1) Complete the phrase, “If I have one gift, it is…” Repeat for ten minutes. Encourage unconventional thoughts and strange images. Break patterns if you notice one emerging. Be brave.

2) Rewrite a fairy tale in verse from a different character’s perspective or voice, e.g. the witch in Hansel and Gretel.

3) Write a question on a piece of paper. Fold over. Pass it to a friend, who will provide an answer without looking at the question, write a new question, fold the paper over to obscure both answer and question, and pass it back to you. Repeat as long as you’d like. Unfold and savor the poem.

3a) Same basic idea as 3). Write a line such that the last two words of your line spill over onto the next line. Fold the paper such that only the two words are visible. Pass it to your friend, who will complete the line that you started, and spill over two words onto the next line, which you will complete, spilling two words onto the next line, and so on.

1) Pick a postcard and write what you imagine was happening in the scene / leading up to it

2) Find a childhood toy and write about the first memory that comes to mind. Also consider the toy’s colors, textures, heft, etc.

Close your eyes and imagine surroundings completely different from where you actually are.
Imagine yourself sitting perhaps on a window seat in a bedroom, or dangling your legs as you sit on a ledge of a building or cliff, many stories high. Perhaps you are sitting on a flying carpet, or a trapeze, poised as an acrobat.

Choose one scenario and fixate it in your mind. What colors do you see, scents do you smell, sounds do you hear? What do you feel under your legs and hands? What’s the texture of what you’re sitting on?
What people are around you, what is going on? Are you in the sky, on the floor, underground, underwater?
Write down every single thought that comes to mind, every sensation.

Using what you have, freewrite for 15 minutes (or more).

2) Sad news leads me to….

3) Natural disasters convince the world to

4) Memory–treasure or traitor?

Think back to the time you were making that decision. What was going on around you? Colors, sounds, smells, people, voices, feelings, even the weather. Write down every detail you can think of.

Using what you have, freewrite for 15 minutes.

Close your eyes and think about a time in your life that was extremely difficult, maybe even the hardest it’s ever been. Focus in on the moment or event that set off the difficulty. Remember where you were, who you were with, and what your environment was like – was it a room? Were you outdoors? In a car? Was it cold? Warm? What color were the walls? What were you wearing? Imagine the scene in as much detail as possible.

Now, holding that moment of difficulty in your mind, search the scene and find one aspect of the situation or your environment that was beautiful. It could be environment and sensory – a sound, color, texture, lighting – or it could be an insight, perspective or emotion that existed at the same time as the difficulty. It could be anything. Find one thing that was beautiful.

Now, write about that beautiful aspect of this scene of difficulty for 15 minutes.