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Cards Creator: Connie Frey, PhD, IAC-Certified Coach
Connie Frey created her writing aid, the FAME Cards, inspired by a wide range of teachers, most notably her creativity mentor, improvisational dance pioneer and artist Barbara Mettler. Her background as a creative arts therapist, educator and improviser developed both right- and left-brain thinking over 25 years.
Formerly an instructor at the universities of Calgary and Victoria, as well as the Victoria School of Writing and Atlin Centre for the Arts, Connie is well aware of the necessity for fresh, innovative responses. Following the Certified Experienced Coach practicum of coaching 100 creators worldwide, Connie passed the examination and became certified by the International Association of Coaching (IAC-CC), based on recorded coaching sessions, in 2006. Her coaching clients (www.creativitycoaching.ca, www.dissertationcoaching.com), who include fiction, non-fiction and academic writers, have variously called her a “creativity midwife,” “flow facilitator” and, from those who use her services by phone, “the telemuse.”
Creating the Cards
The initial spark behind the FAME Cards came to me on the playground, metaphorically. It’s a place I like to go when prompting myself and others to free their originality and follow its lead.
For years in my writing exploration workshops I’ve utilized open-ended, improvisational techniques to generate the kind of “flash awareness” that steers creative people to fresh insights.
That day on the playground, however, I realized that the creative prompts I’d been tossing out in my practice could more valuably be written down and made available for individuals whenever they wanted a creative nudge or wake-up call.
Anyone familiar with open-ended structures – including the writers who piloted the “awakening words” used as one-liner prompts on an early version of FAME Cards – knows that creative play is a wonderful route to productivity and infinite possibilities.
The prompts, while deceptively simple, can be powerful invitations that evoke and reveal unexpected dimensions in not only creators themselves but also their work and the creative act as a whole.
During the spring of 2004, I toyed with the initial deck and created dozens more prompts. From who-knows-where came a title: FAME Cards. “What do the letters stand for?” I asked. My playful imagination answered: “Focus, Awareness, Momentum and Expression – four suits, four vital aspects of creative engagement.”
The creative process continued as I edited the prompts and dealt with issues related to packaging and sizing. Greg Mayer’s illustration of a broad, beaming face, used on all the cards, represents the whole brain and the necessary analytical and imaginative capacities required for creativity.
From first idea to final product, I rode the ups and downs of the creative process. Now I join other players in taking nourishment and fulfillment from play and limitless creativity. Still I continue to marvel: From whence comes the unique ingredients that leaven each creative act? After one intoxicating whiff of satisfaction, what next?
Contact : Connie Frey
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