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Thanks so much for joining this workshop on how to jumpstart your WRITING PRACTICE. Let's take a moment to get to now you...what is the name you prefer, your pronoun, what do you like to write and describe your current writing practice. 

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Welcome!!

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I challenge you to open an account with 750words.com or get a notebook dedicated to your personal writing and write 750 words for as many days in a row as you can.

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Julia Cameron's Morning pages technique.  Place any thoughts or comments below...

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Some tips if the morning pages appeal to your

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Morning Pages | 15 Tips to Get the MOST Out of this Exercise (TODAY)

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One of my New Year's resolutions for 2014 was to write daily. I'm happy to report that I only missed a total of three days in 2014. I'm currently on a 250-day writing streak, and it's become kind of addictive [edit: at 812 now, a year and a half later].

Here's some of what I learned about cultivating a writing habit.

Why write daily?

The idea came from a book called The Artist's Way (which admittedly I haven't read - but I've heard it's good). They call it morning pages, which consist of three pages of writing done every day. It can be about anything that pops into your head - and it's important that you get it all out of your head without editing or censoring in any way.

If you can get in the habit of writing daily, it will help clear your mind and get your ideas flowing for the rest of the day.

I initially started writing every day because I eventually want to write a book, but it's become so much more than that. I use my daily writing as a way to think out loud, troubleshooting problems, thoughts, and anxieties I have. It gives me something to look forward to in the morning and actually puts me in a really good mood.

As my friend Dev says, "Developing a daily writing practice is about deepening a conversation with oneself."

A really tangible benefit is that I've written way more blog posts since I've started writing every day.

Before, writing was something that I often needed to do - whether it was writing an email, a blog post, or a letter I'd been meaning to write - but never really found the time for.

Figure out why you personally want to write more often. Is it to start a blog, to build a following, to become known as a thought leader, to connect with your inner voice, to develop a creative outlet, or to write a book? These are ALL good reasons, but it's good to know which ones are most important to you and which ones aren't. These will be your guiding forces that propel you forward when things are tough.

Pick some accountability metrics

It's easy to say "I want to start writing more" and then fudge it at the end of the year. It's tempting to come up with a loose goal - one that isn't tied to a specific number or action - because it doesn't require much thought and is almost impossible to fail. (Because what does "write more" even mean? Does sitting down to write once or twice count?)

But goals like that are almost meaningless and unlikely to help you create meaningful change in your life.

Instead, come up with one or two trackable goals. My trackable goal this year was to write 750 words every day. Seven hundred and fifty words is about three pages handwritten (or one page typed single space). But there's another reason I picked that number which will become more obvious in a second.

Specificity matters. If you want to change your behavior, you have to know how to measure it.

Make it a regular practice

This is the really hard part, but in order to hit a big goal you have to develop regular habits in your life. When a friend introduced me to 750words.com, I was blown away. It's a simple site where you go to do your daily writing. 750words isn't a publishing platform, it's a personal tracking tool. It keeps track of your writing streak and gives you some really cool daily stats on your writing as well as badges for your accomplishments that keep things fun.

Keeping track of streaks is a very powerful tactic for developing any new habit. Jerry Seinfeld used to keep a big calendar by his desk and mark an X for every day that he sat down and worked on his routine. Eventually his streak became so long that he kept going just because he didn't want to break it ( edit: this is a misattribution - see note). Like I mentioned before, I'm currently on a 250-day writing streak and the thought of breaking it pains me.

At first I started by writing whenever I had time during the day. Sometimes it was in the morning, sometimes it was at night, journal-style, just before going to bed. The problem with this haphazard approach was that a whole day would pass by without me finding any time to write. Indeed, those three days of writing that I missed, I didn't even realized I missed them. I thought I had written on those days.

Eventually I settled on writing my 750 words first thing in the morning every morning.

Do you feel like you don't have time to accomplish your goals every day? Make time.

Lao Tzu says, "Time is a created thing. To say 'I don't have have time,' is like saying 'I don't want to.'"

The best thing I ever did for writing and habit development in general was start waking up earlier. Recently there has been some research saying that seven hours of sleep per night might be better than eight. So now I try to be in bed by 11:30pm and wake up at around 6:30am every morning.

Find ways to make it fun & easy

On top of the badges and stats that 750words.com gives me, I've had to find other ways to make it fun and kill the tediousness I sometimes feel.

Initially I started by writing in different styles every day. One day would be murder mystery, then science fiction, then romance. Sometimes I write letters to my parents or my friends. They really appreciate those.

