C. McNair Wilson's Blog, page 2

�����you participation is essential

The full story in next post, below.

�����you can help finish my new book!

I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE to complete my new book.

Earlier this, month I solicited your input for ideas on creativity you���d like addressed. This is Book No.2 in the series begun with HATCH! All your ideas were copied and many will be addressed in the new book. (Some are better for future books and blog posts.) Because I���ve chosen, again, to self-publish, there is no publisher���s ���advance��� to subsidize my writing time. I AM NOT ASKING FOR DONATIONS. I am suggesting and requesting ways you can underwrite my living expenses for the next several weeks (through Sept.) while I finish the manuscript. Here are ways you can help me create this new book:

��� Buy autographed copies of HATCH! directly from my online bookstore. (alos has "eHATCH!" and signed copies of my previous (now out-of-print) books. Each copy is signed and personalized to whomever you provide the (first) name for each book��� virtually same price as Amazon���s UNSIGNED copies. Buy THREE, get 3rd book HALF OFF! Buy TEN (for your staff, team, book club) and get a FREE, Skype, Q&A with me! If your first copy of HATCH! was a gift, consider paying it forward. If you enjoyed HATCH!, I suspect you���ve thought of friends and colleagues who would benefit from their own copy.

���> Online BOOKSHOP link: www.cMcNAirWilson.selz.com

��� Hire me to deliver a keynote at your upcoming corporate, professional association, or denominational gathering. My daily rate includes a keynote and one or two workshops (no extra peso.) I���m yours for the day. (Additional days are less than 50% of first-day fee.)

��� Bring me in-house for my six-hour ���CURIOSITY TOUR��� workshop on creative team building, brainstorming (that WORKS), and recapturing the creative spirit of every participant. 

���> Direct eMAIL: BigDesk@McNairWilson.com

These can be for events in the near term or next 2-3 years ... and beyond. Let���s talk and schedule something soon to avoid the rush when the new book arrives this Autumn! I promise you can afford me: I have consulted with giant corporations, huge conventions, and tiny churches and colleges.*

��� Host ���The CURIOSITY TOUR��� in your area for your staff, clients, and area businesses. If you are a church or non-profit, you can host this valuable, inspiring, inner-active, all-day event for churches and faith-based groups in your area.

��� Non-profits here in Colorado Springs or Denver, book me to speak in chapel (at your standard fee + lunch!) When I lived in SoCal and World Vision was 15 min away, they brought me in every year for many years for chapel and consulting. (Ditto with Azusa-Pacific University.)

��� Visit my new online shop (Cafe Press): ���McNair���s Adventurers��� Outfitters��� and grab a fun t-shirt, mug, comfy messenger bag, nine different original designs (and scores of products for each). The profit margins are slim on Cafe Press since they make each item when ordered���but every little bit helps. 

���> McNair's Adventurers Outfitters Shop link: McNair's Adventurers Outfitters

BASIC FACTS: I need to generate the equivalent of selling 100-150  copies of HATCH! (through my online store) before the end of July, then the same each month in August and September, to cover my living expenses while finishing the new book. Again: I am not asking for donations. 

With more than 2,500 Facebook ���friends���,  and another 1,000 followers between my ���public person��� FB page, HATCH! FB page and Twitter, I believe this is possible. 

As excited as I was about HATCH! ��� I am far more over-the-moon about the new book. It addresses, head-on, the myths that only a few people are ���creative��� and proves that each human life is born with a factory-installed creative spirit. Based on my TEDTalk, Recapturing Your Creative Spirit, the new book will restore readers��� default settings for creativity. Imagine if you could tap your REFRESH key and be awake to the possibilities of being totally you���finally?

---> Please consider being my ���patron��� in this adventure of discovery and inspiration.

---> Feel free to post a link to this blog post in your own social media outlets. 

One More Thing, if you live in Colorado Springs, I am, as always, available for dinner, most nights a week!

__________________

* If you are college educator, chaplain, or administrator and you���re thinking, ���I wish I could get McNair on my campus, but I have no resources.��� Contact me and I���ll show you how to get several campus entities excited and working together to bring me in for a few days, a week ... I have visited hundreds of colleges presenting my creativity workshops, speaking in chapel, performing my two one-man plays. Many campuses where small church-affiliated schools. You can make this happen on your campus. 

DIrect email: BigDesk@McNairWilson.com

��� mr. twain assists us in deciding what we should be

The process of collecting wonderful and inspiring quotes for Book No. 2 (NOT the title) in the HATCH! Creativity Trilogy is a never ending treasure hunt. Here's one just added to the Cabinet of Curiosities & Possibilities. I'm trying to use great quotes mostly from widely known people. Knowing the person, even a just a bit, helps the reader put the quote into context. Mark Twain's great thoughts are so multitudinous and varied, it might almost be possible to use quotes just from old Sam Clemens.

Alas, there are many others we need to hear from on this grand adventure of discovering an "actively creative life.

Please, if you have a favorite quote on Creativity and inspiration, leave them here���in the comments area, below. DO NOT assume I've seen them all. I certainly have not.

�����what is "the thing" and why you should be there

My friend Terry Weaver inspires me. He's been talking with me, brainstorming, and dreaming about creating an event for a wide array of doers and dreamers to assenble and inspire each other.

It's happening 1 - 4 June in Orlando. I'll be there and hope you will too.

 

Event website: www.theTHING.Live 

(On the site, click on "Trailer", video on right)

Head over to the website. Watch the video. Visit the website of the event location (Reunion Resort, just off the Walt Disney World property.) When you register, use the code "McNair" to get $200 off of your registration fee. I will be doing my "Behind the Dreams Tour" of the MAGIC KINGDOM for all who sign on for the VIP Package. (It includes lunch in a private dining room at Animal Kingdom Lodge and a other invalauble resources and goodies!)

theThing.live website also provides links to room reservations at Reunion Resort and an access site to discounted tickets to Disney theme parks. (If you register for the VIP Package, your admission to the Magic Kingdom (for my "Behind the Dreams Tour) is included.

I will be there for the entire event!

��� there's adventure ahead

Perfect: the word Adventure* is in the subtitle of my new book (so far). It is based on my TEDTalk Recapturing Your CreativeSpirit! (Link to that TEDTalk, above.) This presentation was developed as the "answer to the un-asked question" in my twice-a-month brainstorinmg class at Disney University (at Disney Studios, for execs and media moguls.)

The new book tackles the tedious cliche: "But I'm not creative." This only came up in the Disney U classes at the Studio, almost NEVER in the same class at Disney Imagineering.)

Don't get me started ... I need the time to finish writing & designing the book ... fill;ed with creative adventure.

This is the book I have wanted to write for forty years. There are hints to it all through HATCH!���the first book in my series on creativity. (Find the linkto get signed & personalized copies directly from me, above.) I have ideas, outlines and a few chapters in development for three or four mnore books in the "HATCH Creativity Trilogy."

As soon as the manuscript is finished (and before editing, design, and other production is under way) we will launch a pre-publication sale with a good discount off of the cover price! Stay tunesd. 

ADVENTURE lies ahead! 

(Pith helmets optional, and encouraged!)

~ mCnAIR

*YES, that is an actual fortune I got in my fortune cookie with my Panda Express dinner ... recently.

 

 

 

���Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."~ Hel...

���Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."

