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Introducing: Happy Little Cat, my new stone seal all the way from Taiwan!

Finally getting a chance to catch up with my blog again after another long break. The reason for my absence this time has been, what else, editing. Each time I thought I was finished editing my WIP, oops, oh no, there was more work on my plate. However, I am now finished, as in one-hundred-percent finished. The final draft of  my new novel, The Abyssal Plain, is ready for submission to agents and editors alike. Which means that other than my daily freewriting (flash fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, whining), I'm planning to spend the rest of the year concentrating on establishing "Happy Little Cat," an online studio/shop that will include visual art, pottery, jewelry, and of course, books. I'm more than excited. And as you can see in the photo above, I even got a special seal carved to celebrate my debut, although . . .

. . . there's a certain irony to finally getting my seal made.

Backstory: Prior to leaving for my trip to Taiwan, my fellow travelers and I were emailed an itinerary of our day-to-day activities. One of the things listed for the first day was to visit an art supply store where we could order carved seals or "chops" as they are sometimes called. Back in March I was pretty sure I didn't need anything remotely like a carved seal, and when we did get to the art store, I was so fixated on buying a replacement for my broken water brush (you can read about that little misadventure here), that choosing a nice rock was the last thing on my mind. Other reasons for not wanting a seal included the fact that I didn't think "Valerie" sounded very Chinese, especially when I didn't paint in a Chinese or Asian style. Or at least I didn't then.

Fast forward to this summer and post-trip when I found myself still obsessed with everything Taiwanese. I bought a book on Chinese brush painting. I bought Chinese watercolors. I studied the books I bought in Taiwan on painting trees and tigers. Somewhere in the midst of all this enthusiasm for sumi ink and bamboo pens I had the profound realization that I loved Asian art and wanted to include as much of it as I could (given my limited and "beginner's mind" skills) in my own work. At the same time I very quickly learned something was vitally missing from all my pieces: my seal!

Immediately I started regretting my decision to forego buying a seal in Taipei when I had the chance. Things reached a crisis point when I attended a reception for the New Mexico Art League and saw a stunning floral watercolor painted by our Taiwan tour leader, Ming Franz, that naturally included her seal. My husband asked why I hadn't bought one. How could I be so remiss? Or so silly? I had to get that seal.

After some extensive online research, I found a great company, Asian Brush Art. They had the stones, the carver, great pricing and a nice feel to their website that encouraged me to go ahead and place my order. The big question now, though, was what was I going to have carved on the stone? I still didn't want to use my name. That's when I had the idea to describe not me personally, but how I feel about life and art in general: I feel like a Happy Little Cat. I asked the company if there was enough room on the stone for the characters; they said yes, and ta-dah, I have my own seal at last.

The best surprise of all was that the seal came not from the company's mailing address in North Carolina, but from Taiwan! What are the odds? And not just any place in Taiwan, but from one of my favorite stops on the tour: Kaohsiung. I was thrilled.

I'm still learning to use the seal properly, experimenting with how to tap and dip it into the special red ink paste which was included with my order (I tell you, this company was great). The hardness of the stone and the creaminess of the ink are both very different from my past experiences (and failures) with rubber stamping, so I'm still in "test" mode, but I'm getting there. My best impressions so far have resulted from placing a piece of folded felt under my paper before pressing down with the seal. The sample at the top here is in on rice paper. (Expanding the size of the photo made the edges go fuzzy. They don't look like that in real life.) After playing around with the rice paper, I moved on to stamping some artwork I had recently finished using various supplies (including my trusty bamboo pen) on Arches 140-lb cold press watercolor paper:

Splash Ink Goldfish. Sumi ink, watercolor, and gouache on Arches watercolor paper.

Lanyang Museum, Taiwan. Watercolor, sumi ink, colored pencil on Arches watercolor paper.

Kwan Yin. Watercolor, sumi ink, colored pencil on Arches watercolor paper.

Some of the best images I was able to achieve (and of course I don't have any photos just when I need one to show you) were from using the seal on kraft paper cardstock gift tags, the same tags I experimented with last year applying collage and stick-on "pearls," (examples shown here).

So where I am now is I need to stop playing with my seal and use it for real: getting down to work to fill the shelves of Happy Little Cat Studio. It's going to take me a while to build up my inventory and then incorporate everything into my website, but it's a project I'm looking forward to. I'm also planning on illustrating some of my books for the first time, a great combination of my two favorite disciplines: writing AND painting.

For more information on the history of carved seals and their use, here's a good Wikipedia link to start with, but there are many, many other sites to investigate. My Happy Little Cat seal is carved in what is called "yin style," meaning that the characters are carved into the stone, leaving a red impression around them, as opposed to "yang style" which leaves white space around red characters.

It's also very common to use more than one seal in a painting, e.g., a "mood seal," a bit of poetry, etc., etc., and that's where things get really scary. Because I have a strong suspicion I'm going to want more seals in the future, which also describes me to a T--going from not wanting a seal at all, to now wanting a dozen. Go figure, LOL! Whatever, I love this first seal, I thought it turned out beautifully, and being the first it will always be special. Very happy, indeed.

Tip of the Day: Getting my seal was another step toward creating my "personal brand," something I first blogged about over 5 years ago (!). You can read the post here: What's Your Brand? Although you might find the idea of "branding" somewhat restrictive, it can also be a great help in defining your work to both yourself and your audience. Just for fun, brainstorm a list of 12 things you could use or do that would identify your work as uniquely yours. You might just want a seal of your own.

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The last few weeks have seen me getting back into writing full-time again, hence my long blog hiatus. And with writing comes, of course, editing and revising, and then revising again, and well, you know how it goes. An endless cycle of chop, change, doubt, re-organization, and finally having to say, "That's it! This book is FINISHED. No more edits until a copy editor tells me what to do." 

It wasn't easy to settle back into a writing routine. Most days I just wanted to go through my photos from Taiwan and play with watercolors. Fun ways to make the hours fly, but nothing that was going to get my WIP ready for a potential agent or publisher.

In order to instill some discipline into my writing life, I desperately needed to remind myself of all the things I've ever taught and encouraged my own writing students to do. (Sometimes you have to be your own teacher!) 

