I completed a creativity coaching course last year with Eric Maisel. It was specifically on coaching writers, based on my own personal interest in writing. I had an opportunity to coach several writers as part of that course, all very different in their interests and approaches to writing and life in general.

It was very much processed-oriented, supporting each writer on a designated on-going project and working through the obstacles that invariably arise in any creative endeavor. Creativity coaching is often, as least for me, quite minimalist. Less is more, and less is best when offered when there is the most receptivity to suggestions.

Recently, my oldest granddaughter approached me to ask “Will you help me with a writing assignment for my class?” I had not considered applying my coaching skills to an eleven year old. It seemed like an interesting challenge and also an opportunity to spend grandparent time with her that had a specific focus and did not involve divided attention from a distracting electronic device.

“Sure!” I replied, already organizing myself to engage her in an extended creative process, helping her to realize her creative potential.

“When is it due?” I asked in order to set a time frame for this coaching experience.

“Tomorrow morning,” she replied as we were eating a late lunch.

“Oh really,” I replied, quickly realizing that this was not going to be a process at all but rather producing an assignment as quickly as possible.

“Tell me about the assignment,” I asked her in my minimalist coaching style.

“It has to be a story with a twist at the end, something completely different from what is expected.”

“It has to be ironic,” I said wisely.

“Yah, whatever,” she replied.

“Tell me your ideas,” her persistent coach said.

“What about two kids who do not like each who have to stay after school because they did not finish their homework. They get locked in when all of the teachers leave. That’s as far as I have gotten.”

Knowing the deadline was fast approaching, I decided to give a little more direction. I explained how real life if often the best place to start in writing a story. I told her about a person I knew a long time ago. This person stole the answer sheet from the teacher and gave it to other people in class before they were to take the test. She wisely decided to change a number of the answers so that no one would get a perfect score and cause the teacher to be suspicious. She did not tell her friends.

Now her friends were not stupid. They were just lazy about studying and were actually very clever. They each decided to answer several questions incorrectly so that the teacher would not be suspicious, not knowing that several answers had already been changed.

In the end, they all flunked the test, even though they had an answer sheet.

“That is irony,” I said again wisely.

“Maybe there would be one girl who refused to take the answer sheet, even though she did not study for the test,” my granddaughter said brightly.

“Right, and she would end up with the highest mark in the class, just guessing and without studying,” I added, noting another twist at the end of the story.

It seems that she liked talking about writing stories more than actually putting pen to paper. I noted a few lines written down on a clipboard put aside in front of the TV. I guess eleven-year-old writers are not much different than adult writers.