Hello and welcome to our new members this week, Siyon, Ken and Huzaifa! Have a look around and respond to comments, I've put no restrictions on this group so you start with full access to commenting, chatting, and much of the stuff in the Classroom. It's geared towards offering prompts to help you stop procrastinating and start making...as well as courses and information about writing since that's my professional experience as a writer, editor and publisher. Let me know if you have any questions. I hope that the daily posts get you thinking and creating and sharing your process. It's surprising how doing just that can make all the difference for someone else. Thanks and stick around! I have videos coming on the topic of revision and character development for the fiction writers here. Say hello and feel free to share your links so we get to know you a bit. Cheers!

Which leads me to ask how do we find our values? Simon Sinek, do you know of him? - He has great ideas and suggestions for how to really find out what matters most to you. And for me, that allowed me to think about those values not just as a career focus but day to day, and as a creative force. My core values are simply Explore, Create, and Share. When I look back on my ever changing life, I see how these three can even define three separate times in my life. In my twenties, I lived all over Europe and then came to the States and carried on exploring into my thirties, from state to state but also creatively. In my forties and fifties, I've been more consciously creative, writing and publishing, working with cartoons, photos, all kinds of things. Now as I inch towards my sixties, I see how sharing all these experiences drive me forward. My compass. Sinek's process (Find your Why) has many layers to it but in short, he asks us to look back on our early lives and to now, identify the recurring themes from your stories and the feedback from your friends and family. Think about specific, happy, and pivotal moments such as - Earliest happy memories. - Experiences you loved in school/early life. - Moments that changed how you see the world. - Times you helped someone and felt good about it. - Accomplishments you're proud of (noting who helped). Then try this formula: Structure your Why as: "To (Contribution/Action) ______ so that (Impact/Result) ______". For us, here it might be: "To inspire creativity in the next generation, so that we all can enjoy a more artistic world".

Have you read any of the research on creativity and health? It’s fascinating and reminds me why I do what I do here and elsewhere. I’ll add the link to this specific podcast below.

Here's a silly thing I did a few months ago, curious to see what would come up. Well, I just noticed it again and thought of us here. Take this free little fun quiz for a basic overview of a few kinds we can move between...I know I'm a mix of at least two of these. Try it for yourself! (It's a link to another page on my own website so safe to click on.) Comment below what it said about you.

I recently started listening to The Listening Path by Julia Cameron. The jury is still out at the moment, but I wanted to share the 3 main tools she discusses and my thoughts on her advice about the proper way to do morning pages. Hope it's helpful to other writers or anyone trying to unblock their creativity.