15. Me, Myself, and I
This set of challenges focuses on you. Who better to write about than yourself? Proverbs and maxims, for good reason, encourage you to examine your life and know yourself. You have everything you need for a lifetime of stories right at your fingertips.
Writing about yourself can feel uncomfortable. One moment you’ll feel shy, with page fright, and the next moment you’ll feel like a braggart. You’ll wonder why on earth anyone would be interested in the boring details of your existence. The best advice is to get over it. Your writing practice should be filled with moments of discomfort as you test boundaries, push limits, and stretch your voice. Keep writing and you won’t be bored or boring.
Now get started writing!
315. My Marvelous Profile
Suggested time: 20–90 minutes
Design a profile page that represents you, but with the characteristics or superpowers of a real person or fictional character that you truly admire. Follow a look and feel similar to what you might find on Facebook.
Compose the page from your point of view, in character, as if you are joining Facebook or another social media site and want to make friends. Make sure that viewers have enough information to feel like they have been adequately introduced.
Here are a few items you might include:
• An image
• Relationship status
• Profile information (male or female, family information, hometown, birthday, age, and so on)
• Activities (skateboarding, paintballing, intergalactic exploration)
• Interests (music, movies, games, books, theatre)
• About me (short bio, approximately three sentences)
• Status—what’s on your mind? (What are you up to at this moment?)
316. A Mask
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Masks, designed and worn since antiquity, are a significant part of most cultures. Wearing a mask disguises your face and personality as you take on the spirit or identity of whatever the mask represents. Masks can represent almost anything: forces of nature, supernatural beings, ancestors, animals, celebrities, and so on.
Describe a time when you felt like you were wearing a mask.
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. – Oscar Wilde
317. Focus
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Are you a night owl, working best when everyone else is asleep, or a morning lark, at your best in the early hours of the day? State your preferences for working on tough projects, based on when you focus best.
318. Team Player or Soloist?
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Are you a team player or a soloist? When you work on teams, do you prefer a team that’s like a baseball team, where each player has an individual role? Typically, soloists are self-starters who like solitude, focus, and detailed and technical work. Team players typically like problem solving and the camaraderie and synergy of groups. Maybe you’re a combination of these attributes?
Describe how you like to work, in terms of teamwork versus working by yourself.
319. Magic Pebble
Suggested time: 15–30 minutes
Do you remember William Steig’s endearing book Sylvester and the Magic Pebble? In this story, Sylvester Duncan finds a magic pebble. It’s shiny, flaming red, and perfectly round like a marble. While Sylvester holds the pebble, anything he wishes for comes true.
In another children’s story, Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse, by Leo Lionni, a magical lizard instructs Alexander to find a purple pebble. When he brings the pebble to the lizard, Alexander is granted his deepest desire.
Go find a magic pebble any color of the rainbow, hold it tight, and make a wish. Write about what you wished for.
Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen. – Michael Jordan
320. In a Perfect World
Suggested time: 15–30 minutes
Twyla Tharp’s book The Creative Habit offers 32 wonderful exercises to develop and maintain your creative life. Exercise #17 asks, “What are the conditions of your perfect world? Which are essential and which can you work around?”
First, close your eyes and imagine the perfect world to foster your creativity and web writing. Then make a long, long list of all the attributes of that world. Include as many vivid details as you can. Finally, freewrite about how your current world compares and contrasts with this perfect world. Conclude with one sentence that states how your world can improve.
Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it. – Bill Cosby
321. Body Art
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Tell the story of any body piercings or tattoos that you have, would like to have, or don’t want.
322. What’s on Your Mind?
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Stop everything else this very moment and write down the key issues that you have been thinking about this week.
323. Artist’s Statement
Suggested time: 20–90 minutes
An artist’s statement offers a glimpse of your world at the current moment in time. It is not a résumé, a bio, or a list of your accomplishments. Rather, it is a summary of your current passions and interests that are relevant to your target audience.
The statement might include descriptions of your:
• Passions
• Creative process
• Visions
• Inspirations
• Philosophies
• Likes and dislikes
To start, look over the work you’ve done recently. Was anything especially easy or hard? What are you most proud of? Least proud of? Are there common themes? Did you find you had a message or important story to tell?
Pretend that you are filming a documentary of yourself. Look into the camera and make a statement about what has influenced you. What are your goals for the future? Did you find a voice that worked well for your writings? A topic you liked best?
If you make friends with yourself, you will never be alone. – Maxwell Maltz
324. Priorities
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
List each of the following items, with the most important on top and the least important on the bottom.
• Happiness
• Money
• Love
• Health
• Fame
Explain why your #1 item is a priority, and tell why each of the other items is less important to you right now.
325. Motivation
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
What is your strongest motivation? State what motivates you and why.
Did you know?
Babies begin life with 350 bones, but as we grow older some bones fuse, and adults have only 206 bones.2
326. Ducks in a Row
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Write about a time when you felt you had all your ducks in a row, or a time when you wished you had them in a row.
