Developing THE CREATIVE WRITING TOOLKIT

In September 2026, I took a short Skillshare workshop called THE CREATIVE WRITING TOOLKIT as taught by writer Nia Hogan. Specifically, the course introduced the concept of a writer's toolbox: a personalized curated set of inspirational, motivational, mentorship, educational, and correction resources that writers keep and update to support creative work and career growth. In short, the toolkit acts as an arsenal of fallback resources to help creative individuals in times when they may feel stuck. A toolkit can be tailored to both broad and specific project goals and aspirations.

ARTIFACT 01 > Poem by Morgan Harper Nichols, from her book STORYTELLER.

This blog entry serves as a repository of notes and work I did while working through the course. I tailored my project to focus on my creative nonfiction writing such as the short memoir vignettes and photographs I post online as part of a project I call my subversive selfie project.

SECTION 1 - INSPIRATION

This section focussed on the idea of how one can generate ideas when inspiration is low.

Resources mentioned included:

  • The Creativity Portal — Generators tab: includes an Imagination Prompt Generator and 365 Pictures (adds 1 image/day) to spark ideas.

  • Positive Writer: blog posts + book links for inspiration.

  • Languages of Virus: interactive creative-writing games and Mad Libs–style generators.

Practical techniques for idea generation included:

  • Creating mood boards (e.g., Pinterest) to capture visual inspiration. This can help one keep a repository of images focussed on scene-mood phrases that can help jump-start descriptive writing.

  • Maintaining Lists / Brainstorming / Notebooks:

    • maintain a destination / activity wish list or field-guide locations for character experiences; and

    • keep a running list of inspiring books/films for a quick reference.

ARTIFACT 02 > COMPLETED WORKSHOP HOMEWORK SLIDE 1 for INSPIRATION

ARTIFACT 03 > COMPLETED WORKSHOP HOMEWORK SLIDE 2 for INSPIRATION

SECTION 2 - MOTIVATION

This section focussed primarily on the ideas of:

  • Intrinsic motivation = internal goals / values; as well as

  • Extrinsic motivation = external rewards / incentives.

Hogan encouraged learners to include a section for both motivation types in their toolkit project write up.

Intrinsic tips:

  • State short- and long-term writing goals to recall when unmotivated.

  • Ask: what makes voice feel worthy; what feels like success?

Extrinsic tips:

  • Build simple reward systems (not costly) that require discipline to work.

  • Example reward mechanics: punch card for consecutive writing days or word-count milestones; create badges for accomplishments.

  • Collect and save positive reviews/comments as a physical or digital morale folder or “wall of positivity.”

In regards to building community and competition, Hogan encouraged writers to:

  • Join writing challenges and competitions that fit genre/length; and

  • Find accountability partners and communities to avoid isolation.

ARTIFACT 04 > COMPLETED WORKSHOP HOMEWORK SLIDE 3 for MOTIVATION

ARTIFACT 05 > COMPLETED WORKSHOP HOMEWORK SLIDE 3 for MOTIVATION

In 2022, for a 3rd year interdisciplinary expressive arts course I took at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, I completed an in-depth reflective assignment on my personality which includes items which could fall under the wall of positivity idea.

SECTION 3 - MENTORSHIP

Hogan noted how mentorship can be a both a formal person(s) and a compilation of tools / resources offering guidance for projects.

The benefits of mentorship includes the ongoing opportunity to learn from others' mistakes, adopt tried methods, and access professional connections. Hogan noted how mentorship offers no guarantees, but mentors often accelerate progress and reduce wasted time / money.

Practical steps:

  • Add mentor contact information or trusted-resource links to the toolkit;

  • List areas where advice or training is needed to target relevant mentors/resources; and

  • Subscribe to trusted authors' newsletters to receive ideas and resource links directly.

ARTIFACT 06 > COMPLETED WORKSHOP HOMEWORK SLIDE 4 for MENTORSHIP

The links included in ARTIFACT 06 above are as follows:

SECTION 4 - EDUCATION

This section saw Hogan discuss the topic of lifelong learning - continuous learning that supports both a writer’s craft and their career. It’s always good to be open to learning about a variety of topics that inform ones ongoing knowledge of the craft of writing and to inform what one writes (for example, learning about a job a character does).

  • Suggested content types: books, workshops, courses, websites, podcasts, subscription services, articles, blogs.

  • Hogan notes how this can take shape by making a running document of materials that one works through, and to review and revise it regularly, at least quarterly.

  • Hogan had several recommended starting books that can help improve one’s writing (ratings noted where given), as follows:

    • 99 Ways to Tell a Story — exercises in style (author: Matt Madden).

    • How to Tell a Story — The Moth and other authors (4.6★ on Amazon) for personal storytelling.

    • Stephen King — On Writing (4.7★ cited) — foundational craft book.

    • Save the Cat Writes a Novel — guide to story structure.

    • Jessica Brody — The Last Book You’ll Ever Need — highly rated on this list, strong on story structure.

    • Favorite website recommendation: Readzy.com (podcast episodes highlighted).

ARTIFACT 07 > COMPLETED WORKSHOP HOMEWORK SLIDE 5 for EDUCATION

The links included in ARTIFACT 07 above are as follows:

Also,

Also -

ARTIFACT 08 > COMPLETED WORKSHOP HOMEWORK SLIDE 6 for EDUCATION

The links included in ARTIFACT 07 above are as follows:

Also,

SECTION 5 - CORRECTIONS & EDITING

Hogan encourages writers to have an openness to feedback and the right editing tools to improve one’s writing quality.

  • Categories: automated tools and human services.

  • Automated / AI-assisted tools discussed:

    • ProWritingAid: grammar, style, and writing package (free + affordable premium tiers).

    • Grammarly: daily-use tool with personalized AI guidance and paid plans for serious projects.

    • WordTune: AI rewrites to improve phrasing and diversify vocabulary; helpful for plot-critical sentences.

    • Hemingway App: simple self-editing tool that highlights readability issues.

  • Novel-writing/project tools:

    • Scrivener: formatting and organization software; trial available before purchase.

    • AutoCrit: fast self-editing focused on manuscript analysis; offers courses and blog resources.

  • Human-editing services:

    • Book Butchers: outsourcing editing to real editors; suitable for higher budgets.

  • Hogan encourages saving positive critiques and examples of improvement in the toolbox for morale.

SECTION 6 - CELEBRATE

Hogan discusses the importance of celebrating wins as a creative individual. To this end she discusses:

  • Creating a list of 10 free rewards + 5 paid rewards to celebrate goals.

  • How one should choose rewards that are meaningful and not routine (avoid rewards you would do regardless).

  • How to order rewards from least to greatest value as a progress bar visual.

  • The importance of also: sharing wins via social media; calling a writing friend; taking photos or screenshots; and publishing a blog post.



SECTION 7 - CONNECT







SECTION 8 - TRACK









SECTION 9 - ORGANIZE











SECTION 10 - SAVE







SECTION 11 - SUPPORT














CONCLUSION / WRAPPING UP


COURSE COMPLETION CERTIFICATE

playing around with contrast: inside a fine art photographic technique

contrast adjustments…

This short journal post is from a presentation I gave in spring 2019 where I discussed how adjusting your contrast can be an interesting way of shooting different subjects and landscapes. This process helps to darken (underexpose) or lighten (overexpose) a scene that I have found can help to add new conceptual meaning to whatever is being photographed.

Ultimately, this is something that can easily be done in camera. Just play around with increasing or decreasing your shutter speed or aperture (f-stop) to create photographs that are purposely under or over exposed. Alternatively, you can shoot a perfectly exposed photo in camera and then fiddle with the contrast in Photoshop, as I did with this photo, titled wal-art 3, of an aisle in Walmart I took in August 2012 and then overexposed it (to make it look brighter than it should) using Photoshop…

wal-art 3

To be completely honest, I had not originally planned to overexpose the images. I only did it after finding out that for some reason, the focus was soft across my images. By overexposing them, you didn’t notice that and it also added a whole other depth to how the content of the photo was presented.

Artist & photographer Paul Graham has also overexposed some of his photographs, as he did with his American Night series of photographs, like this one, American Night #16, from 2000…

wal-art 3

Graham overexposes his photos so much that they at times almost appear ghostly white, with very little of the photo’s original colour left behind. Graham’s American Night photographs formed part of a series of photographs he shot using this technique (as was my wal-art shot, it too is part of a on-going series).

Doing it in camera can be a bit risky as you are ultimately stuck with what you get. If you are at a location you might not be able to return to, it might be better to shoot a perfectly exposed image and then play with it later in Photoshop. Or, if you have time, take a perfectly exposed shot and then take a few shots where you experiment in camera.

making contrast adjustment in photoshop…

If you really want to over or underexpose in Photoshop, here’s where to look:

IMAGE > ADJUSTMENTS > BRIGHTNESS / CONTRAST

This provides a good start, but sometimes it’s not enough so go to the next option…

IMAGE > ADJUSTMENTS > EXPOSURE

Then adjust ‘exposure,’ and possibly adjust ‘gamma correction’ if needed.

Finally, you can also adjust your LEVELS or CURVES (also found in the IMAGE > ADJUSTMENTS drop-down menu). In LEVELS, you can play with the INPUT and OUTPUT LEVELS; and in curves you can adjust, well the curves (Cross Process can be fun too).

More Inspiration…

Unlike other alternative photographic process topics I’ve been exploring, there aren’t many YouTube videos on this specific topic, but I did find one…

This next video gives some solid tips for creating soft and airy photographs by experimenting with some of the ideas talked about here, but also by exploring other elements from lens choice to other camera settings which allow the backgrounds to appear under or over exposed while keeping the main subjects nicely exposed and in focus…

shooting 'through': the art of the found filter...

In photography, a fun challenge can be to look for things you can “shoot through,” things that are a kind of found filter, one that already exists in nature. This journal entry, which is based on a presentation I first did in February 2019, will explore a number of different filters you can use as a starting point for thinking about this idea.

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