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Freewrite Your Heart

Freewrite Your Heart

by | Jan 24, 2019

Freewrite Your Heart

Move your hand across the page speedily to bypass your critic and discover your heart.

Style

Inventor

Skill

Finding the Heart

Time

15 mins

THE ATTIC:

Freewrite Your Heart

You’ll do best with this activity if you can get your heart rate up before you start. Consider turning on some music you love and dancing for a few minutes before sitting down to write. Then, without thinking too hard, dive into the writing with the same intensity that you used when you were dancing. Make writing as physical as it can be, bypassing your brain as much as possible.

You want to race the clock right past your inner critic to find those aha! moments that you might not discover in a different state of mind.

Materials

How to Play

  • Timer

  • Paper

  • Pen

1. Set your timer for ten minutes.

2. Ask yourself: What matters to me in this idea? What are the non-negotiables? How do I hope the outcome will feel and flow? Start writing as fast as you can, using connecting phrases to keep your pen moving.

– And so …

– Which makes me think that …

– Because …

– What I really mean to say is …

– Another way to look at it is …

– It reminds me of …

3. When the time is up, read over your entry. Underline thoughts that stand out. If you think there’s more to say, and you have more time to write, expand on the thoughts you’ve underlined.

5. Tuck this writing away for a day when you need a reminder of why you’re working so hard on this project.

Try On Other Creative Styles

Frame Your Heart in Three

FOR SPECIAL AGENTS

Choose three adjectives that focus your attention on the core of this project, and its importance to you.

Try This

Zoom In On the Heart

FOR ARCHITECTS

Answer three key questions to focus your attention on the core of this project, and its importance to you.

Try This

Share Your Heart with a Loved One

FOR COLLABORATORS

Choose a confidant and write a letter about your project. What is most important to you about creating this artwork?

Try This

Share Your Heart with a Loved One

Share Your Heart with a Loved One

by | Jan 24, 2019

Share Your Heart with a Loved One

Choose a confidant and write a letter about your project. What is most important to you about creating this artwork?

Style

Collaborator

Skill

Finding the Heart

Time

15 mins

THE ATTIC:

Share Your Heart with a Loved One

 Whether you share your letter or not, writing about the importance of your project to a specific person can unlock buried ideas and insights. When you give yourself a goal — to communicate clearly — you can rattle loose thoughts that were otherwise stuck.

Consider, too, writing to more than one person. Each reader will draw out different aspects of your personality, and the combined insight may surprise you.

Materials

How to Play

  • Timer

  • Paper

  • Pen
  • Envelope (optional)

1. Choose a friend or family member who you trust.

2. Set your timer for ten minutes.

3. Write a letter to your loved one, explaining your project and why it matters to you.

– What do you want to create?

– What obstacles are you facing? What are your fears?

– Why are you willing to face them anyway?

– Are there examples, common points of reference between the two of you, that help to describe what you’re trying to do and why?

– What, if anything, could your loved one do to help support you in this effort? (And if you don’t send the letter, is this “ask” something you could ask of yourself? Sometimes we look to outside people for support we have every ability to offer ourselves.)

4. Read over your letter and underline thoughts that stand out. If you think there’s more to say, and you have more time to write, expand on the thoughts you’ve underlined.

5. If you’d like, send the letter to your friend. Or, keep it in a safe place where you can reference it when you need a reminder about the WHY of this project.

Adaptations

Try a Character

If you’re writing a story, step into the shoes of one of your characters and write from their perspective. Again, choose a loved one, or a pair of loved ones, that will bring out various parts of their personality. Instead of asking yourself about the project, ask about the main situation in the story. Then, use the rest of the questions in step three to deepen your understanding of this character’s motivations and purpose.

Try a User

Step into the role of a reader, or of someone who will experience or use the item you’re creating. Assume reading the story or interacting with the object is important to this user. Why would that be? What desire or need does this item address for them? How does it shift their mindset, provide new perspective, offer resources, or help in other ways? The more specifics you use, the more helpful this exercise will be.

Try On Other Creative Styles

Freewrite Your Heart

FOR INVENTORS

Move your hand across the page speedily to bypass your critic and discover your heart.

Try This

Frame Your Heart in Three

FOR SPECIAL AGENTS

Choose three adjectives that focus your attention on the core of this project, and its importance to you.

Try This

Zoom In On the Heart

FOR ARCHITECTS

Answer three key questions to focus your attention on the core of this project, and its importance to you.

