Exercise: Get Out a Clean Sheet of Paper

Thursday is a good day for a creativity exercise. (I know this is true, because any day is a good day for a creativity exercise.)

Here's what I want you to do:

1. Take out a clean sheet of paper and a pen.
2. Write the phrase "I used to be someone else" on the first line of the paper.
3. Using that phrase as a starting point, write for the next five minutes. Don't think -- just go with the stream of consciousness wherever it flows.
4. At the end of five minutes, give yourself the Jan-approved smiley face on the top of your paper.

You can use this as a great start to a poem, an essay, or a memoir. Or, you can just toss it in the trash, happy that you got your brain moving in a different direction!