C. M. MAYO

      Author
      of The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, etc.

      
C.M. Mayo < For Writers < Giant Golden Buddha
 
Five Reasons
      for 5 Minutes



      1. To Train the
      Brain to Get Into the Habit of Writing

      How do
      you write a 500 page book? Or, for that matter, a poem? A piddling
      5 minutes at a time. When you're not feeling ready to commit
      to writing a short story, magazine article, or, (gulp) a novel,
      brief exercises (which of course, can expand to any length of
      time) can serve as a bit of track to run on, as it were. The
      more often you write, the easier it gets. 



      2.
      To Train the Brain to Imagine More Vividly with Ease

      And how
      do you conjure a vivid world for readers? By use of vivid detail
      that appeals to the senses (smell, sight, hearing, taste, and
      touch), by convincingly conveying other points of view and by
      playfully exploring that ever-strange energy of 'what if?' For
      the most part, these are the tasks of the 5 minute writing exercises.



      3.
      To Enhance the Flow Tomorrow

      Alas,
      there are days— even for full-time writers—
      when it is impossible to block out the ideal number of hours
      for writing. On such days, if you can write intensely for 5 minutes—
      even just 5 minutes— the writing "muscle"
      stays pumped so that the following day, the writing once again
      flows.



      4.
      To
      Bust a Block

      For those
      with writers block— whose excuses usually
      include variations of "I don't have time" and/or "my
      writing must be super special & perfect or else why bother"—
      five minutes is a low bar indeed. (By the way, if the block is
      bad, try setting an alarm clock or an egg timer, and promise
      yourself, when it rings in 5 minutes, you'll quit writing. A
      bit of reverse psychology.)



      5.
      To Seed Something Big & Wonderful

      YES!