Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Spice up your writing

Tip of the Day: for the next few weeks on Tuesdays the tip of the day will become the "Activity of the Week!"

It's pretty much a given that from time to time we get bored with life. Despite having just moved, starting a new job, and a complete change, I'm still a bit bored lately. Maybe it's because this will probably be the last city we move to in awhile and the dreaded thoughts of "settling down" keep entering my brain. Oh...no...the horror.

Since life gets boring, it's no wonder that I'm a bit bored with writing lately. Sometimes it's just hard to get motivate to write, or find any enjoyment out of what you are writing. Especially when it starts to feel more like work than a hobby.

For that reason, I'm determined to spice up my life and writing lately, and I would love some fellow Spicers!

A few years ago, my husband and I found online one of those games that have tons of activities listed on them: from trying to paint to going out for ice cream. You are supposed to cut up the tiles, put them in a bowl, and when you are looking for something to do and have no ideas, just pick one out, and complete the task. We never really completed any of them and I've always wanted to.

So for the next few weeks. I'm going to post one task or activity as the Tip of the Day and give a recap of the activity on the blog the following week. Either me doing the activity or how I incorporated that activity into my writing by making one of my characters complete the activity.

So either way, I'm going to have fun or my character is. It's pretty much a win/win.

I'm going to try not to cheat and do the first thing I pull out of the bowl. Which should be good, because I have absolutely no idea what types of activities are listed.

If you want to play along, you are more than welcome. I'd love to see what everyone else is getting themselves or their characters into.

First Activity of the Week:

RECORD AN OVERHEARD CONVERSATION

Omg...seriously? Is that felony worthy? Or at least a misdemeanor? Let's hope not....well...unless I want to get my characters into trouble :)

--Emily, Miss Querylicious

7 comments:

Rachel Harris said...

Oh FUN! Hmm, now to decide if I will do it or my characters. decisions decisions. I will let you know next week what I decide!

Love the idea :-)

DeenaML said...

This is a great idea! John and I were just talking about how now that the early dark sets in and cold weather is coming, we need to make sure we do something during the week at night, after work, instead of sitting on the couch....

Andrea Mack said...

I love your idea. In fact, I could see a whole novel based on it. Maybe that will be your next project!

Lisa Schroeder said...

Fellow spicers - hahaha! I love it!

Such a great idea!

BookChic said...

In a writing class I took, we went out to a sports event (still at our school- for some reason, there was a game going on during school hours) and sat in the bleachers and did some eavesdropping and plucked various lines from whatever people were saying and made a poem out of it. It was a lot of fun and can end up surprisingly cohesive, lol.

Just be sure to have an excuse if someone asks what you're doing. That happened to me and I made up something about having to write about this scene of a game going on. But just try and be as discreet as possible. :) Good luck!

Kate Fall said...

Oh, I want to be spicy! I thought this would be hard but BookChic is right: There has to be somewhere I'm stuck with the kids where I can eavesdrop.

Emily Marshall said...

Andrea...that's an awesome idea!

BookChic...you are so right I do need to get my alibi/excuse ready to go. Excellent tips. That so cool you did it as an entire class. Very interesting. I do find listening to conversations does help.

And I'm so excited if anyone else does this. I really want to see what people come up with. I'm still debating whether to do it myself or have my character. It actually gave me an idea for a plot point that I've been brainstorming for awhile :)