A Writer's Workbook Daily Exercises for the Writing Life

by Sharp, Caroline; Gilbert, Elizabeth

• ISBN13: 9780312286217
• ISBN10: 031228621X
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-06-14
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Summary

Aspiring doctors have medical school. Karate students have belts of different colors. Pianists have scales and arpeggios. But what system do writers have for getting and staying "in shape," to help them focus, practice, and make progress? A Writer's Workbook is Caroline Sharp's ingenious collection of exercises to inspire, encourage, warm up, and jump-start anyone who writes. A wise and funny friend who will cheerlead you through even your darkest can't-write days and "every idea I've ever had is awful" nights, she provides encouraging suggestions, hilarious observations, and an amazingly vivid catalogue of writers' neuroses (with advice on overcoming them, of course). From "Roget's Resume" and "Emulating Ernest" to "End Well," "The Rewrite Rut," and "Dear John," the exercises in this generous, wry workbook will keep your ideas fresh, your mind open, and your pen moving. AUTHORBIO: Caroline Sharp has a degree in psychology from Princeton University, an MFA from Columbia University, and is a graduate of the Writer's Boot Camp.The mother of two, she lives and writes in New York City.

Author Biography

Caroline Sharp has a degree in psychology from Princeton University, an MFA from Columbia University, and is a graduate of the Writer's Boot Camp. The mother of two, she lives and writes in New York City.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Foreword	xv
Elizabeth Gilbert
Introduction	xix
How to Use This Workbook: A Few Suggestions	xxi
Obstacle Pages, or Reasons Why You Just Can't Write-Today	xxv
WARM-UPS	1	(12)
Warm-up, Stretch, and Extend	3	(2)
One-liners: A Quick Warm-up Exercise	5	(3)
Stop 'n' Shop	8	(3)
Roget's Resume	11	(2)
THE EXERCISES	13	(122)
Obstacle Page: What If You Don't Like Being Alone! or Writing in the Company of Strangers	15	(25)
Step One: Your Journal Pages	17	(4)
Reviews: What Do You Think?	21	(3)
Character, Character, on the Wall	24	(4)
Picture This	28	(5)
Finish the Thought	33	(4)
Conversation Observation	37	(3)
Obstacle Page: Fear of Failure/Fear of Success, or ``Fish of the Day''	40	(26)
Emulating Ernest	42	(3)
Your ``Idea Book'': A Lifetime Commitment	45	(4)
To Outline or Not to Outline?	49	(3)
Where Have You Gone?	52	(4)
Don't Know Much Geography But, I Should!	56	(3)
A Small Snack	59	(3)
If Breakfast Be the Meal of Love	62	(4)
Obstacle Page: Dyslexia and Other Physical Obstacles, or The Pen Is Mightier Than the Problem	66	(21)
Your Daily Grind	68	(3)
A Day in the Life	71	(4)
The Time of Their Lives	75	(3)
The Wrong Date and Time	78	(3)
Objects of Desire	81	(3)
Reuse, Rethink, Recycle	84	(3)
Obstacle Page: Writer's Block, or Surviving a Big Chill	87	(20)
Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain	89	(4)
Triple Dare/Triple Scare, or How Low Will You Go?	93	(4)
The Wrong Brother	97	(4)
Plot, Plot, Fizz, Fizz	101	(3)
X Marks the Spot	104	(3)
Obstacle Page: The Rewrite Rut, or ``My Name's Russell and I'm a Perfectionist''	107	(17)
The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of	109	(4)
End Well	113	(4)
Lost and Found	117	(3)
Bad Appetites	120	(4)
Obstacle Page: The Committee, or Bad Guys: 65/Good Guys: 1	124	(11)
``Dear John''	127	(4)
7-Up	131	(2)
One Last Thought	133	(2)
Appendix Basic Etiquette for Reading and Responding to Your Peers' Work, or Miss Manners Comes to Your Writing Group	135	(4)
Bibliography	139	(6)
About the Author	145