Writer's Toolbox Reflection

This reading was important due to the fact that it revolves around the idea of creating a map/list to order or organize your thoughts and come up with new ideas. This reading covered five different ways to help get your creative juices flowing; Mind Maps, Concept Maps, Free-Writing, Brain-Writing, and Word Lists.

   *Mind Maps - This is when you start with the main idea in the center and branch out with different words the main idea/topic makes you think of. Then, as you are thinking of more words, more branches are added. The words/phrases will gradually start to not really relate to the main idea that we started with, but good ideas come up that you may never have thought of before.

   *Concept Maps - In this version, it starts at the top of the page with the main idea and more bubbles are branched downwards. This is different from a mind map because it requires a proposition in between the two ideas. This map can also come up with many great ideas.

   *Free-Writing - This one, rather than a map, is more writing; similar to a journal. The idea is to not stop working for around 10-15 minutes while simply everything on your mind is written down, preferably about the subject. After that time is up, looping is done where the best idea from the first free write is taken and then you start a new free write for another 10-15 minutes with that idea as the subject now. This makes you write down the ideas that could be subconscious thoughts. 

   *Brain-Writing - This concept is mainly to provide for the shy people that may be in a group. It’s similar to brainstorming but with multiple people, and a sheet of paper is passed around. This paper consists of multiple columns and rows and the person writes down the three best ideas they have and then the paper is passed. The point is to have other group members getting ideas off of your ideas and others ideas, etc.. 

   *Word List - This is simply a list of words that reflects all the different words that can tie together with the main idea that you started with. Reading this over and over, will help you finalize your decision.

Overall this reading was very helpful in showing me all the different options for visually sorting my thoughts and producing a great idea, and something that I may not have thought of without the maps!