Quilt Update

In my One Thing post I showed you a pile of fabric that scared me; here's the pieced quilt top I made out of it. I cut all of the pieces on an 18" cutting mat and sewed it freehand on my Singer. I faced the demon and stitched it into submission. It took me almost a week.

And it's lovely, and fulfilling, and looks a lot like Minecraft, am I right? Yeah, that was my first thought, too. Oh well.

I make one big quilt every year, and this will definitely be that. It's huge. At one point I had the whole thing in my lap while adding the last rows because it's too large for my work table, and I was almost buried in fabric. I still worried the whole time I was stitching, but the making of a quilt brings on this calming determination in me that let me get through the nervous jitters.

There's always good and bad in every project. Like too many light- and medium-gray spaces in this, despite my adding some prints. Some of my piecing is off-kilter, for which I have to blame my inability to cut fabric straight. When you're trying to cut a 27-1/2" rectangle on an 18" mat, things get crooked. I also had to fudge some seams. But that's okay. I'm planning to do a little embroidery work in the big blank areas. My piecing is always a little skewed, and my seams are never perfectly matched. I still love all the green, and the fish, wood and stone panels make me very happy. It's not too far from the quilt I saw in my head.

I'm proud of myself for trying. I won't let this quilt go until it's finished, even if it ends up looking like an advertisement for Minecraft, because that's how stubborn I am.

I'm not afraid of this quilt anymore. It actually made me laugh when I spread the finished top out for the first time, and saw nothing but Minecraft. My daughter loves that game, as it happens. And it's funny that it resembles it. If it still does when I finished quilting and binding it, so be it.

I'll enjoy the process. I'll finish what I've started. And I will learn from this quilt, just as I have all the others I've made.

No one can give you creative freedom; you have to pursue it. Fear and doubt will try to stop you from attaining your goals, always. We don't want what we do to end up being a bad joke. But sometimes it does anyway. Nothing ventured etc.

I'll keep you all updated as I continue to work on it, and let you see the end results.

Recomposition Book #1

Before I get into the details of my first composition book makeover, I should explain the slightly-off weirdness of the pictures I took. On the day I started this project the little video display window on the fancy new Nikon my guy bought me last year stopped working. Basically I had to point the camera and shoot blind, then download the pictures before I knew how they came out. Fortunately Target has a very nice return policy; they took back the camera and gave me a brand-new replacement without a bit of fuss.

Onto the project: for this one I kept it very simple and uber-green by raiding the paper recycling bin for two pieces of the thin cardboard (mine were inserts from two of the wall calendars I bought for this year), a wallpaper border remnant, and a piece of pretty scrapbook paper. I also used a paper trimmer, scissors, a small paintbrush and some washable school glue:



The covers of the composition book are really flimsy card stock, so I needed to reinforce them first. I cut the two cardboard pieces to fit the front and back covers, glued them on, and let the notebook dry overnight (and to keep everything from warping I sandwiched the notebook between two bigger, much heavier books):



I fit the wallpaper border remnant as the outside cover for both the front and back covers, and folded the ends over inside before I glued that on and left it to dry overnight:



I then covered the insides of the front and back covers with pieces of the scrapbooking paper, glued that down, and left that to dry overnight:



Here's the end result:



I liked how elegant the composition book looks now, and it's certainly sturdier. I was especially happy to finally use that wallpaper border remnant, which is one I found when we moved into this house (the previous owner's wife had them decorating the ceilings in practically every room.) I also didn't have to cut the wallpaper to fit; it was the perfect size for the covers.

More recomposition idea linkage:

Dream a Little Bigger has a tutorial here on how to re-cover a composition book.

Ashley Hackshaw has a post here about turning a composition book into an art journal.

Ellison Lane has directions here on how to sew a quilted cover for a composition book.

Momtastic has instructions here on how to give a composition book a chalkboard cover.

Recomposition

One project I started but never finished last year was making over a standard school composition book. I got as far as buying the materials before work dragged me away. It's actually good that I stayed too busy to go back to it, as my initial idea was pretty complicated. While doing some pre-spring cleaning in the office this week I found these two extras:



The composition book, also known as a copy book, study book, student book and a lot of other regional terms, is one of the few things I loved about school. I always had one with me, and they often kept me out of trouble. After using the first couple of pages for schoolwork I would devote the rest of the pages to journaling, short stories and even some sketches. I wouldn't have wasted the first pages except they made excellent camouflage for when the teacher would walk by my desk (which is how they kept me out of trouble.) I still get a warm, fuzzy feeling every time I see one. I think my mom used to buy them for five or ten cents each.

