Rating: 
Summary: The Giant Squid of Confusion
Review: "Pencil Dancing" is aimed at anyone who wants to be creative with his life. It takes a deliberately silly tone, designed to get the reader to loosen up and let go, try new things, and take off in new directions.Mari Messer delves into "hurry sickness", the psychology of "devoted attention", the relationship between our creative and logical minds, playing, collecting useless information, visualization, "practice without purpose", taming your inner critic, and facing the giant squid of confusion(!). All sorts of things are expressed in terms of weird, extensive, ongoing metaphors; this gives us an idea of just how creative and weird you can get if you try. It does get a little ridiculous (I suspect deliberately so), which might tweak your sensibilities a little if your inner critic is raging. (But then, perhaps that's the point.)
Ms. Messer is honest about some of these lessons being not only tough to learn, but difficult to remember. She isn't shy about explaining the times when she's fallen down. She uses interesting examples from her life, her students' lives, and famous people's lives. These make the principles she discusses come alive. I've learned a lot in here that's been directly applicable to how I live my life, how I work, specific projects I'm working on, how I deal with people, how I let other people deal with me, and so on. The discussion of criticism, constructive criticism, and their place in the creative process has convinced me to be less harsh and critical in my judgment of others' work. Criticism does have a crucial role to play in creative work, but it's also important to be careful not to apply it too early. Before I read this book I had forgotten what it was like to have so many ideas for material to write that I constantly had to carry a notebook around with me to catch even a fraction of them. I got halfway through this book and I had to make a trip to the drug store to pick up some pocket-sized notebooks to catch the sheer flood of ideas! It's hard to give the book a more glowing recommendation than that.
Rating:
Summary: The Giant Squid of Confusion
Review: "Pencil Dancing" is aimed at anyone who wants to be creative with his life. It takes a deliberately silly tone, designed to get the reader to loosen up and let go, try new things, and take off in new directions. Mari Messer delves into "hurry sickness", the psychology of "devoted attention", the relationship between our creative and logical minds, playing, collecting useless information, visualization, "practice without purpose", taming your inner critic, and facing the giant squid of confusion(!). All sorts of things are expressed in terms of weird, extensive, ongoing metaphors; this gives us an idea of just how creative and weird you can get if you try. It does get a little ridiculous (I suspect deliberately so), which might tweak your sensibilities a little if your inner critic is raging. (But then, perhaps that's the point.)
Ms. Messer is honest about some of these lessons being not only tough to learn, but difficult to remember. She isn't shy about explaining the times when she's fallen down. She uses interesting examples from her life, her students' lives, and famous people's lives. These make the principles she discusses come alive. I've learned a lot in here that's been directly applicable to how I live my life, how I work, specific projects I'm working on, how I deal with people, how I let other people deal with me, and so on. The discussion of criticism, constructive criticism, and their place in the creative process has convinced me to be less harsh and critical in my judgment of others' work. Criticism does have a crucial role to play in creative work, but it's also important to be careful not to apply it too early. Before I read this book I had forgotten what it was like to have so many ideas for material to write that I constantly had to carry a notebook around with me to catch even a fraction of them. I got halfway through this book and I had to make a trip to the drug store to pick up some pocket-sized notebooks to catch the sheer flood of ideas! It's hard to give the book a more glowing recommendation than that.
Rating:
Summary: "Dancing" in Idaho
Review: All I can say is that this is a great book. I am a 48 year old junior high art teacher, wife & mom. Reading it gave me a much needed boost. Using our creativity is lifesaving. Mari Messer's book is easy to read & fun. The book itself is beautiful. I know you aren't suppose to judge a book by it's cover, but I do sometimes. This is a beautiful book - inside & out. Don't you just love the title? Read it and recommend it to friends!
Rating:
Summary: "Dancing" in Idaho
Review: All I can say is that this is a great book. I am a 48 year old junior high art teacher, wife & mom. Reading it gave me a much needed boost. Using our creativity is lifesaving. Mari Messer's book is easy to read & fun. The book itself is beautiful. I know you aren't suppose to judge a book by it's cover, but I do sometimes. This is a beautiful book - inside & out. Don't you just love the title? Read it and recommend it to friends!
