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A Writer's Workbook: Daily Exercises for the Writing Life
Aspiring doctors have medical school. Karate students have belts of different colors. Pianists have scales and arpeggios. But what system do writers have for getting and staying "in shape," to help them focus, practice, and make progress?
A Writer's Workbook is Caroline Sharp's ingenious collection of exercises to inspire, encourage, warm up, and jump-start anyone who writes. A wise and funny friend who will cheerlead you through even your darkest can't-write days and "every idea I've ever had is awful" nights, she provides encouraging suggestions, hilarious observations, and an amazingly vivid catalogue of writers' neuroses (with advice on overcoming them, of course).
From "Roget's Resume" and "Emulating Ernest" to "End Well," "The Rewrite Rut," and "Dear John," the exercises in this generous, wry workbook will keep your ideas fresh, your mind open, and your pen moving.
A Writer's Workbook is Caroline Sharp's ingenious collection of exercises to inspire, encourage, warm up, and jump-start anyone who writes. A wise and funny friend who will cheerlead you through even your darkest can't-write days and "every idea I've ever had is awful" nights, she provides encouraging suggestions, hilarious observations, and an amazingly vivid catalogue of writers' neuroses (with advice on overcoming them, of course).
From "Roget's Resume" and "Emulating Ernest" to "End Well," "The Rewrite Rut," and "Dear John," the exercises in this generous, wry workbook will keep your ideas fresh, your mind open, and your pen moving.
176 pages, Paperback
First published July 7, 2000
60 people are currently reading
898 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 6, 2013
So far, I'm liking the exercises and the useful advice in this book. What I don't like is how the author emphasizes ideas by using ALL CAPS. This is ANNOYING. It is DISTRACTING. I don't LIKE IT. (see what I mean? Whew!)
April 18, 2011
Disclaimer: the notes you're about to read were extracted from this book and I do not intend to take personal credit for any of them:
• Remember character is foundation “Let’s go there now”. A house has a foundation. A solid foundation means a solid structure. A tree climbs up from its roots…To understand a person, with all of their complexities and problems and promises, look to their character. We can live and learn and grow and change, but all this is raised up on the solid base of character.
• Try to become aware of these areas of difficulty. It is important to write beyond your comfort zone. Doing so, pushing yourself, is hard and irritating and can be really intense. It is also brave and challenging and will make you a better writer.
• A visual image can stimulate our memories, possibilities, alternative realities.
• You might think that your stories exist only as vehicles for your pleasure or as exorcisms of your own private demons. This is only partially true. I believe that the instant your characters and their destinies take shape on a page, they have life. They exist. And it is entirely up to you to make that world a valid place.
• We need never be overwhelmed when confronted with a big or complicated writing project. All we need to do in the next sentence and the sentence after that, is to describe yourself what is right in front of us. As Ms. Lanott explains, imagine yourself looking at a one-inch-square picture frame. Imagine the whole world broken down into billions of one –inch-square picture frames. You take one at a time and describe it. The BIG picture can be overwhelming. A one-inch picture tends not to be.
• It is important to try new things in your writing. You are in charge. It is safe. Try writing about powerful emotions, powerful situations. Try writing about food. About an old woman dying alone. A Town turning on its weakest member. A man jumping into icy water after a plane crash to save a woman surrounded by jet fue and freezing water.
Write about a child hating a parent or a nun leaving the convent or a journalist conflicted by her morals and the desire to publish a lead story. Practice, practice, practice. Stretch your voice. Assert your talent and speak loudly because this is a short time we have here, to be alive, here and now, with this pen and this piece of paper.
This day matters and this word matters and your story matters.
• Listen to voices dissimilar to your own. If you are a man, listen to women. Vice-versa. Old/young, large/small, single/married. Open up your mind and fill it with inspiration.
This is not private detective time. You are not listening for scandal but for school. Educate yourself in the ways of social linguistics by using your most useful tool: a listening ear. You just never know when a scrap of something you hear will be the start of the greatest character you will ever write.
• In the lengthy process of studying a craft and developing a personal style, an artist looks back on those who have come before, those who have paved the way. We are influenced, inspired and motivated by the work of others. It is natural, I believe, to emulate those who we look up to. We try on their technique, like trying on beautiful coat. Here’s the thing: You must eventually take the coat off. It IS all right to practice and evolve and explore and mature as an artist by borrowing the voices and style of others. It IS NOT all right to pretend to be someone else and use their style as a permanent basis. It IS NOT all right to try and pass off someone else’s work as your own. That is plagiarism, and that is not okay.
• Oh, well, let’s be honest . It’s more than a merit. I believe it is imperative to record our lives. Without curiosity, without the ability to look with wonder and marvel at the ordinary, without the desire to write things down because they interest us, then, well, the I guess we would not be writers.