~ Helen Keller

   :: what's brewing? ::  

TEA WITH McNAIR is dedicated to Recapturing Your Creative Spirit. You can choose to live a consciously creative life, again. Start by grabbing a copy my latest book, HATCH! ���the first book in a "trilogy" on creativity. (There will be three books, at least. Book No.2 arrives later this year.)
Download a FREE PDF of the fully-illustrated, complete first  chapter and other material from HATCH! here: HATCH-SAMPLE. 
The TWO best methods of acquiring your own copy of HATCH! :: GIVINGTONS.com "The Generosity Shop" where a portion of every purchase will be donated to a charity YOU select. (Get TWO copies: a friend will "borrow" it and you'll never see it again.) Click book cover (left) to enlarge and enjoy then fine print. You can purchase autographed & personalized copies of HATCH! ($5 off Amazon price), for friends and co-workers HERE. (When you purchase 2 books, you can get a third copy "HALF OFF").  Get ten copies for your team/staff and get a FREE Skype Q&A with me, McNair.

WATCH my full, TED Talk "Recapturing Your Creative Spirit" TEDx Denver. Also, catch my three minute introductory video, "How a Trombone Can Change Your Life"   HERE . 
Book No.2 (not the title) in the HATCH Trilogy is in the works and should arrive Summer 2017. Pre-publication sale (and discounts) coming soon.

 

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��� "jungle book" redux is realistic, not "live"

I liked Disney's "new" JUNGLE BOOK, but how do they call it a "live action" remake when ALL the animals were CGI and the movie was filmed on giant "blue screen" sets in warehouses in Downtown Los Angeles. Here's a link to a "Making of JUNGLE BOOK" featurette. (If you have not YET seen this film, save the link, go to Netflix and watch the movie, then return to the "Making of ..." :  http://thevirtualassist.net/the-making-of-the-jungle-book/

  

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The kid was great. Loved his version of "Bear Necessities" when he's ... NO SPOILERS, but he sings with grand, joyful abandon. If you've ever watched a kid, playing alone in the backyard who doesn't know anyone's watching ... you'll recognize the spirited imagination. 

We all did it ... once upon a childhood.

This new Jungle Book  is well worth watching. Then go back and watch the near-flawless original of Disney's animated adaption of the Rudyard Kipling classic.

FOR PARENTS: the new, version has some very intense moments that may make it unsuitable for younger kids. Watch the origianl with the little ones.  But be prepared to be singnig "Bear Necessities" ... the REST OF YOUR LIFE.ersion

"Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold. But l transformed by the renewing of your mind. But let God remold your minds from within ..." - St. Paul, Romans 12:2, J.B.Phillips New Testament.

��� it doesn't have to be magic

Even though all of Disney's theme parks that resemble the original Disneyland are called the "Magic Kingdom" there's no real magic in any of them. If that bursts the bubble in which you keep Santa, the Easter Bunny, and Al Franken, I'm sorry. (There are twelve Disney parks world wide. Six, including Disneyland, CA, are labeled Magic Kingdom.)

During my years at Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) we designed a wide range of completely new Disney theme parks as well as new "lands" and attractions for existing parks and resorts. One of my favorite mottos for our design work was."

"It doesn't have to be MAGIC, it just has to appear MAGICAL."

A great example is the transparent dancing ghosts in the large dining room of the Haunted Mansion that appear to be cavorting, unstoppably, through solid furniture. The way this illusion is accomplished���all day and all night since the mid 1960's���is so technically simple, you could do it at home. (You likely have and didn't know it.) The "secret" is readily available online so I will not ruin it, here, for many who want to continue  to enjoy this wonderful ... magical ... experience.

All that to say, that of(t)en* the best solution���even to tough, difficult problems���is the easiest. At minimum it will be a simpler answer than we fear. To often we want the solution to be difficult so that when we crack the code there is a bigger sense of accomplishment.

Don't be so hard on yourself. Solving any problem,. completing any task should be reward enough in the mere accomplishment. I am frequently delighted when I use a simple solution to a problem or project.

BIG CLUE :: No matter the obstacle, begin by asking what some of the easy solutions might be. When they are insufficient, move up a step or two, don't escalate. Don't make the solution more difficult, time consuming, or expensive than is necessary to get the job done. Remember: Not MAGIC, but MAGICAL.

