Day 01 Writing Workout

Welcome to Writing Workout with Ace Baker!

Over the course of 30 days, we’ll get a workout trying different techniques and practices to improve our writing and writing habits.

Today, the topic is SCALES, and it’s not about fish or weight loss–it’s more related to another group of creative people: musicians.

When musicians “warm up” before tackling the piece they are working on, they perform scales–it’s a way of checking in, getting ready, connecting to something familiar before tackling new work.

I believe in this practice for writers as well.

A scale for me is simply a writing prompt. There is no pressure to “complete” anything; in fact, most often, it might be a beginning or some rambling thoughts related to the trigger. It doesn’t need to lead to a completed work.

What DOES it lead to? Good habits. In five to ten minutes, you will have done some creative writing. EVERYONE has five to ten minutes they can find in their day. Satisfaction comes from knowing you are being consistent–you’re writing regularly, no matter how much.

What works best for scales? Pen and paper.

Ideally, buy a “scales journal,” a BOUND book–not a coil notebook, not a duotang, not a binder with loose pages. A book with a binding encourages you NOT to rip pages out of it that you don’t like. Keep everything. If the spine is sewn or bound, you won’t tear pages out or the entire book will fall apart. Dollar stores have journals that will work fine–most under $5. You don’t need to spend big to buy a leather journal or anything.

Give yourself 5-10 minutes (set a timer, if that helps), and try to keep the pen MOVING the entire time. When you finish, you can always loop back and highlight any phrases or sentences you like.

Your workout today, then is a scale:

NEW BEGINNINGS

Give yourself five to ten minutes and go crazy coming up with poetry, song lyrics, a piece of a story, random thoughts, or a list of related words!

Remember to come back for workout #2 when we deal with EKPHRASIS!

Have a beautiful ____________!