Paragraphic Rift: Creative Workshopping

Last time we went over number 1: on our JWC XYZ Writer’s Accelerator, and so between 1 and 10 is 5. Inspiration is first, industry is last. The middle is a great place to start when you have been from the beginning to the end seeking creative obsession, for those who have been writing and need community for their work to be seen. Check out the “next beginning” of this analysis and have fun. 

5: Have you done any Creative Workshopping? 

What is creative workshopping? Joe’s Writers Club, LLC / Joe’s Writers Club Podcast is all about this stage of creative writing. Once you have a creative obsession, your voice needs to find other creatively obsessed people and be subjected to creative workshopping. If your work is still raw, that is to say unfinished or otherwise incomplete, you should still consider finding someone to share it with. 

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Ultimately you and your muse are the final say, but another creative person’s muse can work wonders on your own, both to inspire others and to be inspired. And also, to grow as creative writers it is important to take risky explorations and find out what room for improvement there may be for your work. If you’re not ready you’re not ready, but it is important for healthy goals to let you know some sense of progress, or even to just believe in one’s work a little harder. 
The networking of minds IS Creative Workshopping. 
Once you have one or more people of such a persuasion, then gather together for the purposes of reading aloud. At a diner, at a library, even in each other’s cars or homes, but just so long as it is done in seriousness and with positive vibes. Enjoy the process and help to increase enjoyment and inspiration in others, this is done to keep a creative network going. Emphasize the positive in another person’s creative obsession, while also suggesting what more might be done to see it optimized. This conductivity keeps things honest without judgmental discouragement or backhanded “constructive” criticism that might dissuade a fragile ego (or maybe issued by one). 
The networking of minds is the key to success. Similar minds tend to see things in a similar way, but even those minds who are shaded slightly differently will see a thing in some other light and so bring a fresh perspective. Perspective is truth for the creative writer, and the more so for those who are creatively obsessed. Perspective comes from observations, both self-examined and derived from mental networking. This networking happens in the workshop, then everyone retreats back into solitude to redraft a work based on a trusted writer’s circle observations. This is how one mind becomes many, and how many minds might unify to become one. 
The consciousness of a conscious mind must network with the unconscious mind, and so gain inspiration and a muse flash to continue the work of any lengthy project. This is solitary, internalized networking between two facets of intellect and vital to creativity, but is only the first half of a creative process. Workshopping is the other, and the benefits of such gatherings are countless. 

Photo by XPS on Unsplash
Studying consciousness as I have, I know that the conscious networking is one thing, but the unconscious networking is something else altogether. Inspirational muse flashes networked between several creatively obsessed people may yield a mega dump (muse fallout) of timeless data. Collaborative inspiration or collective muse flashes in sequence help everyone conceptualize better, bringing enough harmony into a group to see it prosper as a whole. 
If you read a million words, wrote a million words, then you have consciously assimilated much, and so have much to share. If another has done the same, it is a creative multiplier, or a bright network, filled with both conscious and unconscious data which can be used during the creative workshop. This is how best to serve your own creative obsession and the creative obsessions of others.  
Regardless of how much read or written, the formula is simple. 
When you read aloud to other creative thinkers, you learn confidence, courage, and practice presenting as if before potential publishers. This should be done with honest encouragement in a round table meeting where positive feedback inspires. Do this until both you and the group see improvement in the text and or your overall voice. 
It is also necessary for you to hear others read, and then to engage in the same activity with them. Share your impressions, and by drawing from both sides of this collective experience many otherwise closed paths into creative obsession will be opened to you. Ask after the sensitive areas of a text and compare how a fellow workshop member would write it if it were his/her own. All the great writers did this: Shelley and Byron, Tolkien and Lewis, and of course, the entire Beat Generation read in public places for the sake of beauty and excellence in words. 
If you look around you can find creators, but those who are open-minded and or ego less may not grow on trees. Even so, the hunt for a creatively obsessed person is a worthy pursuit. If you find one, maybe they have a friend who is plugged into the creative life, and if not you can search together. 
One of our goals at Joe’s Writers’ Club is to aid in these collectives coming together, so that such Creative Workshops may be optimized and profitable. Check out Joe’s Writers’ Club Podcast for examples of this. See how much there is to learn and how much fun it is to explore creativity together. 

One thought on “Paragraphic Rift: Creative Workshopping

  1. Excellent. Ego must be left at the door of any Creative Workshop. A good workshop, such as Joe's Writers Club, is never a discouraging place. Rather, there is much encouraging to be found. This can be soothing to the Egos that have sneaked into the room.

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