Writing Class

An excellent writing class tonight. I actually turned in 2, count 'em, 2 pieces to the instructor. One was the character piece about Brian (of which I also gave a copy to M and am anxious for his comments. And The Woman's too, if she reads it.) and the other was the nature themed 'homework' she assigned last week. I am very proud of both.

Our in-class exercise was great fun. Well, maybe not fun as such, but inspiring at the very least. The instructor turned out the light in the room then shone a spotlight on a photograph. We were to stare at the photo (a b&w arty shot of a wooden box floating on water) for 1 minute, then she turned the lights back on and we free wrote for 5.

She then turned out the lights and did the spotlight thing again. This time, however, she played a selection of music (some mellow tinkly piano piece) whilst we did the photo staring. Then lights on again and another 5 minute free write. The second bit of writing was to be different from the first.

Well, mine certainly was! I found the music actually kicked off my creativity more and led me to a much more interesting story (my first bit was in poem form). Of course, 5 minutes was not near enough time for me to finish--I found I was still writing after she told us to stop and I didn't want to stop. Am anxious to get back to the piece and finish it. If it doesn't end up too long, I may post it here.

I am trying to get into the habit of writing every day in preparation for NaNo. Whether just a short time or substantial length, as long as I write. It will get me in the groove and help me with the novel thing. I hope. It definitely helps that I have this week off from work.