And thee is nothing better than being a writer.
Don’t give up the fight.
• As a writer you are limited only by the expanse of your imagination and the length of your life. Your stories can take you anywhere you want to go. Anywhere.
•…Iam am more than willing to admit that food might mean more to me than it does to you. Perhaps you are one of these “I eat to stay alive and that’s it” people. God bless you, and let’s hope we never meet.
If you are NOT an “eat-to-live” person the you might agree with the brilliant Oscar Wilde’s precept: “I do so hate people who are casual about meals it’s so shallow”. You know the type he’s talking about. “Oh, it was s busy today, I FOPRGOT TO EAT.” “LOOK IT’S JUST DINNER; stop making such a fuss about where we go to eat.” They say, life is shoret, food doesn’t matter that much. I say life is short, everything –including food– matters that much.
•But the the true joy of writing is the freedom it gives the writer, and then later the reader, to experience worlds beyond our own.
•A writer takes their frame of reference
ADDS
Their particular understanding of the world at that given time
APPLIES IT
To each and every situation and person and emotion about which they choose to write
AND THIS RESULTS IN…
A story.
Writing= the known + the imagined
If is just the known, it will be limited; and if it’s just the imagined, it will be artificial.
• Write as much you can, write every day. Write about different people , places, times. Write about men and women and children and adults and sick people and healthy people and people you love and people you despise. In other words…go for each and every ball.
• As a writer you will spend a lifetime sharpening your observational skills. The more you are aware of, the more you can write about: AWARE with your eyes, with your heart, your soul, your body. The world is out there for you to gather up and hold. You are on a lifetime mission. Your assignment: Live and observe Your objective: experience. The end result? Hopefully, lots and lots of wonderful stories.
• It Is up to you to judge whether you need a mental /physical change of scene, a break, or a new profession. In the meantime, why not drink a lot of coffee and try to keep on with your journal pages, so you won’t get completely out of “shape”. Trust your instincts You’ll know when it’s time to pace yourself and when it’s time to push yourself . Just don’t give up and rush to surrender.
• Writing is hard work. Sometimes you feel like you’re not doing right because it is such heavy going. Welcome to the club. This is a constant challenge.
• In this day of computers and superfast information and increasingly dehumanized communication, I believe that the writer is more important to society than ever. Someone who takes the time to sit down, perhaps with pen or pencilin hand, and express themselves in their own words. This is a person with something to saya nd the commitment to say it. Writing takes time. Writing expresses self. Writing means something
• However in an attempt to summarize:
1. Writing is an important thing to do.
2. A writer is a person who actually writes.
3. Writers should read a lot.
4. In order to write about your world, or your imaginary world, you’ll need to experience, observe, and reflect.
5. Not necessarily in that order.
• Remember character is foundation “Let’s go there now”. A house has a foundation. A solid foundation means a solid structure. A tree climbs up from its roots…To understand a person, with all of their complexities and problems and promises, look to their character. We can live and learn and grow and change, but all this is raised up on the solid base of character.
• Try to become aware of these areas of difficulty. It is important to write beyond your comfort zone. Doing so, pushing yourself, is hard and irritating and can be really intense. It is also brave and challenging and will make you a better writer.
• A visual image can stimulate our memories, possibilities, alternative realities.
• You might think that your stories exist only as vehicles for your pleasure or as exorcisms of your own private demons. This is only partially true. I believe that the instant your characters and their destinies take shape on a page, they have life. They exist. And it is entirely up to you to make that world a valid place.
• We need never be overwhelmed when confronted with a big or complicated writing project. All we need to do in the next sentence and the sentence after that, is to describe yourself what is right in front of us. As Ms. Lanott explains, imagine yourself looking at a one-inch-square picture frame. Imagine the whole world broken down into billions of one –inch-square picture frames. You take one at a time and describe it. The BIG picture can be overwhelming. A one-inch picture tends not to be.
• It is important to try new things in your writing. You are in charge. It is safe. Try writing about powerful emotions, powerful situations. Try writing about food. About an old woman dying alone. A Town turning on its weakest member. A man jumping into icy water after a plane crash to save a woman surrounded by jet fue and freezing water.
Write about a child hating a parent or a nun leaving the convent or a journalist conflicted by her morals and the desire to publish a lead story. Practice, practice, practice. Stretch your voice. Assert your talent and speak loudly because this is a short time we have here, to be alive, here and now, with this pen and this piece of paper.
This day matters and this word matters and your story matters.
• Listen to voices dissimilar to your own. If you are a man, listen to women. Vice-versa. Old/young, large/small, single/married. Open up your mind and fill it with inspiration.