Grabbing a new dry erase board and pen, I made myself a flow chart listing the top 12 ways to get me and my manuscript back into the writing zone. Here's what I came up with:

1. Focus. Boy, did I need this one. After Taiwan, my mind was a mess: I wanted to work on my novel, only to then want to write poetry, or work on a screenplay, or hey, what about that Young Adult thing in my filing cabinet, or no, a picture book might be even better. . . .  After several false starts, I knew this had to stop. I had to narrow my vision, forget about the other projects (they're all lined up in boxes ready to be tackled one at a time), and concentrate solely on the most important manuscript, the one I was working on before I went on my trip. That's it. Just one manuscript at a time.
2. Mindfulness. Because I so desperately wanted that manuscript finished, I started to slash words, sentences, and paragraphs without thinking about how much work had gone into creating them. It seemed easier to toss phrases and pages that were bothering me rather than try to improve or rewrite them. After several hours of draconian "ruthless revising" I went back and retrieved all those toss-outs, learning that it was far better to savor each unwanted word, sentence, and paragraph until I knew how I could either fix or use them elsewhere in the story to their advantage.
3. Brevity. That said, sometimes my choices were right. Less is better in a manuscript. Focusing with mindfulness, I looked for all the ways I could say what I wanted to say without having to say it twice or with too much description.
4. Let go. It was imperative that I let go of everything that was blocking my way forward or eating my time: unrealistic expectations that I could be finished in a few days (leading to speed-editing); unnecessary shopping trips; housework that was simply routine and not because the house was dirty; and especially social media sites, including, unfortunately, my blog. It was hard, but I got so much done. And I'm back now!
5. Ritual. For some people it's lighting a candle before they start work, or choosing a favorite pen. My writing ritual, at least for this current book, was to make myself a cup of jasmine green tea, go out of my office and upstairs to my breakfast nook, and read a Chinese poem (translated into English!) from The White Pony before I began freewriting or editing. It was a great system, and one I intend to continue with my next project.
6. Music. I've always loved the idea of writing to music, and have enjoyed doing so when I've been in workshops or seminars, but it's often something I forget to do on my own. Recently I bought a small portable radio that I can use in both my office and the breakfast nook (or anywhere else for that matter). I've found it very helpful to put on what I used to call "elevator" or "waiting for the dentist" music to calm me down and set the tone of my writing session. 
7. Magazine or artwork prompts. Using cut-out images from magazines, old books, and catalogs has always been my go-to story starter. Whether the pictures are of fashion models or reproductions of famous artworks, I couldn't live without my image library. For my current WIP I thought I had more than enough pictures to keep the story flowing, but I also realized many of the images had become somewhat stale--I had looked at them so often I had stopped seeing them. Starting a new collection solely for the last stage of the book seemed to revive all my interest in the story again, and gave me a fresh perspective on the older pictures when I paired them up with the new ones.
8. Meditation. I've never been a "good meditator" (whatever that means), having hopeless monkey mind and a tendency to squirm when I have to sit still without a book or a pen in my hand. That said, I have always appreciated the need to be quiet for a bit before I start my day or any creative work. The secret I've learned is to not set a time: "I will meditate for twenty minutes straight or else!" but just to give myself permission to stop and not be so busy-busy from the minute I get up or the second I sit down to write. Take a breath, take a minute, relax. Let go.
9. Choose a path/theme/genre/medium. My usual working style when starting anything new is to just let it happen. More times than not, genre or theme is something I choose for my work after my first draft. This time, though, and following through with #1: Focus, I decided to study and develop my genre/theme before I did anything else. It was a good decision--I found myself taking less side trips and getting right to the heart of my story a whole lot faster than in the past.
10. "How can I help?" It's nice to help other people, wonderful, in fact, but how often do we stop to help ourselves? I once read a quote that has always stayed with me about how the writer would never work for a boss as mean as she was to herself. Me neither--nothing but constant criticism, impossible deadlines, food and drink deprivation, and definitely no bathroom breaks allowed! When I'm writing, I can be horrible to myself. To break this tyranny, I wrote a "Letter to Me" asking what kind of help I needed to change the pattern. Some of my reply includes writing in 25-minute increments, followed by 15 minutes of anything non-writing related; rewarding myself with something special at the end of each day (can be as simple and inexpensive as a new library book); and making sure I put my writing, rather than the laundry, first.
11. Find a problem, brainstorm a solution. Halfway through my manuscript I realized I was being far too darn nice to my characters. I hated it when anything bad happened to them, so I'd hurriedly make it all better so they wouldn't suffer. Bad idea. Characters crave suffering--it's what makes them whole in the end! My solution was to make lists of terrible things that could go wrong for each of them, and then brainstorm several dozen ways to prolong the trouble. The lists also gave me ways to solve the problems without relying on coincidence or magic wands.
12. Write a gratitude or daily achievement list (especially after a rejection or a bad writing day). Not every writing day is a good day. In fact, a lot of them can be downright horrible, or at least they can seem to be until you really examine how the day went. Writing a gratitude list at the end of every day is an amazing practice. I like to go for a list of twelve. Even if the best I can do is write, "I have enough ink in my printer to send my manuscript out again." Or, "I got rid of four typos in Chapter 3," it's a win. (It's also positive proof that you're making progress, a good thing to remember and remind yourself when you don't even have ink in the printer.)

Tip of the Day: My absolute all-time favorite writing tip ever: Take a nap. Yes! Seriously! Napping can be a real creativity-saver, and it doesn't have to take up a lot of time. Whether it's in the middle of a hot Saturday afternoon, or as soon as you come home from work, don't fight the need to snooze--use it. To turn naps into real productivity, always have pen and paper right by your side so that as soon as you wake up, you can start writing. The results can be miraculous--new insights, new characters, new energy. I love it.

So what works for you? Drop a line in the comments section and let me know some of your favorite tips, too. Thanks for visiting!

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Sometimes I just like to write a book for fun, and usually it's for NaNoWriMo (aka National Novel Writing Month). No big deal, no serious thought of publication, but worth it's weight in writing practice and who knows? Maybe there are some characters, scenes, or settings that will be used one day--maybe even the majority of what I wrote. But while I'm at work on these "just for fun" books, I don't like to think about anything as daunting or real as editing, commonsense, or marketing. Instead, I just freewrite every wild and crazy thing that comes into my head and let the plot chips fall where they may.

For the last three NaNoWriMo years, three of these "for fun"manuscripts have turned into a  connected series, all based on the altered book project I started four (!) years ago and that I titled, Four Girls and Six Colleges. The title is derived from the actual book I'm altering, a collection of architectural drawings of six historic Australian college campuses. The four girls (featured above) who became the main characters of both the altered book and the 2012 NaNoWriMo manuscript, were amongst the first photos I pasted into the book. I was so intrigued with their stories that for NaNoWriMo 2013 I wrote Six Girls and Four Colleges (about their daughters), followed by last year's effort, Homecoming which featured their granddaughters.

But now that the manuscripts have been written and put away for a rainy day, it's time to get back to my original inspiration, the altered book itself. One of the reasons I'm still working on it is because when I embarked on the project I didn't realize that most people gesso or glue together several pages of their chosen book to make very thick single pages. After that it's fairly simple to collage, paint or enhance the resulting 12 or so backgrounds. In my case, however, I thought you were supposed to work on EVERY page--as in all 96 of them, back and front.

