Freestyle Imagined! - Celebrating Unique Creative Success

Creativity is a Skill – & How to Develop It

I’ve considered myself a creative person all my life – “It’s a gift.” I’ve been told that and believed it for a very long time.

But now that I TEACH creativity, I’ve learned a very important fact: creativity can be cultivated, even in those who believe they don’t have the gift. The fact that it CAN be cultivated means that in the end, creativity is more skill than gift.

So exactly can you become a more creative indivdual? The obvious answer is to practice more creative activities, but there are other ways you can boost your inspiration that may surprise you.

And as an added bonus: they’ll have a positive effect on the overall health of your brain too. As a woman of a “certain age” that’s something I can really appreciate!

In this article from BeBrainFit.com, you’ll find 10 ways to boost your creativity. Some you may consider obvious, but I’m certain some of them will surprise you.

How to Be More Creative: 10 Surprising Ways

And for more creativity, how about picking up a FREE copy of 5 Freestyle Mindmapping and Brainstorming Exercises below.

Includes Guidance + Mind Map on Each of the Following Exercises:

Exercise 1: Mind Clearing
Exercise 2: Inside the Box
Exercise 3: Opposites
Exercise 4: To the End
Exercise 5: Unusual Answers

Finding Success When You Feel Inadequate

If it sometimes seems like everyone else gets more done than you, you’re NOT alone. I’ve had that feeling for years – since LONG before I became an entrepreneur, in fact.

Back when I was raising a baby and working full time and going to college classes, I was barely hanging on with everything that had to be done – and I was exhausted. In comparison, I had a friend who had TWO little boys, also worked full time, took MORE classes than I did, and still had time for working out at the gym and entertaining on a regular basis.To say I felt inadequate was an understatement.

And of course when it comes to working as an online entrepreneur, there are SO many who seem to get way more things accomplished in a shorter period of time than I do. Comparing myself to these over-acheivers can at times make me feel like a real slacker…which is why when I recently read Tiffany Lambert’s blog post about going from slacker to success, it really hit home for me.

Tiffany talks about how not everyone is born with a drive to be a success, but that doesn’t mean they can’t still become one. Thanks Tiff, for that reminder!

To figure out how you can create your plan for success, even if you feel inadequate, read through the six steps at Tiffany’s blog. Step #3 is all about how to go it Freestyle, and step # 6 is one I’m just starting to master.

From Slacker to Success: How I Turned Myself Into a 6 Figure Entrepreneur

The Art of Freestyle: Making (and Breaking) Your Own Rules

When I chose “Freestyle” as my brand, not everyone loved it.

I had some pretty close online friends who didn’t like it. People whose opinions I really respect…didn’t like it.

Some people just didn’t get it, and others just didn’t like it, even though they understood my concept.

That rattled my confidence briefly. I wondered if I was completely off track.

But, ultimately, I knew I wasn’t. I knew where I was coming from and where I was going, so I stuck with the idea against the advice of some pretty smart people.

So far, it’s working out for me. 😉

I consider “freestyle” a term of artistic expression, and the very cornerstone of being a creative professional.

The Art of Freestyle

Let’s look at one of my own favorite examples: Dancing With the Stars.

In DWTS, the contestants have to learn a new dance each week. Some weeks two dances. They have to follow the “rules” of those dances and they’re penalized in the judging if they break the rules.

During this time, working within these rules, they learn the basics. They learn to hold their frame up, point their toes, extend their arms, and develop musicality so that the dance flows through their entire body. They need the rules so that they can concentrate on allowing the dance to become second nature. They don’t have to make artistic decisions; they just have to learn the steps.

Then comes the finale. By now, the contestants who are left in the competition know how to dance. Their bodies know the rules, so their minds can let that go and they get to perform the dance they want to perform. They get to perform The Freestyle.

This is where they take everything they’ve learned and toss out the rules and perform to their utmost artistic ability. You can see some amazing and powerful dances during the Freestyle round. The creativity is off the charts.

But you know what? I don’t love every Freestyle dance. Some are athletic, some are profoundly moving, and some are lyrically beautiful. Others are excellent in technique, but they just don’t speak to me.

That’s okay, I’m not supposed to love them all. They are expressions of a very personal journey and they may not resonate with everybody. Still, I’ve never, ever seen a single person disappointed with their own Freestyle performance, even when they aren’t the winner. They love it, because it IS personal.

Making Your Own Rules

My business is like that. I’ve learned a lot about the ins and outs of being an entrepreneur and and authorpreneur.

I know the “rules” instinctively.

I know what a lot of people tell me I should be doing.

I listen.

And then I create my own version of a business out of all the things I know, see, hear, and am inspired by.

I really love helping others do the same, and I try to never impose my version of “best” on someone, unless it is a true, unbreakable rule – like Amazon Terms of Service, for example.