It might sound weird to write in a different genre or style than you're used to, but three pages goes by pretty quickly, and then you get to never look at it again if you don't like it.
Find a friend to keep you accountable and make it more fun.
For a while, my friend Mathias and I sent each other prompts to kick start our daily writing. One person would send the other a single sentence of a story to use as the first sentence and also a style to write the story in (to push us out of our comfort zone). Then the other person had to finish it in that style. Here's an example:
Pippa eyed the watermelon two over from the end on the left because it reminded her of her ex-boyfriend. "This one will be perfect," she thought.
Though most of the time I just write in free-form every morning. I've been able to get the total time it takes to write 750 words down to about 10-15 minutes.
Keep a notebook of prompts for later days
I've started keeping a notebook of writing prompts in Evernote in case I've run out of ideas or I want to finish a blog post (this is actually one of them). During the day, I come up with ideas, add them to Evernote, and then I write about those in the morning.

Right now, the list includes "What I've learned so far in 2014," "There's no expectation of privacy on the Internet," "On people holding subway doors," and other random thoughts I have on the subway.

One Month is sending out a daily writing prompt for 30 days to help encourage a daily writing habit. If you want to join in, click here to sign up to get an email reminder every day for 30 days.

Don't worry about editing

It will take you forever (about an hour) to write 750 words if you worry about format and editing while doing the creative stuff too. Most people recommend separating the two actions.

Ernest Hemingway said, "Write drunk; edit sober"

Get comfortable with having tons of typos and your writing being mostly nonsense. If you want, you can edit it later.

This can be hard so a trick I've learned to accomplish this is to turn the brightness down on your computer screen so that you can't read what you're writing.

A lot of times, I'll pick an idea from my Evernote notebook of blog post ideas and write about it for 750 words. Then I'll take that writing and upload it to Medium for editing. I usually do one round of personal editing and then send it around to a few friends (using the "share draft" feature) before publishing. Some of my most successful blog posts have been developed in this way (including How to get a busy person to respond to your email and How to never forget anything ever again).

Want to write more? So do we. Join One Month for 30 days of free writing prompts. You'll get a new one-sentence prompt by email every day for one month.

Do you have any other tips for developing a daily writing practice? Have you read anything about techniques famous authors used to write every day? Post a comment! I'm going to compile a list of best practices.

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One of my New Year's resolutions for 2014 was to write daily. I'm happy to report that I only missed a total of three days in 2014. I'm currently on a 250-day writing streak, and it's become kind of addictive [edit: at 812 now, a year and a half later].

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Natalie Goldberg's revolutionary Writing Down the Bones...a freeing experience for those who have suffered from the red pen of a school marm... Place any thoughts or comments below...

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An alternative to the notebook journal...it provides you with an analysis of your soul after each session..eye opening...

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★ What is this site about?

It's about learning a new habit: Writing. Every. Day.

I've long been inspired by an idea I first learned about in The Artist's Way called morning pages. Morning pages are three pages of writing done every day, typically encouraged to be in "long hand", typically done in the morning, that can be about anything and everything that comes into your head. It's about getting it all out of your head, and is not supposed to be edited or censored in any way. The idea is that if you can get in the habit of writing three pages a day, that it will help clear your mind and get the ideas flowing for the rest of the day. Unlike many of the other exercises in that book, I found that this one actually worked and was really really useful.

I've used the exercise as a great way to think out loud without having to worry about half-formed ideas, random tangents, private stuff, and all the other things in our heads that we often filter out before ever voicing them or writing about them. It's a daily brain dump. Over time, I've found that it's also very helpful as a tool to get thoughts going that have become stuck, or to help get to the bottom of a rotten mood.

750 Words is the online, future-ified, fun-ified translation of this exercise. Here's how it works:

★ All online and private

In the past, looking for a spare notebook was probably easier than looking for a computer. Not anymore. I don't know if my hands even work anymore with pen and paper for any task that takes longer than signing a check or credit card receipt.

★ It's not blogging or status updating

I've tried writing my 750 words a day on Livejournal, Wordpress, PBWorks, Tumblr, and all of these other sites designed around putting content online. It hasn't worked for me. I fear that I might accidentally forget to mark daily pages as private. And it's just weird having my private brain dumps out on various sites that are designed to be more social. I don't need to title my entries, or tag them, or enable comments, or any of that other stuff. This is writing, and it's online, but it's not blogging, or Twittering, or Facebook status updating. This is between you and you.

★ 3 Pages = 750 words

I looked this up. 250 words per page is considered to be the standard accepted number of words per page. So, three standard pages are about 750 words. Of course if 750words.com hadn't been available, I would've totally found a way to prove that 249 words per page was the accepted standard. It really just comes down to the fact that this amount of writing feels about right. You can't just fart out 3 pages without running into your subconscious a little bit... 750 words takes a bit of effort, and it never fails to get me typing things that I have wanted to articulate without realizing it. And that's the point.

Because 750 words is nothing to sneeze at, it's also nice to have an easy way to know how many words you have to go. This site of course tracks your word count at all times and lets you know when you've passed the blessed 750 mark. And it gives you a nice big screen to write on, automatically scrolls as you write (like a typewriter), and automatically saves your writing as you go.