This is not private detective time. You are not listening for scandal but for school. Educate yourself in the ways of social linguistics by using your most useful tool: a listening ear. You just never know when a scrap of something you hear will be the start of the greatest character you will ever write.
• In the lengthy process of studying a craft and developing a personal style, an artist looks back on those who have come before, those who have paved the way. We are influenced, inspired and motivated by the work of others. It is natural, I believe, to emulate those who we look up to. We try on their technique, like trying on beautiful coat. Here’s the thing: You must eventually take the coat off. It IS all right to practice and evolve and explore and mature as an artist by borrowing the voices and style of others. It IS NOT all right to pretend to be someone else and use their style as a permanent basis. It IS NOT all right to try and pass off someone else’s work as your own. That is plagiarism, and that is not okay.
• Oh, well, let’s be honest . It’s more than a merit. I believe it is imperative to record our lives. Without curiosity, without the ability to look with wonder and marvel at the ordinary, without the desire to write things down because they interest us, then, well, the I guess we would not be writers.
And thee is nothing better than being a writer.
Don’t give up the fight.
• As a writer you are limited only by the expanse of your imagination and the length of your life. Your stories can take you anywhere you want to go. Anywhere.
•…Iam am more than willing to admit that food might mean more to me than it does to you. Perhaps you are one of these “I eat to stay alive and that’s it” people. God bless you, and let’s hope we never meet.
If you are NOT an “eat-to-live” person the you might agree with the brilliant Oscar Wilde’s precept: “I do so hate people who are casual about meals it’s so shallow”. You know the type he’s talking about. “Oh, it was s busy today, I FOPRGOT TO EAT.” “LOOK IT’S JUST DINNER; stop making such a fuss about where we go to eat.” They say, life is shoret, food doesn’t matter that much. I say life is short, everything –including food– matters that much.
•But the the true joy of writing is the freedom it gives the writer, and then later the reader, to experience worlds beyond our own.
•A writer takes their frame of reference
ADDS
Their particular understanding of the world at that given time
APPLIES IT
To each and every situation and person and emotion about which they choose to write
AND THIS RESULTS IN…
A story.
Writing= the known + the imagined
If is just the known, it will be limited; and if it’s just the imagined, it will be artificial.
• Write as much you can, write every day. Write about different people , places, times. Write about men and women and children and adults and sick people and healthy people and people you love and people you despise. In other words…go for each and every ball.
• As a writer you will spend a lifetime sharpening your observational skills. The more you are aware of, the more you can write about: AWARE with your eyes, with your heart, your soul, your body. The world is out there for you to gather up and hold. You are on a lifetime mission. Your assignment: Live and observe Your objective: experience. The end result? Hopefully, lots and lots of wonderful stories.
• It Is up to you to judge whether you need a mental /physical change of scene, a break, or a new profession. In the meantime, why not drink a lot of coffee and try to keep on with your journal pages, so you won’t get completely out of “shape”. Trust your instincts You’ll know when it’s time to pace yourself and when it’s time to push yourself . Just don’t give up and rush to surrender.
• Writing is hard work. Sometimes you feel like you’re not doing right because it is such heavy going. Welcome to the club. This is a constant challenge.
• In this day of computers and superfast information and increasingly dehumanized communication, I believe that the writer is more important to society than ever. Someone who takes the time to sit down, perhaps with pen or pencilin hand, and express themselves in their own words. This is a person with something to saya nd the commitment to say it. Writing takes time. Writing expresses self. Writing means something
• However in an attempt to summarize:
1. Writing is an important thing to do.
2. A writer is a person who actually writes.
3. Writers should read a lot.
4. In order to write about your world, or your imaginary world, you’ll need to experience, observe, and reflect.
5. Not necessarily in that order.
September 11, 2017
I found this to be a good source for activities that a writer can do. It gives reason and introspective into each activity and explaingin in detail the activity and the enefits derived from it. I liked it.
September 25, 2013
Let me sum up this book.
Think of X.
Describe X for thirty minutes.
You can do it!
Repeat until you reach the back cover.
Think of X.
Describe X for thirty minutes.
You can do it!
Repeat until you reach the back cover.
November 14, 2009
this book seemed ok but it was mostly boring and had tedious exercises. it didn't have much information, the activities were useless to me.
April 8, 2010
positive and encouraging ... for the busy person who wants to write but struggles with where to start (i.e. me!)
June 19, 2019
Some solid writing exercises in here. Nice mostly for quantity and breadth of exercises.
March 5, 2023
This is a very good book for writer's. A full 3.5⭐️s from me, but this is a good thing.
What I thought this book was versus what this book is:
1. I read through reviews and descriptions. I thought this was more a help for struggling writers with advice.
2. What I have, though, is a book that gets a mind to think. Not about advice in any sort of way, but with prompts and things to make you think.