Rating:
Summary: Move Your Ideas from Concept to Completion
Review: Are you a budding writer full of ideas and not real sure how to move them from your mind to paper? Or are you an experienced pro feeling creatively blocked? Whether you're a writer, actor, painter, parent, even an athlete - "Pencil Dancing" is designed for anyone with a desire to live life on a more creative level. This guide is broken up into fun, easy to read sections written to show you you're not alone in your creative frustration and the best way to unleash the creative you. Page after page shows you how to remove anxiety from the writing process, what you should look for in a critique group, how to tame your inner critic and so much more. At the end of every chapter you'll find special exploration sections. These exercises contain projects, research, reflections and even mental push-ups to get those creative juices flowing freely. You can read this book from cover to cover or you can skip around to tackle your trouble areas head-on. Sections include: • Creativity 101
• Polishing Your Powers of Observation
• Creating with Your Whole Self
• Losing Your Logical Mind
• Freeing Your Creative Elves
• Befriending Your Beasts
• Creating from the Inside Out
• Dancing with Your Creative Spirit If your creativity's smothering, hiding or driving around in circles within your mind, break through those road blocks. Your writing success depends on your creativity. Discover how to get on track and eliminate your creative boundaries. Author Mari Messer teaches creativity, writing and art workshops. She studies the creative process and uses real-life situations to transform your creative spirit into a healthy, productive muse. "Pencil Dancing" covers every aspect of inspiration and provides the motivation and tools you need to take your creativity to a whole new level.
Rating: 
Summary: Classroom friendly
Review: I basically got this book to see if there were any writing prompts to use in a classroom. There are many, but most of them are in basic textbooks anyway. If you're new to books on creativity - this will be good for you. If you've explored it already, it may be a bit remedial.
Rating:
Summary: Classroom friendly
Review: I basically got this book to see if there were any writing prompts to use in a classroom. There are many, but most of them are in basic textbooks anyway. If you're new to books on creativity - this will be good for you. If you've explored it already, it may be a bit remedial.
Rating:
Summary: Pencil Dancing
Review: I like this book because its ideas spark my creative spirit. There are many interesting exercises and discussions that foster different perspectives related to ordinary things. The book should appeal to readers who want to become more aware of themselves and their envionment, who want to view the world through fresh eyes.
Rating:
Summary: Whimsical exercises for creativity
Review: I only give this three stars because it is too much like other books on exercising your creativity that I've read in the past. But, if you don't own any other books on this subject, you might find this is just the ticket for expanding your abilities. Here's an example of the exercises in the book: "Think like an alien." Here, you are asked to examine flowers, trees, everything on Earth as if you dropped in from a flying saucer. A good idea. How would you describe a pansy to someone who'd never seen one? How would you draw it? I prefer other volumes I already own (Carbonetti's "Making Pearls" and The Artist's Way, in particular) to Pencil Dancing. But, if you want a somewhat whimsical set of exercises and musing on creativity, this book may just do it for you. It didn't do it for me, but, because the creative process is so different for each individual, you may be entranced. How to judge? If you own other such books and like them a lot, this may not be a good choice. If you like fantasy and directed imagery, and some of the other creativity books seem a bit dull, you will probably like "Pencil Dancing."
Rating: 
Summary: Add this one to your personal collection
Review: I've never considered myself a particularly creative person. In fact, I'd put off my dream of writing a novel for so long partly because I kept going back to one detrimental thought: "What if I can't come up with any ideas?" Since I started writing, however, I found that ideas are endless - and they're everywhere. Yet developing those ideas, looking at them in new ways, still proves difficult. That's why a book like PENCIL DANCING is so remarkable. It helps the reader discover new ways to look at the world. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the book is directly related to the fact that Mari Messer doesn't just focus on one type of art - whether you're a writer, a sculptor, a painter, a dancer, or even a parent or a businessperson - you'll find ways to reach deep inside yourself and discover a creativity you never knew you had. Written in a beautifully poetic style, with a lot of allusions to our natural surroundings (many nature writers are quoted throughout, such as Thoreau, and Annie Dillard), this book has a calming new-age feel to it. Far from being off-putting, this particular style oozes the kind of creative relaxation the reader's aiming for, and it allows the author's ideas and teachings to shine through. Divided into thirty-eight short chapters, PENCIL DANCING can be read cover to cover, or savored a chapter at a time. You'll also find tons of exercises, project ideas, and themes for reflection. This book truly has something for everyone, though be warned, not all chapters will apply to your personal needs at the time of reading. This is one book that should find a permanent home on your shelf, to be reached for and browsed through on a regular basis, as your needs and your creative style change.
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