:::Writing:::

I've just started reading "Writing Personal Essays: How to Shape Your Life Experiences for the Page," by Sheila Bender. I'm only in the second chapter thus far, but yesterday I did my first writing exercise called, "Clustering."

According to the author, clustering is a type of method that helps to give suggestions or answers to your questions. You begin with circling the words "people," "place," "thing," or "event." After starting with one of these subjects, you draw lines out to the things you think of - things that you either like or dislike. You then circle them, and if something that correlates to the one you just drew, then you can draw a second line out from it. This can continue until you run out of thoughts. Below is a picture of one of my clusters. I chose "places."

The next exercise is called "Freewriting." After you finish your cluster, you choose one of the places, persons, things, or events and write about that subject for ten minutes. During these ten minutes, you should not worry about what you're saying or do any erasing (though I did cross a few words out). This exercise is to get your pen moving and your mind going. The author says if you can't think of anything to write, then go ahead and repeat yourself! You can also look to your cluster page and get some ideas. The main point is to write.

 Next is the "This is a Poem" exercise. It is used to gather sensory images about your subject. Her example:

"This is a poem about going to work.

This is a poem about the floating bridge route.

This is a poem about a reversible lane.

This is a poem about being passed from the right." etc.....

The last exercise is "Comparative Thinking." This is describing something by likening it to something unrelated. My example is below:

I'm interested in writing, but still in the beginning stages. Do you have any writing exercises that help you? Or good suggestions that you'd like to share?