Writerly Play
Let’s chat about living creatively and playing our way toward challenging, meaningful goals.
Writerly Play Activity Collection – Make the Most of Feedback
Whether we love feedback or hate it, we all eventually must decide …
How do we make the most of it?
Especially when our emotions are high, it’s helpful to have a way to approach reflection, decision-making, and next steps. No matter your style, you’ll find an activity in this collection that will help you take the next round of creative feedback you receive and apply it effectively to your work.
The art of giving and receiving feedback is one of the cornerstone skills developed in the Writerly Play Cafe.
The Writerly Play Cafe, like the other Writerly Play rooms, is designed to help creatives separate their thinking into distinct steps. By knowing the purpose of a thinking task, we can utilize activities toward stronger results.
Choose the activity that best fits your creativity style. Not sure what your style is? Take the quick quiz and find out.
ACTIVITIES
Pin the Heart on the Problem
FOR INVENTORS
List the issues raised and then use “Why …?” to narrow in on the heart of the problem.
The Question Queue
FOR ARCHITECTS
Line up your questions and address them one by one in this structured revision approach.
And Down the Stretch they Come
FOR SPECIAL AGENTS
Choose the frontrunner issues and tackle them head-on with a quick-listing exercise.
Scramble and Sort
FOR COLLABORATORS
After collecting feedback, scramble and sort it into new categories so the group can help the writer choose a starting place for a revision.
Develop Creative Thinking Skills with the Writerly Play Kit
Psst! If you haven't yet subscribed to the Writerly Play Kit, you're missing out! Issued monthly, the WP Kit is a collection of activities, book recommendations, and other inspiration to help you develop creative thinking by focusing on a single skill. Why one...
Writerly Play Activity Collection – Storyboard Your Manuscript Your Way
No matter your creativity style, a storyboard will give you perspective. If you're an Inventor, you might struggle with a storyboard because it feels too structured. If you're a Special Agent, you might feel like it's a waste of time. If you're an Architect, it might...
How to Improvise: A Book Flight
For a long time, I didn't understand improvisation. I thought it was the art of being hilarious on the spot, and the thought terrified me. When I (finally) dared to learn more about improv, I learned that improvisation was, in fact, terrifying, but not for the reasons...
Writerly Play Activity Collection: Improvise Your Way to the Page
Improvisation saves writers time. Many writers are actually improvising when they write their first drafts. They following their spontaneity and intuition where it leads as they make their way from scene to scene. However, writing scenes takes a lot longer than...
Journey to Your Writer’s Heart: A Book Flight
From my MFA residencies and decades of SCBWI conferences, the largest takeaway has always been to write from my heart. Like most wisdom, this advice is simple but not easy. Sometimes, my subconscious battles me when I try to dip into a story that holds rich meaning...
Writerly Play Activity Collection: Finding Your Artist’s Heart
How do you create meaningful work? Putting our hearts on the page sounds simple, but it is one of the most difficult tasks artists face. In order to make powerful work, we must brave vulnerability and ask ourselves tough questions. After a lifetime of improv, I've...
Grit, Empathy, and Vision: What I’m Learning about Creative Writing
I woke up in the middle of the night before our most recent Inklings Book launch with these three words bouncing around my mind - grit, empathy, and vision. Sometimes the answer to a question I've been wrestling shows up this way. The question? Why is creative writing...
What I Learned from Madeleine – A Book Flight
Speak with me for more than twenty minutes, and you'll likely hear me quote Madeleine L'Engle. Sometimes you find that author, thinker, or artist that challenges and inspires you in all the right ways. For me, that person is Madeleine. I’ve chosen four titles for this...
Writerly Play Activity Collection: How To Find Your Dream Mentor
Do you have unexplored creative potential? A mentor can help you identify and explore new territory. When people ask me about the value of grad school, I always say that working with mentors saved me years of trial and error. In-person mentors are invaluable, and if...
