“Oh boy! Oh boy!” cried the monk-on-probation who had just cracked the Zen Master’s favourite (and valuable) drinking cup.
The frightened youngster went to the Zen Master and asked, “Why must there be death?”
The Master answered, “Death is natural. It comes to all persons and things. We should not greet it with fear or meet death with anger. Why do you ask?”
“Because, Master, death has come upon your cup.”
– Zen Fables For Today
There are loads of exercises you can do that use acrostics to give your writing brain a work out. These kind of word games rarely produce anything useful but they can help you to get unstuck if you don’t know what to write. They’re also good for encouraging you to think of a variety of… Continue reading Writing Exercise: Fun with Acrostics!
The Sun represents the ego or sense of self and the way you express yourself as an individual. It reveals your creative potential, physical vitality, feelings of hope, and sense of personal authority. The Sun mediates between the inner self and the outside world, and stands for the male role model, such as the father… Continue reading How to Interpret the Natal Sun
The Dalai Lama describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk. Today he turns 80 and to celebrate, here’s some great quotes to inspire you on a Monday morning… Happy Birthday Tenzin Gyatso! Image: Dalai Lama (Click images to make them larger if you can’t read them ;) )
This exercise uses a newspaper headline as a starting point for a piece of writing. It’s not about trying to write something perfect or even interesting, just take a headline from a newspaper or online and see what ideas it triggers. Allow your pen to go with the flow of whatever comes up and write… Continue reading Writing Exercise: Newspaper Headline
This writing exercise is a way to challenge yourself and have fun at the same time. The idea is to pick three random words, the more disconnected from each other the better, and then add an emotion. Then you write for ten minutes and incorporate all the words in a way that conveys the emotion… Continue reading Writing Exercise: Random Story Generator
Another writing exercise to get the juices flowing! This time we’ll explore five of our favourite words – these could be any word you like or whatever is rattling around inside your head at the moment. Try to choose words that are concrete rather than abstract, words that point to something real, not an idea.… Continue reading Writing Exercise: Five Favourite Words
I’m preparing to rewrite my second novel (again) so thought I’d limber up with some writing exercises, get the old fiction juices flowing. I’ll share the instructions for each exercise and the results, and you can ‘write along’ with me, if you like. Note: I’m doing these exercises longhand and then typing them up –… Continue reading Writing Exercise: What’s in a Word?
I dream of being a flexible yogini. To balance with poise and grace, and wrap my feet around my neck. Such strength, such self-mastery. I can’t even touch my toes! There are many kinds of yoga, but my kind involves a lot of swearing – not exactly the spirit of the thing. Years of bad… Continue reading Yoga Pants: A Day of Yoga (and swearing!)
Yoga is an ancient spiritual discipline from India which aims to transform the body and mind. Many think yoga is just another form of exercise, but the word comes from the Sanskrit yuj which means to join or unite. In Hindu philosophy the mind and body are seen as a single, unified entity. Imbalances in the… Continue reading Spiritual Glossary: Yoga
We end my Newcastle Writing Conference notes with the afternoon sessions. After lunch there were more workshop choices: meet another agent with Jo Unwin, developing your online presence, postgraduate writing courses, and non-traditional publishing routes. I went for the latter because I thought it might be interesting and I wasn’t disappointed. Who needs a publisher… Continue reading Writing Conference Notes: Part 3 – Non-Traditional Publishing
The Newcastle Writing Conference included various break-out sessions, such as websites and blogging, how to edit your work, vlogging, and meet the agent with Mark Stanton. But I chose the pitching session, because I already have a blog, I didn’t have a piece of work I was willing to share in the editing session, I… Continue reading Writing Conference Notes: Part 2 – Pitching
Jessica Davidson 