I have this writing book, "The Write-Brain Workbook" 366 exercises to liberate your writing. I've always imagined myself as someone who writes well, and sometimes I have this fantasy that I will finally be able to shift careers this late and write for a living.

Anyway, this workbook, as you may have noticed from the title, has as many excercises as there are days in the year.

DAY 1: Circle Game one

Instructions:

Circle the one word that most appeals to you: Alabama, Banister, Carousel, Diesel, Exorcist (Carousel)
Circle the one word that most appeals to you: Flatulence, Garage, harried, Insensitive, Jambalaya (my choice: Jambalaya)

Circle yet another word that you find appealing: Keepsake, Lamb, Massage, Nonsense, Oriole (Lamb)

Use these three words in a story. Start with: Sometimes I feel just like a gerbil, running around and around in his wheel!

Sometimes I feel just like a gerbil, running around and around in his wheel! But all that running around is good for toning muscles, I guess. I'd make a nice skewered gerbil. I read about Kobe beef, that it's so expensive because the cows are massaged everyday, so the resulting meat is marbled just so. But I wouldn't buy meat so expensive, I'll make do with a well-excercised gerbil, some lamb and make myself my own version of Jambalaya. I've always loved one-dish meals like Jambalaya, and especially rice-based one-dish meals. If I were psychoanalysed, this tendency would be traced to my childhood days, when our staple was corn instead of rice. My child's mind always equated this with "underprivileged". Back then, I always had this fear that I would throw up at school and the contents of gut making a mess all over the floor. Everyone would see the course remains of corn grits. Ughh.

I make and eat this jambalaya, and ride on a fast-moving carousel until I'm nauseated, what would come out of my tummy would not have looked much different from the food that came right off the stove.