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It happens to the best of us. We get burned out, feel uninspired or just can’t take that next step in our creative endeavor.

You have my permission to relax, take the day off, and read some of the inspirational quotes below.

over.

29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from TO-FU on Vimeo.

Slow and steady wins the race…

“What’s that,” you say?  No, NaNoWriMo is not something out of Mork and Mindy.  And, yes, I did date myself by making a reference to that quirky sitcom piloted wayyyyy wayyyy back in 1982, but ultimately I digress.  #NaNoWriMo is a challenge to pen a 50,000 word novel throughout the entire month of November.  Call it what you will, but I love a good a challenge and a challenge is precisely what I needed to finally hammer out my novel, When it Comes in Threes.  This story has rested dormant on my computer for a long while because a literary manger friend implored me to change the narrative voice from an adult to a child.  If you are a writer, you know changing the whole “voice” of an entire novel is not a simple request.  You also know that ultimately changing the voice means a full rewrite, despite what your friend tells you.  So, rewriting I am and I’m having one heck of time doing it.  Truth is, I prefer this new voice and my new main character, Barley, over the older character I first concocted. 

#NaNoWriMo and everything about it, appeals to my competitive spirit and my ability to thrive on chaos.  Why the chaos you ask?  Well, silly, one chapter takes me somewhere around 4-6 hours to write, hone and edit, and all that equates to writing into the wee hours of the night when daily parenting, business obligations, phone calls and texts don’t nag and pull at my heartstrings.  I’m working from my home office and spending some days an unshowered, make-up-less mess, but I think I can manage to get it all done.  If you are competing in the challenge too, and are someone managing to stay somewhat afloat with everything else that comes up during any given day, drop me a line.  I’d love to hear from you.

Nano-Nano. 

Top Shelf has announced a big $3 sale for the next 10 days with various titles slashed and others going for as little as $3. There are some fantastic deals here — Tom Spurgeon has posted a $100 guide — and if you’ve been thinking about getting something but twiddling your thumbs, this is a great time to just do it.

For the next ten days — thru Friday September 24th — Top Shelf is having a giant $3 graphic novel web sale. When you visit the site, you’ll find over 100 graphic novels and comics on sale — with over 70 titles marked down to just $3 & $1!

But here are a few sample sale items:

– Slashed Prices: Lost Girls, Alec: The Years Have Pants!
– Slashed Prices: Essex County, Moving Pictures, BB Wolf!
– Slashed Prices: Owly Hardcovers and Plushy, Undeleted Scenes!
– Slashed Prices: Dodgem Logic, The Surrogates Owner’s Manual!
– Slashed Prices: The 120 Days of Simon, Far Arden, and more!

– $3 Titles: Voice of the Fire, The Surrogates (Vols 1 & 2)!
– $3 Titles: Sulk (Vols 1, 2, & 3), I Am Going To Be Small!
– $3 Titles: SuperF*ckers #1-#4, Lower Regions, Please Release!
– $3 Titles: Regards from Serbia, Delayed Replays, and more!

– $1 Titles: The Surrogates #1-#5, Black Ghost Apple Factory!
– $1 Titles: The Man Who Loved Breasts, Comic Diorama, 24×2!
– $1 Titles: Jack’s Luck Runs Out, Tales/Great Unspoken, & more!

Please note that Top Shelf accepts PayPal (as well as Visa, MasterCard, Amex, and Discover — all secure), and that this
sale is good for retailers as well (and comic book shops will get their wholesale discount on top of these sale prices).