Writing Assignment: Carry A Sentence With You For One Day

by Randy Murray on October 24, 2014

Most writers are world-class procrastinators. We learn to put things off in ways that would make the commonly lazy blush and slow-clap in admiration. Writing is hard, so we put it off.

But not all procrastination is to avoid writing. Some is to let the ideas soak in. We need to turn things over in our minds, sometimes to literally sleep on it. It’s harder than one might think to say, “No, I will not write about this today. I need to wait a bit more.”

I, of course, am a past master at letting ideas marinate. I’ve been known to wait ten years or more before putting pen to paper on an idea. But that may be taking things to the extreme.

For today’s assignment write a single sentence on a card or slip of paper and then carry it with you for at least one day (and not more than one week).

You can select your own sentence or you can use this one:

Something came in the mail today.

Put it in your pocket or bag. Let your mind return to your sentence throughout the day. Take it out and look at it a few times. And as ideas come to you, write them down.

And then, tomorrow, or later in the week, sit down with your sentence and your thoughts and write what you’ve been thinking about.

For bonus points post your completed assignment here.

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