So I’ve started jump-starting my brain by doing this writing exercise where I go to a random word generator (http://watchout4snakes.com/CreativityTools/RandomWord/RandomWord.aspx) and use an online timer (http://www.online-stopwatch.com/) to give myself ten minutes to freewrite about the first random word I get without actually using that random word. One of these exercises from the other day gave me the word “Review” and this is what I wrote about it:
“Now take your papers home,” Mr. Vanderbilt announced, “and look them over. Find the red marks I made and see of you can figure out how to fix them.”
Sarah glanced over the typed essay, counting the violent red scribbles tucked neatly into the double-spacing. She took it home and examined every crimson stroke with care.
There were a few that had easy solutions like commas and new paragraphs, but there was one in particular that she didn’t know how to resolve. This series of red marks consisted of a parentheses encircling a portion of a sentence with a single word written above: expand.
Sarah tried to stretch the words out, but instead of oozing into more words, they broke into senseless piles of letters. She tried stretching her brain around the words, but that only gave her a headache. Finally, Sarah looked at the empty spaces between the words and stretched those out. It took some time, but gradually, she began to find extra words stuck to the edges. Sarah pried these off with her pen and placed them carefully into her sentences.
When she gave the paper back to Mr. Vanderbilt, she smiled and said, “I didn’t know it was possible to make something out of nothing, but now I’ve done it!”
Mr. Vanderbilt smiled too.
