Fed up of touting the same old CV? Do you have that nagging feeling that your CV doesn’t really stand out from the crowd?
Would you like to communicate on paper who you are both on the page and off the page?
I know I do. Recently I went through an arduous application process followed by a rigorous assessment process for coaches required for a top level-coaching list.
The profiles of all the successful coaches were then collated into a booklet from which leaders could then select coaches of their choice.
When I began leafing through the booklet it soon became apparent how skilled and qualified all of us were. Each profile contained impressive lists of qualifications and training along with lists of companies and organizations we had all worked for. It was a polished list of what we had done but nowhere did we communicate who we are and what stands out about us behind all of the accomplishments and achievements. To be honest if photographs were removed from each page we would all read like carbon copies of each other or perhaps it the words are best captured by the poet Hafiz, “The idiot’s warehouse is full of merchandise.”
Take my own profile. Missing was any real evidence of my life lessons earned through a number of life challenges including overcoming childhood sexual abuse which held real evidence of my early demonstration of resilience and compassionate leadership.
Missing were real life examples of how and where I have led both in the workplace and in my personal life.
Missing were the three years of dedicated long distance running that held off a major descent into depression.
Missing were the daily acts of everyday courage and bravery that filled up an ordinary life.
These major omissions got me thinking. I went into my archives and pulled out two paper documents where I have made steps to communicate more of the real me on paper.
The first document is what I refer to, as my Unconventional CV. You’ll find a copy tucked away on the About Jackee page on my website click here to download a copy of my Unconventional CV
An Unconventional CV is created by using all the letters of the alphabet to summarize an overview of your personal passions and interests, the things that make your heart sing, the activities that signal when you’re in a flow, the things you’re good or have gotten better at.
An Unconventional CV is juicy. It speaks to the important lessons you’ve learned about life and living, it names some of the subtle and significance differences you’ve made over the years to others. Your job is to find the precise words that give examples of any of the above and then place them in order based on the letter of the alphabet they begin with from A right down to Z.
Much of the information contained in my Unconventional CV is scattered throughout the pages of my journals but much of what I have documented in those notebooks has very much remained hidden from public view. My Unconventional CV has been hidden on my website for the last year but whenever I’ve shared it people have loved the idea of what it speaks to.
By the way I was inspired to create this kind of CV from an article I read in Liat (a Caribbean airline) magazine on a flight to Barbados about three years ago, a reminder to be open to ideas from a range of unexpected sources.
Click here to view a copy of my Unconventional CV and use as a guide to create your own.
The second CV I’d like to introduce you to is a Courage CV. This CV has a more specific remit. The Courage CV creatively communicates evidence of your own bravery, courage and moments of vulnerability (I believe episodes of vulnerability are gateways to evidence of hidden and overlooked strengths), evidence of risk taking, breaking the rules, going out on a limb or making a stand for what you believe in. Your Courage CV should show the real road you have travelled and what kind of journey you’ve had that includes the messes.
In what might sometimes look like a mess is actually a message waiting to be conveyed that has a punch, that feels alive because it’s without the mask, the polish and the neat around the edges self we present to the world that result in safe and sterile messages about who we are.
My courage CV tells the story of my love of trees, the wild and my hunger for nature. It speaks of my courage to speak my truth as a child and a teenager, which has served me well in many instances in my adult life. It speaks of my love of books and reading which has fed a creative and imaginative mind that has a knack for creating courses and workshop with depth, feeling and passion behind what goes into them.
What would your Courage CV include? Why not use the above criteria and create your own Courage CV? I like to use large sheets of paper and plot examples of courage, bravery and vulnerability moments in my life in the form of timelines. Use markers and coloured pens to bring the whole process to life. What would your Unconventional or Courage CV look like as a collage, a series of photographs or even a piece of artwork?
Even if you don’t send out paper versions in the first round of job applications these are great documents to create for your own personal use. You’ll be more connected to an interview panel when you speak through the voice of your Unconventional or Courage CV. The panel won’t even need to see either in it’s paper form (but of course they can) but they’ll need to feel it in the words and stories you share to illustrate the above.
In her book Fierce Leadership click here to order a copy of Fierce Leadership author Susan Scott suggests that to conduct a smart heart interview, begin with a general question. “Tell us about yourself. What would you like us to know about who you are, where you’ve been, where you are now and where you’re headed?” Having a Unconventional or Courage CV will ensure you’re well prepared to answer these kinds of questions at interviews which more and more companies are interested in asking and finding out about you at the hiring stage.