Composition books remain pretty cheap; I always see them at dollar stores, and the two I have here I got on sale at Target last January for fifty cents each. Let's see what I can do with them this week to make them less schoolgirlish and more fun.

Write Noise

Some people have a tough time doing certain things (working out, writing, sleeping,) in complete silence. While I prefer to write in silence, I find rain sounds (especially with thunder) knock me out better than any sleep aid, and I tend to sew better if I'm listening to the some ambient bird or garden sounds.

If you're looking for the same, here are some links for you:

Ambient-Mixer.com not only has a ton of ambient soundtracks for you to listen to, it also allows you to mix your own.

Calm Sound offers a nice variety of nature sounds along with accompanying videos; the relaxing mix is my favorite.

For when you can't get outdoors, here are 11 hours of sounds from an English garden.

Fresh daily rain sounds site Rainy Mood claims rain makes everything better. I think they're absolutely right.

Simply Noise offers three types of ambient sound -- white, pink and brown (I love the brown, actually.) They also explain why they labeled the sounds with colors.

Soundrown.com offers ten ambient sounds for you to listen to (and you can combine them by enabling more than one.)

This Youtube fireplace video allows you to watch as well as listen to the flames.

Waterfalls are natural white-noise generators; here's a Youttube video with fourteen minutes of waterfall sounds.

Rain on Demand

I am one of those weird people who love to fall asleep to the sound of a thunderstorm (probably because I grew up in the lightning capitol of the U.S.) With or without the thunder, nothing relaxes me faster than the sound of rain, too.

So you can imagine how happy I was to discover this neat site that allows you to listen to rain and some nature sounds in various degrees of intensity. Move your cursor up and the screen and the sounds become lighter; move it down and you get the full roar of a big thunderstorm. I've kept the window opened but minimized on my browser and listened to it through my headphones while I'm working on the blog or e-mail, and it's very soothing.

I found the link over at diddlydarnthatcrapisnifty, which has some other interesting anti-stress sound and art generator links up for grabs.

Challenge Your Traditions

Every Spring I make new herbal sachets to put in the closets and drawers around the house. It's one of my favorite annual creative projects, and it keeps our small spaces pleasantly fragrant, so I pretty much do the same thing every year: make up little bundles of herbs and spices, sew them into little decorative pillows and bead or beribbon them to death. It's riveting stuff, I know. Next week I'll tell you what I do to get grass stains out of jeans.

This year I started out the same way I usually do, but after I made a couple of sachets I felt a little frustrated with myself. Traditions are great but they can also get really boring. My sachets might be pretty, but after a year they lose their scent and are basically rendered useless, so I always have to replace them. Problem is, there is really only one way to make a sachet. What I needed to do was change my sachet design to be more green.

I like to challenge myself to change things up, even with my best beloved creative traditions, so I went to JoAnn to get some ideas. While I was debating between putting button flaps or zippers in the back of my sachets I spotted this bundle in the bargain bin:



Six canvas mini-totes for ninety-seven cents was a nice bargain, although they were so small they wouldn't be practical for anything but maybe a tiny gift bag, or a doll purse, or a gift card holder, or . . .



Yep, I made them into sachet totes. Inside each one is a little lace packet of herbs and spices:



Thanks to the tote handles, I can also hang them in different places:





The open top of the sachet tote allows the fragrance to permeat the space where I put them. I love to make totes so that's not a problem, and next year, when it's time to replace my sachets, all I have to do is empty and then refill the lace packets. Nothing wasted, nothing thrown away, and since I used scraps from other sewing projects to make the totes this half-dozen cost exactly ninety-seven cents to make -- you can't even buy them for that little.

As writers we develop traditions with how we work, and this is not a bad thing. Having a routine process generally helps consistency and productivity. Yet no matter how much you love that process, every now and then it's a good idea to take a step back and evaluate not only what you're doing but how you're doing it. Challenging yourself to change may feel scary at first, but the only way to grow is to try something new. Your traditions won't go anywhere, so if you want something better, you have to.

