Writing Exercise - 10 Places, 10 Smells

Taking a nod from Stefanie Howerton, I'm going to start working on some writing exercises. I think that, aside from helping my skills as a writer, they might also help me get more in the mindset that helps me get my writing done. Since I'm going to have a little more to do on my working nights during the hours that I feel like I get my best writing done, the quicker I can get started writing on a given night, the better off I'll be.

They're laid out by day to form a year's worth of exercises by date. I'll be boring and pick the one for today. (That'd be January 20th at this point, now that it's after midnight.) And of course, it bears mentioning that the exercise comes from C. M. Mayo's website, so my thanks for that resource.

January 20 "Childrens' Birthday Party: Surprise"

Make a list of all the things you would associate with a childrens birthday party. Try to get in smells, tastes, textures, sounds, colors, and of course, silly games and toys. Nearing the end of the five minutes, circle the items that surprised you in some way.

Clowns, Cake, Mothers, Trampoline, Grass, Blue Sky, Clouds, Sunlight, children, presents, picnic table, hot dogs, hamburgers, gift-bags, movies, tablecloths, kazoos, magicians, pizza, video games, toys, fence, swimming pool, cameras, Fathers, ice cream, candy, breeze, cooking meat, laughter, shouting, headaches, tummy aches, music, sugar

None of it really surprises me, though for most of the five minutes, I found myself thinking of actual objects. I caught myself towards the end and started throwing in some less tangible things. I suppose I could claim that headaches surprise me, but I'd imagine that for any parents involved it might be the only thing possible with a bunch of kids running around on a sugar high, whooping and yelling - and the inevitable stomach aches that come from eating too much candy.

With that as a warm up, time to look at my story, and pick up from last night's work.