Sometimes your own personal shift will come about from actually seeing the content you’ve generated in black and white or colour print on the page, all in one place. But there’s also more to take in here. Both CV’s capture evidence of your emotional intelligence. Scott quotes Daniel Goleman in Fierce Leadership and saying that, “ As a leader moves up an organization, up to 90 percent of their success lie in emotional intelligence.” In other words nine out of ten executives who derail do so because they lack emotional competencies! There’s no wastage in you producing CV’s of this kind.
Place your CV’s in a visible spot as a constant reminder so you don’t forget the positive qualities and strengths that make you uniquely who you are.
Or how about turning them into manifestos or ways of introducing yourself online, in person or to new partners and collaborators as well as new audiences. More on this go to Alexandra Franzen’s website who has a great list of templates for manifestos and writing about yourself in a more wholehearted, right brained way click: http://www.alexandrafranzen.com/2013/02/11/5-ways-to-write-a-blow-your-mind-manifesto/
Remember both CV’s are intended to communicate the authentic and real you on paper.
We’d love to publish examples of your Unconventional and Courage CV ‘s on the blog as inspiration for others to do the same.
Please send your text as pdf files with a photo to info@jackeeholder.com and we promise to publish your examples on our blog and tweet to our Twitter and LinkedIn followers.
A week or so ago I was down in Devon on a week’s writing retreat when I decided to do an impromptu interview with Sharon Jennings.
Sharon is a lecturer in Social Work at Goldsmith University and our conversation covered some excellent ground around the value and benefits of reflective practice across a range of professions not just coaching or therapy.
We found we had a lot in common although working in different professions (me in coaching and supervision and Sharon in social work and health care) there was such an overlap between the benefits engaging in reflective practice offered our work and our practice. This was also extended to the benefits managers and leaders would gain from across industries and professions.
We talked about:
Why reflective practice makes a difference to our productivity and standards in our professions?
Tips on how to engage with making the best use of a reflective learning journal
How to use a reflective learning journal to track progress and development
How to harness the information contained in your reflective notes
why looking back on what you’ve written is important
I’m a real advocate of reflective practice and I think this quote from Kim Stafford from her book, The Pen and the Bell, really captures in one the value that embedding a reflective practice brings to our work as coaches, supervisors and writers and just about every profession there is, ” a violin played everyday will keep the vibrations of the music in it’s body, even while lying still and silent. If it is not played everyday, the vibrations dissipate and the wood grows lifeless.”
If you can get past the bed in the background which I forget to fade out and the bad hair day I was having I think there is some really useful stuff here.
Today was a beautiful sunny day in London town so I decided to treat myself to a restorative day.
I took myself across to West London to the nature sanctuary of Kew Gardens one of London’s most cherished nature spots. Seems I wasn’t alone judging by the long queues to get in.
But once inside I knew I had made the right choice. I decided to join a one hour guided tour of some of Kew’s plant and tree life. This was a good start giving me information about Kew and it’s plant life. Our guide Angela shared lots of interesting and fascinating facts about plant life including:
When it comes to trees and plant life gardeners hate grass why because it gets the food first – Interesting fact I thought.
Arborists leave trees alone instead of trying to treat them trees. Why? Because trees have an inbuilt healing system and when left alone heal by themselves.
What is going on in a tree’s root system is reflected in the health of the tree above ground.
Once the tour ended I wandered through Kew at a slow pace and every few steps captured on camera some of the many delights of the garden on this gorgeous spring day.
See what I mean with some of the images below.
This was just what I needed. After delivering two workshops yesterday in Birmingham I was in need of some restorative time. Restorative days are days where you schedule in a solo adventure intended to recharge your battery. This is not a night out with the girls or a new romantic partner; this is strictly time with you and you alone.
But even I have to admit this is not always an easy thing to give ourselves but I’m always reminded of how important it is once I do it.
Restorative days are intended to energise and uplift. Just wandering in nature recharged my battery. With lives and schedules that have us constantly on alert it was good to wander without a destination or an agenda. In our over stimulated lives wandering can be a very liberating thing to do.
Of course in my bag I did have books to read (two in fact plus a magazine) but I followed my gut simply guided me to walk, stop to eat, write this blog post at a leisurely pace and then just be. To end my time in the garden I sat on a bench stared into the space, read and allowed the sun’s rays to stroke my cheeks.
Doing less empowers us to do more. Tomorrow I’ll be fired up to dive onto the page first thing with enough energy to get on with the weeks tasks in hand knowing that my reserves have been topped up and I’ve been refueled.
The busier your life is the more restorative days you’ll need to build in. Your restorative activity feeds you creatively, emotionally, physically and sometimes even spiritually. So visits to the salon to get your nails done don’t count.
So when will you book yourself in for a restorative day in March?
Have you promised yourself to make time in 2014 to write that coaching or supervision article, start gathering ideas and themes for that book you always wanted to write or some other writing projects? Making these promises can be easy to make but harder to put into action.
One way to get around this is to book yourself onto a writing retreat. It’s a great way of giving yourself uninterrupted and concentrated time and space to write and create. There’s the added bonus of choosing a retreat with a programme of workshops or master classes led by an experienced writer or facilitator where you’ll gain writing tips and techniques that will support you in creating a body of work and developing a routine around your writing practice.
I’ve found it enormously helpful to my coaching/supervision and writing practice along with my emotional and mental well-being to have retreat time away from my daily work where I am free to immerse myself in writing away from the addictive distractions of daily life.
I find writing retreats to be both creative and spiritually replenishing. Retreats provide me with precious time and space to reconnect with myself both on and off the page.
Often on retreat the very nature of the physical landscape is energising. That in itself can be a creative tonic. I once travelled to Taos in New Mexico to join a silent writers retreat with writer Natalie Goldberg.
The backdrop of sage bush and plains was a landscape I was unfamiliar with and this provoked unexpected material in my writing I hadn’t expected. Ernest Hemingway captured this when he wrote, “Often the opposite of where we find ourselves is what we write.”
Eight pay offs of going on a writing retreat:
Dedicated time and space to focus solely on your writing and creative process away from the distractions of daily life.
Giving yourself permission to take your writing self on a learning journey. You’ll learn new skills, tips and techniques, learn and participate in a range of writing prompts and writing exercises.
You’ll learn from an experienced writer as well as receive rich feedback, ideas and insight from strangers who often see and comment on aspects of your writing you don’t see.
You’ll be surrounded by like-minded people who are what you would describe as part of your writing tribe.
Writing retreats give you an opportunity to stay in beautiful places, visit new cities, towns, villages and locations.
Retreats offer the intimacy and safety of small groups and spaces to deepen into your writing.
Retreats offer breathing space, time to unwind, catch your breath and put something back into you.
Most retreats ensure that the day-to-day activities like cooking, clearing up are taken care of so you can get on with the business of writing and creating.
At the end of June (27th June to the 4th July 2014) I will be running a one week writers retreat Word by Word, Line by Line, Page by Page Inside Out Writers Retreat in Skiathos in Greece. Click here for full details: http://www.kalikalos.com/workshops/creative-writing-workshop.shtml
You’ll be joining a community of other kindred spirits as we dive into a week of writing, walking and in the daily atmosphere and surroundings of the sun, sand and Greek sea air. There will be plenty of time in the afternoons to take yourself down to the beach and stay there till dinnertime back at the centre.
Maybe this is just the ticket you need to launch your writing platform whether personally or professionally motivated in 2014.
Sometimes we can use a retreat to simply rest and catch our breath. Before you know it in between the breaths you’ve imagined a story or an article into being. There’s still time to join us, just click the link above for more information and booking details.
I was at a leaving do last night at the Park theatre in Finsbury Park in North London when I glanced up at the ceiling of the upper floor bar and was greeted with a ceiling full of hanging books.
It’s a novel (sorry couldn’t resist that one) idea.
Would be lovely if it was easy to pull a book down, read it and then pop it back up again.
What other examples do you have of unusual book displays?
If you email me over a photo I will post them on the blog:jackeeholder@aol.com
In the week I found myself browsing in one of my local TK Max stores. I’m not that much of a shopper but recently I’ve been finding that visiting department stores can be a bit of light relief, not a diversion away from work but an indirect way of topping up my creative well.
You never know what unusual items you might find in my local TK Max. I always head to the furniture section on the upper floor where you’ll often find odd pieces from the Far East. The other day it was an oak chest looking like it had just escaped life on a pirate ship, housing fifteen skinny drawers with brass handles. The kind of chest you’d find in your old primary school classroom where either large sheets of sugar and drawing paper were stored or old maps were held.
One friend purchased from the same store an African ceremonial stool embedded with cowrie shells that were not only beautiful to look at, but the white coral stone soothing to touch. It spoke volumes of stories and rituals in times past and held a place of reverence in her living room.