★ It's fun

Every month you get a clean slate. If you write anything at all, you get 1 point. If you write 750 words or more, you get 2 points. If you write two, three or more days in a row, you get even more points. It's fun to try to stay on streaks and the points are a way to play around with that. You can also see how others are doing points-wise if you're at all competitive that way. How I see it, points can motivate early on, and eventually the joy of writing will kick in and you'll be writing without any external motivation at all.

★ Learn about yourself in the process

For example, learn about how often you get distracted, and how fast you write.

Every day you write, you'll get beautiful stats that analyze the feelings, themes, and mindset of your words.

Free-writing, in my opinion, is like a cheap, easy form of therapy that can improve the quality of your life in many ways. If you're interested in the connections between free-writing and meditation, read this article: Better than meditation.

★ It's about writing, and getting into your brain

The rest are just tricks to help get us there.

★ Who made this?

I did, and Kellianne helps keep it running smoothly. Tell us what you think of it or how you want it to improve by talking with us over at on Twitter or Facebook.

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It's about learning a new habit: Writing. Every. Day. I've long been inspired by an idea I first learned about in The Artist's Way called morning pages. Morning pages are three pages of writing done every day, typically encouraged to be in "long hand", typically done in the morning, that can be about anything and everything that comes into your head.

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Interview with Natalie Goldberg

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A Feb. 7, 2016 interview with author Natalie Goldberg on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of her phenomenally successful self-help for writers book, "Writing Down The Bones." The Taos News' Tempo editor Rick Romancito talks with Goldberg about the origins of her book, the Zen practice of writing, her emerging presence as a visual artist and her newest book, "The Great Spring: Writing, Zen, and This Zigzag Life." Goldberg's accomplishments will be celebrated Feb. 19-20, 2016 in Taos. The first day will include a proclamation read by Taos Mayor Dan Barrone declaring Feb. 19 "Natalie Goldberg Day," and the second a "sharing" by many of the author's students over the years. The event is sponsored by the Society of the Muse of the Southwest (SOMOS) and the Mabel Dodge Luhan House. Video was shot and edited by Rick Romancito for The Taos News Media Center, www.taosnews.com.

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Natalie Goldberg on Writing Down the Bones

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A Feb. 7, 2016 interview with author Natalie Goldberg on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of her phenomenally successful self-help for writers book, "Writing Down The Bones." The Taos News' Tempo editor Rick Romancito talks with Goldberg about the origins of her book, the Zen practice of writing, her emerging presence as a visual artist and her newest book, "The Great Spring: Writing, Zen, and This Zigzag Life."

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A Dribble, A Drabble, A Toil , A Trabble...

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A Dribble, A Drabble, A Toil , A Trabble...

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I had fun adapting the title for this post from the witches' spell in Macbeth "Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble... for a recent tweet at @bathflashaward. I can't resist using it again.

A Dribble is the term for a 50 word story, a Drabble, 100 words and a Trabble, 300 words. I don't believe the writers who came up with these terms toiled to find them. I'm sure they were playing in order to discover a fun way of encapsulating the essence of the form - very short but not only that - something more. Perhaps that is why I took the phrase from the witches' chant in Macbeth. Good tiny fictions mesmerise. Like a spell, you can be changed by a mere few sentences.

There are many longer definitions of very short fiction including this lovely metaphor by writer Luiza Valenzuela I used in a post on the Bath Flash Fiction Award website

" I usually compare the novel to a mammal, be it as wild as a tiger or tame as a cow; the short story to a bird or a fish; the micro story to an insect (iridescent in the best cases)

The one word or short phrase descriptions for the form are also often metaphorical. According to Shouhua Qi, writing in the brilliant Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction, in China, where the form is currently 'white hot,' very short stories go by the following names:

Minute Story, Pocket-sized story, Palm-Size story, smoke-long story, hint fiction.

All these names suggest something more than just the 'size' of the work. There are other names that describe the process of writing or reading very short stories

quick fiction, fast fiction, furious fiction, sudden fiction, flash, five-minute fiction.

Very short fiction can be ephemeral, written fast and then forgotten. But gone in a moment, they can also linger long like the brilliant flash of that iridescent insect you might first have seen as a child and never forgotten.

Other terms suggest the places where such stories can be dashed off:

postcard fiction, napkin fiction.

There's an ongoing debate as to whether prose poetry is the same as very short stories.

'Flash' fiction - arguably the term most widely used - in the US and UK at least - was coined in the early 1990s by the writer James Thomas who, together with Robert Shapard collected stories published in an anthology called Flash Fiction in 1992.

