Weather

Photo by Neroli Wesley on Unsplash‍ ‍

One of Elmore Leonard’s rules of writing is “Never open a book with weather.”

Well, who says Elmore Leonard knows everything? (Although, we must admit, that his advice — which boils down to “show, don’t tell” — is more than worthy.)

Set a timer for 5 to 10 minutes and begin your write with a detailed description of the weather you’re experiencing at that moment. If you eventually veer away from your weather report, that’s okay. But stick to the time limit you’ve set.