So here I am, several years later, still slogging away with the watercolor crayons and glue sticks. Some of the pages are pretty complete, maybe even finished; others have a long way to go. The good news is none of them are blank, as in, white-page-staring-me-in-the-face. Take a peek:











There are many, many more pages, LOL, but as they say, that's all for now, folks! Hope you enjoyed the show! As for me, it's back to the crayons and glue sticks. Sigh.

Tip of the Day: When's the last time you wrote or made something "just for fun"? If it's been a while, brainstorm a list of projects you'd love to try no matter the outcome. Pick one and start playing today! (P.S. Keep in mind that this is all about the sheer pleasure of personal creativity--you may want to take a page from my own experience and go for quick-and-easy rather than " 'till death do us part.")

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I'm a big fan of morning pages, but there are definitely times when I need a break. It's not that I don't find the pages useful, but every now and then I need to shake up my routine and make life more . . . exciting.  

One of the ways I thought of doing that was to start my day with a "mini-project" instead of the usual three handwritten pages Julia Cameron recommends in The Artist's Way. I got the idea from a gardening book that mentioned how Renoir painted a single rose every day before tackling his main work-in-progress. I don't know if I could stick to a regimen that centered on a single subject, but I can certainly appreciate the need for a warm-up exercise. With that in mind I sat down and brainstormed what might work for me--and for you, too! 

• Write a structured poem such as a sonnet, pantoum, or ghazal. Base the poem on last night's dream.
• Cut three pictures with a similar theme or subject from a magazine. For example, 3 pictures featuring purple. Or three pictures of dogs, or children, recipes, etc.
• Collage a three-page character bio--for either an existing character or a new one.
• Play with watercolor brushstrokes: random colors, patterns, feelings.
• Sketch one item only, e.g. a cup, an apple, a toy--using a single medium.
• Write three pages of dialogue.
• Place an artist's mannikin in a fresh pose every day. Record the poses in a single sketchbook used only for this purpose.
• A quick sketch of where you are right now. Try a different color of pencil or ink for each day.
• Write a stacked journal entry in three colors of ink.
• Clay: make a small pinch pot, egg cup, votive, bead, dipping bowl, soap dish, or incense holder.
• Three pages of flash fiction.
• Mini-collage on a piece of junk mail.
• Set a timer and create a new Polyvore set or Pinterest Board in twenty minutes or less.

Tip of the Day: At the end of the month, collect all these mini-projects and use them to create a larger piece, or to inspire you in some fresh way. For instance, a sketchbook of mannikin poses could be the basis for a new children's book. The stacked journal entries could be part of a framed collage. At the same time, examine what you enjoyed writing or drawing the most. Did you have a favorite theme, color, or medium? Take note and keep exploring.

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Ever since I taught my first writing workshop way back (waaay back) in Newport Beach, CA, it seems the two most important questions I hear over and over are: How do I start? and, How do I get published? 

To answer those questions, I ended up writing The Essential Guide for New Writers, From Idea to Finished Manuscript.  My initial idea was to help new writers find their way through what can be a very confusing and conflicting process. Later on while I was actually writing the book, though, I realized that I also wanted to encourage writers at all levels to appreciate the writing journey itself. Not every book gets published--even those by big name authors, and I've never thought it matters one way or the other. To me, the ultimate prize is not a published book (although, yes, of course that's very nice) but what we learn by putting pen to paper: about ourselves, the world we live in, and what it means to be part of a community of creative people. Because at the end of the day, I sincerely believe it's not publishing that will change our lives--it's the writing.

With that in mind, here are my favorite steps toward achieving not just a published book, but a satisfying, purposeful, and fun direction that can last an entire lifetime:

• Write every day. Freewrite. Journal. Describe the room you're writing in. Review a book. Practice passages of dialogue. Try poetry. The whole point is to make a daily habit of writing in your most authentic and honest voice. Don't worry about "where the piece is going"; just write it. 
• Join a writer's group. Seriously, the friends you make in your writer's group will last you a lifetime, and in many cases can turn into the best friends you'll ever have. The secret to making it work however, is to join a group that writes in a genre similar to your own. Be choosy and trust your gut. If you feel your group isn't helping, move on, or start your own. Often it's a good idea to look for a group through a professional writing organization such as Sisters in Crime (mystery writing), The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, or Romance Writers of America.
• Write what you love to read. And read a lot. Reading fills the writer's soul and is the best "homework" you can do.
• Write a first draft straight through. No stopping. Just go. Don't worry about grammar, spelling, editing, whether you sound like you know what you're doing--no one does at first draft stage. If you get stuck, write "Stuff Happens Here" or "Need to Research" and keep going.
• Read all the writing reference and how-to books you can. Call it "school." There are hundreds of excellent writing books to buy or borrow from the library. Read them, take notes, do the end-of-chapter exercises, and then read them again.
• Take a writer's continuing education class. Any series of weekly class where you are accountable for turning in assignments is a great way to learn the art of manuscript submission, as well as how to take editorial direction. Explore different classes to learn different genres and styles.
• Learn to add, cut, and toss. De-clutter on a regular basis. Read through your first draft(s) and don't be too harsh on yourself. Now's the time to have fun: look for connections in your story structure that you can keep writing about. Ask yourself if you have enough conflict, or maybe you have too much, and need to concentrate on just a few story problems. Are there some boring parts? Get rid of them. If you're writing nonfiction--do you answer all the questions a reader might ask or needs to learn?
• Celebrate your strengths: strong verbs, an active voice, and a clear vision. Anything else--get rid of it. Use your computer's "search and delete" functions to eliminate unnecessary adverbs, overly-used "buzz words" and anything that tangles your sentences into knots. Go first for plain, strong, speech, and add the "pretties" later and sparingly.
• Create style sheets. Want to know where punctuation marks go, or how to separate paragraphs of dialogue or description? Photocopy some pages from your favorite books and COPY what they've done! You'll have an instant and reliable reference right there at your fingertips. No more dithering.
• Write your 3rd draft. Clean and clear. Make it sing.
• Pay attention to your marketing: learn to write a query letter, a one-page, a multi-page synopsis. Use your "write every day" time to practice and write several and varied versions. Study the markets--they're all online.
• Submit your manuscript. Go for it! Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Prepare several manuscript packages in advance so that when one comes back (which it will; no biggie) you can send another one out to someone else right away. You can do it!

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• First, nobody is making me do this. Nobody. There is no contract or deadline awaiting me with dire consequences if I don't write. I've won enough previous NaNoWriMo certificates to know I can write 50,000 words in a month. I have nothing to prove here.
• If I don't reach the 50K mark, so what? I'll have 10 or 20K extra manuscript words to work with that I didn't have before November 1. And that's a good thing.
• Lastly, I was taking my manuscript way too seriously. Demanding that it make perfect sense--right now. That all my characters be fully developed and action-oriented, intent on weaving their way through a brilliant plot line that was simply amazing, full of shocking twists and turns with a stunning conclusion. Except NaNoWriMo doesn't work like that, at least not most of the time. (Note to self: neither does any first draft. Sigh.) Asking that it do so was setting myself up for instant failure.

