes. Outcomes are forgotten, we are liberated to just write, write anything, write something which, in the first instance, we have no thought of carrying on with.
This kind of writing exercises our writing muscle, but it may also light the touch paper for something new and exciting. Now this may or may not happen. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that we write because in the act of writing new ideas and connections begin to form in our minds. Writing out of the blue can get the writing ball rolling again especially if it’s been stuck in the mud.
Here are 4 different writing out of the blue prompts. Choose one and don’t think about it, just start writing.
1.Write for 5 mins about your mother’s (or grandmother, aunt, sister or friend’s ) kitchen, include the sink and the oven, something green and something dead.
Now have someone walk into the kitchen and write for another 5 mins – if there was already someone there then include dialogue.
2. Write for 5 mins about a garden in winter, include something red, something buried and a hot water bottle.
Now have an animal enter the garden and write for another five minutes.
3. Write for 5 mins about the coast or the city, include a red coat, a window and a swimmer.
Now have a busker arrive on the scene and write for another 5 mins.
4. Write for 5 mins about a derelict place, include something orange, a roll of wallpaper and a drum.
Now have a child or young person enter this place and write for 5 more minutes.
Now you have some writing! What if anything do you like about what you’ve written? Where if anywhere could it go?
