Laura Purdie Salas

Small Reads for Brighters Days

You are here: Home / Nonfiction Books for Kids / [Writing Book of the Day] The Imagineering Workout

[Writing Book of the Day] The Imagineering Workout

By

I grew up in Orlando, home of Disney World. It was usually hot and jam-packed when I went, so it was NOT a dream day. As an adult, though, it’s been fun going back to WDW with kids. In the winter:>) Last time we went, maybe 5 years ago, my souvenir was The Imagineering Workout: Exercises to Shape Your Creative Muscles, by the Disney Imagineers. It’s a creativity workbook, and each page has a creativity technique, quotes and anecdotes from Disney imagineers, plus brief directions for implementing the technique.?I’ve applied lots of the exercises/activities to my writing. Quick quote: “Why? Use this exercise when developing new ideas, concepts, scedules, or work approaches or when reviewing or assessing work products. Start by giving the tasks your best shot. Then self-analyze by asking the question ‘Why?’ nine times, three times from each of the following three perspectives: leaders, peers, and your subordinates or team members.” I switched that one up while evaluating a picture book rough draft, and I asked why from the point of view of characters, illustrators, and readers. It’s a cool book not only for creativity exercises but also for behind-the-scenes snippets of how uber-creative people work together and in an office environment.
[I’m sharing a bunch of my favorite writing how-to books over Nov/Dec in case you want to buy yourself a great holiday gift:>) ]
Tagged With:

Comments

    • It’s very cool. Not everything applies directly to writing, but I dip into it regularly to jumpstart new ways of approaching lots of things: my writing, logistic/scheduling problems, school visit stuff, hobby things…all sorts of stuff.

    • It’s very cool. Not everything applies directly to writing, but I dip into it regularly to jumpstart new ways of approaching lots of things: my writing, logistic/scheduling problems, school visit stuff, hobby things…all sorts of stuff.

    • Really? Cool–I’d never heard of it and I’ve never seen it mentioned anywhere else. I just stumbled across it in a store at Disney. How fun to hear that other kids’ writers have discovered it:>)

    • Really? Cool–I’d never heard of it and I’ve never seen it mentioned anywhere else. I just stumbled across it in a store at Disney. How fun to hear that other kids’ writers have discovered it:>)

  5. Laura, when I was in college I participated in the WD college program, which meant I lived and worked at Disney for a semester. I had previously lived in central Florida, so the climate was not new to me — and it was Fall, which was nowhere near as suffocating as it can be in July… and oh man, that was an EXCELLENT experience. I remember meeting several groups of Imagineers… no surprise the book is a good jump-starter! HOWEVER. I pretty much have no desire to ever go to Disney again. (This, after several trips with my kids… been there, done that!)

  6. Laura, when I was in college I participated in the WD college program, which meant I lived and worked at Disney for a semester. I had previously lived in central Florida, so the climate was not new to me — and it was Fall, which was nowhere near as suffocating as it can be in July… and oh man, that was an EXCELLENT experience. I remember meeting several groups of Imagineers… no surprise the book is a good jump-starter! HOWEVER. I pretty much have no desire to ever go to Disney again. (This, after several trips with my kids… been there, done that!)

%d bloggers like this: