WORD CRICKET

By Vanessa Gebbie.

Here’s a little warm-up game. You’ll be writing as fast as you can. For about 10 minutes, with as little planning as you can muster.  And, importantly you will NOT be reading out what you wrote, or sharing it.  

I’ll give you a starter sentence or two, and I want you to write as fast as you can – every minute or so I’ll chuck in a word. The only thing I ask is that you ‘catch’ the word as quickly as you can, and incorporate it into what you are writing as fast as possible. 

(You can flex words – eg ‘change’ might become ‘changing’ or ‘changeling’ etc etc etc)

In a workshop, the leader speaks the words out loud. If you want to play with this in your own space and time,  I suggest you write 10 random words on 10 scraps of paper, screw up the paper and stick all the bits in a pile on the desk where you write – so you don’t know which is which.  Then select one every minute or so.  Don’t cheat, and don’t choose another word if you don’t like your choice…

 You could set a timer, you could extend the time lapse to two minutes, three – whatever floats your boat. And you can start with whatever phrase you like. 

But for now – enjoy the ride…

Starter: 

January 24th. Things are beginning to look a little serious…

Your 10 words: 

Dash

Freak

Handbrake

Newspaper

Tulip

Sweat

Purple

Goldfish

Icy

Tomorrow