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When I was little, I could play "let's pretend" all day. I mean, like, all day. I could start the morning as a secret agent, switch to being a marine biologist by lunchtime, live on the 1840's American prairie by dinner, and go to bed as a Moomintroll. You could say I lived to play.

As an adult, I'm pretty much into being my own character of me: writer, artist, friend, not to mention Head of the Laundry Department, Chief of Grocery Shopping, and Executive House Cleaner. But recently during a trip to Trader Joe's and wondering why I always buy the same old things, it occurred to me how much fun it would be to play at being someone else for the day--somebody who bought champagne and Gorgonzola instead of milk and vegetarian chili. And the best person I could think of being was my latest character in my new screenplay, especially as she is NOTHING like me.

For starters, she's 18, LOL, and she's a former child prodigy (I may have been imaginative, but I was a long way from being top of the class). As I stood there in the store, I began to wonder what she would buy, and that's when it struck me: pretending to be your character, at least for a little while, would be a great way to know that character on a level way beyond filling out the usual character bio. Talk about research! For instance, you could:

• Shop for your character in a grocery store--even Trader Joe's! Buy items he or she would choose (or at least make a list of those items if you find them inedible or too expensive).
• Using these or other ingredients you have at home, prepare your character's favorite meal. Then eat it and describe your feelings after dining.
• Go to the kind of department or clothing store your character frequents. Pick out several new outfits, complete with accessories. Take notes (because you may not really want to buy a new tiara or desert kaftan) and use as the basis of your character's fictional wardrobe.
• Buy your character a present. What is it? Can you use it in the plot somewhere? (Note: if the item is beyond a reasonable budget or something you can't actually use yourself, you can always resort to "let's pretend." Just go to the shop where the item would be sold, and imagine you are buying it, similar to the way you "bought" their new clothes. A fun and inexpensive extra would be to purchase a card, wrapping paper, and ribbons to place in your WIP binder or journal as a visual reminder.)
• Re-create your character's last vacation. Again, if you can't really travel to the destination, at least get some travel brochures, maps, and pack a real or imaginary suitcase. A day spent pretending you are in Paris or Toledo could have a charm all its own, too! The imagination is a powerful tool.
• Dream for your character--it's not as difficult as it might sound. Before you go to sleep, think of your character's main story goal or problem. Ask your subconscious to solve it. The answer could surprise you.
• Go to your character's least favorite or most feared place. Absorb the reasons why he or she dislikes it so much.
• Next time you find yourself waiting in a long line, become your character. Why is he or she so anxious for the line to move? Where does she have to be before it's too late?
• Visit a nursery or garden center. Pick out 5-10 plants your character loves or hates. What has generated these strong feelings? If possible, purchase and plant the flowers or bushes in your own garden. Use the plants' characteristics and growth cycles as metaphors.
• Go to the library. Choose your character's 12 favorite books. Now choose one they have never read. Read it through new eyes.
• Watch your character's favorite movie. Write about a scene that has the most emotional impact for your character, and why.
• Using magazine cut-outs or other print material, assemble an album of "family photos" for your character. How does your character feel about each of these people--and why? Be sure to include some bad'uns! 

Tip of the Day: The next time you take an Artist's Date, try taking one for your character. Where would he or she want to go? Why? When you arrive at the chosen place, experience as much as you can through your character's viewpoint. Write up your findings either on site or as soon as you return home.

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When I first started taking art classes and learning how to draw and paint, I made a mistake common to most new artists: I painted everything in the middle of my paper and without any kind of background. Everything I drew just kind of hung in mid-air without a context to keep it anchored within the (nonexistent) setting. Over and over I'd have to go back into my pictures and add my backgrounds, if I could be bothered to do so at all, and that wasn't always an easy thing to do.

It was the same with my writing: I'd freewrite an exciting conflict scene out of the blue, add some troubled characters, and then have to figure out where they all came from. I'd have to travel back in fictional time and ask my characters questions straight out of a Henry James or Edith Wharton novel: "You want to marry whom? Where's he from? What's his background? Not one of those dreadful Van der Leeden Hoopsie-Kopecky boys is he??"

A quick and easy fix to both these problems has been to tackle my backgrounds first. The benefits of this have been practically endless, not the least being "No More Blank Paper Staring Me in the Face," and "No More Wondering What to Write or Paint."

This is especially helpful when I find myself with a limited amount of time to work on a project, for instance a spare half hour or two when I know I could do something creative, but I'm not sure where to start. Working on the background for a future painting or story is the perfect solution. For some well-spent art time, I try:

• Gessoing art journal pages or full-size paper or canvases. (Admittedly not the most exciting item on my list, but getting it done ahead of time is a huge step forward.)
• Adding some color to the gesso--or simply using color on its own, perhaps mixed with a clear acrylic medium for texture and durability--is a great way to step up the excitement factor.
• As is experimenting with brushstrokes: swirls, linear patterned grids, stippled dots.
• Or doodling into wet gesso with a stick or the end of a paintbrush. A dry sponge or any other kind of imprint-making object is effective too.
• Abstract collage: old newspapers, junk mail, decorative art papers--tear them up, paste them down, paint over with either a thin coat of gesso or a clear acrylic medium.
• Sprinkle sand or seeds, confetti or even dirt into the damp medium for a super textural effect.
• If you want to go beyond an abstract design, try drawing or painting a background of a more structured surface such as stone, brick, or wood. Or practice painting or drawing drapery of different kinds of fabric: seersucker, silk, cotton, terry cloth.

While I'm working on these visual backgrounds, I find it's helpful to not think about what I might place in the foreground. My job at this stage is to build up a good collection of styles, colors, and textures that I can easily turn to when I've got the time and inspiration for a longer painting session.

The same is true for writing. Having a collection of pre-written back stories on hand guarantees that I'll always have something and someone to write about in the future. You can do this too:

• Without referring to any physical references such as a photograph or actual person, start by choosing a name at random, any name: Bunny McPherson; Lucky Holmes; Wendell Marlow. This is your new character. Now write about his or her early life: where have they come from?
• The ancestors--who are they? What's their story?
• Write about your character's childhood through the POV of a best friend--or a worst enemy.
• Write about the various settings in which you could place this person: e.g., home, work, vacation/travel spot.
• Write about a severe emotional trauma this person experienced as a child.
• What's this person's biggest secret?
• Place this character in a setting: restaurant, bus, city sidewalk, farmyard. Now envision the other people in the background: what are they doing? Who are they? How does your character interact with this background? Could any of them become secondary characters in a longer work?

I promise if you do this often enough and on a regular basis, a short story or novel will emerge without you even trying. Goal, conflict, and motivation--the big three essentials to plot and page-turning--are all in that background somewhere, just waiting to be uncovered.

