The other day I got an email advertising a writing workshop. No surprise, I get quite a few of these. This one is through r/evolution story lab, a partner of WOW Women on Writing. I have never taken a workshop with them, and I do not know the person, Nicole Breit, giving this one. The course is supposed to be designed for writers who are INFP. If you know, you know. If you don’t, this is a personality type from the Myers-Briggs personality test. I am not an INFP, but an INFJ, which is supposed to be the rarest type. I suppose it would be too much to expect somebody to design a course for those few of us who are INFJ. 
But there was something in the description that made me think about my memoir Scrap, which is written in pieces–flash, micro, tiny essays, poems, a short playscript. Listen to this:
In just 75 minutes you’ll:
discover how it feels to write with your brain instead of against it, using mosaic method
tap into memory and sensation as you generate a fresh new piece in fragments
cut and arrange your fragments into a cohesive narrative you can’t wait to share
connect with likeminded writers in a warm, inclusive community led by an INFP/HSP/AuDHD bestselling memoir author
Why linear storytelling blocks intuitive, INFP and neurodivergent brains — and what to do instead to make writing easy and fun!
Nicole’s mosaic method: a simple, repeatable way to generate fragments, then arrange them into a finished piece
How to work with creative constraints and spark memories you wouldn’t otherwise access
Why fragments + structure = a powerful portal into your most interesting material
Now I am wondering if a reason I couldn’t write my memoir in regular chapters is because I am not only INFJ but neurodivergent or as we said in the old days ADHD. I was diagnosed as an adult and while Ritalin was very helpful to me when I was teaching, I couldn’t stay on it because of side effects. I doubt your Myers-Briggs type has anything to do with any particular neurodivergency you might or might not have, but I do know that mine is one of the intuitive types which is why I could ace math tests without being able to show my work. Very annoying since teachers and test graders generally require your calculations.
This workshop is $69, and you can try the link above for Nicole’s name if you’re interested. It appears that r/evolution is her own site.
Anyway, I thought it was pretty interesting that I do mixed media collage, used to make stained glass (another form of collage), and wrote a memoir in collage. It must be the way my mind works. Now I need to apply this knowledge even to writing small–poems and microstories.
On another note, Scrap has been long listed in the Chanticleer Collections and Anthologies contest. Fingers crossed!!!
Very interesting! A poetry collage approach! While I tend to organize things linearly, my mind does also work associatively, and, rarely, both ways at once. Linear thought seems to go with a driving pace while associative thought more with time to let the mind wander its own way. Congrats on your long-list honor!
Thanks, Wilma. When you say a driving pace, do you mean the thinking? That the thinking forges forward without making little pitstops?
It’s been a long time since I heard anyone refer to Myers-Briggs. I am an ENTP. I was a corporate trainer back then so I was tested multiple times. Always came out the same. It was one of the first tools that I can remember that helped me understand how I interact with people. I have to think about whether I write in fragments. Congrats on the long-list.
There really does seem to be something to the Myers-Briggs. So cool that it helped you work with people. Thanks, Kate!
Don’t even get me started on the Myers-Briggs. I absolutely hated being forced to take it time and again on “staff development days.”
Be that as it may, congratulations on Scrap’s latest recognition!
Oh, that’s annoying to have to retake over and over. Same result every time? Wasn’t it helpful at all?
Thank you!!!!
You’re welcome! No, it wasn’t helpful at all because so many of the questions gave no option for how I would respond to the situation. And I really resented having a big label stamped on my forehead. (Sorry.)
LOL, I never experienced it that way where somebody else was controlling what they did with the info. I first experienced it in a graduate English class by a teacher whose focus was on reading literature through a Jungian lens.
I was so angry over being slapped with a label that would be disseminated to the entire college staff that I went to HR and complained. They decided not to go ahead with it.
Yeah, that seems to violate privacy issues. I’ve never heard of that before.
In one of my workplaces, I found the Meyers-Briggs helpful as I had a largish, diverse, team. With their agreement, I shared the results in a grid such as you have above. So, we ended up with:- ‘not sure how to do that task?’ – Kerrie’s on training; ‘feeling fragile today?’ – Sarah’s on hugs. But the results rely very much on the questions, which in turn are situational. So what my team showed in the corporate workplace would have been much different in another situation – such as art classes, for example. Personally, I can veer between I and E in different situations, and that would not be unusual. The “characteristics” in the above boxes are very general. To be useful in the workplace one needs to drill into the additional literature. I think MB has been largely set aside these days, and I’m surprised to see a workshop pitched in this manner, but hey-ho!
Conversely, whether or not one is ADHD, autistic, Aspergers, and any other neurodivergent currently popular labels – the science is pretty clear now. Our writing draws on brain neurons and neurotransmitters. I have not done her course or watched these videos in full, but my fellow author acquaintance Sue Woolfe has made her thoughts available on YouTube, starting here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K7yQ-kXS8c&t=178s
She also uses a collage method in her writing.
Wow, that video is amazing. I should have had school on the beach growing up. I think I would have learned more. Thanks for sharing this!
Testing like the MB can be very dangerous if one takes it too seriously. It’s fun and might even give hints of insights into oneself, but it probably should these days be kept to “for oneself” instead of for others, if that makes sense.
Intering about you going between I and E. I am strictly an I but can appear in certain situationas an E to someone who doesn’t know me. According to contemporary language that would be me masking.
Masking is quite possible Luanne, and I can sense you may do that. In my case, I genuinely feel I morph from one to another, depending on the situation. Perhaps it dates back to my childhood and accommodating myself to one home or another.
Hope you find time to look through the rest of Sue Woolfe’s videos – all on the beach I believe – and meantime am thrilled you liked the link. xxx Gwen