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Autumn Writing Prompts
13 Engaging Ways to Play with Your Writing Around the Fall Season
By Chris Dunmire
Going back to school. Harvest time. Colorful falling leaves. Corn mazes, acorns, pumpkins, scarecrows, Halloween and Thanksgiving. In the Midwest, Autumn is the time of the year when cooler temperatures sweep in over summer's waning heat and the growing season comes to full fruition before winding down to dormancy. Fall officially begins in September and runs through October, November, and into December, when the seasonal change next morphs into winter. Inject some seasonal inspiration into your creative writing with these fall-themed writing prompts, photos, and printable projects and reflect on the meaning of the season to capture the transforming magic in the air for this colorful, transitioning space in the year.
The Holy Wild
Our Wild Art and Unbridled Sensuality: Embodying the Crone-Mermaid
By Danielle Dulsky
To be human is to be tasked to create. We are born with the capacity to feel deeply for a reason, with the instinct to make something new out of the old and birth some great majesty from the union between body and imagination. To place restrictions on a woman's sensuality is also to restrain her creativity, and the Maiden of the Unbridled Sensual has awakened her art through whole-body feeling and the continual validation of her emotions. In Salome's revisioned tale, the Crone-Mermaid grants the Maiden permission with only a single glance. This odd creature symbolizes the union of playful creativity with seasoned, grandmotherly wisdom. She is the ultimate creatrix, a living and joyous work of art who is the knowing elder. Her very presence as a witness to the beginnings of Salome's self-designed ceremony is heartening, spurring the Maiden forward and reflecting back to her this truth: She is the living, breathing antidote to all that would poison the creative and sensual empowerment of the feminine.
Art of the Song
Creativity Corner with Musician and Author John Dillon
John Dillon is co-host and co-producer of Art of the Song Coffeehouse with his wife Vivian Nesbitt. Originating in Taos, NM, Art of the Song explores creativity and inspiration through in-depth interviews with makers of folk, jazz, roots and blues music. In this series, John discusses the history of creativity, creativity in the 21st century, inner and outer sources of creativity, and how we are all creative and have 'a song to sing' in our creative renaissance.
The History of Creativity | Creative Renaissance | Creativity in the 21st Century | We All Have a Song to Sing | Inner and Outer Creative Sources | Creativity is for Everyone! | Welcome to the Creative Renaissance
Creative Careers Interviews
John and Sandy Weber's Rattlesnake Crafts and Outdoor Museum
By Chris Dunmire
John and Sandy Weber left the 9-5 work-a-day world for a simpler life in the desert and created a crafty souvenir shop and outdoor museum just down the road a piece from the ghost town of Gleeson, Arizona, where visitors can enjoy an assortment of handmade items and experience a unique look into the past.
Despite its remote location, Rattlesnake Crafts gets its share of tourists, many coming from Tombstone (December through April is their busy season). It's been written about in various publications and featured on NBC TV's Today Show.
Creative Careers Interviews
Chris Zydel: Intuitive Painting Facilitator
By Molly Anderson-Childers
Chris Zydel, MA, founder of Creative Juices Arts and Painting From The Wild Heart has been leading groups her whole life (she is the eldest of eight children) and has been facilitating creativity workshops ever since she was eleven years old when she would organize the neighborhood kids and put on skits, plays and musical events! She has had no formal training as an artist but has led a wildly creative life and has never once regretted choices made by following her heart and her muse.
Transform Through Creative Engagement
Creativity & Play
The Pendulum Swings Right to the Conceptual Age
By Marianne St. Clair
A major shift is happening inside our brains. The world is now changing again, it appears. The logical and analytical skills that continue to form the basis of Western economies is slowly shifting, according to the savvy American business observer Daniel H. Pink in Wired. The current "information age" — in which access to information (read: knowledge, education) is the most important economic engine — is changing into the "conceptual age," characterized by a new concern with context, patterns and emotion. And that shift is taking place mainly in our brains. Analytical, logical, and linear thinking are done in the left side of the brain. The right side comes into play when you are engaged in creating, making connections, or expressing emotions. This provides insight into the direction that Western society and the global economy are moving: a shift from examining small parts to looking at the larger whole, from cold logic to engaged empathy, from masculine to feminine talents. In other words, from left to right.
Fostering Creativity
The Secret (and Very Creative) Life of Puppets
By Abby Connors
Nurturing young children's creativity is a big job, and we can't do it alone. Fortunately, we have cleverly written stories with gorgeous illustrations, recordings of beautiful and exciting music, and all kinds of props and costumes to help us stir children's imaginations. And for me, the most powerful partners in promoting creative thinking are my fabulous, tireless puppet friends.
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Books & Printables
Trickster Word Search Puzzles
By Chris Dunmire, Unpuzzler
Great for April Fool's or any day pranking! Teachers and Parents: Enjoy pulling off a creatively delightful (and harmless!) joke at home or in the classroom. What looks like an ordinary activity soon turns into an unforgettable experience is expecation vs. reality. These six reprintable eye-catching impossible-to-solve word-find puzzles have stumped even the smartest of students and puzzle enthusisasts (because the words are really hidden good so they can't be found!) and have delighted teachers, parents, and pranksters worldwide since 2005.
Prompting Exploration
The Enlightened Way to Clear Writer's Block
Getting In The Groove
By Tom Evans
The more you write, the better you get at it. Not only that, you will find your vocabulary improves. If you choose not to practice, the opposite can happen. Like all mental activity, writing uses specific areas in the brain. Simply doing it brings blood with oxygen and nutrients to the relevant part of the brain which exercises, strengthens and multiplies connections between neurons. If you want to run that marathon, you start with shorter runs to build up stamina, muscle strength and endurance. You may also get tips from people who have done it. Unlike marathon running, you can stop for a rest at any time when writing and begin again when the mood takes you.
Creative Writing Prompts
'LINGO-istics' Writing Exercise
By Bonnie Neubauer
The touches of slang or lingo added to your dialogue and narrative to make your writing sound more realistic. Here’s a chance to try your hand at some Lingo-istics. Write a thirty-second radio commercial to sell a remedy for writer’s block. Make sure you use lots of writer’s lingo to show that you understand the craft and can relate to the challenges your audience is facing. Write a commercial that would make you want to buy the remedy, too. If you ever find yourself faced with a bit of a block, pull out this commercial and "sell" yourself the remedy.