So I chanced upon a little creative writing activity the other day. I’d been trawling Reddit for inspiration, and I found this nifty exercise hidden in the comments. The whole thing has apparently been designed to shake you out of your funk, and while I couldn’t make sense of the exact logic, a hundred thousand Redditors swore by it.
The process is this: Grab a laptop/word processor or your nearest device. Open up a document, click on fonts, scroll down, pick Comic Sans and try not to roll your eyes (the last part is my input because COME ON!)
And here’s where it gets weird.
The exercise is to write a page of gibberish. Observe whatever nonsense floats into your mind, pluck it out, and jot it down. The more absurd it sounds, the better. This sort of random woo-woo, stream of consciousness approach is designed to clear your mind of any clutter while drawing your creative juices out.
“Huh,” I thought. “What the f@#$?”
Then a second later, I thought, “Why the f@#$ not?”
So I did it. Floated away into this half-dreamy state and found plenty of fodder. Drivel of the worst kind, but after pouring it out, I actually feel a little better. Like I’ve been squinting all this while and suddenly put on a pair of glasses.
Huh, indeed. So here goes.
*Ahem.*
Would you paint the sun blue and call it the sea?
Would you wish on a star and get what you want?
Would you get your heart broken and not want to cry?
Will your shadow walk with you, or will you shrug it off?
Would you change anything, if you could?
And would it really make you happy?
—
Would you do away with aches and wrinkles?
Or would you breathe in all the pain?
Would you draw yourself with beautiful lines?
Would you glance in a mirror then?
Would you dig deep down and find your voice?
And would that voice speak what you know?
—
Would you hop on a bike and fly over mountains?
Would you wake up and continue the dream?
Would you call someone and talk for a lifetime?
Or would you instead run and hide?
If you meet your dead, would you spend a while?
Or would you very much want to join them?
—
Would you paint your days more vibrant?
Will your nights be fulfilled and sweet?
Would you live to be a hundred and still feel young?
Or would you die on your best day, alone?
Would you heal yourself from every hurt?
Or are you happier with the scars?
—
So, would you change anything if you could?
Or are you secretly glad you can’t?
