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Hello, and welcome to And Now We Write!
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This is a daily no homework podcast where we take 15 minutes out of our day to get 10
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minutes of writing on the page.
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I'm just a fellow writer trying to improve my own craft and my own writing habits, so
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every episode I will be writing along with you, because the number one way to improve
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your writing is to write.
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So let's write together.
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We'll do it right now and whatever else happens for the rest of the day, we'll at least have
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this.
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So get out a pen and paper or open up your laptop and get a document ready, whatever
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canvas you're going to use and however you're planning to make marks on it.
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We are going to start a 10 minute timer in about a minute from now and you have got to
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be ready.
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You can use this time for whatever writing you want or need to do, but if you don't
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know yet what to write, I will give you a totally optional kickoff that you can use
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to get going.
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This month we are featuring writing exercises focused on conversation and dialogue, love
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stories in honor of Valentine's Day, and adapted exercises from Comedy Writing Step
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by Step by Jean Perrette.
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Today's exercise is adapted from Comedy Writing Step by Step.
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Here it comes.
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Jean Perrette says, not all audiences have a sense of humor about all topics.
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So take an aspect of yourself that may be sensitive for you or for other people with
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the same characteristic, like a facial feature, a belief, or a funny walk.
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Now brainstorm visual images that exaggerate that characteristic to a comic degree.
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Eyelashes so long they sweep spider webs from the ceiling, or a nose so drippy the owner
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walks around holding a bucket to his chest.
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If any of your images suggest a complete joke, that's great, but focus on coming up
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with striking and exaggerated imagery.
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Now as always this kickoff is optional.
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You can use the next 10 minutes to journal or to plan out your day.
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You can use it to brainstorm or to write a new page or so for work in progress.
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But what's important is that we do write and we don't cheat and we don't stop until
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the music comes in.
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So if you're ready, hands up, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, hands down, three, two,
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one, and now we write.
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Okay gang, that is it.
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We are done with our 10 minutes for the day.
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If you are on a roll and you're getting something out of this exercise, please feel absolutely
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free to keep on going as long as you have the time.
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If you are trying to squeeze this into a little gap in your schedule, it's time for you to
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get down your last couple of thoughts and wrap it up.
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This one, sometimes I struggle with the more brainstorming ones and this one definitely
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fell in that category, but I did find right around, I don't know, maybe like three minutes
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in, I started coming up with some images that were kind of uncomfortable for me.
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And I tried to really lean into that and definitely came out the other side enjoying
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the absurdity.
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I think it was constructive, but not one of the ones that immediately sparks the desire
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to go do this for another 20 minutes.
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Whatever you came up with, however this went for you, or whatever you use the time for,
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if you didn't use the prompt, I hope your day goes just a little bit better now that
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you've gotten 10 minutes of writing on the page.
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Thank you for writing with me.
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And if you're not already subscribed, please do follow this podcast and I would be honored
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to write with you again tomorrow.
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And don't forget that starting on Monday, we're having February Flash Week where we
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start with a blank sheet of paper and get all the way to a complete draft of a flash
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fiction piece of about like 850 to 1200 words depending on how fast you type.
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I'm really looking forward to it.
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I ended up with a submitable piece from my January exercise.
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It's not right away, not within the 10 minutes, but it got me all the way.
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The outline is the one that I ended up using and I ended up flashing it out to, I think
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it ended up being around 2400 words and it's finished for me.
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Anyway, I hope you'll join me for that and I hope you will join me tomorrow.
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I hope to see you then.
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Bye.