An intriguing idea popped up in Pinterest the other day. (Anybody else still love Pinterest?)

It was a post from Buildwriting, August 3, 2024, called “27 Game-Changing Ten-Minute Writing Exercises That Will Skyrocket Your Creativity.” ( https://buildwriting.com/ten-minute-writing-exercises/)

Normally, I’m not a fan of writing exercises because I don’t like being told what to do.

Haha.

But as this was the start of the new year, I thought I’d have an open mind and just take a peek.

Well, so many ideas!

Here’s one: Open the dictionary and randomly choose one word, and write nonstop for 10 minutes using that word as inspiration.

I opened my Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig and chose “daguerreologue,” which means an imaginary conversation with an old photo of yourself in which you might offer them a word of advice.

Here’s a snippet of my conversation with 8-year-old me.

Old me: Good thing you like to write because you’ll be doing a lot of it.

8yo: Stories are fun because you can make up stuff.

Old me: You can. You can also use people in your life as characters in your story.

8yo: Why would I do that?

Old me: Because you can bring people back to life. People you miss. People who died. You can make them live again by using them as characters in your stories.

8yo: What do you mean? Who died?!

Old me: Oops.

Check out more of Buildwriting’s writing exercises.

Even if you’re not a writer, you can use the exercises for your journaling (that you maybe resolved to do more of in 2026).

Have a great week,

~ Gail

(Onward!)

Before you go, don’t forget to sign up for my mailing list, below

(Onward!)