Office Hours

On the value of exercises.

Q.

I have a question about moving from exercises to finding something about which you think, “Do you know what? There might be something in this.”

I enjoy exercises and feel I learn from them (and I am super, super-grateful for being given them), and some of the pieces seem to have just a little spark, and I think, “OK, that's just a little bit cooler than what was happening before.” But what I wonder is: how do you recognize when an exercise might have taken you somewhere…that could turn into more than a warm-up? When do you say: “Fine, I've been practicing, I've learned a bit, I am enjoying this, so now I can start to write something a bit more real, or full, or more? And how do I know what that's actually going to be?”

Even the ones that have that little spark, I don't really feel compelled to take further. Or maybe it's better to say I don't see how or why I would take them further over any other idea.

How do you find the spark that catches fire? How do you recognize when you've got something that might really be the start of something, rather than just something that shines then fizzles?

Thanks again.

Looking forward to discovering more stories and writers with you. What a gift!