The best part of having all my backgrounds--written and visual--in place before I start any new work is that often the finished background will determine what my next piece will be. Two weekends ago I took out a large piece of paper I had pre-painted in various shades of yellow and green. It turned into a scene I titled "Sunday Lunch." The green leafiness of the background brushstrokes lent itself to framing a shady outdoor terrace set for a lunch party. And because I always think art and writing are but two sides of the one story-telling coin, I was next inspired to write about the people who were going to eat their lunch there--more background grist for the writing wheel!

Tip of the Day: Shake it up: writers, try some painting! Artists--get our your pens and journals! Everybody: practice some backgrounds--ideally it would be fun to put both disciplines together into one lovely piece. How about writing a story or poem onto a painted background?

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Happy Valentine's Day! Wishing you all a perfectly sweet and happy day. And perhaps a little art journaling to go with it, courtesy of  Art Journal Class, My Favorite Tips and Tip #5:  Illustrate Your Freewriting.

One of my favorite parts of any day is to sit down and get into some freewriting: Don't think, don't edit, just write! But sometimes, more often than I like, it's not so easy for me to approach my drawing practice with the same carefree spirit. I think it has a lot to do with choosing my subject matter. I'll have my paper, colored pencils, nice pastels all set out and then my mind goes blank. What will I draw today? The longer I sit there waiting for inspiration, the worse the anxiety becomes. Thankfully, I've learned some great ways to overcome this kind of artist's block by looking to my freewriting as a source of ideas. These include:

1. Once you've finished your daily writing session, circle 3-5 key nouns you may have mentioned in the piece. Now draw them, either separately or together as a still life.
2. If you're nervous about drawing (though I hope you will soon overcome that fear!) go through a few magazines or your magazine cut-out file and choose pictures to illustrate your piece AFTER you write. This is very different from the usual way of using cut-outs as prompts and inspiration for writing.
3. After writing, go for a walk and find something that reminds you of what you wrote about. Either draw in your journal right there and then, or simply take photos and notes so you can draw later at home.
4. Did you write about food or were your characters eating a meal together? Why not cook or bake whatever they were having and then take a photo? You can either alter the photo or use it as a drawing reference. (Note: unless it's a baked item that needs to cool down, it's not really a good idea to let food sit out in the open too long; hence the need to take a photograph.)
5. A mini-collage can be a quick and satisfying way to illustrate your writing. These little gems are excellent for illustrating the mood or tone of your piece.
6. If you're feeling stuck on both the writing and the drawing, trying choosing a new theme each month and dedicating an entire journal to that theme: Spring Planting; Back to School; Winter Holidays... Add the appropriate pictures as you go through the month.
7. Try creating the daily life of a fun--and somewhat surreal--character. For instance, the adventures of a favorite teddy bear, a pet, or one of those little wooden art mannikins. Just like the traveling gnome first portrayed in Amelie take your little creature to unexpected destinations. Write and draw about his or her experiences.
8. Photocopy and then paste a favorite or little-known poem into your journal. Write your response--why do you love this piece so? What does it say to you? Illustrate your feelings and key images from the poem.
9. Never feel you have to restrict your artistic expression to just pencils or paints. How about illustrating your piece by making something out of clay or papier-mȃché? Or sewing? Take photos when you are finished and place those in your journal along with your writing.
10. Round robin journaling. If you have a group of writer or artist friends, how about sharing journals? Have each participant start an art journal, then give or mail it to the next person on the list. In turn, the next person fills in a set number of pages, and then on it goes to the next person after that. At the end of the day (or year!) everyone will have a gorgeous and surprising new source of inspiration.
11. Try this: a writing journal you will illustrate just with pencil drawing, another just for watercolor, another just for collage, etc. This is a good way to fully explore mediums and have handy references for larger paintings. And you might end up with some publishable short stories or poetry, all pre-illustrated and ready to go.
12. Be sure to choose good journals: ones that take water, various types of inks, and are easy to stay open while you work. It can be disappointing to have buckled pages or find your artwork has bled through to the other side of the paper, thereby making it difficult to write or draw on the back of that page.

Tip of the Day: Still not sure where to start with a combined writing and art journal? How about joining The Sketchbook Project? Not only will you be provided with a sketchbook when you join, but the wealth of inspiration offered at the site will keep you motivated to fill up much more than just one book.

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Yay! Our first question from the first winner of my blog birthday giveaway:
Diana asks: "How do you deal with writer's block?" A great question, especially now that Nanowrimo has finished and some of us may be feeling completely burnt-out.

To answer Diana, I think it's important to define "writer's block." For me, it's whatever makes me want to run away from my writing:

• Perfectionism.
• Fear that my words won't match my vision.
• Fear of not making the right choices.
• Fear that I'm going too slow.
• Fear of submission.
• Fear of my own voice.
• The WIP is just too big and ambitious.

Grrr! So how to burst through those blocks? How about:

 1. Collage. A stack of old magazines, a glue stick, a damp clean-up cloth, and some kind of paper or journal can keep me happy and "writing" for hours. There's something so dreamy and magical about the process, I could almost say it's the answer for every life problem in existence! Whether it's a scene, a character's wardrobe, or the solution to a plot-hole, collage can save the day.

2. Change genres. It's good advice to "write what you love to read," but sometimes you can too easily compare yourself to your favorite writers, and bingo--you're blocked. Try reading and/or writing in a genre you've never met before.

3. Make an appointment to meet yourself somewhere outside the house or usual work place. I particularly like bookstore cafes, but laundromats, hotel lobbies, and waiting rooms make great places to sit down and "just write" without the need to explain myself.

4. Take an old manuscript and tackle it from a different approach . An old,  unsold manuscript can feel like a millstone, one that's sapping your energy for fresh work. So start over: maybe the wrong character is telling the story. Or maybe you need several points of view. Perhaps present tense will add a new tension. Experiment.

5. Write with a friend. Writing with a buddy or a writer's group is a great way to stay productive. Go for at least an hour (no talking!); read your work to each other, then write for another hour.

6. Use a book of prompts such as A Writer's Book of Days by Judith Reeves for a month. Decide how many pages to write per day (5 is a good number), but don't re-read any of your writing until the end of the month.

7. At the end of the month, find the connections between your entries. The mind loves to create order out of chaos. Reading through a month's worth of freewriting is an excellent way to find a theme, a character, or a setting you want to explore more deeply.

8. What's on your mind? Try some letters to the editor, or concentrate on writing blog comments as a daily writing exercise.

9. Start a new blog on a topic you love, but don't usually write about. Save and print out your entries--submit them as articles, or turn them into a complete book!

10. Forget about publication. Get a special journal, pens, whatever makes you happy, and just write--anything. It's your writing, written for yourself and nobody else.