___________________________________________

*In the word "often" the "t" is silent. Really. Lot's of folks give it a "hard "t" thinking it sounds more intelligent. It's wrong. The correct pronunciation is "ofen." When in doubt, use an online dictionary with an audible pronunciation feature. Try it here: DICTIONARY.com

��� a peek inside mr. coppola's "godfather notebook"

In my new book (Book No.2 in my HATCH! creativity trilogy) I am creating a chapter on the value of keeping a personal "sketchbook." Not a diary or daily journal, rather a tool for capturing impressions, thoughts, images, movie tickets, and other bits of life that would otherwise be lost if not for ONE place to keep them.

This will be a follow up on the popularity of the "The Doodle Factor" chapter in HATCH!, where I encouraged and taught (whomever was willing) how to add simple, playful images to ANY note taking to increase retention of key information. The number of folks who have shared their new-found love for doodling/drawing has been very rewarding indeed���especially since this chapter and the "book-within-the-book" of "McNair's Fearless Field Guide To Doodling & Visual Thinking" was an eleventh hour addition to HATCH! (It was a request of my good buddy MaxPaul Franklin.)

I have carried a sketchbook everyday, around the world, since I was about 12 years old. In the front page of everyone is the phrase: "Anything Worth Remembering, Is Worth Writing Down."

Francis Coppola was in his early 30's when he read Mario Puzo's novel, The Godfather and begin thinking about and planning to bring that epic story to the big screen. In the video below he shows the notebook he created with notes on every page of the novel. In the tradition of a theatre stage manager's "prompt book" this became what Coppola called his "road map." (I have created just such a book for every play and musical I have directed. I think I've saved most of them.)

His adaption of this epic American tale really exists as much, or more, in this notebook as in the screenplay that Coppola and Puzo eventually wrote. In this fascinating, very personal video, we see the actual massive notebook and many of his copious, hand-written notes and observations that became critical in preparing the screenplay and strategizing the entire production design. This is a rare, intimate peek inside the creative mind of one of our greatest contemporary directors in imagining and creating what is now a  classic film. (The Godfather received the OSCAR for Best Motion Picture of 1973. Coppola did not get Best Director. However, The Godfather: Part II did receive 6 Oscars including: Best Motion Picture, and Best Director and Best Screenplay���the later two to Coppola, in 1975.)

Given the rich content that is packed into this little 10 minute video ... it more than makes the case for the power of keeping, using, a personal, or "project-based" notebook.

Well worth watching.

SIDE NOTE :: Mr. Coppola refers to sitting in a little North Beach (San Francisco) eatery, Cafe Trieste, to work on his Godfather notebook. After his success, Coppola purchased the iconic Centennial building in North Beach in which he keeps his "City office" and on the ground floor has his old world Italian restaurant, Cafe Zoetrope. You will recall I like to write in cafes, coffee joints, and wine bars. Funnily enough, I spent many hours working on HATCH! in both Cafe Trieste and Cafe Zoetrope. And, Yes, I met and chatted with Coppola on several occasions. He is an easy person to approach and always curious ..."How's the book coming?" At his request, I drew a cartoon on one of their menus. It is framed and hanging on the wall of the Cafe to this day. (A friend saw it just a couple months ago.) 

��� what have you been passionate about lately?

"To play the wrong note  is insignificant; 

    To play without passion  is inexcusable.���

~ Ludwig von Beethoven

[Skip ahead to 13:30 for beginning of performance. Crank the sound up to "11"��� if you are at work, no earbuds or head phones: share this with the world. Listen to the entire symphony. Part 2 and 3 will lift you to the heavens, when the chorus joins in.]

QUIZ : : What bit of trivia do the announcers share about conductor Gustavo Dudamel (Doo' dah mell) that gives him a connection to my TEDTalk, "Recapturing Your Creative Spirit" (There is a link above in the "What's Brewing" intro material.) That presentation (my talk, not Beethoven's 9th Symphony), is the foundation for my new book that I am working on NOW ... daily.