Sunday, November 20, 2016

The Curious Creative: Week 7

A Tree  

This is the seventh installment of The Curious Creative, weekly 10-minute writing exercises for the busy individual interested in exploring his creativity. For the complete rationale, click here
My Thoughts:

If I could do a wordle of all the poetry ever written, I bet the word “tree” would show up as one of the most prominent words. This week, like all great poets, you are going to spend time with a trees.

Your Turn!

  1. Pick a tree from your world. It should be one you see or notice all the time, maybe on your commute to work, or outside your office window, etc.
  2. Put your notebook near your vantage point and keep it open for a few days so you can jot down little things you notice or feel about the tree. Pay close attention to its shapes and sounds, colors, smells, and textures.
  3. Sketch it. 
  4. Research it online. Jot down any interesting folklore or facts about it.
  5. If you have any, write down personal memories or associations with this tree or one it reminds you of.
By the end of the week, do you have a messy but rich list of words/phrases inspired by this tree? And maybe even a new obsession with this tree?

  1. If you want to take this prompt a step beyond the 10-minute exercise, try writing a series of short poems about this one tree or begin a short story or nonfiction piece using this tree as your entry point.
To encourage each other and grow a community of Curious Creatives, sign in from a google account so you can share your creation in the comment boxes below. Also, if you subscribe to this blog (submit your email address in the "Follow this Site by Email" box to the right), you will get an email update whenever a new exercise is added. Thanks for playing!


This prompt was inspired by the “Tree Poems” prompt from “The Time Is Now” in Poets & Writers magazine (September 2016 issue).

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