11. Write about your resistance to writing. What's stopping you from writing? Let it all out. Interview your writing and your characters. Ask them what the problem is. The answers may surprise you--and get you writing again.

12. Keep a "still-life" journal or notebook. Instead of worrying about transitions, plots, and character arcs, spend some time just writing descriptions. Take a cue from still-life paintings: what objects are included? What's the setting? Mood? Why? What is the artist trying to say? Keep adding entries even on the days you're writing full steam ahead.

Tip of the Day: As lofty as "write every day" may sound, the truth is you don't always HAVE to write to be a writer. Enjoying and participating in the world around you can be just as important, and necessary, as a daily word count. Read, draw, travel, visit antique or thrift stores, go for a walk, observe and play. Taking regular time-outs goes a long way to preventing creative block. And be sure to pay a visit to LadyDBooks--rest and renewal guaranteed!

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Except for tweeting and some very quick emails, I have to write longhand. Everything. I can't even fill out a simple questionnaire without writing out my answers by hand first. So when it comes to writing the first drafts of my book-length manuscripts, or working on my writing practice sessions, or just tracking my ideas, I need some way to keep each project separate from the others.

For me, the best solution has been good old-fashioned legal pads. After years and years of writing in fancy--and expensive--journals, I've found that nothing beats a good-quality, white paper,  three-hole-punched, stiff-backed legal pad--brand name as shown in the photo above!

I started using these wonderful tablets when I found myself writing mainly manuscripts, rather than journal entries, in exquisite blank books, only to then transcribe the writing into proper manuscript form, and then be left with a beautiful, but unnecessary, first draft. My recent move into condo living this year facilitated finally parting with all those gorgeous notebooks, and I must say it feels great. Although I still want to continue keeping lovely art journals and sketchbooks, as well as my commonplace book, from here on out anything that costs more than five dollars is going to be for "special."

So here's how I'm using legal pads right now. To start with, I have about 6-8 going at any one time. These are:

• Morning pages. Legal pads are particularly good for morning pages. I usually will write my pages for at least a week, give them a quick read-through over the weekend, follow up with any notes I need to keep in a more permanent form, and then tear everything up and toss. Easy!
• Blog Ideas. During the day I often get an idea I want to share via my blog. So it's good to have a dedicated place to jot it down and even expand on the theme whether I'm blogging that day or not. Added benefit: doing this has helped me blog more consistently.
• Freewriting. I am a great believer in writing practice and working from prompts as much as possible. None of this is guaranteed to be great writing, or even usable writing, but more often than not I will come up with a scene for my current WIP, or a character or premise I'd like to use in the future. After I've filled up every line and reached the cardboard backing, I can either add my pre-punched pages to a specific WIP binder, or simply file the pages away in various places for later use.
• Poetry. I like to keep poetry separate from prose. Not only am I using a different voice when I write poetry, but it also just makes everything easier to find when I do file or transcribe the pages.
• The Novel WIP. My current fiction WIP is already transcribed and printed in manuscript format, but now I'm going through the massive job of re-reading and taking notes on the text. Keeping these together in a single pad/place has been helpful as I go chapter by chapter, page by page, line by line to look for inconsistencies,  plot glitches, and places where I could use more foreshadowing, action, or description.
• The Screenplay WIP. This is where I keep absolutely everything that occurs to me re: my screenplay WIP. It's a place where I can over-write and put in all the emotional/mental content and back story my heart desires--all the things that aren't supposed to go in my actual script. These are valuable notes when it comes to trying to get the most out of the least amount of acceptable page- and word counts.
• Marketing. At least once a day I try to do something that adds to my marketing efforts. Whether it's simply making a list of potential reviewers, or discovering new blogs to read and comment on, this is where I put my notes and information. I also use this particular pad for practicing my synopses, queries, and cover letters.
• Fiction Ideas in General. They just won't stop!  And in order to get on with my day and keep them quietly in one place, I've given them their very own pad. Whew.

With the exception of the "Morning Pages" pad, I like to keep writing straight to the last page before I read through any of the previous pages. Once I've reached that point, however, I then file what I plan to keep, and discard the rest.

I also have to say that it's kind of fun to watch the pages fill up on the pad. Seeing that I "did the work" seems to help me get right back into it the next day. A growing stack of orderly pages helps me to feel that I am making some serious progress rather than floundering around jotting down a mish-mash of themes, plans, and journal entries in a single, confusing notebook.  The best part is that I never feel anything is so precious that I can't part with it. Added benefit: more clutter-free closets, yay!

Tip of the Day: If the thought of starting with as many (or more) legal pads as I've outlined here is a little overwhelming, why not just start with 3? I suggest keeping one for your current WIP, one for marketing, and one for general ideas. Let me know how it goes.

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Hi Everyone! As you may have noticed, I've been on blog-hiatus for the last few weeks. Publishing Overtaken (now with Amazon's "Look Inside the Book" feature!) was a bigger hill climb than I thought it would be, and I needed some serious down time. But it's great to be back and blogging again. I especially want to thank everyone who left comments on my last post, always great to hear from you.

Today I thought I'd continue with my "12 Tips to Stay Creative Every Day, Tip #7:  Take Advantage of Technology." The computer is a wonderful thing—and at least for me, way too attractive when I should be working outdoors or in my studio. Which is why I seem to have a constant battle running through my head about how much time I should spend online. But as much as I sometimes dream about pulling the plug, I have to say the Internet has been a marvelous boost to my productivity. For instance, I can: 

Watch videos. From book trailers to art journal “how-to” demonstrations, some of the absolute best information I've uncovered has come to me via Youtube.com. I’ve learned how to make acrylic gel transfers, draw a frog, and how to use a watercolor travel brush. And that's just for starters. 

Read blogs. I enjoy reading blogs on art and writing, but by simply pushing the “Next Blog” button at the top of many sites, I can go to all kinds of new topics: travel stories, life changing incidents, business advice. I consider my time reading blogs to be the equivalent of the time I used to spend reading print magazines, except the blogs have a much richer and more personal content. 

Prompt Blogs. Word-a-day, picture-a-day, a painting a month, poem starters; the Internet abounds with blogs to help you get started when inspiration flags. Best of all, the sites are mainly about forming and maintaining creative community around individual and group work. Perfect when you can't find a writer's or artist's group locally. 

Online Dictionary and Thesaurus. No more hunting through the pages! My print versions of both my dictionary and thesaurus were so dog-eared and well-worn I had to throw them out years ago. They weren’t even good enough to recycle. Dictionary.com is my lifeline. What would I do without it? 

General How-to. Just ask! I’m still amazed when friends ask me things like, “Where’s a good website about falconry?” Or, “What did children wear to play in during the middle ages?” I don’t know why I give the impression I can answer these questions

2 Comments on Stay Creative Every Day: Tip #7, Use Technology, last added: 4/13/2012

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Kath said, on 4/12/2012 2:29:00 PM

Some great suggestions here, especially the one about using blogs that give picture or word prompts.

