Lindsey’s Writing Practice: Out-of-this-world Writing Exercise

Posted: March 4, 2026 | Author: Lindsey Martin-Bowen | Filed under: Fiction, Lindsey's Writing Practice, Writing | Tags: Lindsay Martin-Bowen, Lindsey's Writing Practice, writing exercise, Writing to be Read |Leave a comment

Woman with giant pencil standing next to stack of giant papers. Bookshelves in the background. Text: Lindsey's Writing Practice with Lindsey Martin-Bowen

COFFEE, TEA, or TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER

About a month ago, an interesting piece landed in my online mailbox.

A writer named Alle posted “tips for writing emotionally heavy scenes.” It went like this:

Alle sez:

1. Make a cup of tea while you don’t think about the work. Let images, phrases, feelings

float under you and through you.

2. Take a heartening sniff of the freshly brewed tea. Sip and savor. This moment is for you.

3. To your writing space.

4. Sit comfortably. Feet flat on the ground.

5. Write relentlessly. Write-write-write and don’t stop.

6. Check your feet. Still flat?

7. Write som’ more.

When you feel you have a first draft, lean back to enjoy many more sips.

Although I’m sure Alle’s suggestions will help many writers—and dear readers, please use them if you believe they’ll kick-start your work. (And please share with me if those hints do.)

Nevertheless, every writer is different. This technique would not work for me—not for an “emotionally heavy scene.” That tea would likely send me back to bed. (Perhaps I might dream about an emotionally heavy scene, but when I awoke, I’d likely forget it.)

So what are my suggestions for penning a heavy emotional scene?

Drink coffee. Lots of it. At least, as much as you’ll require to get your pulse flowing with the heat of that “emotionally heavy scene.” I am serious here. I admit, my coffee leans more toward cafe au lait (half-coffee, half-milk). Plus, I add a bit of hot water, just so I don’t become too jittery. But I need a drink that helps me soar with those emotions I attempt to capture on the page. Especially when they contain dialogue—or spats between lovers or siblings. Or between enemies. I mean, c’on: tea for emotion? (Perhaps that works if one is wearing a kimono and performing The Mikado. But I’ll never sing opera—no matter how hard I try.) In short, I must get down and dirty with only coffee.

And then, here’s an exercise that might work well for we coffee-drinkers. Not only would it be emotional, but it might also keep us from floating too far from the earth:

First, select one of your favorite songs—with or without lyrics—and play it on whatever device works for you. Savor it while you sip that coffee, then

—Imagine you meet an alien whose world is identical to yours—EXCEPT it consists of NO MUSIC. While you sip away and savor the music, write what you would tell the alien about music. (And note—trying to describe this to a being from a planet where music does not exist will likely become a highly emotional scene, correct?) How will that alien respond?

—So, explore your thoughts and feelings about music.

—Consider what OTHERS might feel and think.

—What do you know about music anyway? How would you explain it?

—What do you observe about yourself when you listen to it?

—Do you experience an overwhelming feeling that the music creates?

—Are you able to connect what you already know and feel to something you are experiencing and observing while you listen to the music?

—Are you able to predict how the alien will respond, how he or she would feel?

REMEMBER: Writing is discovering.

Finally, after undergoing this writing exercise, consider what new observations, discoveries, relations to what you knew about music before this exercise. Have you experienced any new connections to understanding your relationship with music and expressing it to some being who had never experienced it?

And please remember to have fun with this. I did.

About Lindsey Martin-Bowen

On Halloween 2023, redbat books released Lindsey Martin-Bowen’s 7th poetry collection, CASHING CHECKS with Jim Morrison. Her 4th collection, Where Water Meets the Rock, was nominated for a Pulitzer; her 3rd, CROSSING KANSAS with Jim Morrison was a finalist in the QuillsEdge Press 2015-2016 Contest. In 2017, it won the Kansas Writers Assn award, “Looks Like a Million.” Writer’s Digest gave her “Vegetable Linguistics” an Honorable Mention in its 85th Annual (2017) Contest. Her Inside Virgil’s Garage (Chatter House Press 2013) was a runner-up in the 2015 Nelson Poetry Book Award. McClatchy Newspapers named her Standing on the Edge of the World (Woodley Press/Washburn University) was one of the Ten Top Poetry Books of 2008. It was nominated for a Pen Award.

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