short works in creative nonfiction

Other than time itself, access to creative thinking seems to be a significant challenge for us.

One way to facilitate the transition to creative work: Read a paragraph or two from a well-written piece of literature. Turn off all the phones, shut down email, close your office door and read for 2 minutes. Try sitting for a moment longer and absorbing the creative use of metaphor to make sense of our every day world. By simply creating this pause in the work day, you prepare yourself to focus in a new way.

Where to find short works in creative nonfiction:
Editors Kitchen & Jones have published "Short Takes," a collection of brief creative nonfiction by some of today’s best writers. I read “Salt Hay” by Jane Brox in less than one minute. Brox explored the discord between the words salt and hay, showing how the boundaries of her own imagination can grow. This one-minute essay can prepare us to consider the built-in contradictions in our own work projects, perhaps even invite new ways of thinking.

If you don’t want to read in print, then consider Brevity’s online magazine. Their recent issue, Brevity 27, is a “strong low pressure system of concise nonfiction.” Here you will find an essay about “Snail Picking” or “Running Through The Dark” in 750 words (or less). Can you relate to the metaphor of running through the dark when faced with a new work problem?

the art of seeing

Some of our leading researchers, scientists, and artists offer advice on how to find unique combinations of thought for today's challenges.

Amabile, Teresa A. Creativity in Context.
Boulder: Westview Press, 1996.

Bayles, D. & Orland, T. Art & Fear.
Santa Cruz: The Image Continuum, 1993.

Edwards, David. ArtScience: Creativity in the post-Google Generation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008.

Lehrer, Jonah. Proust was a Neuroscientist. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2007.

Robinson, Ken. Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative. West Sussex: Capstone, 2001.

jeanette eberhardy's recent writing

They Won't Settle for Half a Dream: Ecosystem principles and Zimbabwe female orphans. Interview with Gunter Pauli, www.Zeri.org.

Helicoperting Above Your Circumstances: Eradicating poverty and youth hunger.
Interview with Poonam Ahluwalia, www.YESweb.org.

Conscious Capitalism: Adding heart back into business and healing society. Interview with Raj Sisodia, www.cc-institute.com.

Voices of Resiliency: Ann Frank visits Egypt. Essay on Francine Prose's biography of Anne Frank. Brevity, Summer 2010, Issue 33. www.brevitymag.com.

Armor Art Counters War Destruction.
Essay on Guibert & Lefevre's
The Photographer: Into War-torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders.
Brevity, Fall 2009, Issue 31.

Our Relationship with Food — Oh, it matters.
Essay on Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food. Brevity, May 2009, Issue 30.

Winter Berries.
Segmented essay on forgiveness.

references for short works

Kitchen, J. Ed. Short Takes. New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 2005.

Kitchen, J. & Jones, M.P. Eds. In Brief. New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 1999.

—. In Short. New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 1996.

Moore, D. Ed. Brevity. www.creativenonfiction.org/brevity.