I've been trying to find a local writers' group for years and, while I go to one at the moment, only one other person in it is remotely interested in taking their writing seriously. The rest see it as more of a social event, which is fine but that means that the stimulus to go off and be creative in between meetings isn't there.

Thanks for these and good to see you back after your well-deserved blogging break!

Charlotte Fairchild said, on 4/13/2012 3:24:00 AM

You know about Pinterest? This helps me. I don't pin other people much. Just my stuff I create! Art and textiles I make! This weekend I am at http://www.imvc.org The Global Health and Humanitarian Summit at Emory U. I am an organizer and came close to being a Co-Chair.

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It's here!  My big blog giveaway where 3 lucky followers will be chosen tonight at 7.00 PM Mountain Time through a random drawing to receive a variety of prizes, including the brand new Now Write! Mysteries; Suspense, Crime, Thriller, and Other Mystery Fiction Exercises from Today's Best Writers and Teachers published on December 29, 2011. 

And (drum roll, please...) I am so thrilled and honored to tell you that I have been included in this collection.  My article "Deep Motivation: Characters Have Feelings, Too" starts on Page 267.

Edited by Sherry Ellis and Laurie Lamson, Now Write! Mysteries is the fourth volume in a series that includes Now Write! Fiction and Now Write! Screenwriting.  Right now I'm totally enthralled with this book (and not just because I'm in it...) and I'm happy to report I'm also doing each and every one of the exercises as per my recent post on staying creative every day.  I'm up to page 20 and, people, I am inspired.  This is an amazing book full of great advice.  I think it's going to keep me happy and writing for the rest of the year and beyond.

If you'd like a free copy, there's still some time to follow my blog today and be included in the random drawing tonight via Random.org.  Note:  Anyone who has signed up to follow my blog through my page at JacketFlap.com is considered a "follower" too and will be included in the drawing.

Prizes in the drawing will include:

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15. At the End of the Day--My Top 12 Writing Tips

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By: Valerie Storey, on 11/15/2011
Blog: Valerie Storey, Writing at Dava Books (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  Collage, Nanowrimo, Freewriting, Magazine Cut-Outs, Add a tag

I can't believe I haven't blogged in over a month--disgraceful!  My only excuse is I am so consumed with Overtaken pre-pub I barely have time to eat or sleep, let alone blog.  But I've certainly missed you all. It's also been difficult for me to think of a blog-worthy topic right now, but since this is primarily a blog about writing, and we're in the middle of Nanowrimo (which I am NOT participating in this year, thank goodness) I thought I'd share some of my fave writing tips.  At the end of the day, when all is said and done, these are the ones that have always served me the best:

1.  Go for pages rather than word counts.  Yes, I know Nanowrimo is all about hitting that 50,000 word goal, but if you set yourself a number of pages per day first, you'll find you can surpass that final number, and ahead of time too,  During the rest of the year, watching your pages add up is, fo me, far more satisfying than stressing over a bloated word count.

2.  Break your writing sessions up into several sittings per day.  It's a bad idea to work on anything for longer than an hour without a break.  Writing is no exception.  Schedule your writing session for various times during the day (or night).  You'll be more productive.

3.  And break those sessions up too!  For instance, give yourself 15 minutes to freewrite, then stand up and get a drink of water.  Then take 15 minutes to write some more.  Stop, read a few magazine pages.  Then go for, say, 30 minutes...have lunch.  You get the picture.

4.  Write your first draft from start to finish--without editing.  While you're writing the first or discovery draft, try not to look back at your previous pages unless it's for something like a quick reminder of a character's name or the last thing he or she said when you put your pen down.

5.  Write your last scene first.  I've always thought it's important to know where I want my story to go.  I consider this last scene or page the equivalent of a life raft, something to swim toward when the going gets rough.

6.  Always diagram a "W" goal structure even if you have no other plot or outline, starting with:  What does my main character want, and why can't she/or he have it?   (For more information on the full "W" and what exactly it is, check out The Essential Guide for New Writers, From Idea to Finished Manuscript, currently on super sale at valeriestorey.com.)

7.  Write longhand whenever you can.  In my workshops I've always taught:  ideas come through our heads, pass through our hearts, and are expressed through our hands--with a brush, pen or pencil, or even a twig.  There's something very honest and fresh when we write by hand.  I also think it's much easier and more comfortable than any other method.

8.  Print out every draft.  Edit and rewrite from a paper version of your

1 Comments on At the End of the Day--My Top 12 Writing Tips, last added: 11/15/2011

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Anonymous said, on 11/15/2011 10:59:00 PM

You're such an inspiration. Thanks for excellent advice and for taking the time to share it with everyone. The way you live your life and share with others is an excellent example.

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16. Scenes from an Experimental Art Class

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By: Valerie Storey, on 7/12/2011
Blog: Valerie Storey, Writing at Dava Books (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  Creativity, Collage, Trust, Freewriting, Polyvore, Add a tag

 

For the last five weeks I've been taking an art class:  Experimental Drawing.  And what an experiment it's been!  The best way I can describe what we're doing is by calling it "free painting," the visual equivalent of "freewriting." 

Personally I've found the approach both difficult and oddly liberating--a constant struggle between wanting to create the "picture in my mind" and then having to give in to what the images dictate.  It's a lot like wanting to write a contemporary romance only to have it turn into a Norse saga in iambic pentameter with science fiction elements.  All you can do is stand back and say:  "Oooh-kaaay..."

On a more technical note, the materials we are using for this grand experiment include:

• Stonehenge and watercolor papers, as well as Bristol board.
• Acrylic paints.
• Watercolor paints.
• Pastels in both stick and loose, powdered forms.
• Acrylic mediums/grounds/gels.
• Fixative.  (Lots of fixative between each layer of pastel or paint.)
• Ink.
• Collage papers.
• Graphite pencils.
• And just about anything else that makes, or takes, a mark.

So here's my small gallery of works to date (including the picture at the top.  I like that one in particular because I threw in some words: "The Art of Placing."  I love combining text with visuals.)

3 Comments on Scenes from an Experimental Art Class, last added: 7/13/2011

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olivosartstudio said, on 7/12/2011 1:59:00 PM

Congratulations! The work is varied and good! My favorite is the black and white piece, second to that the one with text (I also love text in my work!).

I think work should speak for itself...yet so many people need the title to begin the story for them. We are now redoing our websites, and it drives me crazy that Sergio wants me to title all of my pieces.... I like for people to create their own stories/meaning within my artwork... so I think you are unto something into NOT looking for the meaning...just let them be. Each will mean something different to the viewer. Keep it up my friend!
hugs,
Claudia
@Olivosartstudio on twitter :D

Charlotte Fairchild said, on 7/13/2011 4:58:00 AM

Valerie, a Bird in The Hand! When I first saw the collage/art work, I thought--are those ship sails? No! They are finger joints!

