20. Marvelous list

Look up the word Marvel (or Marvelous) in the dictionary. Find as many synonyms for it as you can, then write each of those words in a new & marvelous way, making a marvelous list.

17. Write a story

Write a story beginning with:

• As a child I….
  
• I remember….
  
• The last time I….
  
• Today I saw | heard | noticed….

15. Automatic Writing

Photo by Angie Geworsky & Richard Klassen.

For 15 minutes write everything that pops into your brain without editing, censoring, or worrying about spelling or grammar.

14. Record Your Day

Photo by AndrewMorrell.

Take a small tape recorder or digital recorder with you & record the sounds you encounter in your day. Come home and make a written or pictorial transcript of the recording.

9. Illustrate a Dream

Illustrate the dream you had last night.

Most of us dream in incoherent images that make perfect sense at the time of the dreaming, but when we wake up we're left with a jumbled or perplexing set of images/events/feelings. Why not sit down and start drawing bits of images or events that you remember from your dreams?

Can't remember images? then draw feelings - was it a scary dream? what colors do you associate with that? What colors do you remember from your dream? Instead of images, make a page full of dream colors. label them with the associated feelings.

8. Listening Meditation

Be still. Be silent. Listen to every sound around you for 5 minutes. Try to write down each of the sounds, describing exactly what you heard.

You can do this in your living room, a meadow, a park, in the middle of a mall, a bookstore, coffee shop - wherever you feel drawn. Take your journal or sketchbook, find a comfortable, out of the way, place to sit and begin listening. If it helps, close your eyes. Do not focus on one particular conversation or sound, but allow your attention to float to all of the sounds around you.

After several (or 5) minutes, begin to write about the experience. Try to recall how certain sounds made you feel. Did anything strike your funny bone? Did you hear different conversations juxtaposing? were any of the sounds jarring? soothing? etc.

7. Illustrate a quote or Poem

Find a poem or quote that you like, write it in your journal, then illustrate it, color it in, doodle around it... make it visually pleasing to you.

6. Draw The Events of Your Day

In no particular order, draw the events of your day:

• When did you wake up?
  
• what did you eat for breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? Snack?
  
• what did you wear?
  
• Did you run any errands? take the dog for a walk? lounge in the sun with the cat?
  
• Did your Spouse | Significant Other | Roommate | Brother | Parents say or do anything that affected your day?
  
• Did you watch TV? Go to a Movie? Etc.

2. Be a Thing Finder

Collect objects that you find on your walk, bring them home:

• Draw them
  
• Collage them into your journal
  
• write about them:
  
  • how did you found the "thing"?
    
  • What is the secret life of the thing found - where did it come from, how did it end up there...
  
  
• set up a mini-museum in which to display your best weekly finds [change it each week]
  
• Write descriptive tags for them & display them in your house somewhere
  
• Write descriptive or story tags for them, and leave them somewhere for someone else to find