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    The 1-Minute Writer: 396 Microprompts to Spark Creativity and Recharge Your Writing
    The 1-Minute Writer: 396 Microprompts to Spark Creativity and Recharge Your Writing
    The 1-Minute Writer: 396 Microprompts to Spark Creativity and Recharge Your Writing
    Ebook253 pages2 hours

    The 1-Minute Writer: 396 Microprompts to Spark Creativity and Recharge Your Writing

    By Leigh Medeiros

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    About this ebook

    One minute of daily writing is better than twenty minutes every two weeks—let this fun and helpful handbook of quick, easy writing prompts show you why short bursts of writing are essential to flexing your creative muscles to create your best work!

    Are you a “would-be” writer? That is, someone who wants to write, but finds themselves too busy, too tired, or just uninspired. The 1-Minute Writer has the solution to all of those problems and shows you that you can start writing—and keep the creativity going—every day, no matter how little time you have.

    The 1-Minute Writer includes writing prompts you can complete while standing in line for coffee, riding the subway home after work, waiting for your kid at the dentist—and everywhere in between. Each prompt has four variations: a one-minute prompt, a five-minute prompt, a ten-minute prompt, and a twenty-minute prompt. You can choose prompts based on both the time you have available and the kind of writing you’d like to do. Watch the words pour out of you when you realize just how easy writing is when you tackle it in manageable chunks!

    There are a lot of writing books out there—maybe you’ve tried some before—but none quite like The 1-Minute Writer. Let these brief prompts encourage and empower you to become the writer you’ve always known you are!
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster
    Release dateJan 1, 2019
    ISBN9781507209295
    The 1-Minute Writer: 396 Microprompts to Spark Creativity and Recharge Your Writing
    Author

    Leigh Medeiros

    Leigh Medeiros is an award-winning artist, writer, coach, and story development editor. She supports artists of all kinds through her coaching and story development work as well as through her online program 48 Days of Creative Devotion. Leigh lives with her husband and blind rescue dog in a wee beach house on the shores of Narragansett Bay.

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      Book preview

      The 1-Minute Writer - Leigh Medeiros

      INTRODUCTION

      So often people carry the false belief that creative writing requires hours of uninterrupted time clacking away inside a bubble far from the distractions of the world. The reality is that writing for just 1 minute each day will strengthen your creative muscles more than writing for 20 minutes every two weeks—and minutes are a lot easier to come by than hours. After all, creative potential doesn’t just exist within large swaths of unhurried time, but in life’s in-between moments too. Moments like standing by the front door waiting for your work carpool to arrive or zoning out in the dentist’s office while your kiddos get their teeth cleaned. These typically unmemorable micro-periods of time are available for your creative benefit. With the help of The 1-Minute Writer, you can reclaim them and painlessly bring writing into your day-to-day life.

      Each of the prompts in this book contains an unfinished idea that—with the striking of a conceptual match (i.e., putting pen to page or fingers to keyboard)—can spark your creativity. They can help you break through whatever obstacle is in the way of your writing, whether it’s exhaustion or a nasty creative block. They’re also just a whole lot of fun. You can use these prompts to keep your writing muscles flexed or you can use them to kick-start new projects.

      Whichever way you work with these prompts, do so with an eager sense of discovery. Your creative potential is vast, and it lies in wait like a field of dormant seeds. The only thing needed to stimulate that growth is a single spare minute.

      HOW THIS BOOK WORKS

      You’ll find ninety-nine prompt themes in this book, each one comprised of four timed prompts: 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and 20 minutes. When using the 1-minute prompts you’ll be able to get down two to three cleverly crafted sentences. With the 5 and 10-minute prompts you can spend more time with the concept of the prompt theme, resulting in one paragraph to several paragraphs of wild musings. The 20-minute prompts are slightly more complex than the others and are designed to be more of a deep dive. Even if you pause to think for a few moments along the way, you’re still likely to end up with a solid page of writing when using these. Of course more important than word count or page count is the sense of heartwarming accomplishment and spine-tingling satisfaction that comes with doing any amount of creative work. Am I right? (Insert you nodding your head here.)

