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Doing an exercise like "Write about something from your childhood" or "Write about 10 blue things" seems relatively harmless, but is ultimately destracting . . . if not destructive.

I realize it's meant to spark your creativity and broaden your horizons, but in reality it never broadens anything.  It effectively wastes your time.

These kind of lame exercises from the Writing Gym are, on the surface, harmless and are certainly well-intentioned.  They want to motivate you and improve you.

I have no problem with anyone writing about their childhood -- that might actually be helpful and productive -- but to do it only as a creativity exercise minimizes its importance.

And writing about "blue things"?  Or "Write from the perspective of a pet"?  Or "Write about a picture in a magazine"?

Why?

No, seriously: Why?

Even if you believe in the myth of Writer's Block, you have to admit the Writing Gym exercises are a downright silly procrastination technique.

So, instead of working on something that doesn't advance you toward your goal, work on your goal.  Leave those blue things alone.

I have a love / hate relationship with Twitter. I love the ability to write silly little blurbs that may inform or entertain others.

I often enjoy reading other people's blurbs, their thoughts and ramblings. I sometimes find very useful information or tools that I can use.

Yet, there is also an awful lot of drivel. One has to go through quite a bit of "I'm eating a sandwich!" or "My feet hurt" before stumbling across a news item or cool tip that catches your interest.

But for the writer, Twitter can be a fabulous tool.

For one thing, it forces the author to be succinct. After all, there's only so much you can say in 140 characters that will make an impact.

(And you should be trying to make an impact -- if you're not, you're just contributing to the litter of Twitter.)

And by "impact", I don't necessarily mean something profound . . . but enlightening would be nice. Funny is good. Something that would make someone go "Hhmm . . . "

Twitter, if used properly, makes one focus their thoughts and consider their words, something that is not done often in this world of saying whatever you want, however you want.

Trust me, I'm not against free speech, but I do think some kind of intelligent consideration should be exercised. Just blathering about having a sandwich or sore feet really is pointless.

It would be nice that, like everything else we write, we put some thought into our Twitterings. And with 140 characters, we need to choose the words with as much thought.

And sometimes with those 140 characters, we run out of space. Some folks resort to abbreviations or strange misspellings to get their thought across.

did u no susan is hvng a save sarah twitter day? Will u join us 2? pls RT!!

The irony is that tweet isn't 140 characters, with room to spell everyting correctly. So why not? Have we gotten lazy, or is this the new language?

I shiver to consider either might be close to the truth. Yet, there it is

Twitter is a tool, and could be a great tool, if used well. There are a lot of members who are amazing for who they are and the information they provide.

How much can you say in 140 characters? And how well can you say it?

Give it a try. It's free, and you can practice all you want.

I'll have the turkey & swiss on white.

This may seem like a minor thing in the world of writing -- and it probably is -- but the question arose: "How many spaces do I put between sentences?"

 Ah, yes, the space question.

This only applies in, say, a paragraph where one sentence ends and the next begins.  Like this one.  Notice I used a double-space.  That's my preference.  It was how I was taught, and so it's what I do.

I know writers better than I who only single-space.  Are they wrong?  Or am I?

Technically, neither, but in formatting a raw manuscript, two is better than one.  It helps with reading and comprehension and, at least to my eyes, just looks better.

But single-spacing won't get you rejected or keep you out of heaven.  Generally, it doesn't matter, so if you're use to one, stick with it.

(But two is better.)

Are you worried about your spelling, or if you're using the correct font or proper line spacing?

That's a good thing.  Because everything matters.

Except . . . ready for it? . . . in the 1st Draft.

If you're in the 1st Draft, fahgetaboutit.  Just write.  Let the creativity flow.

It's ultimately important for you to get the story down.  The story, after all, is what you're there for.

When you're ready to work on the 2nd Draft, that's when you can go all anal.  Nit pick, question, rearrange, cut, add, tweak, twist and recycle.  But in the 1st Draft, just run with it.  And don't look back.