Juniper Moon CSA Shares

This year I became a CSA share holder in Juniper Moon, an organic, no-kill farm that produces yarn and fiber from humanely-treated sheep and goats. I first read about Juniper Moon in Country Living magazine, and it's exactly the sort of enterprise I like to support. Also, I just thought it would be cool to get some yarn directly from the source.

In return for investing in the farm I receive a share of their clip, which arrived last week:



The wool is a lovely creamy white, and still smells like the sheep at the farm (this is because while it's beautifully milled it's not washed, and arrives with all the lanolin still intact.) To get it ready for my project, I had to first wash it in some Dawn and rinse with vinegar:



Once the skeins were clean they fluffed up quite a bit, as you can see from when I put them out on the back porch to dry:



After drying them in the sunshine I then began winding them up into balls (for crocheting it's easier for me to work with a ball versus a skein):



Now every morning I'm using my yarn to work on a holiday project. Crocheting is something I can usually do without thinking about it, especially if I use a simple, in-the-round pattern that I can easily memorize. This also gives me time/space to think about the current WIP and all my other writing projects, or just relax and think about nothing at all.

As you might guess with my crabby fingers it's slow going, but that's fine; I'm in no hurry. The wool is amazingly light and has a very smooth hand, and while now and then I have to pick out a stray dark hair or a tiny bit of grass it's been a lot of fun to use. As to what I'm making, you'll have to wait and see, but here's one block to give you a hint:

Recycle X 5: Bookmark Keeper

I have a collection of several hundred paper bookmarks, and the one thing that plagues me is how often they get misplaced (and that's my fault for leaving them in books, dropping them on a stack of papers, etc.) Over time most of my bookmarks also become dinged, bent or crumpled because I didn't store them in a protective fashion. It's even worse when I make some bookmarks, put them in a safe place and then promptly forget where that safe place is.

My next recycled cardboard project, a bookmark keeper, solves all those problems and requires only basic supplies. It's also easy enough for anyone to do. Here's what you'll need:



A piece of 10" X 14" cardboard folded or preforated in the middle (two 5" X 7" pieces also work)
Decorative papers to cover the cardboard on both sides
Glue stick
Scissors
Three binder clips (four if you're using two separate pieces of cardboard)

To begin, Cover one side of your cardboard piece(s) with your glue stick:



Place the decorative paper you want on the outside to the glued side of the carboard piece(s); if you're using one piece fold in half to create a spine crease:



Cut out a square notch in the paper at all corners. If you're using one piece of folded cardboard, also make a vertical cut in the flaps at each end of the fold:



Apply glue stick to the inside of your flaps, then fold them over onto the inside of your carboard:



Glue two more pieces of decorative papers to cover the inside of the carboard and the edges of your flaps:



Let everything dry flat, then place your bookmarks inside:



Close your keeper and use the binder clips to secure the open sides:



Related links:

Recycle X 5: Note Pads

Interioraholic has some of the most fascinating project designs made from recycled cardboard here.

Recycle X 5: Note Pads

A couple of months back I preordered some art books for my kid, and last week they finally arrived. I try to recycle all the boxes and packing materials I receive via my own shipping, but this package came with a strange mound of five folded cardboard filler pieces:



Generally I toss pieces like this in my paper recycling box to use for mailing photos I don't want bent or as frame backing, but these pieces are all brand-new, and the way they're folded and preforated intrigued me. I decided to make them my next recycle/upcycle project, and challenge myself to find five different ways to make them into something else.

The first idea I had involved the most banged-up, creased piece:



I carefully separated it down the middle along the preforartions:



I then got some old manuscript pages from my paper recycling box and cut them in half:



Using one side of my three-hole punch, I punched two centered holes in the top of the carboard pieces and the short end of my trimmed papers:



To put them together, I thought about using binder rings, ribbons or even some twist ties. Then I remembered I had some of the larger size of Tim Holtz's Idea-ology brads leftover from another project, and grabbed those:



Together the brads, paper and cardboard pieces make two nice refillable note pads (of which I can never have enough):



Making your own notepads saves money, recycles used paper and even junk mail; all you need is something with a blank side. You can also customize this easy project with your own touches by covering the cardboard with pretty fabric or paper and/or using different-colored paper and bindings for the note part.

Stayed tuned in the weeks ahead for more ideas on how to recycle cardboard into writer stuff as I use up the other pieces.

