A Quick and Dirty Exercise Guaranteed to Get You Unstuck
What are you waiting for?
In Jami Attenberg’s new book 1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide To Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round she says that people are constantly approaching her and saying, “I’ve always wanted to write a book.” As a writing coach, this happens to me too. But I love Attenberg’s answer: What are you waiting for?
Often, my students tell me they can’t get the words out of their head and onto the page. They have too many ideas. They can’t remember the details. Someone else has already written the book they want to write. They don’t know how to get started. The list goes on and on.
So, here’s a quick and dirty exercise that I teach in my classes (and do myself) when I want to dig deep for long-forgotten memories: the horizontal line exercise. And I learned in Megan Stielstra’s StoryStudio class. Hi Megan! I love you!
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:
Grab a piece of paper.
I already hear the moans. Do I really need a piece of paper? Yes. Your brain slows down when you write on paper. If you’re allergic to paper, though, you can do this as a bulleted list in a blank document on your computer. But do yourself a favor and try it analog first.
Draw a horizontal line from one end of the paper to the other.
On the left side of the horizontal line put an X - that’s the day you were born. On the right side put an X - that’s today.
Now time yourself for 5 minutes and in that five minutes write down moments from your life that rocked your world. The only rule is this: try to remember when that moment happened because you want to put the Xs on the line in chronological order. So, if your parents divorce comes up for you and that happened when you were three, put an X on the line closer to the left side and write: My parents’ divorce - 3. The next memory is that car accident from when you were 7: Car accident - 7. And so on.
Don’t judge what comes into your mind! If your boyfriend who broke up with you in middle school floats into your consciousness, don't reprimand yourself and say: Why are you thinking of him?! Just put him on your line and move on.
Now look at your line. Is there anything surprising that showed up? Any patterns you notice? An age or time period with a lot of Xs? A decade with almost no Xs? A memory you haven’t thought of in years?
Now you have a story bank of ideas to come back to when you’re looking for something to write.
You can also use this exercise for a specific time period: what moments rocked your world when you were 17?
You can use it for a certain event: what moments rocked your world when you were deciding whether or not you wanted to have a child?
You can use it for a word like “fear”: what moments rocked your world that had to do with things you’re afraid of?
You can slice and dice the exercise to make it work for you.
IF YOU ENJOYED THIS EXERCISE AND WANT TO DO MORE GENERATIVE WRITING EXERCISES…
Sign up for The “Write” of Spring, a 4-week workshop designed to plant the seeds for the story you’ve been meaning to tell. We’ll kick off Wednesday 4/10 from 3-5pm ET. If you want to take this class but you need an evening time slot, message me. I have a waitlist for my evening class and I’ll let you know when it launches.
A great exercise, thanks for sharing! Gave it a go tonight and going to write a first chapter to get started. I've been wanting to write a book for so long, yet I keep putting it off, out of fear. So going to get started. Thanks for sharing your wisdom!