Any personal trainer will tell you cross training is good for the body. If you swim, walk. If you walk, lift weights. If you lift weights, run. If you run, swim. You get the drift. Muscles become familiar with the familiar, even a bit sedated, so switching it up invites our bodies to respond in fresh ways.
As a writer in transition after publishing a recent nonfiction book, my writer muscles headed for the hammock and a bit of nodding off. Tweetspeak Workshop teachers Anne, Mick, and Kathryn pushed me out of my hammock, challenging me to a bit of cross-training in my writing life. Poetry. Memoir. Creativity. As if that wasn’t enough to shake and wake me, a winsome, wise writer colony sprang up bright and bold each time.
I’m not usually one to take classes at all, much less three in a row. Yet amid relocation from one town to another, alongside relocation from nonfiction to a novel series, I chose to spend time with delightful teachers and like-hearted creative colleagues. Perhaps the most surprising was the choice to stretch out of comfort into creativity’s edginess.
Creativity begets creativity. Any creative will tell you it gets lonely from time-to-time in the world of words and art. You begin to talk to yourself. You begin to doubt yourself. You begin to think no one gets what you’re up to. You’re not even sure you know what you are up to. That shifts with workshops where you join others to persistently unravel knotted thoughts and find encouragement and daring.
In Kathryn’s first creativity class, partly based on How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci, I savored chocolate as I painted how it tastes. Shapes and colors expressed what words could not. I journaled, sketched, and created mind maps at intersections where unexpected connections occurred. What a welcome way to build the hidden sides of the writer-in-me.
So how about you? Ready for some creative writer cross-training?
Photo by Pink Sherbet Photography, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Lane Arnold.
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Creativity Workshop II starts this Monday!
Looking to cross-train your writer? Join our How to Think Like a Creative Genius Workshop II, beginning July 22.
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Brenda Quinn says
Thanks, Lane.This makes complete sense and I agree very much that keeping the writing wheels going but spinning in different directions is good for the creative process and brings refreshing. I appreciate this encouragement.
Donna says
Cross Training! Oh you are so clever… this strikes such a resonant chord in me. Thank you Lane… creativity begets creativity. Perfect!
Kimberly says
Three classes in the middle of a move?! You’re my hero, Lane:)
I’m in the “not even sure I know what I’m up to” phase, and I’m so pleased to have met you while exploring new ways to cross train.
Lane Arnold says
Brenda, glad this encouraged you. Donna, glad it strikes a note with you. Kimberly, how’s your move been?
So, what ways do you like to cross-train? I’m always eager to hear new ideas!
Dolly@Soulstops says
Lane,
It was a delight to be in the memoir class with you…really like that cross training analogy 🙂
Lane Arnold says
Dolly, what are your ways of “cross-training” that help you be creative?
Donna says
Well, I never really thought about it, but TS is a huge part of it!! I read everyday poems, for one, and try to participate in several poetry prompts every week. Also, in the prompts arena, I write Wordcandy Wednesday Blogs every week, and am a Sweet Blogger. The biggest thing I have done out of the ordinary is taking the Memoir Class… Loved it and it really gave me a whole new perspective (and lots of new friends y’all!!). My weakest training arena I think has been reading…. I am working on that too, thanks to the class.
I think cooking, or anything sensory, is really good for my writing muscles, so I have really been getting creative in the kitchen.
Last but not least, photography. My brain is starting to see “pictures” as poems and poems as pictures. I never expected that. So….. Hey thanks for asking. I guess I’ve been creatively sweating!!! Lol! I didn’t realize!
Lane Arnold says
Creatively sweating…I like that Donna. I like the reminder that sensory things are good for our writing muscles…inhale, notice, touch, swallow, listen….yes, indeed.