In her seminal book The Artist Way Julia Cameron writes about the importance of taking Artist dates, “An artist date is a block of time, perhaps two hours weekly, especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist. In it’s most primary form, the artist date is an excursion, a play date that you preplan and defend against all interlopers. You do not take anyone on this artist date but you and your inner artist, a.k.a. your creative child. This means no lovers, friends, spouses, children – no taggers-on of any strips.”
My recent trip to TK Max was in its own way my version of topping up my capacity to creative by going on an artist date. I know you’re probably thinking, TK Max is not the kind of place one would traditionally think of being creatively inspired. But this was not unconscious retail therapy where I was in danger of spending money I didn’t have. In fact it was the opposite, I was enjoying time meandering amongst the products, feasting on the range of colours, shapes and textures.
In the same way you put petrol in a car when the tank is empty or running low I was feeding my creativity and topping up my creative reserves by browsing and exploring and making sure I don’t drain the creative tank dry.
When I found the object below at TK Max it was the lure of the turquoise blue colour stimulating memories of the colour of the ocean my family regularly swims in, a few feet away from the back door of my mums small beach house in Barbados, quickly followed by the sensory exploration of my fingertips tracing across the puckered holes covering the object that I knew instantly the item would come home with me.
Judy Reeves writing in her book Writing Together, Writing Alone describes artist dates as writing field trips, “Set aside a few hours to take your notebook or your laptop on location. Cafés, sure, but be a bit more adventurous. Points of arrival and departure (the bus station has a completely different ambiance than the airport).“
The idea of writing field trips is not only do they re-fill our creative tanks they are great spaces for writing practice and live writing prompts and stimulus for your writing.
When we write outside of our normal places of writing your Muse loves it. It’s that combination between routine and breaking routine with spontaneity. A bit like a meal without spices that moves from bland to fiery. When you write in unfamiliar spaces or at times outside of your preferred writing times you’re more likely to access ideas you don’t get to in your normal writing space or during your normal writing times.
But whereas Reeves suggests taking a chum along on a writing field trip, Cameron suggests going it alone and it is the latter that really works for me. Time wandering alone is time for me. It’s time where I get to listen to myself, where I get to be more playful and less serious and this is good for my writing.
I’ve noticed another thing that happens when I take writing field trips or artist dates alone, giving myself down times often results in me being more productive in the following hours or days. I find it personally satisfying to take artist dates and they leave me with more energy and I’m a much easier person to be with, primarily because I’ve made time for me, I now have more capacity to be with others, without feeling distracted.
Writing Field Trip Invitation
This week plan a series of writing field (you could book tickets for a music concert alone, visit an art gallery or exhibition, frequent a neighbourhood you don’t normally visit, take a long-train ride, watch the sunset or a Full Moon, take a trip to an Artist or stationary shop, take a long walk or go visit a park) trips for the next four weeks. Aim for one a week or fortnightly.
Writing field trips work just as well for social workers, managers and leaders (in a range of settings), retail staff, doctors or a surgeon as it does for writers. Think of it as a creative booster, a generator for inspiration, ideas and insights and quality time to think and top up your creative reserves.
I’m really excited about 2014. This is the year for turning over a new leaf. My journal has been a welcome companion throughout the year as I navigated my way through the highs and lows of 2013.
The company of my journal always makes a big difference so I wanted to share with many of you who have discussed with me either your own love of journaling or your challenges with either getting started or how to keep on track with your journal writing some tips on how to keep this relationship with the self alive both on and off the page.
That’s why I put pen to paper and created an online illustrated digital journal just for you. Your free Journal Journey guidebook writing tour is just the ticket to a year of journal writing. It’s a short-guided writing tour with simple steps on how to journal and help kick start your new year.
Journal writing is an inexpensive method to waking up to life. It has both health and psychological benefits and generates depth and meaning when explored creatively in all areas of your life both on and off the page.
Keeping a journal requires as little as 15 minutes of time each day or you could even divvy up times to write in your journal into 5 minutes slots or make better use of those empty moments in your day when you’re waiting in line, waiting for an appointment or sitting on public transport.
Your guide contains writing prompts, a section on how to journal as well as blank pages to write, make lists and record or capture notes and queries. There are even pages scattered throughout that give you up front permission to doodle and draw. It’s creative with the objective of loosening you up so you’re more relaxed and free to journal your thoughts, ideas, feelings and reflections.
Click HERE to download your free Journal Journey Guidebook 2014
Feeling generous then feel free to share the gift with friends and family.
I hope you enjoy your free journal-writing gift that will see you and your new year getting off to the write start!
We’d love to know what you think of our new guidebook so feel free to post your comments on twitter or on our new facebook page.
Remember to hold this motto close for 2014:
Writing changes lives and lives are changed by writing!
On a recent coaching supervision course the course facilitator Miriam Orriss made the following comment, “What you observes changes.”
When we make time and space in our schedule to write and reflect on our coaching and supervision we can both in subtle and significant ways improve our practice and become better coaches as well as human beings. The reasons for these are varied.
Using writing to reflect on our work as coaches means that we are raising the standards of our profession by examining what we do, how we do it and the impact of what we do.
Creative writing as part of a regular writing practice can develop and cultivate the resourcefulness of the inner coach as well as becoming a form of self-supervision.
Writing literally has the power to impact our thought processes and behaviours at molecular and cellular levels as well as help to change previous neural pathways.
Writing creatively and therapeutically can move you into spaces where you activate and connect with the innate and often underused wisdom of the inner coach and the inner supervisor.
Writing is a way to challenge how we think. Very often when we write we are not aware consciously of what writing will reveal to us. Writing can help individuals cultivate new perspectives that inform the way you do things both on and off the page and within the context of our coaching and supervision.
There are different approaches to use creative and therapeutic writing in your work as a coach and a coach supervisor:
Writing up your notes after a coaching or supervision session is an excellent form of best practice for our industry.
Writing a dialogue in the voice of an observer and reflecting back on your sessions is another.
Using the dialogue method to have conversations with your clients and supervisee’s on the page can be a way to explore both conscious and unconscious dynamics in your coaching and supervision relationships.
Get creative and introduce creative writing activities into your coaching and supervision sessions. Use writing prompts (words or sentences which clients can use to free write or free associate with) and also write about dilemmas and issues, which often allows the real issue to surface on the page.
I own a small, portable writing kit that I travel with to coaching and supervision sessions away from home. The kit consists of a small plastic wallet containing coloured pens, blank index cards and a collection of writing prompts.
Writing prompts are small slips of paper or card each transcribed with a single word or sentence and sometimes images, which clients can use to bring their attention and focus to the present moment.
Invite your clients to randomly select a prompt form your collection and write for five minutes. They’re free to record any thoughts or associations that is stimulated from the writing prompt. Equally they’re free to write about whatever comes to mind whether it’s directly about the word/sentence or whether it’s about something current that is on their mind.
Using this method at the start of a coaching or supervision session can be a way of clients becoming more mindful and can help clients access an entry point that allows them to quickly to sink below the surface of their often busy lives and make connections with what is really important and meaningful thereby making better use of the coaching and supervision space.
This year as a result of completing a brilliant on line class entitled Journal For Your Life with Susannah Conway http://www.susannahconway.com/e-courses/journal-your-life/ I filled two business journals (which was one of the activities in the on line class), which are notebooks separate from a personal journal where you gather creative ideas and goals about your business and plans for developing it.
What’s great about keeping a business diary in this way is that I have a completely different relationship with it. Why? Because I only write in bright, luminous colours (black, blue and red ink are banned from their pages) so every page feels like play and I find it much easier and stimulating to implement many of the ideas I have seeded on their pages. This way work and running my own business has a much stronger element of fun and enjoyment that I have had for a long time. Why not give it a try?
In my final post on this blog for 2013 I want to leave you with a gift, which I hope will inspire you to write even more and enjoy the benefits of writing in 2014.
I’ve written a simple guide on how to start and keep a journal that includes over 40 blank pages for your journal notes, pages for writing your to do lists and lists for just about anything, along with designated pages for jotting down notes and queries as you go about your daily business. There’s also over 40 inspirational writing quotes that will help you to stay motivated both on and off the page.
It’s all free and there’s no sign up. Just click the link and download your free copy of The Journal Journey Guidebook 2014 here:
If you have clients and colleagues who you’d like to share the resource with please feel free to share the link.
Wishing you all the best for the new year and look forward to serving you with more tips and insights on coaching, writing and creativity on the blog in 2014.
Anyone who knows me really well knows that I like the idea of a cup of tea. I enjoy the ceremony of making the tea but very rarely do I drink even a third of a cup of the tea.
I meet many people who have the same approach to writing, They like the idea of writing. They fantasize about what it would mean to write a book but when it comes to writing, facing the page they quickly disappear.
I once had a woman who attended a writing workshop share her fear about what she would wear on a talk show once she had written her best seller. Only problem this was never really ever going to be a problem in real life as she wasn’t doing any writing.
If you want to write or want to be published you have to write. You have to write either everyday, or as often as you can.
I have been journal writing for 25 years. It kept me from getting sick. It helped me understand myself and other people better and it has helped prepare me for becoming a writer. I find it hard to let my journals go as they have become a part of life and my existence. With them I exist
In the writing game you have to be prepared for the long haul, to face rejection (rejections are a requirement of the writer’s journey) to know your own limitations and keep writing in spite of these until you get better (and if you have faith you know that once you keep showing up to write in time you will get better, everybody does).
Okay so you may never write that best seller. But guess what writing a best seller comes with its own set of problems and challenges. And for all the success that best selling writers have they as a select group are few and far between and most will have behind the scenes grafted for many years outside of the public eye, so don’t be fooled.
But very often we miss the real gift that writing brings us. When we write with a conscious awareness, when we create a rhythm and a flow with our writing we get connected to the feeling of satisfaction that is generated through regularity and structure.
We throw this gift away when we are forever focused on the end product and we miss the rootedness, the wholeness and sense of purpose writing gives us when we are committed to doing the work and being with the moment.
I will often share with writers on workshops and retreats how I feel undone when I don’t write in my journal. How I show up to the day crabby and find it easy to pick arguments with my partner because I have resisted turning to the page first. I liken journal writing to a daily prescription that helps me stay sane and well.
In 2014 how will you turn over a new leaf?
What and how will you do your writing work?
Think of three ways journal writing could support you in have your best year yet?
Stuck for getting started with journal writing then why not purchase a copy of my new book 49 Ways To Write Yourself Well available in paperback or on kindle:
You’ve had the turkey, the rice and peas and the Christmas pudding with brandy butter sauce and you’re wondering what to do with all the energy and different age ranges gathered in your home for Xmas. One idea I shared in a radio interview last week was the idea of holding a pre or post Xmas dinner writing activity I’ve called the I Remember Writing Salon.
Here’s what to do:
You’ll need blank sheets of paper, pens, felt tips or crayons. Give everyone permission to write in a medium that feels right so people could use write on backs of envelopes, sheets of paper and encourage younger members to write on their iphones, ipads or tablets.
It’s a good idea if before hand you write out your prompts on slips of paper in advance of the activity or alternatively why not get suggestions from your group in the moment. Place you prompts in a box, a cup or an envelope. The idea is to create a little bit of ceremony around the activity.
Writing prompts are a collection of either one word or a sentence that you share with a group and then invite everyone to write their own interpretation, real life story or memory triggered or associated with the word or the prompt.
Give everyone permission to write in a form that comes easily to them. For example the response to the writing prompt could be written in the form of a poem, a song, a rap, a short story or narrative or simply a few sentences.
The idea is to come up with a range of themes for your I Remember Writing Salon. Because of the festivities keep it light and come up with themes that everyone can relate to. It’s good to remember that however light a theme may seem be open to what stories or memories could emerge:
Here are some writing prompts to get you started:
Throw out the line….. I Remember and invite everyone to write about whatever memory comes to mind
Worst memory of a teenage outfit. Describe it in as much detail as you can remember
Write about the one hairstyle from your past you’d rather just forget about
Describe a happy memory or moment from your past
Someone you admire and why
Throw out the line (choose a year) It was the summer of 1972 ……………………………..
Where do you see yourself and your life twelve months from today
A memory of a past Christmas
The year I turned 16 (base this on the average ages of your group or family)
Lists are great to do in a group. Write lists of favourite songs, books, places to travel, foods etc
Everyone writes to the same prompt each so get someone in the group to randomly pick a prompt and invite everyone to write as fast as they can without stopping for 5 minutes based on the selected prompt.
Set the ground rules before hand that there’s no editing, so no focusing on spelling, grammar or what your handwriting looks like. It’s all fun and remind everyone that whatever they write will be fine.
Get one member of the group to keep time. Once time is up. Invite everyone if willing to share, but no pressure. Share the guidelines that each person reads out loud to the group, one at a time without any interruptions.
Once they’ve finished and been applauded, invite each person to share one thing they liked or stood out about the piece. One person records all the comments and then gives it back to the person at the end. Then invite the next person to read and so on.
Other variations on this could be to purchase a book and invite everyone to write something over the course of the day or your time together and then have a reading of all the different narratives, comments and stories.
If writing is a challenge or someone present doesn’t enjoy writing invite them to share their writing prompt to video or audio and have them share with the group in the same way.
There are endless possibilities so get creative and get writing but most of all whatever you do enjoy the spirit of the day.
