Wanted to keep toying with alternative tools for creation. I write directly in the Rocketbook and, using its iOS app, simultaneously photograph and send the image to Google Drive. I added the annotations on the computer.
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Category Archives: creativity
Writers Horoscope December 29: Tethered to your work?
If not, latch on to another tidbit from Joel at LifeHack…
If you’re not on a tight deadline, walk away
and do something completely unrelated.
Like biscotti, for instance.
First of all, more than a few of us are never on a tight deadline. [A common obstacle to productivity, by the way.]
So, when inspiration from pen and keyboard is lacking, well, what is more unrelated than Nonna’s Biscotti?
As I shared with a friend tonight: Writing just doesn’t feed the soul like mixing sugar, flour, and eggs and seeing something concrete [and tasty] emerge, as opposed to something abstract and lifeless [my writing].
Note: My wife’s eyes lit up when I suggested that there was no reason half of these raisin-walnut cookies couldn’t be dipped in chocolate.
Another note: I don’t use almond extract. To put it bluntly, yick. Just seems too fake. I’d just as soon add extra vanilla. Or, as the recipe includes, brandy.
Writers Horoscope December 28: You assume a new identity.
Author as spy.
Are you the type?
Interesting read from The Economist’s Prospero blog.
Some takeaways:
“In a sense, all writers function like spies—observing the people around them, studying character types, becoming flies-on-the-wall for the purpose of their art.”
“Writing is a means of decoding experience, of piercing through the surface of things to get at the truths beneath. Hemingway, in particular, was obsessed with the idea of concealment—so much so that he embedded it in his very style of writing.”
Here are a few other noted authors who crossed over from spydom.
And for the time being, keep your eyes and ears open.
Writers Horoscope December 27: Voices from the past beckon…
Voices of the experienced, however.
A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work
will die without putting a word on paper.”
E.B. White
On this December 27…
So what if you’re feeling like an overstuffed recliner?
Or you’re too bloated to escape your overstuffed recliner?
Reach for the nearest writing implement [finger dipped in cranberry sauce?] and writing surface [one of the recliner arms?] and compose!
And if you’re desperate for material [and you opt for mobility], consider ‘authorial espionage’. [Dec. 28]
By Cornell University senior photograph. Uploaded by w:user:cornell2010. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Writers Horoscope December 26: Moderation rules…
Seth Godin offers his succinct, yet logical counsel for creatives.
Writers Horoscope for December 25: A gift arrives…
…yet more wisdom and experience from others.
Jeff Goins’ very manageable process [The System I Used to Write 5 Books and Over 1,000 Blog Posts] really makes so much sense.
- Bucket #1–Ideas
- Bucket #2–Drafts
- Bucket #3–Edits
Here’s wishing you the most enjoyable of holidays.
Writers Horoscope December 24: Today, experiment randomly.
Yet another tip from Joel at Lifehack from 201 Ways to Arouse Your Creativity.
Today’s random experiment: A video-based writing prompt.
Writers Horoscope December 23: Emptying your head…revisited.
From a favored source of inspiration…
Another rejuvenating tip from Joel at Lifehack:
Do an info-dump so your head is clear enough to create instead of worry.
I’ve referred to Julia Cameron’s ‘morning pages’ before, but they are well worth revisiting. Quote from Cameron: “There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages*–
they are not high art. They are not even ‘writing.'”
Srini Rao, in his Why I Write 1000 Words Every Day, advocates this approach as well.
Quote from Rao:
“By getting incoherent thoughts out of your head and onto a blank page, you make room for coherent thoughts and better ideas.”
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Note: Joel at Lifehack also suggests singing in the shower. I held off on sharing that with you, but that was one serious In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida I recently belted out.
Writers Horoscope December 22: You call off the pity party…
A friend sends you a link about these courageous people and suddenly, whining about having to rewrite a paragraph, chapter, or book seems a little pathetic.
So, go forth–feeling fortunate–and put your literary gifts to use today.
Writers Horoscope December 21: You welcome conflict…
into your writing.
Things had been getting a bit drab, stilted.
Not so much after digging up my July-August 2013 Poets & Writers article, The Art of Conflict, by Dan Barden. [Sorry, link only provides a summary of the issue.]
A few noteworthy points:
“Your characters should more or less always be having a bad day.”
“Conflict is what creates growth. Conflict is what creates character.”
“The other thing I can tell you about conflict: No matter how extreme it gets, people will identify with it.”
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So in this season of love and peace and goodwill, go out there and wreak a little literary havoc!
Word Inventions 