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Write Now: Map Your Life


Map Your Life

by Rochelle Melander


I love maps: old maps, new maps, digital, paper, hand-made and computer generated. I love to study maps and imagine trips. I also like to make maps. As a writer, I often create maps for the fictional worlds I write about. I love knowing where my characters live, how they get to the library and the grocery store, and where their favorite hangouts are. With a map, I can better write about their adventures.

I also love mapping ideas and feelings. Several years ago, I learned how to use mind mapping to record information, explore ideas, and develop stories. I turn to mind mapping when I have a story to write but I don't know where I'm going with it. It helps me organize my ideas--and often the process helps me uncover new ideas and connections.

In My Map Book, Sara Fanelli has created a child's world with maps. The book includes maps of external places like the child's bedroom, neighborhood, and route to school. And it includes maps of inside places--like the child's stomach, mind, and heart.

At Dream Keepers, we often use this book as a starting point for imagining our own special places. Here is a map created by one of the Dream Keepers:


Your assignment, should you choose to accept it:
Create a map of something unusual, that others cannot see--like your heart, ideas, or dreams. Or map an imaginary place. Happy mapmaking!

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