Write 15 Minutes a Day Challenge (WFMAD) – Day Six

You’ve almost made it through the first week – congratulations!

I have lots to write today, plus hours of work in the garden, so I’ll keep this short and sweet.

Today’s goal: Write for 15 minutes (minimum).

Today’s mindset: writing without thinking.

And now you’re saying to yourself: “What the heck does that mean “writing without thinking?” How can I do that?

You know when you are in that country between sleep and wakefulness, how your thoughts drift from image to image without effort, sometimes making creative leaps of imagination? That’s the place you want to be in today. Even if you have a Work In Progress, take a little break from it for fiteen minutes and play with this exercise.

When you read the prompt (don’t peek at it yet!) I want you to write down a list of the first 20 nouns that the prompt brings to mind. Please note: NOUNS. Not adjectives or verbs.

From the 20 nouns, pick three or four that are the most vivid. Build on the image of those nouns and figure out which one provides you with the strongest picture in your mind. In the remaining time you have left (feel free to take more time if you want) write in exquisite detail about this image. Paint a picture with words. Your could craft a scene, or you could just describe what you see. But don’t overthink it. Let the image tumble through the magic of your mind.

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Today’s image prompt: Your mother in a pretty dress.

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10 Replies to “Write 15 Minutes a Day Challenge (WFMAD) – Day Six”

  1. Woke up at 4am for no reason today, so I wrote for about 30 minutes. Then my brain shut down in protest…I’m definitely NOT a morning thinker, so I definitely did the writing without thinking thing. 🙂

    My kids go back to preschool tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to a full day of writing. This 15 minutes a day thing came at the right time for me, so thanks for setting this up. I’m going to keep using it for the weekends, since I don’t usually get anything done then. But I’ve really enjoyed this prompt. 🙂

  2. I like what you said about writing without thinking, about being in the country between sleep and awake to write. That’s why I like to write first thing in the morning, when I’m not quite awake yet. It’s my best time.

  3. Oh me, too! The house is quiet in the early morning, and my inner critic’s not fully awake.

    I added you to my f-list awhile ago, for lots of reasons. I’m really enjoying these “15-minute” posts, especially. Thank you.

  4. I’m going with the forgiveness of your last post–didn’t even try to manage the 15 minutes for the short holiday trip. But am back on track today, although my goal is actually thinking without writing! It’s just time for some of that. 🙂

  5. Today was definitely less planned than the past few, and I think that’s why it flowed better. I had an idea of where my characters should end up, and it’s been brewing for awhile, but I wasn’t sure how to get there. Today I did, or at least started to.

    Initiating a romance that I didn’t suspect for a long time, though, isn’t the easiest thing to do! Especially when one character is broken and not ready to be in a relationship at all . . . too bad she doesn’t know that.

  6. Wow. I think I see your concept, but the prompt left me totally stumped and uncomfortable, because I never ever saw mother in a pretty dress. It’s a foreign concept to me. Her taste in clothing was ghastly, probably because she was blue-green color blind. And she had low self esteem about her body image, poor thing. She wore dumpy-ugly house dresses and aprons.

    I’m going to try this again tomorrow and make myself up another prompt.

  7. yeah, but there is so much you could do w/ that. What if you wrote your piece from the perspective of a very young child, who thinks the dumpy dress is pretty becauseof the flowers in it, but when the new neighbor’s come to call, the kid sees how they react to Mom…..

    just a thought

  8. I need to add to the chorus of individuals and thank you for doing this and providing prompts and goals and motivations. I am an attorney (for whatever reason, that is the first thing I think of when I have to define myself), and I recently lost my job, so this challenge happened along at exactly the right time for me. It helps with my focus and motivation and gives me something to look forward to each day as I attempt to figure out Life and re-define myself as something more than just the job I once had.

    🙂

  9. I too had a hard time thinking of my mother in a pretty dress, or in a dress at all, although I am sure she wore them. But it was so long ago…so I did my fifteen minutes on my WIP. This is the first time I have written on six consecutive days in forever, so I am very happy to have found this challeng…Thanks. Really, though, I was going to write on the prompt today until I found out what it was. I tried to think of other angles, like you suggested above, but could not.

    I have used the list method you suggested, with choosing three words, etc. It was an ICL lesson I had several years ago, and I actually used a modification of the story I wrote at that time in my current WIP. Good method to get writing.

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