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Posts by Carly Sandifer

Apr 30

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Practice the 5-minute “what if?” exercise to enhance your creativity

We’re all born creative thinkers, but sometimes it’s easy to think we aren’t when we’re stuck on a plot or trying to figure out a piece of dialogue for one of our characters.

Part of losing our sense of creativity comes with growing up. When we were kids, we didn’t worry so much about everything having to be logical or correct.

As Michael Michalko says in his book, Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques, our minds are marvelous pattern recognition machines. We’re taught to see what we think we “should” see. This helps us be more efficient in many ways. But it’s also why we can read through a page of copy multiple times and miss typos. Our brain compensates and “helps” us see the patterns of what we expect to see. Read more

Apr 26

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I’m carrying a poem in my pocket today

Today, to celebrate National Poem in Your Pocket Day, I’m carrying the poem, “Self Portrait” by David Whyte.

It’s easy to participate. Find a favorite poem and carry it with you to share with co-workers, family, and friends.

You can also share your poem selection on Twitter by using the hashtag #pocketpoem.

Poem in Your Pocket Day is celebrated each year during National Poetry Month established by the Academy of American Poets. Part of its mission is to introduce more Americans to the pleasures of reading poetry.

Poems from pockets will be unfolded at events in parks, libraries, schools, workplaces, and bookstores in all 50 states throughout the United States today.

Visit www.poets.org to choose your own pocket poem.

Apr 24

Random scrivenings from my writer’s notebook

Writers have to be the kind of people who look closely at the world and what’s going on around them. We must develop our writer’s antennae and constantly tune in to the odd, poignant, and startling details.

Here are a couple of notes I collected and noted in my writer’s notebook during a recent trip. I’m always looking for good names and scored with two in one flight.

Entry one from my commonplace book:

“Good character names: Pink Wilkerson. Short for Pinkney.”

Read more

Apr 20

Writing spice for your reading pleasure

I’m always looking for a dose of writing spice. Here are three posts for your reading pleasure.

In Write the Way Vermeer Paints (Or What I Learned from Girl in Hyacinth Blue), Tim Kane writes about the techniques of the old masters and how they relate to writing.

Next, how would you define your entire story in two sentences? Find out from Nick Thacker in this guest post for WordPlay, How to Write a Novel in Two Sentences.

Finally, learn about how to build settings into your stories by reading Jody Hedlund’s take on Seven Setting Basics that can Bring a Story to Life.

Apr 18

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Find the eight traits of success in this three-minute video

Author Richard St. John spent ten years researching success and asking over 500 extraordinarily successful people in a variety of fields what helped them succeed. After analyzing, sorting, and correlating millions of words of research, and building one of the most organized databases on the subject of success, he discovered the eight traits successful people have in common. Then he wrote the bestseller The 8 Traits Successful People Have in Common: 8 to Be Great.

You may want to apply these eight traits in your writing life. Learn about them in this three-minute Ted Talk.

Apr 16

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Spark story ideas by asking these five questions

One of my writing friends and I were kicking around story ideas this week so we could send out pitches for freelance assignments. I analyzed how we formulated our ideas and thought I’d share these questions in case it helps spark ideas of your own.

These questions are also good for generating ideas for other writing projects, including memoirs, novels, and short stories.

What is misunderstood? Sometimes, something that you think is wrong, or misunderstood may lead you to write about it to right the wrong, shed light on a problem, or improve a process. Read more

Apr 12

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Take the sting out of rejection with the Rejection Generator

Some creative minds at Stoneslide Media have built an invention to liberate writers from the pain of being rejected. Inspired by psychological research showing that after people experience pain they’re less afraid of it in the future, the Rejection Generator helps writers be pre-rejected.

You simply choose a category of rejection, fill out your e-mail address, and you will immediately receive a rejection note. Stoneslide Media reports that each letter is ingeniously painful and discouraging. Read more

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