The JumpStart Jar that started it all! This jar includes over

Write in timed 10-minute bursts

Nothing inspires creativity like a deadline. The countdown adds pressure to your writing. This pressure shouldn't give you time for criticism, worry about spelling or grammar, or anything other than getting something down on paper.

Write fast

Speed is the important thing here. Don't let your logical, critical mind take charge of the writing process at this writing stage. Don't cross out words or pause seeking the perfect word, write the word that is good enough for now and go on.

Don't judge the work

Don't reread the work that you've just completed, or allow your Inner Critic convince you that what you've written is inferior, strange, or terrible. Get something down on paper. Don't judge, edit or polish it.

Listen to your subconscious mind

Your subconscious mind is very powerful. Relax and write the raw words that form in your head as fast as you can. Allow the thoughts and images of your subconscious mind bubble forth and write!

Face your dark side

You may find yourself writing things on paper that you never dared to say out loud. You may be afraid of what others think about you if they knew that you wrote this. Acknowledge the fear, but write anyway.

Understand that 1st drafts suck

Get the words down on paper now. You can refine them later. Resist the urge to shred the paper and burn it in your trash can. These feelings pass with time and practice. Most writers hate their first drafts.

Be flexible

If you just don't connect to the word that you draw out of the jar, throw it back in and draw another. If the verb that you draw out of the jar would work better in another form, change it. Add determiniers, prepositions and conjunctions as needed to make it work for you.

Fabulous Fiction

The Fabulous Fiction JJ is a bit different than other JJs. You can pull out a ticket and decide the best way to approach the story. Maybe you just want to have an interesting antagonist for your hero, so you pull out a magenta Character ticket. Or you are not sure what your character wants, so pull a green motivation ticket. Maybe you want to create an entirely new story from scratch, so you pick out a character, situation, complication, motivation and a first line ticket to get that story started. Sometimes these combinations don't work. That's OK, toss the tickets that don't fit back into the jar and try again. The combinations that you pull out of this jar will sometimes stretch the limits of realistic story telling, so do what makes logical sense for the story. Don't let the JJ block the natural connections that may occur as the result of the random stimuli provided by the JJ.

Brainstorming Boost #1

Suggested Uses for the JumpStart Jar
Basic Brainstorming
Use #1 - Random Word Poetry - Dump out contents of jar, mix well, set oven timer for 10 minutes, and quickly rearrange words and phrases into poetic harmony. Copy poem onto paper; serve with cappuccino, read aloud with friends.
Use #2 - JumpStart Jar Oracle - Solve your problems using your JumpStart Jar. Dim the lights. Light a candle or two for effect. Wrap head in colorful scarf (heavy makeup and gaudy jewelry optional). State your question or problem with a loud, dramatic voice, or write it down and seal it in an envelope . On another sheet of paper, hum or chant to enter a trance-like state, and list the characteristics associated with your question. Ring a bell or small gong, and draw a ticket from the JumpStart Jar. Lift your hands slowly from the table and read the words on the ticket. Ring bell or gong again and list characteristics or words associations that the ticket evokes from beyond. Jot down questions that the ticket and problem evoke when paired. For example:
" What characteristics do the problem and ticket have in common?
" How are they different?
" How could the ticket help me solve my problem?
Next, set a timer, relax your writing hand and allow your spirit guides to answer these questions. Your guides will force connections between the ticket and question. When the time is up, thank the spirits of beyond for their insight, and extinguish the candles.
Use #3- Psychedelic Sentences - Like take random word poerty to the next level, man. Dig this… take a blue ticket (noun) a red ticket (verb), another blue ticket and a yellow one (modifier) and construct a groovy sentence. Put them together and you have cool beat-like lines, man. Here's a couple of mine, totally random: Box vomiting cunning routines; Sleek facts of life circling the globe's forehead. Keep writing until you get a far out result.
For more ideas on how to use your JumpStart Jar, access the JumpStart Jar website at www.jumpstartjar.com.

Suggested Uses for the JumpStart Jar
Brainstorming Boost #1

Use #4 - Mad Libs - Almost everyone has played this game before. Simply take a passage of your writing and strip out some key nouns, verbs and modifiers, and then draw new words from the jar. Replace the existing words with the nouns, verbs and modifiers on the tickets (making tense and agreement changes where necessary) and read the passage again aloud.
This game can also be played using a famous passage or speech. Remove the most memorable words and substitute them with the random replacements out of the JumpStart Jar. Do you even recognize the passage afterwards? Try it!

Use #5- Story Circle - This group activity takes the Native American storytelling tradition and adds an element of improvisation to it. First select a totem to use for the story (typically this is a stick, but any object can be used). One person draws a ticket out of the JumpStart Jar and begins the story using that word somewhere within the story or telling the story beginning with that word, or about that word. He/She improvises the story until it reaches a natural breaking-point, then passes the totem to the person immediately to the left. That person draws a new ticket from the jar and incorporates that word, line or topic into the story, and passes the totem to the left, and so on. A great game to play around a campfire.

Use #6- Prompt Pull - Pull a ticket out of the JumpStart Jar and set your timer for 5 minutes, write until time's up, and pull another ticket, set the timer again, then continue the story that you started in the pervious session, incorporating the new word, line or topic into the story. When time's up, repeat the process again. You should do this 4 to 8 times for the best result.

For more ideas on how to use your JumpStart Jar, access the JumpStart Jar website at www.jumpstartjar.com.