Fruitflesh from the Heart

Gayle Brandeis, published author and winner of the Bellwether Prize, suggests an interesting writing exercise in her book, Fruitflesh. She encourages writers to explore emotions and sensations by writing about fruit. Every topic can be covered in such intimate exercises; clothes, crowds, eyesight, listening, dancing, singing, or the slow, natural growth of a seed, from sapling to bud to fruit.

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

Anaïs Nin

Every writer reaches a time when they must leap away from comfortable well-known space. This fearless upward leap may polish the creative gift and bring us closer to the raw talent that inhabits our hearts.

Try writing about fruit, expressing from the heart, and see what appears on the page…

There are times when I want to be stained,

marked all over with berry wine, baptized,

mouth, fingers, chin and neck, between my toes…

heady with ripe flower

bouquets dizzy with bees, their bodies

painted, perfumed by purple sun syrup,

their breath elderberry delicious.

Pattiann Rogers

The deep intimacy of such exercises will strengthen your writing. Only then can you share the depths of the soul with both courage and truth.