The Creative Diary in Quarantine 16 – six words in books 

A book

Are you like me? Do you have a lot of books in your library? And never time to read them? Well, you get the chance to read at least 6 words from those books today.

 

Writing

  1. Take 6 small pieces of paper with you and something to write.
  2. Go to your library or somewhere in your house with books.
  3. Find your 6 favorite books or 6 books that you have not yet read or 6 books that catch your attention… choose.
  4. Open the book on the first chapter (so no introduction or table of contents). With a novel, that’s just at the start of the story.
  5. Find the 6th word which is either a noun (the name of something), an adjective (how something is) or a verb (something you do) and not a small word like ‘the’, ‘it’ , ‘van’ … They don’t count.
  6. Write the 6th word of each of the 6 books on each piece of paper.
  7. Go to your journal. Write a short text with those 6 words.

 

“Library are sacred time machines where knowledge flows and magic is eternal.” Mari Barnes

 

What if… you don’t have any books or a library? Then you just take magazines to work with.

 

TIP: You can also further illustrate the text with images of your choice or with markers, doodles … Your story does not have to be realistic, but it is of course allowed.

Would you like to get in touch with others? In Facebook you find a page where participants connect.

 

Important to know:

Working in a Creative Diary is NOT about results, it’s about expressing you inner self. It is NOT about techniques, techniques only help you to express yourself in more different ways. The exercises I give are an INVITATION, not an obligation. You can do the exercise, or not, you can do it differently, it’s at your choosing. The most important thing to remember is that you’re putting yourself and your (inner) world on paper, you are NOT making art. So feel inspired by images, but don’t compare yourself ! Fun and self-expression come first.

What do you need?

  • markers
  • coloured pencils
  • writing materials
  • scissors
  • glue
  • watercolour
  • soft pastels
  • oil pastels
  • some magazines

And of course: a journal/diary. I recommend an 8,3 inches x 11,7 inches notebook (A4 format) with blank paper, but take whatever you find in your house. Blank papier is good too.

More information:

The exercises used in this Creative Diary are based on a method described by Lucia Capacchione, American art-therapist and author of the book The Creative Journal, by Anne-Marie Jobin, Canadian art-therapist and author of the soon to be coming book The New Creative Journal, and myself, Sarah Timmermans, Belgian art-therapist and psychologist (Dutch book: Het Creatieve Dagboek). The method blends knowledge from writing therapy, art-therapy, psychology and basic creativity. It’s a simple method that doesn’t requires any artistic skills and has been used with many ages, many individuals and many groups of people. More questions? Please write me.

Who am I?

I’m Sarah Timmermans, Belgian art-therapist, naturopath and psychologist. I’m trained by Jungian art-therapist/psychologist Csilla Kemenzcei. I work with individuals and with groups. I’m specialised in using diaries, tarot (archetypes) and dreams.