Ted.com has a speaker who sings opera that looks like art. No music notation, but singing colors and "doodles." What would your art sound like if someone sang it?

crowingcrone said, on 7/13/2011 6:57:00 AM

good for you for stepping out of your comfort zone and doing something new and different. Looks and sounds like you're having fun with it.
walk in beauty.

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17. Getting Unstuck with Brainstorming

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By: Ken Baker, on 10/11/2010
Blog: Ken Baker: Children's Author (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  webbing, spidering, imagination, ideas, free writing, brainstorming, creative, clustering, freewriting, ballooning, mind mapping, listing, Add a tag

When you’re stuck for ideas in your writing, brainstorming is one of the best ways to get unstuck. There are a number of brainstorming techniques, but a few of the most popular ones include listing, free writing, what ifs, and webbing (aka spidering, mind mapping, ballooning, clustering).  No matter what technique you use, one of the most important things to remember when brainstorming is that there are no dumb ideas. When you brainstorm, you turn off your internal editor and write every idea that comes to you to allow your creative juices to flow freely.

Listing is perhaps the easiest brainstorming technique. As the name suggests, you simply make a list of every idea that comes to you. Listing can be particularly helpful if you have a general topic or idea of what you want to write about, but you need to get a little more specific. For example, you might want to write a story about dogs, so as fast as you can you start listing everything you know about dogs. Your list might start off something like this; bark, fleas, collar, drool, fetch, roll-over, food dish, snoopy, leash, Frisbee, and the list goes on.

Free writing is another great way to get the creative juices flowing. Sometimes we stare at a blank screen for so long, we condition ourselves to think we’ll never come up with a good idea. Free writing is a way to shove aside that negative thinking, by simply writing whatever comes to our mind. It can be words, whole sentences, paragraphs—whatever comes to our mind, we just type it, no matter how nonsensical or unrelated the thoughts are. Once again, you turn off your internal editor and let your imagination go free.

“What ifs” is a good technique to use in conjunction with listing and free writing. You can take some of the more interesting things from your list, and ask what if questions about those items, and free writing your thoughts or answers. For example, you could free write answers to the question what if dogs couldn’t bark?

Webbing or spidering is my favorite type of brainstorming, especially when it comes to creating and developing plots. Like the other techniques, with webbing you write down whatever ideas come to you, but you make visual connections between your different ideas. For example, to web a story idea about dogs that can’t bark, you write “dogs can’t bark” in the center of your paper and as you come up with your “what if” ideas, you write them down and connect a line between it and main your idea. If one of your new ideas sparks another idea, you draw a connecting line between those ideas, and you just keep writing and connecting ideas until you have what looks like a spider web of ideas or something like my picture at the top.

I like to use a whiteboard for my web brainstorm sessions, but the problem with whiteboards is that they aren’t permanent. But here are two easy ways to solve that. The first is to take a picture of your web. The second, which is my preferred method, is to enter your results into a webbing program like FreeMind, (a free mind mapping program). Or if you prefer, you can skip the whiteboard and just begin with the webbing or mind mapping software . My preference is to use a pen and whiteboard first. For some reason, my creative side seems to like the feel of a pen in my hand.

What are your favorite brainstorming techniques or tools?

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Janet said, on 10/11/2010 2:00:00 PM

You've got some great ideas. I like using the what if technique. Combining it with listing sounds even better, I will have to give it a try. Congratulations on your books getting published!

Catherine Stine said, on 10/11/2010 2:59:00 PM

Hi Ken
Good post. I mostly use freewrites, lists and Internet noodling, with a focus on researching my topic. (That's how I found your blog!) I'm following your blog now--wanna follow mine? Anyone welcome to!
catherinestine.blogspot.com

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18. One Continuous Mistake

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By: Lisa Alvarado, on 5/22/2008
Blog: La Bloga (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  how-to, writer's block, Palabra Pura, Zen, freewriting, poetry, poet, writing, Add a tag

In One Continuous Mistake, Gail Sher describes the four noble truths for writers, they being:

Writers write.
Writing is a process. You don’t know what your writing will be until the end of the process. If writing is your practice, the only way to fail is not to write.

She approaches writing as Zen practice by expressing the idea that having the “right” intention is the key to being a writer. By that she means having a regular practice of writing everyday and making a “single minded effort” to keep up the practice of writing. This single minded effort consists also of “plodding onward”, writing even when you don’t feel like it , are in a bad mood or outside distractions call you away from the practice.

Another reward of this effort is the deep satisfaction that comes from the regularity of the practice and the deep dissatisfaction that comes with abandoning it.

“I know a doctor who wishes he could teach literature. I know a lawyer who secretly writes children stories. I don’t know any writer, however, who hankers after an alternative profession. If you are a writer and you are writing, there may be problems but never doubt.”

Sher advocates that in order to be fully present during writing practice the peripheral aspects of the writer’s life must be managed properly so that there aren’t any distractions during the writing session. She explains that “right “ livelihood isn’t so much concerned with what a writer does for a living but what her “state of mind is able to cultivate while she does it.” A writer needs to find a job that supports her intention to write .

“While most writers understandably dream of making their living practicing their craft, there are advantages to making your living in other ways.” such as not be isolated and not being motivated by the money to get things completed but letting it find its own pace."

The bottom line to writing as practice is the ability to “be there, but out of the way”, to show up at the allotted time and allow the subconscious to flourish. The title of the book refers to the idea that writing, like life, is about learning from the inevitable mistakes and not allowing these mistakes to cause you to stop the practice. It's from these “mistakes” that the most exciting aspects and the richness of life emerge.

Lisa Alvarado

1 Comments on One Continuous Mistake, last added: 5/22/2008

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Anonymous said, on 5/22/2008 7:08:00 AM

Good post, Lis.

I'm going to try to adapt Sher's truths for my first graders.

RudyG

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19. Drawn to Enchant

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By: Aline Pereira, on 12/1/2007
Blog: PaperTigers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  Children's Books, Authors, Picture Books, Illustrators, Timothy G. Young, Erica S. Perl, Slate Magazine, Where Wild Things Come From, Add a tag

Timothy G. Young’s recently published Drawn to Enchant: Original Children’s Book Art in the Betsy Beinecke Shirley Collection, has enchanted Slate Magazine enough to publish an annotated slide show of works from the book. “Where the Wild Things Came From: How children’s books evolved from morals to madcap fun” offers up enticing examples of American book illustration for children over the years, along with opinionated commentary. Children’s book writer and blogger Erica S. Perl collaborated with Slate senior editor Emily Bazelon on the piece. Here’s more information on Designed to Enchant. Young is Associate Curator of the Modern Books and Manuscripts Collection at Yale University’s Beinecke Library.

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