Tangible Noun, Intangible Noun

I haven't been blogging about it much of late, but I'm still writing. In fact, I've changed my daily schedule up to suit the changing seasons (and my unwillingness to get up at 530am and run in the dark when it doesn't get light until after 7!). Now I wake up just early enough to have an extra hour before my commute, do a quick Bible study and then start writing. Perhaps this will save me during NaNo in November.

Today was one of those rough sleepy non-creative mornings, though, so my writing today has been limited to writing exercises and now, of course, the blog. I thought I'd share this one with you:

2) This is one of my favorites. I came across it as I was studying metaphors. On the left side of the page, list tangible nouns. Ocean, flood, steam shovel, cinder block, spoon. On the right side of the page, list intangible nouns. Respect, desire, hunger, flight. Now combine them in a phrase like this:

'a of '. Examples would be 'an ocean of respect', a spoonful of desire'. Let yourself get carried away with this, and you will come up with some very powerful images.
from essortment.com

My list of tangibles:
Ocean
Flood
Pint
Half
Rock
Ache
Brick
Spoon
House
Compass

My list of intangibles:
Respect
Affection
Wishes
Romance
Disdain
Meaning
Happiness
Angst
Running
Ego

Starting off with some fun phrases:
“Ocean of ego”
“Flood of wishes”
“Brick of romance”
“The compass of the ego”
a precocious little “Half-pint of angst”

I love writing exercises like this because, whether you feel inspired on a given day or not, it's an easy way to interject some creativity into your day and keep the habit going! Happy writings.