I don't know why there is so much fascination in providing different names for stories 1000 words and under. There are many more names than the ones I've mentioned. Longer stories only get the one name - short stories. Longer still you get 'novella', then, of course, novel. Perhaps it's because the shorter the story becomes, the more room there is for experimentation. Nearly everything can fall away - plot, structure as well as most of the words. The one or two word description for the genre, can be itself a tiny story.

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I had fun adapting the title for this post from the witches' spell in Macbeth "Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble... for a recent tweet at @bathflashawar...

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145 Picture Prompts to Inspire Student Writing (Published 2022)

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A school year’s worth of short, accessible image-driven posts that invite a variety of kinds of writing.

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How did your dribbling go?What went well?What did you find challenging? How might you use this in your writing practice?2

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1. How did your dribbling go?

2. What went well?

3. What did you find challenging?

4. How might you use this in your writing practice?

2

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How did your drabbing go?

2. What went well?

3. What did you find challenging?

4. How might you use this in your writing practice?

2

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1. How did your trabbling go?

2. What went well?

3. What did you find challenging?

4. How might you use this in your writing practice?

2

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"Flash Fiction Forward: 80 Very Short Stories" edited by James Thomas and Robert Shapard

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"Flash Fiction Forward: 80 Very Short Stories" edited by James Thomas and Robert Shapard

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This anthology is packed with short, diverse stories from various authors. It's an excellent resource for studying the structure and creativity of flash fiction.

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The eagerly anticipated anthology from the editors who coined the term "flash," with stories by today's best fiction writers.

After publication of the first Flash Fiction anthology over a decade ago, "flash" became part of the creative writing lexicon for readers, writers, students, and teachers. In this follow-up collection, the editors once again tackle the question: "How short can a story be and truly be a story?" Determined to find the best flashes from America in the twenty-first century, James Thomas and Robert Shapard searched everywhere for stories that were not merely good but memorable. Moving, and certainly unforgettable, this collection includes stories from the best and most popular fiction writers of our time, including Ron Carlson, Robert Coover, Steve Almond, Amy Hempel, A. M. Homes, Grace Paley, and Paul Theroux. In addition, Rick Moody properly defines armoire, Lydia Davis delves into a world of cats, and Dave Eggers explores narrow escapes. Over and over, these stories prove that often less is more.

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Flash Fiction Forward: 80 Very Short Stories

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Flash Fiction Forward: 80 Very Short Stories [Shapard, Robert, Thomas, James] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Flash Fiction Forward: 80 Very Short Stories

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"Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Really Short Stories" edited by Jerome Stern

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"Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Really Short Stories" edited by Jerome Stern

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A collection of ultra-short fiction pieces, perfect for showing how to tell compelling stories with minimal words.

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Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Fifty Really Short Stories

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Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Fifty Really Short Stories [Stern, Jerome] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Fifty Really Short Stories

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"Sudden Fiction: American Short-Short Stories" edited by Robert Shapard and James Thomas

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"Sudden Fiction: American Short-Short Stories" edited by Robert Shapard and James Thomas

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A foundational book in the world of flash fiction, showcasing masterpieces of brevity from renowned authors.

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Sudden Fiction: American Short Stories [Robert Shapard, James Thomas] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Sudden Fiction: American Short Stories

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"The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Tips from Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field" edited by Tara L. Masih

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"The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Tips from Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field" edited by Tara L. Masih

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This guide offers both inspiration and practical advice for writing flash fiction, with exercises and insights from experienced writers.

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With its unprecedented gathering of 25 brief essays by experts in the field, The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction meets the growing need for a concise yet creative exploration of the re-emerging genre popularly known as flash fiction. The book's introduction provides, for the first time, a comprehensive history of the short short story, from its early roots and hitherto unknown early publications and appearances, to its current state and practice. This guide is a must for anyone in the field of short fiction who teaches, writes, and is interested in its genesis and practice.

Featuring essays by: Steve Almond, Rusty Barnes, Randall Brown, Mark Budman, Stace Budzko, Robert Olen Butler, Ron Carlson, Pamelyn Casto, Kim Chinquee, Stuart Dybek, Pia Z. Ehrhardt, Sherrie Flick, Vanessa Gebbie, Tom Hazuka, Nathan Leslie, Michael Martone, Julio Ortega, Pamela Painter, Jayne Anne Phillips, Jennifer Pieroni, Shouhua Qi, Bruce Holland Rogers, Robert Shapard, Deb Olin Unferth, Lex Williford

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The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Tips from Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field

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Amazon.com: The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Tips from Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field: 9780978984861: Tara L. Masih: Books

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"Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer" edited by Robert Swartwood

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"Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer" edited by Robert Swartwood

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A unique and challenging approach to storytelling, this book showcases how much can be conveyed in just a few words. It's a great way to push creativity in daily writing practice.

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Robert Swartwood (Editor), Natalie McNabb (Contributor)

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Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer

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Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer [Robert Swartwood, Natalie McNabb] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer