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| Brainstorm with Mind Mapping Tools 🗺
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July 3, 2022
Oakland, CA, USA North America, Northern Hemisphere, Planet Earth, Inner Planets of the Sol System, Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy
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| | | Though it's easy to feel down about all that's happening in the world. I am determined to use my creativity for good, to build hopeful and empowering scenarios with my fiction and in my courses and writing tools for fiction writers. I show up for Life, creativity, and emotions, and the power of us.
Onward, forward...
Today I want to share about free mind mapping tools, thanks to a question from Kiirsi Branham Hellewell in Fellowship of the Pen. (Since you're reading this newsletter, you're welcome to join.)Mind mapping can help you: - get moving with your writing
- organize your ideas
- feel that forward momentum
- see what’s in your head
- draw your thoughts out like the Harry Potter Pensieve, like carving a channel for the creative ideas to flow
One of the challenges novelists have is that, even though they have lots of ideas like ALL THE TIME, they don’t know how to move those ideas into story form.
I so get it. I spent over 10 years feeling that way.
But I didn’t give up and I eventually found the tools that worked for me to get my ideas down and channeled into story form.
One of the ways I did that was I tried A LOT of things, many of which didn’t work, but I didn’t know that until I tried them.
For me, mind maps have been instrumental in getting ideas out of my head. I mostly use colored markers and a big 11x16-inch pad.
I've dabbled in mind mapping software tools, too.
So when Kiirsi, one of our Fellowship of the Pen writers, asked me about free mind-mapping software I dove into the research asking Twitter and Facebook buddies for recommendations, since I only knew the one I was using. Thanks friends!
Below is a list of online mind mapping tools, some of which you can download to your computer or tablet.
Like any tool, you can discover that it’s useful or not. So, try it to see. And let me know how it goes. Also, if you use a mind mapping tool that’s not on this list, let me know so I can add it.
If you'd like me to share your review with writers, let me know.
Or you can add to the conversation on Twitter here:
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| Welcome or welcome back to the Creativity Sparks newsletter subscribers!
♥
Beth Barany here, your guide and creativity coach for writers. An award-winning published novelist with three fiction series (young adult adventure fantasy; sweet paranormal romance; science fiction mystery) and five books for writers. Over the last 15+ years, I've helped hundreds of writers like you find success, peace, and satisfaction.
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Here we help you build your successful and sustainable fiction author career on your terms. We also focus on actionable resources to help you create the change you desire.
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| | Thank you for your patience. I haven't sent a newsletter in over 2 weeks because... yep... I got COVID. (Recovered pretty quickly. Thank you, anti-viral drugs.) Then I went to Saudi Arabia and back and taught 2 classes there back to back, with 2 different co-teachers. (It was a good visit.) Then I returned and had jet lag and needed more recovery from post-COVID fatigue. And I was heart sick from decisions made SCOTUS. |
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Have a happy and creative week! Happy Writing!
All my best,
Beth
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| | I stand for peace and for freedom. I stand with the people of the Ukraine. My people. Ways to support Ukraine. |
| | | Recent Posts on Writer's Fun Zone blog(Article titles are clickable.)
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| | | Designed for the writer with a life, this self-paced course will help you plan your novel in manageable bite-sized bits, so that you can start writing prepared.
In our 30-Day Writing Challenge, we will help you think and write through the steps to create your novel – from character development to plot structure to story themes and world building — so that you can start NaNoWriMo prepared.
I respond to all shares in the course.
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| | Ready to talk to a writing coach who understands genre fiction?
I am here to help you experience clarity, have a clear road map of your next steps, and be that much closer to delighting your readers.
As a book coach, creativity consultant, and teacher, I help you find the place of stillness within and unlock powerful yet subtle transformations that lie in the pauses between the noise of your mind and of the world.
I can help you discover that you already have the means to express your unique and empowering stories with your novels, that you already have a creative process, and that you can harness your passion, persistence, and courage to transform the world one reader at a time.
Let’s work together to make that a reality.
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| | | | You have been reading the Creativity Sparks Newsletter!
Now in its 16th year, this newsletter is a service of my coaching and consulting business, helping genre fiction writers write, market, and publish their novels to the delight of their readers.
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| ABOUT BETH BARANY
Beth Barany is creativity coach for writers, a teacher, workshop facilitator, and speaker, who helps fiction writers experience clarity, so that they can write and polish their novels, and proudly publish them to the delight of their readers.
Beth speaks to groups locally, online, and internationally. For more details and how to book, go here.
Owner of the Barany School of Fiction, an online training hub, Beth takes great interest in how humans learn, create, and grow, and includes all her students’ life experiences, including the ancestors, into the moment.
Want a course to help you prepare to write your novel? Discover the comprehensive Plan Your Novel course here to help you vision, brainstorm, and plan your next novel. Planning for panthers, who want some structure but no too much. A road map to guide you on your way to writing your novel. By the time you're done with this course, you'll be ready to write because you know where you want to go and are excited by it.
Beth Barany is also an award-winning novelist and writes magical tales of romance, adventure, and mystery to empower women and girls to be the heroes in their own lives.
Uncover her Henrietta The Dragon Slayer series here (YA Fantasy), her Touchstone series here (Fantasy/Paranormal Romance).
beth@bethbarany.com
Barany School of Fiction
Writer's Fun Zone blog
Photo Credit: by c. 2018 Ezra Barany
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| I sit in the territory of Huichin, part of the stolen land of the Chochenyo Muwekma Ohlone, the successors of the historic and sovereign Verona Band of Alameda County. |
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