Hello, Dear Readers - welcome back to Thursday Pick & Mix. I hope you're all doing well this week, and ready to seek out your writing joy.
But if not? Remember that sometimes when you feel the most crabby, cranky, creatively cramped up and frustrated, is exactly when it could be the most helpful and rewarding to just let go and write. Write something silly, something knotty and weird, something that makes you smile or snarl, something no one but you will ever see. Just write, entirely for the Hell of it.
Come on, give it a try. Go wild. No one can stop you...
First, a quick rundown of the very few rules of the exercise:
Write for ten minutes. Ten. No more and no less. But please don't make this a source of stress. If you're an anxious watch-checker like me, then take off your watch, set a timer and put the timer out of sight (but in earshot).
Don't edit or revise what you're writing while you are writing. This one takes a bit of getting used to, but try it and you'll find it helps. If writing longhand, put your palm or a piece of paper over the lines as you scribble them. If writing onscreen, set the font to the same colour as the page so that it's invisible. So what if you make typos or spelling mistakes? It doesn't matter! Laugh at them, tell them to get stuffed, and keep going.
Once your ten minutes are up, please, please give yourself the precious gift of walking away. Don't read what you've written. I mean it. Just leave it. Leave it as long as you can - long enough that you might remember it later on with a little blink of surprise and pleasure. Go back to it, when you do, in a spirit of curiosity and interest, but without the expectation that you must judge it, evaluate it for it's worth and try to 'fix' it. Give yourself permission never to re-read this if you don't feel the urge. If no one ever reads your ten minute scribbles, it doesn't matter one tiny single bit.
Now, onto this week's prompts.
MUSIC
WORD
"Neutrinos and neurons..."
Good writing, everyone. I wish you joy.