Some writing exercises I made up.

Exercise 1:

Try to summarize yourself (or your characters) in one sentence. This is something I've been doing with myself lately as I've sort of been stuck on progress with Interconnected. Can a character be defined in one sentence? Can anyone?

I would say in some cases, that they can, but not all.

Bad single-sentence description:

"He's the son of a used car salesman."

Just a generic stereotype that has no real meaning on its own. It could go somewhere, but it doesn't mean anything on its own.

And this is one for me as a person and a writer:

"Never stops moving, he always seeks to be improving."

Exercise 2:

GET OUTSIDE MORE. Take some time off from things and walk. Listen to the sounds of the world. I find myself relying on my Ipod far too much. As I have perfect pitch, I've felt like when I listen to music, it's almost as if the world can listen with me. That can be far too intense and gets in the way of my own mind, so just listening to the sounds of the world, and watching ducks by Shoreline has been very helpful for me.

Some questions I have:

1. Do you think animals can evolve as humanity grows intelligent and more peaceful? That is, do animals respond to human nature, to our thoughts?

2. Is global warming potentially a good thing, if new land becomes fertile? If so, are efforts to combat global warming not the best way to help the environment as a whole?

Exercise 3:

Go back in time in your mind and try to see if you can change the world. Time travel of the mind. Find an event in your life or in ancient history and wonder if it would change anything. I believe that if you think hard enough doing that, you can make a positive change in yourself and others.

Go out and write if you feel like it. And if you don't want to write, then do something else.