Many times I will work very hard on various little tasks in order to clear a block of time to dedicate to writing either a blog article, a marketing piece or even the first draft of a brand report. I have lots of enthusiasm when I’m completing those little tasks, and then–bam!–I’m facing that empty page. Even though I may have an outline or bullet list of points for the article or report, I’m still stuck.
Writing is a muscle that needs warming up and flexing before it can really get going.
Here is a great little exercise to use as a warm-up. Do this at one sitting right before you’re ready to jump into the work at hand.
- Write down the first object you saw this morning, giving it a name. Eg. The first thing I saw this morning was my clock. His name is Tock.
- Describe two things about the object as if it were a person. Eg. Tock has a red, glowing eyes and dark brown skin.
- Describe one thing this object wants from you more than anything else. Eg. Tock wishes I would hit his snooze button more softly.
It sounds silly, but this exercise will get your creative mind moving. The very act of writing is creating, and almost everything you write–even an e-mail!–is telling some kind of story.