John Lacey » Creative http://www.johnlacey.com Connect, Create, Collaborate Mon, 28 Nov 2011 23:10:25 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.4 Connect, Create, Collaborate John Lacey no Connect, Create, Collaborate John Lacey » Creative http://www.johnlacey.com/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/rss_default.jpg http://www.johnlacey.com Classroom Community Of Writers http://www.johnlacey.com/creativity/classroom-community-of-writers/ http://www.johnlacey.com/creativity/classroom-community-of-writers/#comments Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:49:49 +0000 John Lacey http://www.johnlacey.com/?p=1154

St Ninian’s Primary School in Stirling, Scotland, introduced a “Writing For Real” program. The headteacher explains:

When I first came here as headteacher, 7 years ago, it was my vision to create a community of writers here at St Ninian’s. It was my aim to get children so skilled in writing that they would be able to help one another when they were writing their books.

Part of this particular approach to writing, that we call Writing For Real, means that children actually publish their books, and they dedicate their books to other people. And they write from the start, with the assumption that their books are going to be read and reviewed by other people, and so there’s real purpose in what they do from the outset of the writing.

I particularly loved the way the students read each other’s books and offer feedback via post-it notes.

From Learning And Teaching Scotland

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]]> http://www.johnlacey.com/creativity/classroom-community-of-writers/feed/ 1 All I Want For Christmas http://www.johnlacey.com/desires/all-i-want-for-christmas/ http://www.johnlacey.com/desires/all-i-want-for-christmas/#comments Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:28:23 +0000 John Lacey http://www.johnlacey.com/?p=1105 also some other things I want too... ]]>

All I want for Christmas is… you. Well, okay, that’s not entirely true. Which isn’t to say you’re not wonderful and that I don’t appreciate you. Of course I do! You take the time to read what I write here and I can’t think of anything better than that! But there are also some other things I want too…
All I Want For Christmas: JVC Picsio, Slik Mini Tripod, Rode ProcasterThe JVC Picsio. Small enough to take anywhere, but without compromising on quality, this little beauty can shoot full 1080P high definition video and take 8 megapixel photographs.
Slik Mini Tripod. Large tripods can be handy, but sometimes all you need is a little height and manoeuvrability and the use of a sturdy table. Again, portability is the prize here – you don’t want to carry a whole studio setup with you when you’re on, say, holidays for example.
Rode Procaster. An affordable broadcast quality microphone. A welcome step up from the little microphone I use to record my podcasts with at the moment. (Preferably with optional PSM1 shock mount.)

Less Tangiable Things. Inspiration. Courage. Gratitude. Faith. An audience. A creative community. Good friends. New experiences. A lust for – and comedic enjoyment of – life. The ability to take myself less seriously…

Okay, so I say “the ability to take myself less seriously” but, honestly… Well, I think this still shot from a future Christmas collaboration video speaks volumes.

John Lacey "Taking Himself Less Seriously" With Antlers

[I'm telling everyone who sees this picture that I "take all my fashion cues from Lady Gaga."]

What do you want for Christmas? Tell me in the comments… Even if you think you have no hope of getting it. Dream often and dream well.

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]]> http://www.johnlacey.com/desires/all-i-want-for-christmas/feed/ 4 NaNoWriMo 2009: Motivations http://www.johnlacey.com/creativity/nanowrimo-2009-motivations/ http://www.johnlacey.com/creativity/nanowrimo-2009-motivations/#comments Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:20:10 +0000 John Lacey http://www.johnlacey.com/?p=1006

So NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month, is almost upon us. I have decided to participate in 2009 and I just wanted to take this opportunity to talk about my motivations, previous experience and what I hope to get out of this process.

For me NaNoWriMo 2009 is mostly about cultivating creative habits, about getting into the habit of writing every single day no matter what. It doesn’t matter if I’m in the mood, if I’m inspired or not – I have made a commitment to write every single day.

But as well as that it is about proving to myself that I can write a piece of at least 50,000 words. I have never written anything this large and last year the prospect of such a large project freaked me out and rendered me completely useless.

The project I am going to tackle in November isn’t strictly a novel. It is actually a memoir, and during November my primary concern is about collecting anecedotes that relate to the subject matter of the memoir. I am not going to labour too much about narrative structure, timelines, flashbacks. The goal here is to get the raw information onto the page so that I have something to work with in subsequent revisions.

You can follow my progress on the NaNoWriMo website.
You can subscribe to this blog via RSS for updates.
You can follow me (@johnlacey) on Twitter.

Are you doing NaNoWriMo in 2009? Is this your first time or are you a seasoned professional? Why are you doing NaNoWriMo? What do you hope to get out of this process?

Leave me a comment – I’d love to hear from you!

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