Start a story with the sentence:

He waited for three days.

Today give yourself exactly one hour to write.  Start the clock and don’t get up from your desk until the hour is up.  No cheating by slipping onto Twitter or Facebook… this hour is for writing (or staring at a blank screen) only.

I just finished teaching a group of teens at the Sage Hill Saskatoon experience.  Great group.  Great writing.  Great to be surprised by their work as the week went on. 

Here’s one simple exercise I used (modified) with the group for you to try – we did it on the first day to get words flowing:

DON”T LET YOURSELF STOP WRITING UNTIL THE TIME IS UP – even if you’re writing the same word over and over. 

Go: Freewrite for 10 minutes on your earliest memory.  Stop.  Freewrite for 10 minutes on someone you admire.  Stop.  Freewrite for 10 minutes on the word window.  Stop.

That’s 30 minutes writing all together.  Somewhere in the words you’ve got down there will be ideas and maybe even sentences that you can use later on.  Freewriting helps you discipline yourself to pour words out and stops you editing yourself before you’ve got something to work with.  Try it.