Shower Thought
"Buddhist cosmology, as described in the Sutta Pitaka of the Theravada Pali Canon, stratifies 31 different planes of existence in which rebirth takes place; Hinduism assign 14, 7 upper and 7 lower planes. Perhaps more attuned to modern sensibilities, of which includes the expectation of infinity, the modern spiritualist ascertains that our reality exists as one among many equally valid existences. A simple exercise to access these realities is as follows: ..."
(If you're curious about my revision process, here's my reflection)
Views from East 1st to Marble Hill
"Morning - 11:30am
Employees at the water cooler, who cool themselves with gossip like gazelles at a watering hole, scatter when they see their boss approaching."
Style Imitation Exercise
"I advise new staff to avoid the centers of their eyes, to stare instead at the bridge of their noses, or the fullness of their lips."
A very fun and helpful writing exercise I learned during my time at the University of Iowa. The goal is to try and imitate a short story's style. This exercise broadens the scope of your writing style, and makes you more conscious of other writers' choices. Here are the steps:
1. Read a short story, take concrete notes on how its sentences are composed. Pay attention to diction, quirks of syntax, the relationship between independent and dependent clauses, the structure of paragraphs/ideas. Note: some people prefer to read a story once through before taking notes.
2, Review your notes to synthetize the voice of the story.
3, Imitate the style. Feel free to combine the style with your own voice or subject matter. You can write however much you want, but I typically stick between 250 to 500 words.