To any of my friends who still have a link to the former Nintendo gaming Tumblr blog, It’s Dangerous to Go Alone, which was formerly housed at the URL itsdangeroustogoalone.com (I’m looking at you, Jenn), or any of you that may have that site in their RSS feed reader, just a fair warning that the URL now appears to be in the hands of a spammer of some sort.
It is no longer mine. I gave it up willingly. Just thought you might do with a reminder.
Carry on.
Writing out chapter three of my novel longhand. Which is not ideal, because A) my handwriting is terrible, and B) my hand cramps up something fierce after only a few minutes of writing. But it’s marginally better than writing on my computer, which usually consists of roughly 2% writing, and 98% surfing Facebook and Tumblr. So this is a necessary evil.
Necessary, because I have exactly ZERO willpower.
Onward and upward.
Libraries are a good thing to support, I think. I am of the opinion that they may serve to decrease the level of ignorance in the world rather than increase it. We’re probably all set, ignorance-wise. I bet we could afford to go the other way for a while, see how that works. I do wish they had provided an explanation for the melting shoes, though.
The Public Library in Shutesbury, MA has made a movie that made me cry ACTUAL HUMAN TEARS OF HAPPINESS.
Support them, and support your local library.
That is all.
Our community is blessed with a pretty amazing library, but not every town is so lucky. Please support the efforts of this wonderful little community as they try to build a new center for independent learning and creativity. This sort of thing should be absolutely encouraged.
I’ve seem to be hitting writer’s block far too often now. My grade in my creative writing class is suffering because i don’t turn in anything because i’m never really satisfied with anything i do. all my good ideas seem to turn into bad ones once i write it down. How do you get pass writers block?You turn off your inner critic. You do not listen to your inner police force. You ignore the little voices that tell you that it’s all stupid, and you keep going.
Your grade isn’t suffering because your writing is bad, it’s suffering because you aren’t finishing things and handing them in.
So, finish them and hand them in. Even if a story’s lousy, you’ll learn something from it that will be useful as a writer, even if it’s just “don’t do that again”.
You’re always going to be dissatisfied with what you write. That’s part of being human. In our heads, stories are perfect, flawless, glittering, magical. Then we start to put them down on paper, one unsatisfactory word at a time. And each time our inner critics tell us that it’s a rotten idea and we should abandon it.
If you’re going to write, ignore your inner critic, while you’re writing. Do whatever you can to finish. Know that anything can be fixed later.
Remember: you don’t have to brilliant when you start out. You just have to write. Every story you finish puts you closer to being a writer, and makes you a better writer.
Blaming “Writer’s Block” is wonderful. It removes any responsibility from the person with the “block”. It gives you something to blame, and it sounds fancy.
But it’s probably more honest to think of it as a combination of laziness, perfectionism and Getting Stuck. If you’re being lazy, don’t be. If you’re being a perfectionist, don’t be. And if you’re stuck, figure out where the story went off the rails, or what you got wrong, or where you need to go deeper, or what you need to add to make it work, and then start writing again.
Yes, yes! A thousand times, a million times, YES.
THIS.
(For what it’s worth, I love that Neil’s thoughts very nearly parallel my own from a few years ago. Makes me feel good that a major author feels the same way about writer’s block that I do.)
The Most Astounding Fact by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked by a reader of TIME magazine, “What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?” This is his answer.
(via:crookedindifference)
Beautiful.
I’m trying out vellum surface bristol paper. I usually use smooth. I really like it for sketching, but I’m not sure how the textured surface will fare with inking. I’ll try that out later.
For now, consider this my week nine creative project.
There was a knowing look on Elder Ro’s face. A look that Logan instantly recognized. It was a look of pity. One that suggested to Logan that the Desdemonian elder likely felt at least some amount of sympathy for the young helpless boy whose father had been missing for far too many days. Logan hated pity. But living in a small village on a small planet, with small-minded people living equally small lives, it was unavoidable.
Quick excerpt from chapter two of the novel I’m writing with my son
I’ve mentioned before that my 9-year-old son and I are working on a fantasy novel together, aimed at his age range. I’ve just finished chapter two last night, clocking in at around 3,000 words at the moment. We’ve planned out 40 chapters, so at an average of 1,500 words per chapter, we could be looking at a 50k+ novel, which is a bit longer than I had intended (and some chapters will undoubtedly be longer than our introductory chapters). Editing will be tough on this project.
That’s why I intend to have a substantial amount of help with advance reading once the main story is completed. I will be calling on many of our friends and family, especially those with kids aged 9 through 12 or so, to read through the novel for us and suggest changes. It should be a big project, but I have no doubt that we have many gracious and heavy-reading friends who would be willing to help once we get to that point.
In the meantime, it’s back to writing. I’ll be posting a short excerpt a bit later.
The book is a Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler-inspired murder mystery set in Heaven. Imagine central casting for a 1930s detective novel juxtaposed with all the strange and terrifying members of the heavenly choir: Angels, Archangels, Principalities, Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Virtues, Seraphim, Cherubim… Swell dames and femmes fatales, dirty priests and the Voice of God.
Ian Tregillis describes his new novel, “Something More Than Night”, that will come out after the conclusion of his Milkweed series. Sounds phenomenal.
Here’s an idea I’m just going to throw out there, considering it’s 2012. If you can draw and you have the equivalent brainpower of a creative six year old, try making up your own characters. Then draw them doing interesting things. Post those stories online, develop an audience and charge $75 to sketch your own characters at cons.
Scott Kurtz may be a jerk from time to time, but he’s a very SMART jerk. And as far as this particular situation is concerned, he’s absolutely right.
