A Piece at a Time
By Chris Dunmire | Posted 4/4/22 | Updated 7/27/25
"A book of a hundred pages begins with a single sentence." —Madam Bedazzle
That December ADVENTure was no mere party we've put away with the tree and ornaments. The experience set the stage for some themes worth deeper consideration during these challenging times, especially ones that support our thinking, being, and doing, with more compassion, creativity, and connection.
Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching Lesson:
The page-a-day ADVENTure is a real-life example of how one might break down an elephant-sized project (a book) into manageable bite-sized pieces. I committed to showing up daily to work on the project and kept just one day ahead on the calendar.
Really, you can only write one line, paragraph, or page at a time. And if you start with the intention of "just five minutes" of writing (painting, exercising, cleaning, etc.) daily, weekly, or other frequency that suits you, you begin to develop a habit that you automatically show up for.
Kaizen-Muse™ creativity coaching encourages breaking projects down into small steps like this to help get beyond overwhelm, procrastination, and other blocks and into a state of creative engagement where psychological momentum picks up and habits form.
Connecting Dots
A decade ago, Edward Glassman, PhD, a retired professor with an impressive career resume 'of many creative things', knocked at the 'Portal when he was 80. "I want to contribute a weekly creativity column," he said. And then went on to write a half dozen books. I plan to acquaint you with more of his work this year.
I began the ADVENTure with Gift Box, Glassman's dip into the classic 'think outside the box' puzzle. Once you get the answer, you'll never forget it. But what about finding alternative solutions? Glassman says pushing past boundaries can help the creative climate of your mind. Take it all in with Glassman's complete piece, Nine Magic Dots.
Spilling the Tea on Muses
On day four, I introduced you to Spills one of Jill Badonsky's Nine Modern Day Muses. You'll meet more muses soon, but Spills is one of my favorites because she takes the pressure off and reminds me how important practice and process is. Plus, I credit her 'popping in' with starting the silly tangent the experience detoured into, which completely took me by surprise.
Get to know more about Spills, muse of practice, process, and imperfection through her page on Creativity Portal AND read the rest of the interview we started in the ADVENTure: Spills Profile and Interview.
Your 25th Surprise!
After creating 25 ADVENTures in 25 days, I spent the rest of December spinning straw into gold, er, Rumpelstiltskining the pages into an "experience" which resembles a book. The whole elephant in its first-draft follows, a piece at a time. (Experience the expanded, multimedia version here.)
Front & Back Stuff
• Cover
• Copyright
• Claims
• Foreword
• TOC
• Backward
• Extra Credits
• Back Cover
Days 1-5
• 12/1 Email
• Gift Box
• Why Play?
• Orange-aments
• Spills
• What if...
Days 6-11
• Wabi-Sabi
• 12/6 Email
• Ol'Factory
• Let Me Skate
• Legend
• 4 Steps of Creativity
• Shoehorning
Days 12-17
• Set Back
• 12/12 Email
• Unfin
• Preparation
• Sagacious
• Unexpected
• Incubation
Days 18-25
• ished
• 12/18 Email
• POV
• Illumination
• Golden Ratio
• Concept
• Halcyon‽
• Implementation
• 12/25 Email
• Deadlines
©2022 Chris Dunmire. All rights reserved.