Try This

Writerly Play Kit 003 – Choosing Your Dream Mentor

Writerly Play Kit 003 – Choosing Your Dream Mentor

by | Jan 15, 2019

Writerly Play Kit: 003

Creative Thinking: Choosing Your Dream Mentor

WP Kit: 003

Choosing Your Dream mentor

If you’re like me, when you think of mentorship, you imagine sitting face to face with someone you admire and being guided from where you are now to the next step. Often, an in-person mentor IS the right next step. However, I’ve found that sometimes a dream mentor can be found in unexpected places. Sometimes the thinking it takes to personalize the messages you hear from a podcaster, an author, or a thought-leader, empowers you more fully. In these cases, you’re the one shaping your learning question, finding the resources, and keeping yourself on-track in the day-to-day. Plus, consider the doors this approach offers! You can mentor with anyone. Who is your dream mentor? In this Writerly Play Kit, we’ll explore a variety of ways you can make those dreams come true.

Featured articles

CREATIVE LIFE

HOW TO BE MENTORED BY YOUR HERO

My wish? To be mentored by Madeleine L’Engle.

So, naturally, in my twenties, I wrote a letter to her.

I knew the chances of hearing back were low. She was busy and surely couldn’t respond personally to every reader. Knowing these truths didn’t stop me from harboring a fantasy that somehow, in some way, my letter would spark a connection between the two of us.

Read on ...

CREATIVE LIFE

YOU ARE THE EXPERT AT BEING YOU

Is it possible for someone else to know how to be YOU better than you do? Sure, coaches and mentors are essential to our growth. Exploring opportunities, investing in development and being teachable are all important. However, in the end, the person who knows the right next step for you to take is … you’ve got it. You.

Read on ...

BOOK FLIGHT

WHAT I LEARNED FROM MADELEINE

While I’ll be delighted if this collection sends you straight to the library to pick up a L’Engle title, I hope it also inspires you to read a flight of books by one of your author-mentors. Examining an artist’s work over a range of genres offers a rich thinking experience, and provides insight into that ever-elusive question: What makes up a writer’s voice?

Read on ...

“A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.”

–Oprah Winfrey

The Writerly Play LIBRARy

To mentor with master artists is a core skill used in the Writerly Play Library.

We visit this mental space when we’re ready to grow. In the Library, we analyze successful work from luminary artists, identify strategies that work, and translate those insights to customize them in our own work. 

 

.

 

Explore the Library Further

Wondering what Writerly Play is all about?

Writerly Play is designed to help you make the most of your creative potential. Each Writerly Play Kit is designed to help you stretch your thinking skills and develop practical strategies perfectly fit for you.

Want a shortcut? If you don’t have time to read today, but want a quick win, try this quick quiz to identify your creative strengths and weaknesses:

QUIZ: What's Your Creativity Style?

Once you know what works best for you, you need a perfect-for-you plan. Writerly Play functions more like a map rather than a cookie-cutter recipe. First, you’ll locate yourself on the map. Then, with a clear understanding of where you are, you can make informed choices about your next best steps.

Activities

Profile Three Experts

FOR ARCHITECTS

Use insight from three experts to lead you to the perfect-fit mentor.

Try This

Assemble a Think Tank of Mentors

FOR INVENTORS

Identify one-of-a-kind insights by connecting wisdom from an eclectic group of experts.

Try This

Create a Learner's Book Club

FOR COLLABORATORS

Explore what’s important to you in your idea by digging deep with a friend.

Try This

Choose One Expert

FOR SPECIAL AGENTS

Focus on one expert in this strategic learning exercise.

Try This

Assemble a Think Tank of Mentors

Assemble a Think Tank of Mentors

by | Jan 4, 2019

Assemble a Think Tank of Mentors

Identify one-of-a-kind insights by connecting wisdom from an eclectic group of experts.

Style

Inventor

Skill

Choosing a Mentor

Commitment

Ongoing

THE LIBRARY:

Assemble a Think Tank of Mentors

 When you write a novel, some experts advise that you find at least three ideas to rub together. Your specific combination of ideas is what makes your book unique. In the same way, an eclectic assortment of mentors can help you find fresh insight that might otherwise be difficult to see. For instance, what might a painter, a musician, and a chef teach you about pacing? The opportunities are vast, and only limited by your imagination.

