Here’s a simple, but not necessarily easy exercise to expand your creativity and attention. For each letter of the alphabet, come up with the name of an alcoholic beverage.

Can you complete the list without looking at an online database or bartenders’ guide? How many can your friends come up with? Which letter was the most difficult to find?

Which letters spawned mini-lists? How many do you watch? How many of the names evoke strong feelings for you?

Yikes! forgot to include the mp3!? Fixed now! Sorry about that everyone.

—————

Two weeks in a row - I’m on a roll! I actually started recording another topic and then realized I promised to talk about some creative projects that went in unexpected directions. I guess you’ll have to listen for the next episode to find out what that topic was!

Promo: Murder at Avedon Hill -PG Holyfield

Mistakes are Good!

I make a lot of mistakes when I’m working on a creative project - here, I tell you about two of them and why they turned out not to be mistakes after all.

Promo: Weaver’s Web - P.J. Ballantine

My Creative To-Do List

• finish the first draft of a novel
• write a backward story on my blog
• update the NaNoEdmo site and put together a podcast
• script for a Neverwinter Nights game module
• De-clutter my creative space
• finish or discard old, unfinished projects

Promo: NaNoEdMo

Next Time

Unfinished projects and weathering creative storms

Promo: I Should Be Writing - Mur Lafferty

Music: The Fire Circle by Jesse Manno, courtesy of Magnatunes

Comments, questions and feedback can be sent to podcastATyourcre8tivityDOTcom - Or leave a comment here!

 

 Creative Adventures #2 - Mistakes are Good! [11:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (157)

An inspiration tag is just a phrase or two meant to give you a jumpstart on your creative expression. So read the tag below and interpret it in a creative way. There are no limitations on the medium. In fact we’d love to see a visual or listen to an audio interpretation. Admittedly, some of the tags will lend themselves more to a written format than any other.

So here it is - Tag! You’re It! Have fun!

The media had become experts at weaving the silken lies most people were willing to believe.

For newer readers, here are some posts from a year ago.

Quick Steps

• Break Away #21 - January 23, 2007
• Inspiration Tag #27 - January 24, 2007
• Name Game #4 - January 25, 2007
• Lyrically Speaking #10 - January 26, 2007
• Say What? Take #29 - January 29, 2007

The idea behind Break Away is to let your mind go and see if it will break away from your normal thought patterns.

The word is “Ring”

Here’s how it works:

1. Write the Break Away Word in the center of a paper (or if you’re lucky - a whiteboard).
2. Write/Draw the first thing that comes to mind when you look at the Break Away Word.
3. Write/Draw the next thing that comes to mind.
4. Continue the process for 10 minutes or until nothing new comes to mind

Let your pen or pencil find its own way, don’t try to force any associations into a pattern.

When you’re done, take a look at your paper/whiteboard. Where did you end up? Are there any connections that surprise you?

Here’s this week’s Say What?

“Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.”

–H.L. Mencken

Honey-Garlic and Lime Marinade

A quick and simple marinade for your pork or chicken to add some sweet
and tangy flavor to your meal.

You’ll need
.25 cup fresh lime juice (normal or key lime)
1 tsp honey
1 garlic clove
1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Combine ingredients into a gallon sized Ziploc bag, seal and shake well.
Open and add meat of choice, seal and shake again. Put into fridge and
let sit at least 6 hours or overnight.

Prepare meat by frying, baking or grilling.

“Keep your knives sharp, your marble board cold, your spice rack neatly
organized and your kitchen creative.”

Let’s play a little name game You can use any resource you have available to you - the internet, books, friends or strangers, your address book - whatever you need.

• Look up the meaning of your name.
  • How many other names have the same or similar meanings?
  • What names have the opposite meanings?

The Forecast

Dry spells alternating with high pressure systems bringing storms and possible flooding. The following low pressure systems will help dry things out but may bring about additional dry spells.
Sounds like a long-term weather forecast, doesn’t it?

It’s really a prediction of how my creativity will flow this year.

How accurate a prediction is it? Well, it’s based on an analysis of 2007. While that doesn’t make it perfect, it does give it a realistic foundation for predicting 2008.

The weather comparison? Read on, and I’ll explain.

My creativity in 2007 was definitely not a steady thing. It ebbed and flowed. There were periods when I felt incredibly creative. There were also times when I felt incredibly uncreative.

When it Rains it Pours

Creative storms.
I had quite a few of them in 2007, which you’d think would be a good thing. And it was, for the most part. There was one drawback to having creativity rain down on me the way it did.

I didn’t have time to try all the new and creative ideas the storms produced. My “To-Do” list was flooded with ideas and concepts that I was enthusiastic about. If you’d ever seen my “To-Do” list, you’d understand why this was a problem.

Dry Spells

2007 wasn’t entirely taken up with creative storms. In fact, there were several periods where I experienced dry spells when it came to creativity. When I felt like nothing I came up with was creative and when my enthusiasm for the ideas on my “To-Do” flagged.

Low and High Pressure Systems

For me, creativity seemed almost like a weather system in the way it acted. I would feel very uncreative. The more uncreative I felt, the more pressure seemed to build to be creative.

Then, all of the sudden, something would burst, like a storm cloud.

The creative ideas would pour down on me until I had too many to put into action.

After a time, the creative pressure would drop and I’d be back where I started.

Preparing for the Weather of Creativity

Now that I have a prediction for how my creative weather will work in 2008, I can prepare for it.? If a weatherperson predicts cold or rain, you grab a jacket or umbrella.? Knowing your creative forecast, you can be prepared to make use of a creative storm or eek through a dry spell.

I know that creative storm systems will bring me more ideas than I know what to do with.? And I know that dry spells will leave me feeling uncreative.

My preparation? A “creativity rain barrel” or cistern.? All the ideas that come to me during a creative storm get funneled into the barrel, preventing them from being lost or cluttering up my “To-Do” list.

This gives me a store of ideas to work with.? As I have time, I pull one or more of those ideas out of the barrel and add them to my “To-Do” list.

When the storm fades and I find myself in a dry spell, I continue to pull ideas from the barrel.? Looking at my forecast, I know that there will be more creative storms, so I need to work on the ideas stored in my creativity rain barrel. If I don’t, it may overflow during the next storm.

I don’t know about you, but I get stressed when I have too many things to do - even when they’re supposed to be fun.? I don’t want my creativity rain barrel to overflow.

There’s another benefit to maintaining a creativity rain barrel. When your friends and family find themselves in a dry spell or rut, you have creative ideas to give to them.? And sharing creativity, increases the creative flow in both the giver and the receiver.

What’s your creative forecast for 2008?

Knock, knock. Anyone still around?

I know the sample episode went up way back in June….. but I didn’t forget about the podcast. I really didn’t. And here’s the proof! The official episode number ONE of Creative Adventures.

What’s it about, you ask?

Its about why creativity is something everyone should have in their lives.

Give it a listen and let us know what you think.

Promos:

• Playing For Keeps - Mur Lafferty
• Morevi: Remastered - Tee Morris
• Nocturnal - Scott Sigler
• Podiobooks.com

 

 Creative Aventures #1 [10:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (156)