Sometimes, I run into people who almost seem to be the opposite of me. They don’t want people to do things any way but their way. They are intolerant of those who do things differently, even to the point of openly criticizing those alternate methods.

That happened at a recent live event I attended. I won’t talk about names or details, but I came home with a very bitter feeling toward someone that I had previously thought much more highly of.

So I Have to Ask Myself:

Do I continue to promote this person (whose training is of good quality and GETS RESULTS) even though I feel they are intolerant of other methods?

If yes, how do I promote while making sure that the people who trust me and my opinions know that I don’t agree with EVERYTHING the person says?

And if no, how does that make me any better? By disagreeing with the person’s intolerance, doesn’t that make me just as intolerant?

Honestly, my first reaction to the events in question was: “How rude that was! I will never promote for that person again!”

But am I serving my audience with that reaction? Would it be a disservice to withhold information about training that might help them, even though I strongly disagree with something the instructor says?

I am coming to terms with my own decision on this, but I would love to know what you think as well. Please leave your comments below and share your opinion.

How to Write Kick-Ass Scenes

How to Write Kick-Ass Scenes by Lynn Johnston is a fantastic resource for fiction authors. Lynn has already been one of my favorite fiction teachers for quite some time now, and this latest workshop of hers covers one of the most crucial aspects of fiction writing: making sure your scenes aren’t boring.

You see, it really doesn’t matter how great your plot is, or how well-developed your characters are if the scenes aren’t properly structured. Scenes are what move the story, and if that part isn’t working, the story doesn’t work. Period.

So take a look at this list of scene problems and ask yourself if you recognize your own story issues:

slow scenes
boring scenes
meandering scenes
scenes without enough conflict
low-tension scenes
scenes without a climax
scenes that don’t move the story forward

Lynn’s workshop will show you how to fix all of these by writing stronger scenes, using scene structure techniques at both the macro and micro level.

I asked Lynn to give my readers some insight into how to use her new course, depending on their writing style. Whether you are a pantser or a plotter, or even if you hire a ghostwriter to write your stories, How to Write Kick-Ass Scenes will help you make your fiction stronger.

Watch the short video walk-through to see how, and to get a peek inside the course at what you can expect to learn.

If you have any questions for Lynn about this course, or if you’ve already picked this up and want to share your thoughts, be sure to leave your comments below.

And if you don’t have this one yet, you can get it right here:

How To Write Kick-Ass Scenes

Enjoy!

How Well Do You Know Your Characters?

Continuing yesterday’s character discussion, I’d like to share an article that I enjoyed on the subject from the Writer’s Digest Blog. It talks about how even though you may do very in-depth character studies and worksheets, all of that “stuff” doesn’t need to be in your book.

Find out why, and answer 10 questions about your character here:

Novel Writing: 10 Questions You Need to Ask Your Characters

See my recommendation for a great character study workshop.

Much Happiness and Success!

Dynamic Characterization – A Review

Over the years of writing instructional information, my fiction muscles have definitely atrophied. So now that dear Hubby John and I are writing fiction together (he’s the brainstorm together part, I’m the writing part) I’m on a constant lookout for things that will help me hone my skills in that department.

I’ve been very frustrated to discover that the beautiful, smart and funny people I can see in my head are having a hard time looking quite so beautiful, smart and funny on my pages.

I know that I’m supposed to know my characters inside and out. I know that it’s important for me to understand their motivations, their hopes and dreams, their fears and flaws. But to be totally honest, I’ve been feeling a little bit…blocked. (Yes I’m sure that reveals something about MY hopes and dreams and fears and flaws.)

So I was very happy when my friend Lynn Johnston asked me to review her new product: Dynamic Characterization.

When I opened the zip file, I found 27 PDFs. Yes, 27. And I was a happy camper, because they included a bunch of worksheets…or should I say playsheets? Because this is fun stuff!

There are:

13 PDF Lessons (an Introduction + Lessons 1-12.) The lessons run anywhere from 4-12 pages, and include instruction, examples, and then a homework exercise (usually one of the worksheets.)

There are 12 worksheets + one that is filled out as a sample. Worksheets are 1-4 pages each except for one that is 7 pages, but that’s because it has more columns and is in landscape orientation.

And finally, you get a list of personality traits.

If I could make one suggestion to Lynn, that would be to number the worksheets to match the corresponding lesson, but that’s just being nit-picky. It clearly tells you in each lesson which of the worksheets to use, and if you print this out, like I intend to, you can arrange things in the order that works.

That’s the way it’s really intended to be used anyway, as a lesson-by-lesson course or workshop. Go through it in order and don’t just try to fill out the worksheets without reading the lessons. You won’t get nearly as much out of it!

If you prefer to just read a book that tells you what to do, this is not it. But if you like to take things in bite-sized increments and then do the practice, you’ll really get a lot out of Dynamic Characterization.

Check Out Dynamic Characterization:

Much Happiness and Success!

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