Sue Johnson - Unlock Your Creativity: A 21-Day Sensory Workout for Writers

First published by Compass Books, 2014

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Text copyright: Sue Johnson and Val Andrews, 2013

ISBN: 978 1 78279 302 1

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publishers.

The rights of Sue Johnson and Val Andrews as authors have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Design: Lee Nash

Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

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This book is dedicated to anyone who has pushed through self doubt, time constraints, financial restrictions and the negative influences of others, to make their creative wishes become a reality.

We are all born creative. If you think back to when you were a child, the world was a magical place and it seemed like anything was possible. Then you got older, went to school and began to discover, if you hadnt already, that there were rules and your days were mapped out for you. You were told off for daydreaming and looking out of the window times when you probably travelled to that magical space beyond. You had homework to do and your free time was taken up with after school clubs and other activities. Your work was marked right or wrong in red ink.

By the time you started work or college it is possible that your creative spark was buried under an avalanche of daily chores. The doorway to those pathways inside the head that led to stories, songs and paintings had become blocked and you told yourself and other people that you have no imagination.

Dont waste your time, weve heard well-meaning friends say when somebody takes their first steps towards a new creative venture. If the person fails to produce an artistic masterpiece or a Booker prize winning novel within the first term, this can then lead to a loss of confidence, particularly if it is added to any negative messages from childhood.

It is never too late to reclaim your creative pathway and achieve your dreams. If you had creative ideas and a talent for writing and drawing when you were younger, this will still be there somewhere. By working through the exercises in the book, you will gradually find your way back to the doorway that leads to creative adventures and rediscover the pathway you are meant to follow. If you feel you should be living more creatively, then buying this book could be your first step towards achieving that goal.

We began running our Unlock Your Creativity workshops as a way of helping and encouraging people to release their creative blockages and take their first steps towards their dreams. Working with a variety of artistic and holistic techniques collage, meditation, music and aromatherapy we have seen so many people grow in confidence in a short space of time. We have written this book as a way of sharing with a larger number of people the ideas we have used and developed. The ideas and exercises in this book are intended for use whenever you feel in need of a creative boost.

It takes 21 days to change a habit or develop a new one, so this book is in easy to follow sections so that you can easily add creative sparkle to your life and begin to work towards your goals. You are never too young or too old to reclaim your creative pathway and succeed as a writer.

If you would like to rediscover your imaginative pathways, live a richer life without becoming financially poorer and achieve your ambitions as a writer, then this book is for you.

We all need a creative boost sometimes. Working as a writer whether full or part time requires a lot of physical, mental and emotional energy. It is important that you take care of yourself and replenish that depleted energy on a regular basis. Failure to do so can result in writers block or creative burn-out. The exercises in Unlock Your Creativity will help any writer who recognises the value of refilling that creative well on a regular basis.

If you are temporarily blocked on a project, then by taking a few days to follow the exercises in Unlock Your Creativity you should find that the words are soon flowing again. You can return to the book as many times as you wish to or build some of the exercises into your daily writing routine.

Young writers who have just completed a Creative Writing degree will find this is a useful introduction to how to actually be a writer. By following the exercises regularly, you will have a structure to your days and will develop good habits of self nurturing and regular writing from the start.

Anyone suffering from personal trauma or creative breakdown possibly following divorce or serious illness will find the exercises in Unlock Your Creativity useful for getting themselves back on track and moving on with their lives. Writing has been shown to be therapeutic in these situations. This book provides a structure for people to follow in addition to simple exercises that are fun to do and that produce results.

Creative writing tutors will find this book useful when planning their workshop exercises. Unlock Your Creativity contains a variety of tried and tested ideas and techniques.

Begin your journey now and dont forget to reward yourself every step of the way.

Sue Johnson is published as a poet, short story writer and novelist. Her novel Fables Fortune is published by Indigo Dreams Publishing. The Yellow Silk Dress a novel set in London, Cornwall and Paris will be published by them in 2013. She has published two non-fiction books Creative Alchemy: 12 steps from inspiration to finished novel (HotHive Books 2011) and Surfing the Rainbow: visualization and chakra balancing for writers (Compass Books 2013). Sues interests include reading, yoga and music. She is a Writers News Home Study tutor and runs her own brand of writing classes. Her website address is www.writers-toolkit.co.uk. She and Val Andrews launched their successful Unlock Your Creativity workshops in 2012.

Val Andrews is a visual artist and creative writer. She has designed an extensive range of fabrics and has self published a number of photo journals of her travels through Europe and England. Val has recently finished her first novel 12 weeks: journey of an escape artist based on her travels through France and Spain, and is currently working on a novel for children, titled Ruperts Garden. In her spare time she is also a painter and printmaker. She is passionately interested in the creative process, and helping others to unlock their own creative potential.

Some questions to consider

Please take a moment to reflect on the questions below. Jot down your answers on a piece of paper, or better still, buy a really nice journal or notebook; something that is special to you, that you will enjoy touching, opening and writing in.

How often do you write?