Sunday, July 15, 2012

Do You Have Something To Write With?

I work really, really hard to conquer one of my greatest pet peeves . . . writers without pens. I can't tell you how many meetings, seminars, workshops, as well as a host of other situations I've been in with writers who show up--knowing they are attending an event that will probably require that notes be taken--and they give me the big-eyed-oops look. "Do you have a pen I can borrow?" Before I can stop it, my mind shouts, "Hell no!" But my better self prevails, and I lend one of the many pens I tend to have with me.

Now will this ever happen to me? Has it happened to me? Of course. Shame on me! But I know folks who are just chronically unprepared. If you're a writer, I believe you should be prepared to write . . . at all times. You never know when inspiration will knock you upside the head and then vanish. Let's be ready.

This article asks us to consider our favorite portable writing device.
Do You Have Something to Write With?

Friday, July 13, 2012

Visualizing Your Plot

If you're a plotter like me, you spend time before each creative writing project writing down story details, imagining what could be, and deciding what will be. Most of the time I do this in a simplified outline fomat. However, something I saw today made me want to try a different approach.

What if you drew your plot? Illustrated it instead of using words and bullet points. Trying new things--especially those that are radically/dramatically different from your normal routine--create new pathways in the brain and expand your creative thinking capacity.

What do you think of this: Visual Thinking ?