Writers Horoscope January 4: Time for a new challenge.

writing solitude not such a good idea dark mood

Jeff Goins’ 500 Words 31-Day Challenge!

The post above is from Jan. 2. I’m hoping/expecting that I’ll still be on board today.

Here’s the challenge.

 

Writers Horoscope January 3: Your random experiments continue.

 

 

Another video writing prompt, spurred by another tip from 201 Ways to Arouse Your Creativity. 

This one courtesy of Alison Motluk on New Scientist…

“Be more playful. Horsing around may be better in the long run than hunkering down.”

 

Writers Horoscope January 2: Today, you do one thing…

that scares you.

leap jeremy-bishop-dec 29

I picked up a journal with that message **in early 2017 and there were days I was scared to even pick it up since it was filled with nudges to leave my comfort zone.

And there it was last Friday.

As usual, with my usual random selection approach to consuming books, I turned to an unused page.

This one featured a quote by Henry David Thoreau:

We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.

And, son of a gun, if I didn’t do just that when, in a Facebook group, I solicited input from fellow teachers for a long-simmering book idea.

After all, in 2018, why not you?

Just lift yourself up from the chair. That’s step one. And see what happens.

chair in sun and grasses michael-nunes-377069

Leap Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

Chair photo by Michael Nunes on Unsplash

 

**Yep, an affiliate link that won’t affect the item’s price. Just an experiment on my part.

 

Writers Horoscope January 1: You are greeted by a friend…

Spent much more time on this than on writing. [Shame on this horoscoper!]

Started with just capturing the bubbles on the iPhone and it evolved into this whole weird thing.

Best wishes to all readers!

Writers Horoscope December 31: A familiar question wells up…

Maybe you took Austin Kleon’s 30-Day Challenge. And you nailed it.

And then that question: What’s next?

Consider this thought from Ian Svenonius, Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock ‘n’ Roll Group:

You will never know exactly what you must do, it will never be enough… no matter what change you achieve, you will most likely see no dividend from it. And even after you have achieved greatness, the [tiny number of people] who even noticed will ask, ‘What next?’” **

And so the question: What next?

boy-on inner tube in ocean

This is not to dismiss what you might have accomplished in the last month…or year…or decade. Or to evoke dissatisfaction.

Instead, use the question as a prod to pursue new projects, skills, friends.

Or maybe I’m just nudging myself in that direction.

Either way, have an adventurous–and fulfilling–2018.

 

**got Svenonius quote from a blog post by Austin Kleon

Note: The link for Svenonius’s book is an affiliate link. It doesn’t raise the price on the book, but it will bring me a very small amount of money.

Writers Horoscope December 30: Why not you?

Why Not You Rocketbook 2

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.

***

https://whynotyoufdn.org/

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.

nonnas biscotti reduced

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.

spy eye through opening in wall

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.