10 tips for the lazy writer

Writing tip of the day:

There are tips, practices, tools, and helps that make writing easier. Don’t believe for a minute that your kids are lazy.

Here are ten ways to provoke writing today:

    1. Gel pens and black paper

    2. Instant Message with your child

    3. Text with your child

    4. Write a sentence on a white board that is provocative yet unfinished, like “If I could design today, I would….”

    5. Write together (at the table, everyone at the same time)

    6. Write at the mall, jotting down fashion fails and snippets of ridiculous conversation

    7. Give shoulder massages before writing to everyone (do it in a circle and then switch directions)

    8. Write on a clipboard, under a table, lying on a trampoline, up in a tree, with sidewalk chalk on the driveway

    9. Comment on 5 status updates on Facebook

    10. Rewrite the ending to a favorite movie or book (make it melodramatic, sad, angry, happy, or include aliens)

Writing is about freedom to express without the pressure that comes from straight jacket formats. Formats are only helpful once kids feel FREE to write. Let me say it again: You can’t produce good writing that fits a format until you’ve spent hundreds of hours writing without caring one whit about format. Once you feel as easy writing as you do talking, formats are a snap of the fingers to teach and follow.

So play with words today.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2012 at 10:03 am and is filed under Brave Writer Philosophy, General, Words!, Writing Exercises, Young Writers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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One Response to “10 tips for the lazy writer”

  1. Nanci says:
    August 26, 2012 at 10:57 pm

    I’ve found that small pocket sized notebooks are a real incentive for my children. They especially like the mini marbled-cover compostion books. There’s just something about the size that makes my children want to jot down things.

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