Writers On The Move: fifteen words to use in your writing

"You Are Unique: This Writing Exercise Proves It" by Joan Y. Edwards

You Are Unique. Your experiences make you different from others. You have different likes and dislikes.
If you have a snack bag filled with multi-colored M&Ms, each of you might choose the same color to eat, once or twice, but probably not with the entire snack bag of candy. If you made a design with the M&Ms before you ate them, your designs would be different. Why? You have different likes and dislikes. (Personal aside: You can personalize M&Ms for special occasions: http://www.mymms.com/default.aspx?)

Below are 15 words to use in this writing exercise. Even though each of you uses the same 15 words, the stories you write will be different. Your life experiences and interests decide what you write. Start a new story, add to an old story, or write freely as it comes to you, but try to use all 15 words in your passage.
Although the words are the same, the passages may differ in the following:

Genre
Characters
Dialogue
Conflicts
Senses
Emotion
Time
Place
Weather

There are verbs, nouns, and adjectives. I used http://www.wordgenerator.net to help me choose these words.

Find more exercises to stimulate your brain and put life into your writing in a book called, Writing Open the Mind by Andy Couturier. When you use random words, it stirs up wondrous experiences and helps you create passages filled with life.

This is a great exercise for writing groups that meet either online or in person. We did this exercise in our Savvy Wordsmiths Writing Group meeting in Fort Mill, SC. No one used the same characters or situations.

If you and another person have the same idea for a book, it will not turn out the same. Why? It will be different because each person is different. Enjoy being you. You are unique and a blessing to our world. Write and enjoy it.

Try this exercise. Ask a friend to try it, too. Compare your stories. I’ll bet they will be unique.

Directions for this writing exercise:

Get out a sheet of paper (or open a new file on your computer)
Print out this blog post.
Take one minute to read, study, and think about the 15 words.
Set the timer for 15 minutes.
Write for 15 minutes making an effort to use all 15 words in your passage.
Read your passage aloud at the end of your 15 minutes.

Enjoy yourself. You are a Master Writer. You have a gift. Go for it.

15 Words for This Writing Exercise

spirited
evaluate
post office
indulge
newscaster
muscle
barrel
incredulous
slippery
advertise
annex
sapling
unveil
tongue
photograph

Now compare what you wrote with the passage I wrote at our writing group. It's in the comment area. Please do the exercise before you read my comment passage.

If you're willing to share your passage, copy and paste it into the comment area. It will be fun to read the variety of passages.

If you want to do this type of exercise again, you can choose 15 words at random from newspapers, magazines, wordsearch puzzles, or crossword puzzles, or your favorite books. Enjoy being you.

I'd love to hear from you.