12 writers benefited from WNBA-SF’s Coaxing Creativity Vision Board Workshop led by Mentor Mary E. Knippel.  “Decide, Declare & Design Your Writing Life for 2010,” said Mary Knippel.  “P.L.A.Y.  Pause. Love. Access your Artist/Adjust your Attitude.  YES to You.”

This post invites every writer at the workshop to submit her comments and declare a goal. Click on the title  [12 Writers Benefited from . . . ] to see the entire post; scroll down to comment boxes and key in your name, your email address, your website URL compose your comment; click SUBMIT button.

Thank you, Creativity Mentor Mary Knippel!

Visit Mary’s website for calendar of workshops: http://openuptoyourcreativity.com/

Fiction, Non-Fiction, San Francisco Chapter, Success, Testimonials, WNBA-Writers, Women's National Book Association, creativity 2 Comments January 30th, 2010

Whether it’s a new concept, or an annual ritual, vision boards perform powerful magic in helping us manifest our dreams. They are a staple at inspirational retreats I’ve attended and if you saw the DVD “The Secret,” you know it played a significant part. The Law of Attraction directs us to envision success as if it is in the present and has already happened. The more detail you bring into the mental image, the better. The vision board brings life to the mental image.

A vision board may also be called a Treasure Map, or Creativity Collage. Using simple raw materials of paper and glue, a dash of whimsy along with a generous amount of your own imagination, the final result is the birth of a physical expression of your inner most hopes and dreams. The word collage comes from the French “to stick.” It is a work of visual art made from an assemblage of different forms (images from magazines, jazzy junk mail, ribbon, photo copies of favorite pictures, and sometimes handwritten quotes); creating a new whole.

This is an opportunity to have fun envisioning the 2010 you’d like to experience. We’re not just playing around. We’re Playing with Purpose!  The idea is that when you surround yourself with images of who you want to become, what you want to have, where you want to live, or where you want to vacation, your life changes to match those images and those desires.

Ready to create your vision board?

Want to do it with the support and encouragement of friends?

Sign up for the WNBA-SF sponsored Coaxing Creativity Workshop – Decide, Declare, Design Your writing life for 2010 on Jan 30, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on the beautiful San Mateo coastside. We’ll do some writing, create a vision board, brainstorm about goals and ways to achieve them, play, and have FUN!

San Francisco Chapter, Upcoming Events, creativity No Comments January 6th, 2010

We tell children: “Be quiet when you’re in a library. People are reading.”

Those children/library patrons need us to use our mighty voices now.  All across our beloved country, libraries are in danger.  In the San Francisco Bay Area, 6 branches in Oakland deserve our rallies.

Case in Point:
The mayor’s budget proposal, scheduled to go into effect July 1st 2009, will slash the open hours for Lakeview, Temescal, Golden Gate, Elmhurst, Martin Luther King and Melrose library branches in Oakland.  These branches would only open 2 or 3 days per week!   Schools that don’t have libraries, neighborhood kids, seniors, people without computers, and the unemployed looking for work will be severely affected.

77.2% voters had voted YES to Measure Q (to increase libraries hours and services, not to cut them)

Keep ALL Oakland Libraries open 5 or 6 days a week!  How can we help?

Visit:

http://savethelibraries.spaces.live.com

Wherever you are, you can use the strategies proposed by the Oakland groups:

• Ask questions and offer resources

• Create an action plan, organize and more organize–strength in number

• Craft consistent talking-points to hook politicians’ attention

Contact your library to find out if any branch in your city or county are in danger. We can use our mighty voices not only through public speaking but also through writing, spreading the word, and letting cyberspace carry our messages far and wide.

Hope to see WNBA members at the San Francisco Library Main Branch on June 2 for the Effie Lee Morris Lecture.     Please RSVP by visiting home page  http://wnba-sfchapter.org for instructions.

Thank you!

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

WNBA-SF Chapter Member-at-Large

Benefits of Volunteering, Fiction, National Reading Group Month, Non-Fiction, Readings, San Francisco Chapter, Success, Technology Tips/Tools, Upcoming Events, WNBA-Writers, creativity 2 Comments May 25th, 2009

January is Creativity month as well as Mentoring month and I was fortunate enough to be invited to be the guest speaker and the guest Mentor for the Peninsula Branch of the California Writers Club. I wanted to start 2009 off for all of us on an enthusiastic and positive note about our writing. Writer’s Block is a phrase known to strike terror in the hearts of all writers because we can’t call on our Creativity to perform like a trained monkey. But we can use little tricks to coax and “invite” Creativity into our lives. The list below was meant to be a jumping off point for a discussion among the meeting attendees so they could recognize just how much they already know and are doing to keep themselves engaged in their writing life!

 

1.  TAKE A HIKE! or a walk, or a swim, or do yoga – in other words exercise and breathe deeply!

 

2.  GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO PLAY – go to a museum (many have a free day once a month), take in a play or concert (if you volunteer to usher you get to see the performance for free), take a class, attend a reading, or go fly a kite.

3.  SEEK OUT THE MASTERS – what do you admire about them, study how they did it, transcribe a chapter of your favorite book, join a club, or attend a workshop.

4.  TAKE A NAP – dream your way to Creativity!

5.  THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX  – there’s always another way to accomplish something.

6.  SIT IN A DIFFERENT SPOT – take yourself out of your familiar surroundings and observe how a new environment affects you and your writing.

7.   CHANGE YOUR FOCUS – be willing to see the situation from another point of view. (journal, write a letter, write a list)

I was very pleased to be invited to be the Guest Mentor at the Mentoring Session after the main program. We did a hands-on exercise so that participants could engage all of their senses in the creation of a vision board.  The supplies were simple:  a large piece of poster board, glue sticks, newspapers and magazines, but the results were amazing. The starkness of black and white newspapers contrasted dramatically with slick glossy magazine pages as participants devised treasure maps envisioning what 2009 will manifest for them.

Judging from the enthusiasm generated by this exercise of everyone involved, I predict 2009 is going to be an excellent year for WRITING!

Be well.

Mary 

 

 

Mary E. Knippel

Writer, Speaker, Workshop leader and Creativity Mentor – encouraging Creativity as a Healing Tool

Simple Abundance Certified Workshop Leader

Simple Abundance Illustrated Discovery Journal Workshop Leader  

Come discover the most important woman in your life…Your Authentic Self!

Visit www.openuptoyourcreativity.com (PayPal available on line) for current schedule.

 

We do not write to be understood, we write to understand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

creativity 1 Comment January 31st, 2009