It's better than I thought. More defined. I wish there was writing space on the pages to complete the exercises, but I get it. It's not a book for class nor is bulky.
I did enjoy the prompts. Whenever my brain feels less than lackluster in creativity for the day, I chose one of the tabs (as I have tabbed the exercises in the book) and do a random exercise. My brain thinks and my hand writes and I feel like I am creating something. It doesn't stick for a whole story to come, but it does make me feel as though I've done something creative. I'm not sure about others, but on days where I can't or don't write something out (by hand or typing), it weighs on me. This is the perfect little oomph to help that lackluster feeling I get on those days.
Each exercise is more about thought than writing prompt, so do with that what you will. I turn them all into writing prompts.
I would recommend this for my fellow writers who feel like they are in a slump. Does this provide the rope ladder to pull you to safety? No, but it gives you something different and random to focus on outside of the fact you aren't writing or it's been an all-day-long work situation and you just need to think about something else.
Definitely a good one!
What I thought this book was versus what this book is:
1. I read through reviews and descriptions. I thought this was more a help for struggling writers with advice.
2. What I have, though, is a book that gets a mind to think. Not about advice in any sort of way, but with prompts and things to make you think.
It's better than I thought. More defined. I wish there was writing space on the pages to complete the exercises, but I get it. It's not a book for class nor is bulky.
I did enjoy the prompts. Whenever my brain feels less than lackluster in creativity for the day, I chose one of the tabs (as I have tabbed the exercises in the book) and do a random exercise. My brain thinks and my hand writes and I feel like I am creating something. It doesn't stick for a whole story to come, but it does make me feel as though I've done something creative. I'm not sure about others, but on days where I can't or don't write something out (by hand or typing), it weighs on me. This is the perfect little oomph to help that lackluster feeling I get on those days.
Each exercise is more about thought than writing prompt, so do with that what you will. I turn them all into writing prompts.
I would recommend this for my fellow writers who feel like they are in a slump. Does this provide the rope ladder to pull you to safety? No, but it gives you something different and random to focus on outside of the fact you aren't writing or it's been an all-day-long work situation and you just need to think about something else.
Definitely a good one!
May 26, 2022
I ran across this book in 2022 (published 2000) when I was dusting off my writing. A blog mentioned that starting at the same level you were at after a break is setting yourself up for failure - the example they give was: even if you ran marathons before, but took time out to have a baby, you don't start running marathons immediately again ... you work your way back to your previous level.
The COVID sucked all creative juices from my life for two years, but they were finally creeping back and I wanted to do ALL THE THINGS (writing books, my Vlog, my blog, my editing) immediately and I was failing. This book helped recenter that, showing how to work yourself back to (or work yourself up to) writing regularly and powerfully.
Lots of good suggestions. The book is beginning to age (it is 20 years old) in relation to social media and related writing there, but it still will have a place on my self for years to come.
The COVID sucked all creative juices from my life for two years, but they were finally creeping back and I wanted to do ALL THE THINGS (writing books, my Vlog, my blog, my editing) immediately and I was failing. This book helped recenter that, showing how to work yourself back to (or work yourself up to) writing regularly and powerfully.
Lots of good suggestions. The book is beginning to age (it is 20 years old) in relation to social media and related writing there, but it still will have a place on my self for years to come.
August 2, 2023
My sweet brother gave me this, and it really helped me get into the writing mindset early in the AM. However, I think it is a tad unrealistic in how much time one should / can spend on writing exercises. I did not do all of them, and I certainly did not do them all for the intended amount of time. Lots of good activities to consider and insight to be gained. I also loved how positive and uplifting Sharp is.
October 7, 2017
A really useful and easy to use tool to get your muse on their game.
June 9, 2020
This book has lots of interesting writing exercises, mostly tailored to fiction writers.
October 23, 2025
I love the variety and only wish it was in workbook form like the title suggests. A nice tool when you need a jumpstart.
March 25, 2013
This is a great guide for those who are relatively new to the writer's craft and want simple, do-able exercises that don't require a ton of background knowledge about literature or about character development, etc. A great place to start.
May 10, 2011
I want to buy this book, and keep it around when I have time to write. Her exercises are inspirational.
May 3, 2011
I found nothing overly inspiring or interest-peeking about this book.
July 31, 2011
Good, solid writing exercises and useful advice.
July 27, 2011
I thought the exercises in this book were helpful and thought provoking. I think it is a great tool to have on hand!
October 29, 2013
Loved it.
Read
October 13, 2014Found among the writing and top shell poetry and play books but it's a signed copy from this century. Will be checking into more.
February 17, 2016
I feel like this book had some decent ideas, but there was very little guidance and occasionally I wasn't sure what was being asked for. There are much better books available in this same field.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews