4 Ways I Boost My Creativity

Happy Poetry Friday! See the link at the end of this post to this week's round-up.

I'm not sharing a poem today. Instead, I'm continuing our current discussion on creativity. As Jill said in Monday's post: "Creativity is tough to define and tougher still to write about." I agree!

I did find a satisfactory basic definition at OxfordDictionaries:

"Creativity: The use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work."

But there are so many facets to creativity that it's hard to encapsulate the concept in one sentence. That's why I loved how Jill shared so many great quotations on the topic in her post. I'd like to add another quote to the list:

“Creation is in part merely the business of forgoing the great and small distractions.”

--E.B. White

I came across this E. B. White quote in a book I read recently: Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus & Sharpen Your Creative Mind, (Amazon Publishing) edited by Jocelyn K. Glei of 99u. The book is a compilation of quotes, interviews, and essays from experts in productivity and creativity. Interestingly, the tips often overlap with those in the article Jill linked to: "The Psychology of Writing and the Cognitive Science of the Perfect Daily Routine" by Maria Popova.

I don't believe there really is such a thing as a "perfect daily routine." We are each unique, and what works to activate one person's creativity might stifle someone else's. Also, I often have to adapt my routine to fit what's currently going on in my life. However, I've found 4 specific suggestions in Manage Your Day-to-Day that are really helping me resist "the great and small distractions":

1. Great Work Before Everything Else: 
"Do your most meaningful creative work at the beginning of your day, and leave 'reactive work'—like responding to e-mail or other messages—for later."
I recently made a rule for myself: No email before 10 a.m. It's been amazing to me how much this one simple rule has helped. Now instead of getting lost in email for an hour or more at the start of my day, I get lost in my current work-in-progress. Yay! I also have a second, related rule: check email no more than three times per day. This has really helped me be more focused and efficient when I do check email.

2. Jump-Start Your Creativity: 
"Establish 'associative triggers'—such as listening to the same music or arranging your desk in a certain way—that tell your mind it’s time to get down to work."
I call my "associative triggers" my "writing rituals" and I shared them last March when we did a series of posts about our writing routines.

3. Feel the Frequency:
"Commit to working on your project at consistent intervals—ideally every day—to build creative muscle and momentum over time."
In the post on my writing rituals, I talked about how I was in the middle of a "100-day, one hundred words a day (OHWAD) writing challenge." That worked at the time because I was writing a first draft. Now that I'm revising, I've modified it to a "100-day, fifteen minutes a day (FMAD)" challenge. I've committed to work at least 15 minutes/day, six days a week for 100 days. (I don't count my days off in the total.) I deliberately chose a very doable goal--15 minutes--that I could accomplish even when I have a day filled with other commitments. The challenge is working well for me so far: I began revising Chapter One on Day 1. Today is Day 27, and I'm now up to working on Chapter Eight.

4. Make Progress Visible:
"Make your daily achievements visible by saving iterations, posting milestones, or keeping a daily journal."
On Day 1 of my FMAD challenge I created a table in a Word document called Revision Log. In that document, I note such statistics as my start time, time spent, starting page and chapter, ending page and chapter, starting word count, and ending word count. Looking at my log now, I can see that my writing sessions have ranged from 20 minutes to over 2 hours. Without doing the math, I'd guess that I average about an hour a day. (If I wanted to get really fancy, I could put the stats into a spreadsheet and let it calculate my productivity rate.) For me, this log is a great psychological boost because I often fall into the trap of thinking my writing isn't going anywhere when in fact I am making slow, but steady, progress.

These are just four of the suggestions in Manage Your Day-to-Day that have helped me. Even if none of these ideas appeal to you, I hope that my sharing them here will nudge you into thinking about how to support your own creativity. Are you already happy with your routine/process? If so, we'd love to know what works for you. Please tell us via the comments.

I'll leave you with one last quote, from Jonah Lehrer's Wall Street Journal article "How To Be Creative:" 

"But creativity is not magic, and there's no such thing as a creative type. Creativity is not a trait that we inherit in our genes or a blessing bestowed by the angels. It's a skill. Anyone can learn to be creative and to get better at it."

Lehrer's article ends with "10 Quick Creativity Hacks" you may be interested in checking out. And for ten tips on how to write more regularly, see "How to Create the Habit of Writing" by Leo Babauta at Write to Done.

Reminder: Today's the last day to enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of Barbara Krasner’s picture book biography Goldie Takes a Stand  (Kar-Ben Publishing)!


Now you can head over to be inspired by all the Poetry Friday poems. This week's round-up is at former TeachingAuthor Laura Salas's blog. One of the links there is to a post at  Today's Little Ditty in which Michelle Heidenrich Barnes shares a fun little poem by our own April Halprin Wayland!

Happy writing!
Carmela

Poetry Friday, Tea with Monkey, and Seasons...

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Howdy, Campers! Welcome to Poetry Friday at TeachingAuthors!

Please add your link to Mr. Linky below and then say a bit about your poetry post in our comments.
Thank you kindly.

Now, pull up a comfy chair and have a cuppa tea with me.

Monkey is having a cup of tea...

...and reading poetry.  Join him. 

We TeachingAuthors have been discussing our writing routines...or lack of them.  Carmela kicked it off, posting about being "writerly" even without a regular writing routine.   Mary Ann talks frankly about an untidy schedule while she's the caregiver of two family members (I can relate!); Jill wonders if routine can save the day (and shows us the quilt she made), and Jeanne Marie knows exactly what will fall by the wayside so that her writing gets done.  In between, both Jeanne Marie and Esther posted Wednesday Writing Workouts, a new TeachingAuthor feature.

For me, writing routines are seasonal--as in the seasons in one's life.  The routines I stick to in this season of my life (sans kid, with a husband who works many hours) are: 1) romp the dog twice a day, 2) exercise, and 3) write a poem a day.  I send my best friend Bruce Balan an original poem each day and he sends one of his back.  (Last night his poem informed me that as of December 26th I had written 1000 poems!)

I just finished working on a nine-month political campaign; it was wonderful having one purpose, one thing to strive for.  And when my husband was in the hospital in November, that, too, gave me a single purpose.  But right now, I am teaching, writing, critiquing, taking care of 92-year-old Uncle Davie.

Despite my routines, I'm in the hallway of unopened doors...
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BETWEEN
by April Halprin Wayland

In this hall of fear and doubt,
open a door and let me out.

Hear that eerie violin?
Unlock a door and bring me in!

Spirit, goddess, hear my prayer
any door will do, I swear!

What? A door at hallway's end
opens, through it sunlight bends?

I am running to escape
thank you for the door-sized gape!

Whoa! This place is way too squarish…
might I view a room less garish?
poem(c)April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.

In which season of life are you?

What?  No more tea?  

No, Monkey, but luckily there's more Poetry below...
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I'm visiting as many of our wonderful kidlitosphere poets as I possibly can (starting right below these three lines), but please also check the Mr. Linky links far, far below AND the comments to see who's posted what...
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Renee Latulippe is the first one in with a catnap poem for two voices, reminding me of this form and encouraging, instructing and inspiring us to write more!
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Charles Ghigna--aka Father Goose--is in with Valentine Poems, teaching us how to write his four-line If You Were poems.  Charles also links to a comic book, and his book of love poems for adults!

Jama of Alphabet Soup jumps in celebrating Langston Hughes' 111th birthday (happy birthday, LH--let the rain kiss you ~) with poems (including, appropriately enough for Jama, Hughes' poem titled, "Dinner Guest: Me") and foodie tidbits, of course!
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Laura Shovan's post at Author Amok unveils the Academy of American Poets' 2013 postcard-themed National Poetry Month poster and shares a kitten-and-hot-pink-gloves poem based on a postcard--(I love her comment about Poetry Friday's icon: "Army green is so last year, but Poetry Friday is always in style.")
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Catherine Johnson's in with her poem, "Anne of Green Gables meets Lady Shalott"...I love her line,
"hair spilling over like seaweed"
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Laura Salas shares an elf poem translated from the Danish.  I wish I'd imagined this itty bitty man and his pockets packed with mice!  Laura also, as always, challenges us to write a 15 Words or Less poem, this one about her photo of a glass ceiling.
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Diane Mayr, of Random Noodling joins in with a link to an article by author Anita Diamant, about Richard Blanco's poem for the inauguration and how our poetry and our times have and have not changed (note this quote about poetry by Anita Diamant);  Diane also offers us two short videos of a Richard Blanco interview--what riches!
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Diane, in her other guise as Kurious Kitty, recently read an article on memorizing poetry, which reminded her of the poem she memorized long ago: Rudyard Kipling's "If".  I particularly love these lines: "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster/And treat those two impostors just the same"...
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Feeling a little lonely or the need to get away and BE alone?  Check out these snippets of poems on solitude at the Write Sisters' blog.
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And...oh, my goodness...I completely forgot about Groundhog's Day!  Luckily, Amy, aka Mrs. Merrill, reminds us with this Groundhog's Day Poem ~
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Violet Nesdoly's in with an original fog poem and photo...I love when she says fog finally "weakens under/distant globe/like consciousness/after a coma/colour seeps back/into earth-corpse..."
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Dash over to Robyn Hood Black's blog for the metaphor of doors and books and see her glorious collage of a book-door! 
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Tamera Will Wissinger, like Laura Shovan, loves the Academy of American Poet's poster for National Poetry Month and has an interesting interpretation of its design.
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Joy Acey teaches us how to write a Minute Poem, and then shares her own, "Moon Minute" (try writing your own Minute Poem--I did)...

...and Matt Forrest shares an original mud pies poem (yum!)

At Supratentorial (look up the definition--I did), Alice and her kids are reading and memorizing poems about colors from the classic, Hailstones and Halibut Bones. 
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At Fuse #8, Elizabeth Bird reviews Jack Prelutsky's Stardines Swim High Across the Sky and Other Poems.  Jack once again smashes two words together to come up with new animals; illustrator Carin Berger's shadow box pictures are out of this world (stay for the 2:09 minute video tour of Carin's studio). 
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Tara, at a Teaching Life also writes about memorizing poems, sharing a 2:59 NPR story about "Poetry by Heart" in the U.K, a poem she memorized in fourth grade, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson himself saying his poem.
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Our dear Linda at TeacherDance helps us say good-bye to January with Wallace Stevens' "The Snow Man".
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Margaret, of Reflections on the Teche opens pages of the new edition of The Mysteries of Harris Burdick and the ensuing discussion triggers students' idiom poems.
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Fats Suela from Gathering Books shares one of the amazing reverso poems from Marilyn Singer's Cybil-award winning book, Mirror, Mirror.  Have you ever tried to write a reverso?  SO HARD!!! 
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Amy at The Poem Farm has written a wonderful poem about meeting someone who you feel so connected to it's as if you've known them for years.  And she has great news regarding Mr. J. Patrick Lewis and her soon-to-be-published book, FOREST HAS A SONG--woo-woo! 
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Greg Pincus of GottaBook is in, of course.  He's always concise and always clever...today he ties us in knots!
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And M.M. Socks (aka Alvaro Salinas Jr.) has the hiccups in his post's poem.
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Tabatha Yeatts on her perch at The Opposite of Indifference shares five short Richard Brautigan poems; some are mind-blowing...
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Mary Lee, at A Year of Reading, shares a wonderfully concise poem about getting into a writing rut or losing one's focus.
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Doraine Bennet, at Dori Reads shares an incredibly personal original poem about a stillborn child.  Sharing grief--or any difficult emotion--is an act of generosity.
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Katya at Write. Sketch. Repeat. shares Robert Service's "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" which she recites around the fire on camping trips.  I'd heard of it but never read it all the way through. Thanks, Katya!
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Bridget Magee at wee words for wee ones posts an original poem a day.  For Poetry Friday she writes about that song that will not stop singing in your head.  Yes, that one.
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Liz Steinglass, who also writes a poem a day, shares two original silly poems, "The Sparrow at the Store" and "The Secret of the Cat."
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Andromeda Jazmon Sibley, of wrung sponge, reviews Joyce Carol Thomas' new book, The Land of Milk and Honey. 
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Steve Peterson at inside the dog considers, in his original poem, the testing his 8 and 9-year old students are facing and isn't sure whether to accept it or not...
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Bright light in our poetry universe, Sylvia Vardell always has good news at Poetry for Children ...
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...while Sylvia teams with author/poet Janet Wong in their Poetry Friday Anthology blog--a poem a week is all they ask!
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Little Willow offers a poem from The Australian Girl ...
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...while Ed DeCaria at Think, Kid, Think! is calling all classrooms to pick words with which to torture the participating poets in March Madness.  (The application deadline for poets has passed.)
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Lorie Ann Grover gives us a brother and sister haiku.  Why not try writing your own?
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MsMac at Check it Out writes a tender poem about when to say good-bye to her old dog, inspired by a William Stafford poem.
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Janet Squires' posts at All About the Books are short and to the point.  Wish I had that skill!
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Kort's family at One Deep Drawer has good news: baby #3!  She posts (HOW CAN SHE POST?!?! SHE JUST HAD A BABY!!!) a poem by Christina Rossetti and photos of her three chicks...congrats, Kort!

 

Can routine save the day?

Today I'm supposed to write about how sticking to a writing routine can save the day. Or not. That ties in perfectly to my January 4th post, in which I vowed to set a writing schedule for myself in an effort to find my way back into a middle grade novel project. I'd like to shout, "Yes! A schedule was exactly what I needed! I'm well into Chapter 5! Hallelujah!" That would be inspirational, wouldn't it? It would also be untrue.

For the first time in my writing life (16 years), I entered a new year feeling overwhelmed by the number of projects awaiting my attention. Hmm. Could I work on the novel for two hours per day, fitting other writing in around it? No. Turns out that, like Mary Ann, scheduled writing time makes me itchy. Plus, I'm much happier and more productive when focusing on one project at a time.

For a few weeks there, I just avoided my office. That led to many late-night struggles with monkey mind - our pastor's apt description for when you can't sleep because your thoughts keep jumping from one problem to another. Especially worrisome were three picture book projects editors were waiting for (no rush, but still). Throw in the same real life chores/business/family stuff we all deal with and you have enough stress to set anybody's teeth to grinding.

What finally worked to get me back on track was my old friend, list making. Prioritizing. And, hold the phone...what was that hovering down there at #6? Yep, the novel. So I've put it aside and begun chipping away at those projects higher on the list. And I've seen actual results.
                    1) A nonfiction picture book proposal is almost ready to go out the door.
                    2) A fiction pb has been tweaked per an editor's suggestions.
                    3) My messy pile of writing-related receipts stuffed into a drawer and ignored through most of 2012, otherwise known as "important stuff my husband's  going to ask for any minute while he gets tax info together," is now collated and  duly recorded and in perfect order. (He may faint.)

And I'm feeling much, much better about the situation. As are my jaws.

Routine has saved the day, at least in part. I spend most mornings in my office, chipping away at that list. For me, though, balance is imperative. So I opened another creative outlet. Months ago, I picked out fabric* for a quilt I wanted to make. I finally sketched a design, calculated the pieces I'd need, and got to work. Piecing a quilt, unlike writing, lets me see results quickly. I think - no, I know - that those afternoons in my basement sewing studio have been therapeutic.

                                                       *the centers of the squares look black in this pic, but they are 
                                                         actually a dark coffee brown.

And, #6? Don't worry, I see you down there. Hang tight. I'm on my way.

Jill Esbaum

Who, Me? Schedule?

     My good friend Carmela wrote such a lovely post on the subject of writing routine last Friday that there really isn't much left for me to say.

     Like Carmela, I am the caregiver for two family members. I know any number of writers who tote their laptops to bedsides and waiting rooms and are perfectly productive.  I am not one of those people. I am unable to isolate myself emotionally from the situation. I cannot write while I am worrying about finances and medication and contingency plans, should I not be available.

     In his autobiography, Rewrites, playwright Neil Simon writes for months and months with his wife dying of cancer in the next room. Simon describes his ability to enter another world peopled only with characters of his own invention, a world where no one was dying of cancer. I wish Mr. Simon could tell me how he so neatly compartmentalized his life.  It would be a valuable skill. But alas, he does not.I have been able to "write through" short term illnesses and crisis before. However, my situation for the past year has been one of ongoing issues and worries with no end in sight.

     Upshot...I am too emotionally wrung out to write with any depth. I can edit, teach, research, even write blogs (although not as well as I would like to.) Trying to create something new takes heart and soul that I do not have on hand at the moment.

    OK, back to the subject of routine/schedule, etc. Even when I am firing on all cylinders, the word "schedule" makes my skin crawl. I was raised in a home where every day of the week had a particular function (Wash Day, Baking Day, Shopping Day, Yard Work Day) and every hour was accounted for before the day began.  Whether I was wired differently from my parents or just a rebellious kid, I did not take well to all that regimentation. I grew up to be a person who wrote term papers in two days (hey, anybody can write a good paper if you have a whole semester!) and mailed my tax returns at 11:59 p.m. April 15th.

    I am a militant night owl. Left to my won devices, I would happily work graveyard shift. I loved being a school librarian, except that I had to be at school by 7;30, after a 40 mile drive.  Add becoming a mother to my disorderly life, and one of two things happen. You either stop writing, or you write when you can.

