Exercises are a great way for a writer to stretch those creative muscles. Here are six of my favorites.

Plan Your Days In The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron recommends writing three pages each morning. In The Well of Creativity, she explains why such a practice is essential: "What morning pages do is tell you the kind of day you want to have. They prioritize your day. They make you understand very clearly where you are giving your time away to other people's agendas. They teach you when you are falling in with all of the "shoulds" ... Never asking yourself what would I passionately love to have done today ... so morning pages give you a day. If you do them at night, you're complaining about the day you've already had. Morning pages lay down track, and they win you enormous windows of time." So, what are the rules of morning pages? Write three, longhand pages each day. Do this in the morning. Don't look back and don't share them with anyone. For more information, check out The Artist's Way or The Artist's Way at Work. Both are full of great resources.

Try Indirect Pages Write a word—the more abstract, the better—at the top of your page. Write a piece inspired by that word, evoking the meaning, but never using the actual word.

Write Badly Calvin Trillin calls it the "vomit-out," Anne Lamott calls it a "shitty first draft." I think of it as my “pile of glop.” Whatever you call it, use it to free your ideas.

List 100 ... In Put Your Heart on Paper, Henriette Anne Klauser advises brainstorming using lists of 100. Why 100? Klauser says this: "I read in Kathleen Adam's book, Journal to the Self, that in lists of a hundred, the first thirty-three items are predictable; the next thirty-three are silly; the last thirty-four are off the wall—and your best. It's as though the brain were saying, 'Trust me on this one, and I'll give you another.'" So, aim for 100, and make a list of possible topics you could write about. I just used this method to un-stall myself and get an essay that was stuck moving and flowing. You'll see—it is magic!

The Power of Prompt Lines Write, using a prompt line: "I remember ..." or "I don't remember ..."

Say No to Excuses My challenge is for you to set a time goal for your writing and simply show up. Thinking about 30 minutes? Choose three times this week where you can write for 10 minutes, or six times you can write for five minutes. The key is to keep your commitment to yourself. Watch for excuses—even ones that seem justified. Focus on keeping your commitments—what would happen if you got out of your own way and accepted no more excuses?

Any ideas, questions, requests, or inspirations? Contact Sarah!