No Topic: Move Along

I wish I had a topic today. But my mind is empty so I'm just going to plink away in my text editor until either something happens or I get bored.

I haven't been doing much writing, aside from in here, in recent weeks. I'm also quite well aware of the disappearing act August has pulled. It's taking after June, that bad influence. Not doing writing is bad for several reasons, one of which is that I can't really write about my writing experiences in here. However, I really don't have a viable excuse: writers write. It's a topic I've written about several times here. You can't sit around waiting for the Muse to land on your brain and inject awesome ideas into your head. That might happen very rarely, but it's certainly no way for a writer to expect to get anything written on a regular basis.

Last week I was experimenting with Interactive Fiction, and I've let that slide as well. I have an outline for my story, though I don't know how several of the obstacles that prevent the player from reaching the goal are to be overcome just yet. I also don't have the end sketched out, which is kind of necessary.

I'll be out and about today, so perhaps the travel and getting me out of my normal place, mentally and physically, will help jar something loose.

Video Thursday: Watercolour on Yupo

I recently came to the realisation that I haven't done any artwork for close to a month. This is a sad state of affairs. I haven't even played around in my art journal for at least that long. I came across a video of an artist working with watercolour on Yupo, a waterproof synthetic paper.

I love to do abstract art, and what Mark Mehaffey does with Yupo is amazing. I've been meaning to grab a pad of this stuff from Dick Blick, but art has been a non-priority for me these last few weeks. I hope to remedy that soon.

Validation

Many people fall into the trap of creating content and then sending it out into the world and hoping it'll be chosen by the Powers That Be and they'll receive a reward, even if that reward is only recognition.

I'm one of them. It stifles me sometimes - the fear that my work may not be as special or inspirational as I hope. The worry that what I produce and show to the world at large may in fact be better used as bird cage liner. It's the reason I foist my stuff off on my friends from time to time. I quietly slide a few sheets of printed paper across the table, hoping they'll read it over and give me a quiet thumbs-up or a few words of encouragement. Hoping they'll have the courage to tell me if my stuff really is lousy.

But waiting for the world to decide you're special is a waste of time. Seth Godin writes in his blog:

If you have a book to write, write it. If you want to record an album, record it. No need to wait for someone in a cubicle halfway across the country to decide if you're worthy.

Sound advice, but it can be difficult to follow. It requires having trust in oneself, and some of us are notoriously bad at that.

Be brave this week. Follow your creative heart and work with the innate knowledge that your creations are special. You'll never know if you can create a beautiful, inspired work if you don't start making something.

Staring Into Space

It's muggy in the house today; it's hard to breathe. I can't seem to get fully awake, and every time I look out the window I'm reminded of what a grey, overcast day it is. How depressing.

There's a meditation in Walking On Alligators that speaks to me today. It's about getting down to work. "To set to work right away, without dallying, is ideal," Susan Shaughnessy says. "But it doesn't work for everyone. Some writers need a time of pencil sharpening and staring into space." That's me, usually. I was working on some computers in here yesterday and so before I sat down to do serious work I took a few minutes to pile the stuff up in the corner to reduce clutter. Clutter disperses my creative energies and makes it harder for them to coalesce. I periodically go through the study and tidy up (or at least throw piles of papers into storage boxes) to reduce the clutter factor. Yes, in a way, I still clean my room like a teenager. No wonder I'm always running out to Staples for more boxes. Eheh.

Other days I sit down but don't get started until my tea is steeped and honeyed, my cookies are sitting beside it, and I've checked my e-mail to make sure nothing important has come in overnight. That's a little silly, I suppose, and probably counterproductive: to start off by indulging in a distraction. But if someone's changed their plans or needs something from me first thing, I need to know that. Not that it usually happens that way. Also, the Writer's Almanac comes in my e-mail every day, and I frequently need it to inspire me and get me going.

How do you cope with distraction? Do you go to work straight away or linger a bit before getting down to things? May your week be productive this week! Make and do awesome things!

Zen

It's a lazy, somewhat humid Sunday morning. I had started writing a post in here, but thought perhaps it might make an article for Associated Content, so I've moved it into Open Office and am letting it percolate for another three hundred words or so.

I've had a stressful week. I just heard a robin outside hollering at someone/thing or other, and I realised I have a lot to be thankful for. Just at the moment it's the ability to sit here and write with the window open and the fan on, my Groove Salad stream playing quietly to my left, the morning breeze sifting slowly in, and listen to the sound of robins chirping outside.

