Happy Tuesday!
Today’s post is a little bit different. Last night I went into my regular Inspiration Tuesday folder and realized that I’d had another one of those weeks when all of my energy went into producing creative work as opposed to consuming creative work (for the record, I LOVE when this happens, even though it means I get kinda stuck for blog fodder on Monday night).
I’ve been thinking a lot about creative practices and about the tools that help us take steps towards our dreams. This is probably because I’ve been taking some baby steps myself. So I decided to pull together a collection for Creative Dreamers who are looking for resources to help them get moving.
Image of kickass creative toolbox by Ali Edwards on Flickr.com
In this post I’m talking specifically about free resources…there are plenty of courses, books, e-books, and teleclasses out there, but that’s another post for another time.
Please keep in mind that this is IN NO WAY a definitive list.This is the stuff that I’ve either tried myself or have been thinking about trying. There are SO many resources out there. All you have to do is start looking, and you’ll find exactly the tool or message you’re needing at any given moment. For real.
OK, let’s get started:
Writing Stuff:
Ellie, The Headologist just posted about this on Twitter: Written? Kitten. Every 100 words you write, it gives you a new adorable photo of a kitten. Seriously. It’s like being paid in cute-dollars.
If you’re interested in doing daily morning pages, but can’t handle the whole “long-hand” thing, 750words.com is a great resource (if you don’t know what morning pages are, click here to find out). I gave this a try earlier in the year, and the site was awesome. Definitely worth a try.
If you’re looking for a weekly writing prompt that will get you thinking and dreaming, Jamie Ridler’s Wishcasting Wednesday is a beautiful practice. It was created as a sharing circle of blogs, but if you’re not into that you can always journal about the prompt privately. She also has a Wishcasting Journal with 52 prompts for a year of wishes. It looks fabulous!
It doesn’t have a website that I can share, but I am beyond excited for Reverb11 next month! I did Reverb10 last year and it helped me in SO many ways! It forced me to make time for almost-daily blogging, and it was during Reverb10 that I first thought, “Hey, I’m blogger!” It helped me review 2010 and build a vision of what I wanted 2011 to be. I can’t wait to do it again! If you want more info on Reverb11, you can sign up for updates here.
Creative Practices (and places to check-in about them):
I’ve been LOVING Jamie Ridler’s Movement Practice over on her Facebook page this month. Every day I hop over there to check in, and it’s such a great part of my evening. As I’ve mentioned before, she’s been doing a different daily practice every month. If you’re looking for a community to share with, or for inspiration or motivation for a new practice, it’s a great place to start.
I know November is almost over, but Leah Piken Kolidas is currently running her ninth Art Every Day Month, which is a creative practice in the spirit of NaNoWriMo. Every November a community of creative beans commits to making art every day. I may try this next year.
For the rest of the year, Leah runs the Creative Every Day Challenge, which can encompass absolutely anything that can be classified as creative, from drawing to cooking to dancing to playing and beyond. She also posts (totally optional) themes for each month. I haven’t tried it myself, but it looks pretty awesome.
A great tool for making progress on specific goals/projects and for keeping yourself accountable is the Monday creative practice check-in at Studio Mothers.com. Creative coach Miranda Hersey (one of the team of bloggers at Studio Mothers) posts an inspiring quote and creates a space for you to share your creative goals for the week (and to share whether or not you reached your goals from the week before, hence the accountability). And no, you don’t have to be a mama to join in.
If a daily check-in is more your speed, Ellie The Headologist posts TaDa! list prompts on her Facebook and Twitter every day. A TaDa! list is a list of everything (and anything) you accomplished that day. WAY less stressful than a to-do list, and yet things seem to keep getting done! (there’s a lesson here somewhere…)
Over at ABC Creativity, each Friday is Magic Bubble of Possibility Day! Andrea Schroeder shares a peek at her process and invites you to step back and see where you are on the map that leads to your dream. I love Andrea’s gentle energy and the unique way she has of looking at creativity and creative business.
There are so many more resources out there. If you’re hoping to start or deepen a creative practice, build a creative business, find a community of people with similar passions, challenge your creative muscles, learn new skills…anything…you can find what you need online. And that is a beautiful thing.
Have a great one!
xox
Meg
P.S. OK, fine, I did a little creative-consuming this week. Here are two awesome videos (if you follow me on Twitter, you may have already seen the second one)
Studio rehearsals of the new creation by Medhi Walerski for Nederlands Dans Theater 1:
