Creativity has long been thought of as a personal trait, a gift bestowed on some and unachievable by others. While we laud the products of creativity, the stories behind them are often abridged to the elusive "aha!" moment, the result of a momentary stroke of genius. In The Craft of Creativity Matthew A. Cronin and Jeffrey Loewenstein present a new way to understand how we innovate. They emphasize the importance of the journey and reveal the limitations of focusing on outcomes. Drawing on a wide range of scholarship, their own research, and interviews with professionals and learners who employ creativity in the arts, engineering, business, and more, Cronin and Loewenstein argue that creativity is a cognitive process that hinges on changing one's perspective. It's a skill that anyone can hone, and one that benefits from thinking with others and over time. Breaking new ground in the discussion about how we innovate, this book provides strategies that everyone can use to be more creative.

Do something creative every day! In A Year of Creativity, learn how to throw the perfect creative party with your friends—with organizing tips, 25 project ideas, and even recipes for snacks. A "craft date" is a fun get-together with a handful of creative friends in which you surprise each other with craft and DIY projects using cool materials, inspire each other, and make beautiful things together. At each date, a group of participants share a self-made project to be re-created by the other attendees. Materials are individualized for each participant and given as a unique personal gift along with the instructions for the project. A craft date is different than a workshop since you get to choose the lovely people that you invite, and as the organizer, you get to participate in all the projects. Invitees can put their own spin on the project by using their favorite colors, materials, or techniques. This way you end up with a range of different interpretations and results, leading to new inspiration and ideas. A Year of Creativity is a book for everyone with a basic knowledge of crocheting, knitting, and sewing. It does not teach you how to crochet or explain how a sewing machine works. There are plenty of other books for that. What it does do is inspire crafting enthusiasts to make something together, learn from each other, and have fun doing it. You'll find within: An introduction to craft dates and how they work Tips on planning your craft date events Plenty of project ideas (short, long, and cooperative) Plus recipes for party dishes that keep the creative juices flowing You will share ideas, discover new inspiration, and find new friends while creating uniquely beautiful aprons, knit garlands, infinity scarves, haberdashery bags, cards, pencil cases, and more. Have you had a great craft date or are you working on a neat project and want to show it off? There’s a place for this in the craft dates community. On Instagram, for example, you can tag your photos with, or search for the hashtag #craftdates. You can have a look at each other’s work, drum up inspiration for your own dates, invite your Insta-friends, or organize a "blind date" with creative people from your town or city that you don’t know yet. A whole world will open up. A very creative world is waiting for you in A Year of Creativity.

Remember when you were a child and would happily spend hours creating a collage to present to your mum and dad? Children are often happiest when left alone with materials to create things - they let their imagination take over and come up with wonderful ideas. But as we grow up we often lose touch with our creative side as 'real' life takes over and we find we have no time to do the chores let alone sit down and create something beautiful just for its own sake. Creativity doesn't just fade away though, and increasingly people are turning back to their favourite childhood arts and crafts skills in order to relax and rediscover themselves. "Creative crafting" is the perfect handbook for anyone looking to expand or re-awaken their creative side, and is packed with inspiring ideas and advice for creating something really special, whatever you're into - the only limits to what you can create are those in your imagination!

This book brings together cutting-edge research from leading international scholars to explore the geographies of making and craft. It traces the geographies of making practices from the body, to the workshop and studio, to the wider socio-cultural, economic, political, institutional and historical contexts. In doing so it considers how these geographies of making are in and of themselves part of the making of geographies. As such, contributions examine how making bodies and their intersections with matter come to shape subjects, create communities, evolve knowledge and make worlds. This book offers a forum to consider future directions for the field of geographies of making, craft and creativity. It will be of great interest to creative and cultural geographers, as well as those studying the arts, culture and sociology.

For more than 20 years, Crafts and Creative Media in Therapy, Fifth Edition has been an illuminating reference for the use of creative approaches in helping clients achieve their therapeutic goals. Carol Crellin Tubbs has included a range of craft and creative activity categories, from paper crafts, to cooking, to the use of recycled materials, and everything in between. Each chapter includes a brief history of the craft, several projects along with suggestions for grading or adapting, examples of related documentation, and a short case study. The text also features chapters on activity analysis, general strategies for implementation of creative activities, and documentation, as well as a chapter describing the relevance of this media from both historical and current occupation-based perspectives. In this updated Fifth Edition, the craft projects have been updated and numerous resources and links for more ideas have been added. There are new chapters on making therapy tools and crafting with a purpose, and the recycled and found materials chapter has been expanded in keeping with cultural trends. A flow chart has been added to each case study to help students better understand the process and rationale for tailoring activities for individual client needs, and project suggestions for working on specific performance skills or client factors are scattered throughout the chapters. Other additions include a behavioral observation checklist as an aid in evaluation and documentation, and several illustrations to help students distinguish between the use of occupation as means and occupation as end. This Fifth Edition also includes an updated instructors’ manual with additional resources and suggestions for lesson planning. Crafts and Creative Media in Therapy, Fifth Edition not only provides a wide assortment of craft ideas and instructions, but also provides multiple suggestions for therapeutic uses for activities in each category. It includes ways to grade activities to best achieve therapy objectives, and examples of documentation for reimbursement. For each craft category, there is discussion on precautions for use with certain populations, contextual limitations, and safety considerations. Information is presented in several different formats such as examples, tables, illustrations, and other formats to promote student understanding. Included with the text are online supplemental materials for faculty use in the classroom. . Crafts and Creative Media in Therapy, Fifth Edition is the foremost resource for using creative approaches in helping clients achieve their therapeutic goals and should be used by all occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, and recreational therapists.

Writing for the Screen is a collection of essays and interviews exploring the business of screenwriting. This highly accessible guide to working in film and television includes perspectives from industry insiders on topics such as breaking in; pitching; developing and nurturing business relationships; juggling multiple projects; and more. Writing for the Screen is an ideal companion to screenwriting and filmmaking classes, demystifying the industry and the role of the screenwriter with real-world narratives and little-known truths about the business. With insight from working professionals, you’ll be armed with the information you need to pursue your career as a screenwriter. Contains essays by and interviews with screenwriting consultants, television writers, feature writers, writer-directors of independent film, producers, and professors. Offers expert opinions on how to get started, including preparing your elevator pitch, finding mentors, landing an internship, and moving from an internship to the next step in your career. Reveals details about taking meetings, what development executives are looking for in a screenwriter, how and when to approach a producer, and how to pitch. Explores strategies for doing creative work under pressure, finding your voice, choosing what to write, sticking with a project over the long haul, overcoming discrimination, and reinventing yourself as a writer. Illuminates the business of screenwriting in the United States (New York and Los Angeles) as compared to other countries around the globe, including England, Ireland, Peru, France, Australia, and Belgium.

This accessible yet authoritative book considers and encourages flexible, playful and innovative practices in the teaching of writing, and shows how certain practices can develop children's creative and linguistic potential and their overall skill