327. Empty Cup
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
A Zen koan tells the story of a Japanese master who pours his visitor tea until the cup overflows and spills over. When the visitor protests, the master says, “Like the cup, you are full of your own opinions. How can I teach you Zen when your cup is already overflowing?”
Only an empty teacup is useful, not one that is already full. Tell whether you are an empty teacup or one that is full to the point of overflowing. If you’re full, how can you become empty?
328. I Have Three Passions
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Write about three topics that you feel passionate about. First, list your three passions. Then write a short paragraph for each, describing what you are passionate about, why, and how it affects you.
Finally, write a summary paragraph telling how all three passions have governed your life.
329. Happiness
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
How do you define happiness? Make a list of all the things that make you happy, and write a summary that explains why and how you feel happy.
330. Creed
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Write a pithy and authoritative statement that summarizes the major beliefs and principles that guide you.
In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on. – Robert Frost
331. Talent
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Can you juggle tortillas, recite anything backwards, or wiggle your ears? Describe any unusual talent that you have.
332. Your City
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
What city do you most identify with? Describe your city at different times of day, including mornings, afternoons, evenings, and the wee hours of the night.
333. Today
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
What can you do today that you couldn’t do a year ago? Describe what you can do, and tell how the change came about.
I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do. – Helen Keller
334. In a Year
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
What is it that you can’t do today, but would like to be able to do a year from now? Describe what you want to do, and tell how the change will come about.
335. Career Metaphor
Suggested time: 20–45 minutes
Reflect on your career so far. Choose a metaphor that represents all the twists and turns your career path has taken. It might be a river—or maybe a ladder, a path, a roadmap, a tightrope, or a revolving door.
Take five minutes to draw your career using your chosen metaphor. Show six or seven major turning points, milestones, and significant changes along the way. For example, if your metaphor is a river, show where it twists and turns. Show where it speeds up and slows down, where it’s deep and turbulent, and where it’s shallow and trickling.
Freewrite about your career as you’ve drawn it.
336. Unusual Job
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
What’s the most unusual job that you’ve held? State the nature of the work, how you came by the job, and how long you stayed with it. Describe why it was unusual.
337. Your CV in 20 Years
Suggested time: 30–60 minutes
What job do you think you’ll have in 20 years? Write your résumé as it might look 20 years in the future. Include the job you will have then, with a brief summary of your duties. Also include the three or four positions leading up to that job, and the responsibilities for each position.
How much money do you think you’ll make?
338. Baseball Card
Suggested time: 15–30 minutes
Design a card for yourself that’s similar to a baseball card. On the front, sketch a picture of yourself. On the back, add a three-sentence bio. Then add three fun facts about yourself.
339. My Invention
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Have you ever invented anything? What about a recipe? Describe your invention and what prompted you to create it.
340. Green Thumb
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Do plants thrive or barely survive under your care? Describe plants you have had or have now and how well you’ve taken care of them.
341. Learning Style
Suggested time: 30–90 minutes
Do you learn best with images, words, or numbers? Howard Gardner first introduced the concept of multiple intelligences in 1983, pointing out that standard testing for IQ is far too limited. He identified seven types of intelligence.
1. Linguistic intelligence. You learn best by writing and reading.
2. Logical-mathematical intelligence. You learn best with patterns, categories, and relationships.
3. Spatial intelligence. You learn best with pictures.
4. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. You learn by doing, through sensations.
5. Musical intelligence. You learn best by listening to sounds.
6. Interpersonal intelligence. You learn best through communication with others.
7. Intrapersonal intelligence. You learn through feelings.
To learn more about Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, see “The Seven Types of Intelligence” by Professor Lamp.
Describe your learning style, backing up your statements with specific examples.
If you’d like to explore your learning style, visit VARK, a guide to learning styles, at www.VARK-learn.com.
342. Nobody Loves Me
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
“Sad to be all alone in the world” is a memorable quote in the 1967 movie Thoroughly Modern Millie. Was there a time when you felt all alone? Have you ever spent a holiday observing happy families and couples and felt lonely? Have you ever said to yourself, “Nobody loves me”?
Describe the circumstances, how long the feeling lasted, and any actions you took as a result of feeling alone.
343. Recognition
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Tell what you want to be known for, and explain why.
344. Bravest Action
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Describe the bravest, and maybe the dumbest, action you’ve ever taken.
345. Blackout Poem
Suggested time: 15–45 minutes
For this challenge you need a page of newspaper and a black marker or crayon.
First, watch the Texas Country Reporter news video “Blacking Out.”
After you’ve seen the technique for creating a blackout poem, create one that provides insight into who you are.
346. Tweet Your Bio
Suggested time: 15–30 minutes
If you don’t already have a Twitter account, you’ll need to create one for this challenge. Set up an account on Twitter, and then upload a picture and add a short bio.
Tweet your bio, posting it in no more than 13 tweets.
If you’d like more help with Twitter and tweeting, visit www.Write4Web.com.