A Writing Exercise with Exercise! (Being Specific)

The poet, Susan Goldsmith Woolridge, has written a book of practical ideas that will help you to improve the detail in your writing. Why not try it during a break in the rain? Note how she argues that by not providing details "you'll leave the reader out." A writer who is not specific is very hard to follow!

"Walk somewhere alone. Listen. Write about what's around you, using all of your senses. It's important to narrow everything down, make it as specific as you can, down to the tip of a blade of grass, or you'll leave the reader out. For emotion to arise, writing has to be very specific—describing a particular moment or experience in a particular place." —Susan Goldsmith Woolridge in poemcrazy: freeing your life with words ISBN 0-609-80098-1

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