About 20 years ago, I became obsessed with a book called Griffin and Sabine. It was a mysterious love story of sorts, told through letters and post cards. I wasn't the only one who pored over it, Griffin and Sabine stayed on the New York Times Bestseller list for two years.

The book's author, Nick Bantock, joins me now from Victoria Canada to talk about his latest book, "Trickster's Hat: A Mischievous Apprenticeship in Creativity." 

Try this at home! Do the exercise and  send us the results:

Exercise: Loosening the Brain

Materials: Fat black pencil and 2 sheets of paper. 
Time: 2 or 3 minutes
Size: Not less than 12" x 12"

Instructions:

Using your left hand if you are right-handed, or vice versa, quickly draw a circle, a triangle, a square, and a pentagon, all on the same sheet of paper. Keep drawing geometric shapes, not worrying about their accurateness. Continue for about a minute, filling the page. Then get a new sheet of paper and switch to your other hand. This time keep your arm stretched away from your body and start scribbling and making short slash marks. What it looks like doesn't matter; what counts is the devil-may-care attitude.

Hint:

Concentrate on the feel of the pencil in your hand rather than the shapes you are drawing. Make sure you breathe right into the pit of your belly as you doodle away. Three minutes in total should be ample time to loosen your brain and get you ready to focus on whatever work is calling.