Tea for Two at our local Pink Salt Cafe
Little Miss Seah, list maker extraordinaire and charming daughter with nine and a half years experience, fully planned a creative date for the two of us last Tuesday.
A few years ago, inspired byJulia Cameron’s The Sound of Paper, I decided to include my daughter in my creative date during the school holidays. This has led to a tradition of choosing one day of each holiday and making it a creative day.
This year Little Miss Seah, having succumbed to the charms of powerpoint creation, wanted to plan the whole thing, complete with progressive slide show outlining the points at each stage.
And of course like any special event it came complete with an invitation.
!!!You Are Invited!!!
To: Amber C. Seah Author of Helen’s Summer, Helens Autumn and Helens Winter
What: A Creative Date Hosted By Little Miss Seah
Where: Wait in the Living Room Where Your Hostess Will Meet You and Escort You to the Site of this Event
When: 9:00 18/4/2017
Who: You And Me Of Course
Contact: Little Miss Seah At 3:00 As Soon As Possible
Please Bring: Coloured Pencils, Drawing Paper of Your Choice, Writing Paper of Your Choice, A Pencil and Eraser, Your Purse and Your Computer
Notes: Please Dress Comfortably According to a Genre of Your Choice. Also, have a pre- prepared lunch
Hope You Can Make It
Needless to say, I cleared my calendar and made it a top priority appointment.
Little Miss Seah’s Powerpoint Presentation for a Creative Date-April 2017
She wrote up all the slides herself without any help or suggestions from me, I didn’t even get to see them until we reached the library on the day.
These are just 8 of the 30 slides she made.
Very effective design theme, don’t you think?
She had clearly defined goals for our day.
The best part is leaving with a manuscript in your hand.
I really like this Little-Miss-Seah-original description of Brainstorming.
She included clear instructions each step of the way….
This was really more like a full day workshop than a creative date.
After brainstorming we created visual aids before beginning to write.
She may have a future as a non-fiction writer or a workshop guru.
Here is my visual aid, please keep in mind this is based on a 5-minute brainstorm session, before I had a plot line or anything (and they were drawn very quickly)
Inspiration for three main characters in a Victorian Girl’s adventure story, don’t let the drab dress of the governess fool you.
Elements of a 7 Paragraph Story
And like any good workshop leader, she had me do a review of the day over tea and raw chocolate torte.
The only problem was that instead of a 7 paragraph story I ended up with the first chapter of a middle-grade novel. And not just any idea but an amazing idea I never thought could come out of my head and actually work.
A big thank you to the lovely Little Miss Seah for organising and carrying out such a creative, inspirational and productive creative day!
Amber Seah 