Have you ever had an elephant in your head?
An elephant stomping about in your head. Taking up space. Giving you a headache…
…Whenever it’s time to write.
Elephants invade all writers’ heads at some point in their writing lives.
The elephant causes writers to stare aimlessly at their screens.
Twiddle their pens.
Flip through pages in an empty notebook.
Refer back to pages of research and pages of character notes.
All the while thinking…
Will anyone want to read this?
What if they don’t like what I write?
Do I know this character well enough to write an entire book?
What if I never finish this?
And all the while feeling anxious, frustrated, and incapable of making decisions.
The elephant in your head sounds a loud trumpet and its every step can feel like a crushing blow to your brain.
So what’s a writer to do?
Write!
And then write some more.
But, you may ask, “what do I write?”
Writing exercises to the rescue!
Writing exercises are powerful tools in the fight against the elephant in your head.
One ten-minute writing exercise can banish that elephant for a long while.
Try this one today:
1. Pick a physical object (quickly. No hunting it down. What do you see from where you’re sitting right now?).
2. Write about the object in 8 lines. Doesn’t have to be a poem (but it can be!).
3. Use simple language.
4. Don’t overthink it (this is key!). This exercise should take no more than 10 minutes. Tops.
5. If you enjoyed the exercise, repeat it with another object.
6. Elephant in the head, be gone!
William Carlos Williams 8-line poem, The Red Wheelbarrow, serves as inspiration for this exercise.
The Red Wheelbarrow
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens
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