I spend five or ten minutes each day writing these blog posts. The exercise has a few goals, none of which are to get this blog popular. They are:
Write a tiny bit every day. (Create something every day!)
Process ideas I am reading about and retain more info by writing about them.
Improve my writing style.
I want to improve my writing because I like writing, but I want to be more of a wordsmith and use words and sounds to shape more compelling stories. I get envious when I open emails, blogs, and books of good writers. They have such a firm command of the language and a creative ability when it comes to word choice.
The solution is to spend more time writing each day. At least, I think that is the solution. More targeted practice usually means you improve your skills.
There is a 30-minute writing exercise called 10-10-10.
Choose a topic or idea.
Spend 10 minutes writing 500 words.
Spend 10 minutes distilling that into 100 words.
Spend 10 minutes distilling that into 10 words.
Now that’s a writing exercise I can get excited about.