    I write when I can. Until this past year, I was pretty proud of my ability to write in ten minute chunks, wherever I happened to be. In the carpool line at school.  On commuter trains. During boring sermons. Wherever. A good chunk of my day was spent at the skating rink, as my figure-skating daughter skated upwards of 20 hours a week.

    I know there are writers who manage to carve out consecutive BIC hours (Butt in Chair) to stare at a blank computer screen, waiting for the Muse to arrive. I envy you. Even when my life unknots itself  and I regain my full creative energy again (someday), I don't anticipate tidy "office hours" or outlines or schedules.

    That's just the way I roll.

    Don't forget to sign up for our latest giveaway, a copy of Brenda Ferber's The Yuckiest, Stinkiest, Best Valentine Ever. Check Esther's last post for details.

    Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

 

Being "Writerly" Even Without a Regular Writing Routine

Happy Poetry Friday! To celebrate my inaugural post in this, my new Friday slot, I've included a poem at the end of today's blog post. You'll find a link to today's Poetry Friday round-up there, too.

First, though, I need to talk about our next TeachingAuthors topic. Jill, Jeanne Marie, and April started the year by discussing ways to "get back into the writing groove" after being away from it for awhile. As a follow-up, today I was supposed to talk about the pros and cons of having a writing routine.  By "Writing Routine," I mean a specific, preplanned time set aside for writing and/or writing-related tasks, such as research.

 

I figured this topic would be a no-brainer for me. I thrive on having a regular routine. Last fall, I blogged about my "typical" writing day: how I try to get up around 6-6:30 in the morning and start working as soon after breakfast as possible, without checking email or Facebook. And how, since I have a hard time resisting email, I set a timer and don't allow myself to look at email until I've put in 2-4 hours of work. [By the way, my favorite timer is online, at the Mindfulness Bell site.  You can use the site to set a chime that sounds periodically, for example, every 15 minutes (perhaps to remind yourself to blink while staring at the screen), or you can set the chime for a specific time by using the "reminder" option at the bottom of the page.]

As luck would have it, though, I'm currently unable to follow my normal writing routine. Instead, I'm helping my husband care for his 87-year-old father, who is staying with us while he recovers from pneumonia. I'm still setting timers, but now they're to remind me to give Dad one of his meds, or to wake him from a nap so he can get ready for his therapy appointment. I love my father-in-law dearly, and I'm happy to be able to help him this way. Now that he's starting to feel better, I'm hoping to get back into some sort of writing routine again soon. Meanwhile, I've been stealing moments to catch up on some reading, and to participate in the Annual Blog Comment Challenge. The challenge is a great way to discover new blogs, and it's not too late to sign up, if you're interested. 

I'm also beginning to realize that poems are something I can write in small snatches of time. Actually, I was inspired by something Dad said the other day to scribble a few lines. Thanks to April's brave example of sharing her poems-in-progress, I'm sharing the following poem with all of you even though it's far from polished. I hope you'll be as kind to me in your comments as you've been to April. :-)

Before sharing my poem, I want to remind you to read Esther's Student Success Story interview with Brenda Ferber. You're sure to be inspired by Brenda's persistence, despite 70 rejections!, to finally sell her wonderful picture book, The Yuckiest, Stinkiest, Best Valentine Ever (Dial). And be sure to enter for a chance to win your own autographed copy.

Okay, I won't put it off any longer. Here's my poem. As I mentioned, it was inspired by my father-in-law, who has been a widower for a little over a year. I had noticed he often stared off into space, and I feared he was beginning to lose his faculties. Then, out of the blue, he explained that he sometimes missed out on parts of the conversation because he was actually deep in reverie.

          Daydream Rememberings

          Sometimes,
          I miss what you say
          because I'm daydreaming,
          remembering happy times
          with Ramona.
          Our long bike rides,
          camping trips all over the country,
          ballroom dancing in matching outfits.

          Fifty-seven years of memories.
          I miss my wife.

poem ©2013 Carmela Martino. All rights reserved

For more poems, check out the Poetry Friday Roundup at Violet Nesdoly/poems.

Got to go now. My chime just went off. Time to get Dad up from his nap. Maybe Mary Ann will talk about the pros/cons of writing routines when she posts on Monday. :-) Meanwhile, you can find some tips on developing your own routine in this post at poetryNprogress.

Happy Writing!
Carmela