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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Tag Archives: Inspiration
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 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 18: You’re on the alert for new material.
Even with other active projects [and possibly because they’re growing a little stale], you keep your eyes and ears open.
I was killing time in a department store yesterday and decided there must be something I could conjure up. And I did…
The face-tucking seems a little desperate, I admit, but it was first draft material and, come on, don’t tell me there aren’t some people that evoke that kind of reaction. ;->
Writers Horoscope December 9: You have a little talk with yourself [on paper].
Writers Horoscope December 7: Don’t let your groove become a rut.
Your sacred habits?
Behold the thrill of breaking one.**
Change things up.
Write a letter to the editor.
Write a letter to an editor.
Set the timer for twenty minutes. Race against the clock and generate as many words as you can. [If you need to cheat, list a few topics at the top of the document/sheet of paper, and then set the timer.]
Of course, none of these ideas will send you hurtling through the snow like Truffle here.
Maybe that comes next.
My camera will be ready.
** Those goals you set days ago? They’re not going anywhere. Neither is your discipline.
Writers Horoscope December 6: Today, you aim for a detour.
Every day, you head straight to work.
Why don’t you head straight to play instead?
Maybe–armed with your journal and a favorite writing book–a side trip to a quiet coffee shop?
Not a bad way to start the day–as a writer, not as a colleague working on the Herlihy account.
Word Inventions 