      Since everyone’s creative impetus is unique, I’ve separated the ninety-nine prompt themes into three sections: Observation, Imagination, and Memory. Each of these sections has thirty-three prompt themes that offer up different starting points to spark your creativity. The Observation Prompts call on you to observe what’s around you and what’s within you. The Imagination Prompts rely purely on your mind to conjure a variety of scenarios. The Memory Prompts help you recall past events, interactions, and experiences to mine for creative possibility. All of the sections have prompts that may appeal to both fiction and nonfiction writers of every kind. Some prompts might task you with writing a breaking news report, while others nudge you to come up with lyrics for a silly children’s song. Of course feel free to mix and match. If a prompt calls on you to write a eulogy, but you’d rather frame it as a college admissions acceptance letter, go for it. Once you pry it open, your creative mind is truly limitless. If it leads you down a different path than the prompt seems to suggest, follow it with abandon.

      An obvious way to choose prompts is to consider the time you have available. Certain days you may have only a few minutes to write, while other days you have half an hour. In that regard you can pick whatever prompt or prompts fit your schedule. Another option, particularly if you’re a beginner writer or lapsed writer, is to do all of the 1-minute prompts first, then work your way up incrementally from there. Last, if you want to use the prompts as a starting point for a larger or longer creative work, you may find added benefit in consecutively completing all four prompts in a theme in order to explore an idea from multiple angles.

      If you’re serious about kick-starting or maintaining a writing practice you should keep this book nearby throughout the day to take full advantage of the spare moments that arise. If carrying the book is too cumbersome or not an option, you can take photographs of various pages with your smartphone then refer to them later. In terms of the actual writing there are several apps you can get for your phone that will allow you to physically type or use voice dictation. These are especially helpful if you’re on the go and have only a short period of time to work. Of course you could also opt for the classic bound journal or pocket notepad to handwrite the exercises.

      Whatever modes or methods you choose, make sure they easily fit into your lifestyle. The intention is that you can do these prompts anywhere. Break them out while you’re standing in line at the bank, as you’re waiting for the pasta water to boil, or during your ride to work on the Number 58 bus. The short increments of time involved, especially the 1-minute prompts, will truly eliminate the all too familiar I don’t have time to write excuse while also giving you a sustainable way to build creative muscle.

      Practically speaking, when it comes to timing the prompts keep it as simple as possible. If there’s a clock on the office wall or on your car dashboard, use it. If you have a smartphone, pull up the timer application. Not only will it give you an accurate countdown, it will also chime aloud when complete. (Pavlov would certainly approve.) You can also purchase a kitchen timer for less than $10. If at any point all of that feels like too much to handle, just guesstimate the time in your mind. Do what works. Don’t overthink it.

      Last, my intention has been to make these prompts as inclusive and universal as possible, even while not knowing the specific circumstances of readers. For any prompts that don’t quite work for you, for whatever reason, I humbly request that you use your awesome creative power to adjust them as you see fit.

      TIPS FOR GETTING YOUR DAILY WRITING ON

      This fact is undeniable: creating a daily practice requires commitment. If you’re the type of person that feels safe and secure within the confines of commitment, awesome. You’ve got a leg up. If you’re like me—someone who often feels that commitment is like, oh, a death grip squeezing the life out of poor, sorry freedom—then you’ve got some extra work to do. For folks like us, I include these tips. You may have heard some of them before, but that’s only because they always bear repeating.

      • Create two goals—a reasonable minimum goal and an ideal goal for your daily and/or weekly writing. Perhaps your minimum goal is 1 hour of writing per week, but your ideal goal is 2 hours. Aim for the 2 hours, but if you fall short you’ve most likely reached your minimum. The idea is to strive for your ideal but know that achieving your minimum is a worthy accomplishment too.

      • Set an umbrella goal based on a predetermined number of days, such as ten days of writing in a row. Umbrella goals provide a container that gives you structure and helps you to move forward. Telling yourself to write every day can often be a setup for failure since it’s such a large, open-ended goal. I recommend choosing an umbrella

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