Coming up with ideas has never been an issue, but after a decade of not writing, I felt like my actual mechanics were a bit rusty. I didn’t need exercises to help me brainstorm ideas or explore themes or flesh out characters. I needed exercises that helped me to hone my skill with words. I stumbled across a book at Barnes and Noble that looked promising called Spellbinding Sentences: A Writer’s Guide to Achieving Excellence & Captivating Readers, by Barbara Baig. I poured over it, and I swear to God I have never seen a book that offers such a variety of quality exercises! This book’s overarching goal is to…