One analogy might be like moving day.  When you bring the boxes and furniture in, you put them in the appropriate room, maybe in or near the place they need to be, but you don't unpack each box one by one as you unload it from the truck.  That would take forever.  No, as you take a box marked "Bedroom" off the truck, you take it to the bedroom, set it on the floor, and go back to the truck for the next box.  You don't unpack the first one, place the knickknacks and alarm clock exactly where they need to be while 157 other boxes sit on the truck, waiting for their turn.  No, you go back to the truck and take the next box to the room where it needs to go.  Once everything's unloaded off the truck, then you can begin to arrange, put away and decorate.

Your 1st Draft is similar.  Throw everything in the appropriate room, and decorate it later.  Correct spelling, use the proper font and fix up various plot points and characters once the truck is unloaded.

I have a client who spent roughly a year working on the Prologue.  I tried to convince him that, really, the Prologue comes last.  It should be written after the book proper.  That way, the Prologue can be flavored to suit the taste of the "finished" book.  But instead, he wrote a little, played with different fonts, inserted little boxes with clever quotes or artwork that he felt were important to the look and feel of his project.  He'd send me a copy, then a few days later, I'd get an email asking I delete the previous one because he had "updated" it and it was now much better.  The only difference I could tell was the font size had changed and a couple new boxes were added.

Finally, I met him for breakfast and said this is all lovely, but it has nothing to do with his book.  "Please," I practically begged him, "write the fucking book.  The publisher -- if you ever get around to completing a manuscript that a publisher would want to publish -- would probably cut the stupid Prologue anyway."

He was shocked.  And crestfallen.  But he got it.  A month later, he turned in Chapter 1.

Maybe you're not quite that bad -- I certainly hope not -- but I've found myself sometimes going back to "work on" the first chapter instead of focusing on the road ahead.  Occasionally, I come up with a better opening line, or re-envision that first scene, and I feel compelled to return to the beginning and rework it.  I suppose this wouldn't be bad if it only took a few minutes or maybe a couple of hours, but when I find myself still revising Chapter 1 five days later, and the rest of the novel is a vast, empty wasteland of nothing, I'm not doing myself -- or the manuscript -- any favors.

Do yourself a favor, and complete the 1st Draft.  You'll have plenty of time to agonize over every little detail for the weeks and months to come.

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I've read a lot of unpublished manuscripts from writers who hope I can give them some insight into why they're not getting published.  They want to know what is wrong with their story.

Although I don't tell them this, it's often because their work is boring.  Or at least it starts that way.

Or, to quote Monty Python: "I'll tell you what's wrong with it . . . It's dead, that's what's wrong with it."

• An action novel that begins with 3-1/2 pages of background information.

• A mystery/suspense manuscript with a 17 page prologue, all character history.

• A thriller with two characters spending the entire first chapter bickering

I have a dozen other examples, but you get the idea.

So, let me give a general rule of thumb that may be helpful . . .

If you're writing a mystery, start with a mystery.

If you're writing suspense, start with some suspense.

If you're writing a thriller, start with something thrilling.

If you're writing an action novel, start with some action.

Deep background information, facts, history, details of family relationships are not the way to kick off a novel.

You're going to have plenty of time to get to those tidbits later.

You're supposed to be a story-teller, so tell the fucking story.

Please don't give me a bunch of useless crap first . . . tell the fucking story.

Please don't kick off the novel with why Chloe divorced our beloved but slightly depressed protagonist . . . tell the fucking story.

I know, I know, some writers have it in their head they have to set up the story before they can actually get around to telling it.

Phooey.

Figure out a way around it.  Come up with a plan to set up the story as it unfolds.  Or to put it another way, unfold the story as you set it up.

But whatever you do, don't fill me up with a load of facts and background info (that I'm somehow not only supposed to care about, but remember) before you get around to something actually happening.

Shoot first, give facts later.

Oh, and tell the fucking story.

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