As a design team member at Time To Scrap, I have been given an awesome opportunity to write and at that same time, encourage others to embrace writing. The owner of the site and I had a long meeting a few weeks ago to discuss the area which I felt I was most strong. I am not one for uploading layouts... I just can't seem to be a fast enough scrapbooker to keep the gallery fresh. I'm not a 'top' poster. My 2 toddlers keep me too busy to be able to post like a fiend like I used to. BUT, I am rabid about writing. Katie and I sat down and figured out how that could be an asset to the site and came up with "Pen and Pixel"
I am aware that it may take some time to build up, but I feel that it'll eventually have quite a nice group of contributors and that I will be able to bring myself even further into the world of writing, journaling and/or blogging. Come along for the ride and check it out. It's a continuous workshop for writers of all kinds. You can move at your own pace, pick the exercises that you feel would work for you and share your ideas, thoughts and writing if you so desire.

Exercise for the week of September 25, 2006

Do you find it hard to write? If so, why?
Do you find it easy to write? If so, HOW?

I would love to know what issues you may have about writing and hopefully, help you past them. You can learn SO MUCH about yourself by simply choosing a topic and writing about it for 30 minutes a day.

What I want you to do is to pick a topic.... ANY topic. IT can be 'flavors of ice cream' or 'breeds of dogs' or 'family resemblances' or something even deeper like "Democrats" or even "intimacy"

Take 30 minutes and write about it. What you DONT want to do is stiffle yourself. DO NOT scould yourself for writing something that you're thinking, do not stop yourself in mid-thought and restart. Go with the flow, keep writing until 30 minutes is up (or longer if you wish!)

***Once you're finished with this exercise I'd love for you to share the experience. How did the exercise make you feel? Did it turn out differently than you had originally thought? Did it turn out EXACTLY as you had thought? Did you learn anything about yourself during this exercise?***

If you want to BLOG this and share, please share your link here and if you are writing in a journal, you can post here and let us know what your experiences were as you were writing and how the exercise affected you. I would love to see how this exercise works for each individual.