I had two ideas earlier and they seemed to have collided: collect small piece for stories like characters, character traits, descriptions, scenes, situations, stories ideas, object, etc use index cards for note I think putting these story blocks onto cards will work better than putting them in a notebook or into a program of some…
Read MoreKeeping a Reading Journal
I’m taking up a new notebook—a second notebook that it. As it strikes me that I should maintain one place for thinking (which is my normal journal) and a reading notebook. The reading notebook is a companion to the books that I read because I’m tired of reading books, and discovering months later that I…
Read MoreNewsletters aren’t the Answer
I’m really finding twitter to be a useful tool for not only exposing myself to quality thought but for developing it. I hope I can get to a point where I have engaged, quality followers so that I can receive some input while in the creative phase. But, should I worry about investing a significant…
Read MoreWhen to Tweet and When to Blog
I know when I find myself googling something like “When to Tweet & When to Blog” I’m really hoping someone else has solved my problems and written about it. No such luck. Am I shorting myself by limiting some thoughts to a tweet? Or am I inflating myself by trying to stretch them into a…
Read MoreTime May Not Be the Problem
The question of Time continually rears it’s head. I did two episodes of Creative Minds on Time this season and I know it’s only a scratch or two on a very rough exterior. Time is an obstacle for us all. How do we find enough? How do we manage what we have? Why does it…
Read MoreCreative Poison
We all like to think that creative people are another class; that they exist on some higher plane than the rest of us where everything is easy and amusing. We like to think that they have a clear vision of what they are doing at all times; a clear vision of where they’re headed, and…
Read MoreFinding Lights On
As a creative exercise Lynda Barry often suggests people to vividly visualize a scene from their past. She suggests a granularity I had never considered with things like: look down at your feet & what do you see. This process has been something I find myself doing, not as a journaling habit but rather as…
Read MoreThanks-Give-In
Cold weather makes me anti-social. Ok. Yes, I’m already anti-social but cold weather makes it worse. And to be fair I’m not really anti-social so much as introverted. Many of you may not believe that I’m introverted but it is in fact true. They say that extroverts get their energy from talking to and being around…
Read MoreKnowing When To Stop
Neil Gaiman said in his 2012 Keynote Address at The University of the Arts: “…the biggest problem of success is that the world conspires to stop you doing the thing that you do, because you are successful. There was a day when I looked up and realised that I had become someone who professionally replied…
Read MoreThe Commonplace Book
I’ve always been the type of person who underlines things in books or collects quotes in abused spiral notebooks. As an early teen I used to read books of quotations and circle the ones that struck a chord with me. I always assumed I was just weird or that over a decade of Catholic school…
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