There's more, of course, but right now I'll relax in the peaceful environment that surrounds me. Until I risk falling asleep at my desk. My body decided it was going to wake up after about six hours of sleep, so I'm a bit ...

What was I writing about? Oh, yes: groggy. That was the word. I'm a bit groggy.

I've had difficulty finding my Zen this week. I need to remember to slow down at least once a day and just sit. The world is full of wonderful and joyous things, if only we take the time to notice them. Just last night my friends and I diverted into a brief discussion about seahorses, and I commented on how amazing they are. These beautiful little fish-things with chameleon-like eyes that rotate around, propelling their oddly shaped bodies around with tiny fluttering fins, sucking up whatever it is they eat with their snouts. It's creatures like this that make me believe somebody or something created this world, or at least had a plan for its evolution.

I hope you can find your own Zen this week. Don't forget to slow down once in a while. The world always has something weird or cool or awesome to inspire your creativity, if you're open to it.

Video Thursday: Ten Rules of Life

I realised I haven't featured the videos of the wonderful willowing here yet. I discovered her YouTube videos last year and she's been responsible for some personal insights as well as the purchase of a lot of art materials (that I otherwise wouldn't have tried out). Willowing is a carefree, creative, loving artist whose videos never fail to inspire me or boost my self-esteem. Because, as I've said here, it's okay to make crappy art/writing/etc. The point is to do it. If it feels good moving through you, it doesn't matter if The World thinks it's good. Anybody who'd come right out and tell you your work sucks isn't worth your time anyhow. So there.



I think I might do some art today. It's been a while. I should crack out the watercolour crayons and have some fun. Why don't you give your artistic side a few minutes to play today? Sketch, doodle, paint if you have the time. Just grab some crayons and go to town. Boss being annoying? Pick up some crayons and draw what a big goofy-head s/he is. At home. Where it's safe. Traffic evil? Draw a satellite blowing up all the speeders and lane-jumpers and tailgaters. Bzz-B-DAM! Behold my crappy five-minute Gimp sketch! Imagine what fun you can have with real crayons (I can smell them in my mind... mmm, crayons...) and paper! You could even colour in the cars, which I neglected to do. You have the power. Use it today!

Video Thursday: Inspiring Authors

This week's video is a bit of inspiration from published authors about writing. They give some very useful and entertaining advice.

Music to Write By

Many writers enjoy listening to music as they write, and I'm no exception. Writing music is a popular topic on the National Novel Writing Month forums, and probably in other writing communities as well. Everyone has their own favourites, their own needs, their own tastes. Everyone gets something different out of the music they choose to write to.

The music I prefer to write to changes depending on the time of day and, sometimes, the weather. I tend to listen to classical music on local station WRTI during the morning, and Soma.FM's "Groove Salad" in the afternoons or evenings. When it's snowing, I tend to prefer classical overall, and when it's raining, I often bring out the jazz.

When I write, I need music without lyrics, or with words that blend easily into the background, as is common in the downtempo electronica played on Groove Salad and similar channels. I can't write effectively if I'm hearing someone else's words in my ears while I'm working. Even when I do data entry work I find lyrics or words disruptive to my flow of thought. So unfortunately, this past week while WRTI has been doing their pledge drive, I've resorted to listening to other classical music. I'd love to join the station as a member one day, but it's not in the cards just now. As a substitute, I play music I have on the computer already, like Holst's "The Planets" symphony, which is probably one of my all-time favourites. Radio France also broadcasts a classical station over the Internet. I can tolerate spoken French in the background. I don't understand most of it at the speed the native speakers speak it, though, so that's probably why it rolls off my brain fairly easily.

During National Novel Writing Month, I stumbled across Hooverphonic, a group that produces electronica that usually has lyrics. I found meaning relevant to my novel in the lyrics of '2wicky', and so now I add Hooverphonic's music to my repertoire of favourites for general listening.

If I ever write with music that contains lyrics, I tend to turn the volume down so they blend into the background. When I'm doing online roleplaying, I may want a certain feel in my background music, but I'm still thinking up words, still effectively writing, so I leave the music as quiet as I can while I'm in the scene. I did this with Hooverphonic during NaNo, but I don't write to it now that the marathon month is past.

What music, if any, do you listen to when you write? If you're a creative of a different sort, how does music affect your work?