A Think Tank of Mentors can help you:

  • See the same question from various points of view
  • Connect previously unconnected dots
  • Stumble across exciting, perfect-fit ideas for your specific project

Materials

Assembling a Think Tank of Mentors

  • Computer
  • Paper
  • Pen
  • Library (optional)

1. Start by identifying your learning question. If you’re not sure what it is, make a list of ten to twenty questions. Narrow your focus by ranking or revising the questions until you have one clear, focused question.

2. List types of people who might weigh in on your question. Consider artists of all genres, thought-leaders, experts past and present, and even friends, family, and acquaintances. Remember, mentors don’t have to be older than you. You’re looking for a range of people who will provide you with a range of perspective.

3. Your list may include specific names such as “Uncle Gino” and categories of people, like “chef.” Set aside specific names for now. First, look at your categories. Does anyone immediately pop to mind to fill that role? Widen your circle of options by researching on information-rich sites such as YouTube, Amazon, Wikipedia, or your favorite podcast browser.

4. Once you have a list of ten-twenty names, it’s time to follow your intuition. Review the names as though you’re a casting director. What group of four or five people would make for fascinating dinner party conversation?

5. Once you’ve chosen your Think Tank, create a space to collect their thoughts in a way that will spark your creativity. Consider a shared bookshelf, a project folder, a bulletin board, or an online tool … or use a few collection spaces.

6. Let these experts’ thoughts rattle around together for a while. Follow your curiosity. Make sure to take time to write and reflect regularly. Often you don’t know all you’re discovering until you sit down to capture those thoughts.

7. If you start to feel the urge to shake things up, consider adding an expert, swapping someone out of the Think Tank, or creating a brand new group of experts.

Try On Other Creative Styles

Profile Three Experts

FOR ARCHITECTS

Use insight from three experts to lead you to the perfect-fit mentor.

Try This

Create a Learner's Book Club

FOR COLLABORATORS

Collaborate with a few friends to gain the most out of your next mentorship experience.

Try This

Choose One Expert

FOR SPECIAL AGENTS

Focus on one expert in this strategic learning exercise.

Try This

Profile Three Experts

Profile Three Experts

by | Jan 4, 2019

Profile Three Experts

Use insight from three experts to lead you to the perfect-fit mentor.

Style

Architect

Skill

Choosing a Mentor

Commitment

Ongoing

THE LIBRARY:

Profile Three Experts

 

When you’re seeking out a mentor, use the guidance of experts to point your way. When you take the time to profile three experts before choosing a mentor, you’ll gain structured insight to help you make the best possible decision.

Profiling three experts will help you:

  • Meet their mentors and widen your knowledge of the field
  • Identify pitfalls and shortcuts
  • Clarify what might work (and not work) for you

Materials

Profile Three Experts

  • Computer

  • Paper

  • Pen
  • Library (optional)

1. Choose three experts on your topic. Vary your group by considering age, culture, background, genre, and other factors. While you can choose someone you know, remember you can also choose anyone you can research online–past or present.

2. Profile your three experts by gathering as many answers as you can to the following questions.

– What is this expert known for?

– What two or three successes stand out?

– What two or three setbacks stand out?

– Who are/were their mentors? (Bibliographies and acknowledgement sections are great places to explore influential people in an expert’s life.)

– What books, resources, or tools does this expert recommend?

– Does this expert offer any step-by-step guidance, a framework, or strategies you might try? (Note the top one or two that resonate with you if you encounter an abundance of options.)

– What quotes from this expert embody their message?

3. Review your three profiles. Does one of these experts stand out as a strong match to guide your next steps? Or, did your research point to someone new you’d like to explore?

4. If you’ve chosen a thought leader as a mentor, take a month or so to soak in their expertise. Read, watch, and/or listen to whatever you can from them, and remember to reflect along the way. Once the month is up, evaluate your progress and decide whether to stick with the same mentor next month, or whether to move on to another expert who can push your growth in a new direction.

5. Or, if you’ve chosen a hands-on mentor, contact that person and set up your first meeting! Don’t forget to share what you learned from your profiling process with your mentor. The more you communicate about your goals and questions, the more effective your mentor can be in helping you move strategically forward.

Try On Other Creative Styles

Choose One Expert

FOR SPECIAL AGENTS

Focus on one expert in this strategic learning exercise.

Try This

Assemble a Think Tank of Mentors

FOR INVENTORS

Identify one-of-a-kind insights by connecting wisdom from an eclectic group of experts.

Try This

Create a Learner's Book Club

FOR COLLABORATORS

Collaborate with a few friends to gain the most out of your next mentorship experience.

Try This