Free writing

Use the free writing technique. Beginning with the words "In the beginning...", write down your stream of consciousness without stopping to think about it. When your left-brain editor kicks in and tells you to stop and re-read before your 10 minutes are up, ignore her. Remember, you're not writing a ready-to-publish Pullitzer Prize winner, just some interesting thoughts no-one else need ever read. You may be surprised where this challenge takes you.

Exploring visceral

Even if you think you know what it means, look up the various definitions of "visceral". Take 10 minutes to write three short scenes titled "Visceral, I", "Visceral, II" and "Visceral, III". They can relate to each other but don't have to.

Eating chocolate

With your eyes closed, eat a piece or two... or three... of chocolate, focusing intently on the party going on in your mouth. Notice how the chocolate clings to your tongue; how the sweetness lingers; how firm yet increasingly soft it becomes against the roof of your mouth... Write for 10 minutes on what you're experiencing, letting the words take you where they will - beginning, if you like, with "Oh, how we danced..."

Random page exercise

Open any novel at a random page and choose from it a sentence of around 15 words, give or take. Using each of the words in the sentence in turn, create new sentences. As an example, if your sentence was "My cat has fleas", you might write a piece that read "My, how the time flies when nothing but the moon measures each moment. Cat or dog, there is something outside making a disgruntled yelp that turns my blood cool as midnight. Has anyone told you how amazing you look in this yellow glow? Fleas may be small, but the pinpricks of moonlight in your eyes are smaller." Keep going until you've used up all the words or run out of time. Don't get too caught up on trying to create a narrative flow with your sentences. The idea is simply to create a series of sentences that may, or may not, relate to each other - often, inexplicably, flow happens. If not, it will still be delicious.

Writing without "A"

"So silently the night creeps over me..."
TASK Continue writing for 10 minutes without using the letter A.

Writing to music

Copy and paste the link at the end of this post into your browser. It will take you to one of Mozart's most famous violin concertos (No.5 in A, second movement). Just listen for the first minute (or so), then start writing, beginning with the words "This morning, I..." and continue until a minute (or so) after the music ends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caVr-VdeDvw&list=RD023kvWClaJKd8

Using a photograph as the starting point

This is Blair's Tree. If you could look closer, you'd see ribbons, faded by years of sun and rain, dangling from its lower branches. Write for 10 minutes on the story of Blair's Tree. Begin, if it helps, with the words "Blair's Tree is...."