writing exercises Archives - MUSE • Leslie Keenan

What Hansel and Gretel Taught Me About Writing

When I am writing in flow, which is what I always aspire to do, it feels like such a relief. At last, the words are coming and I can’t get my thoughts down fast enough. But then, inevitably, my time to write ends. And then the next time I show up, that excited energy is long gone; I don’t remember where I am or what I want to write next. Often, it’s so tempting to go back to the beginning and re-read to enter back into my piece. I’ve learned…read more

Small Frequent Rewards to Keep Going

Studies have proven that small frequent rewards for achievement help us the most to keep us on track in reaching our goals. Most often you will find these studies listed under things like weight-loss, but it turns out they work just fine for keeping you on your writing schedule. I think National Novel Writing Month has done a great job in giving those who sign up a lot of strokes and tangible rewards (even milk and cookies at Night of Writing Dangerously in Oakland) but you don’t have to…read more

Word Count – Could It Be Hurting Your Writing Life?

At the beginning of national novel writing month, it’s worth asking, does setting word count goals help? I’ve always had students who do this, sometimes weekly, sometimes daily counts. And then I’ve had students who are intimidated by this. Here’s what I think. Sometimes having an artificial word count (even a ridiculous one like in NANOWRIMO) can help spur you on, move you past the negative judgmental voices in your head, and get you writing in flow. Even if you ultimately cut half the words you write, at least now…read more

Trust, and Just Show Up

from my most recent newsletter… Are you still writing when you show up and nothing happens? You know, those times when you are all prepared to write and your fingers are on the keyboard and you are staring at the blank screen, and nothing happens? The other day in class, one student was berating herself during check in. “I sat there for a whole hour and didn’t get anything done.” I hear this a lot during check ins. “I showed up but I just struggled.” “I showed up but only…read more

Going Deep

From my End-of-Year Newsletter, 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I want to revisit a topic I brought up back in July (“The Value of Doing Nothing”). It seems even more important and appropriate as we turn into winter, the fallow time of the year. The topic is this: the importance, no – more than that – the absolute, vital necessity of going deep in order to do our creative work. By going deep, I mean really having enough time to immerse yourself deeply in your work, or to discover what in fact the…read more

The Bucket List

From my Newsletter, Autumn 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I was talking to my mother on the phone two weeks ago and she said, of going to the new Yankee Stadium, “That’s another thing off my bucket list!” That night, while giving the exercise of writing down ten book ideas to a new class, I thought, hmm, what if you had a book bucket list? If you are wondering what the heck buckets have to do with anything, a bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you die…read more

A Little, Easy Thing…

From my Newsletter, August 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Because I am now working on this myself, and because it came up in my last Microsoft Word for Writers class, I thought it worth bringing up again how helpful it is to have your files in order on your computer, and to name your different versions correctly so you can find everything in one place. This is a little like creating a binder on your computer for your work. And since I think what our work is about is bringing ideas into form,…read more

The Value of Doing Nothing

Posted by Leslie in Time, Writing

From my Newsletter, Late Summer 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In our busy-busy; go-go culture, spending time idly, perhaps even staring into space, is not thought well of. In fact, if you went by what people say in the press, you’d think having some alone-time is highly suspect. When reporters couldn’t follow Obama at all times on the campaign trail, because, gasp, he wanted to have some moments alone, they didn’t understand why. And yet, for creativity to emerge, we need some down-time for it to formulate itself, or for us to access…read more

Writing: Visual or Auditory?

From my Newsletter, June 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I had an interesting discussion with a student in a recent class. Someone had made editing suggestions that she wasn’t sure about, and she wanted me to review them. As we went over each suggested change, I realized what was going on. My student tends to write from a more auditory position, and the feedback was from a more visual perspective. Some of you may be familiar with Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP). As with many things I know, I first learned of it through publishing…read more

From First to Second Draft: The Journey Continues…

From my Newsletter, Spring 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A student who finished her first draft (yeah!) asked me, How should I approach doing the edit? If you’ve taken my and others’ advice and let yourself just write out the first draft to the end, there are a bunch of things you have to look at in the edit which will produce the second draft. First, structural things. Are there places you know things need to change? What things do you know now that you’ve finished the draft that you didn’t know in…read more