Creative Collisions

A first-time reader e-mailed to ask if Christian Lang, the female protagonist in Nightbred, was named after the male protagonist of that very popular, allegedly Twilight fanfic-based, book that everyone but me has read. While it's true they have the same first name, I used it first, beginning in 2006 when Chris first appeared as a character in Dark Need, book three of the original Darkyn series. Not that it matters to anyone but me, but she's also named for one of my nieces. I'm quite glad that when I created her character I didn't also decide to use Gray, a family surname, for my Chris.

This type of creative collision happens infrequently, but when it does it can create a lot of stress for the writer. I'm fortunate that I have public creative provenance on my use of the name; no one can argue with a published book with an earlier copyright date. But what if I was a writer who had yet to be published, and what if I had used Gray instead of Lang? Is that okay?

Before I answer that, let's talk about the legalities surrounding the commercial use of names. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, a trademark is "a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others." Names can be trademarked to protect a brand and to prevent others from using them, and I believe (and I'm not an attorney, so don't quote me on this) that is the only way you make any name you create exclusively yours.

You've probably heard that copyright protects anything you write from the moment you create it, and it does, with an important but. Copyright protection applies to the entire work, not individual names or titles used in the work (as stated in this Copyright Basics .pdf from the U.S. Copyright Office, which breaks down the federal law in simple language.)

Creative collisions in the Publishing industry aren't quite as black and white as trademarks and copyright. Most ethical publishers try to avoid or prevent creative collisions, especially among in-house authors. This happened to me when I titled my third Kyndred novel Winterfire, which by complete coincidence was the same title author Jo Beverly used for a historical novel that was being reprinted within the same year. My editor let me know about the collision, at which point I contacted the author myself to let her know about it. She was very gracious and had no objection to me using the same title, and no doubt there would have been zero shelf confusion. I prefer to use original titles for my work, however, so in the end I decided to change it to Frostfire to eliminate the collision.

I've heard tales of editors encouraging writers to lift names or titles from authors who work for other houses, and I wanted to comment on this, too. I've worked for a lot of publishers, and I've never once had any of my editors tell me to do that, but it's possible that it happens among the less ethical. It's not fair, and it's unpleasant when it happens to you, but it's not illegal. Bottom line, there is nothing we can do about it, so my advice is to stop worrying about things you can't control or change, and always try to be original with your work.

Which brings us to how the writer should deal with being on the downside of a creative collision. Let's go back to my little creative collision of Christian Lang with that other Christian. This time we'll pretend I'm an unpublished writer who has been tinkering with my manuscript Nightbred for some time now. For the sake of argument, let's also imagine I named my character Christian Gray when I started working on the story back in 2006, and have only just now discovered the existence of the book I haven't read with the more notorious Christian. I love my character's name and I can't think of them as anyone else. What do I do?

If I were me (which I am) I'd change the name. Oh, in a heartbeat, without a second thought. For one thing, I don't think I'm going to get my Christian Gray past any ethical editor I submit to; they're going to assume that a) I'm trying to hitch my story wagon to a very popular novel, b) I'm clueless as to what's going on in the market or c) I have no imagination. That's definitely a concern as we want to show editors we are original versus knockoff artists, but it's not my primary motive to make the change.

No matter how much it hurts, I'd rather retrain my brain to think of the character by a different name than have my work even accidentally associated by any reader with that other Christian and that other author. This is where you get to the core of who you are as a writer. I'm seriously invested in being original, so I'm willing to sacrifice just about anything to protect my work and to keep it free of any creative collisions.

Finally, when you get into a situation like this, think about what's most important to you. I know how attached we get to characters; to us their names aren't simply words on a page. We bring them to life, we get to know them, and we live with them in our heads for months and even years at a time. Often they can seem as real to us as a member of the family or close friend. The resistance to change is natural; you'd never rename your brother or your Dad or your best pal. But remember what Shakespeare said about roses? Whatever you call them, their beautiful fragrance doesn't change. Same goes for your character. Take it from me, a writer who still occasionally thinks of her two most popular characters as Vanessa and Jacques-Sebastien (and if you're scratching your head, that's what I originally named Alexandra Keller and Michael Cyprien.)

Battling

For once the other day things were going fine. I caught up on my chores and made my guy's favorite dinner (which he deserves because he works in retail and for him every day from now until Christmas is a bad day.) I also took the pups out for a long walk and had a chat with a friend who's out of work and needs the moral support. I felt great and was ready to knock out some words. Only the minute I sat down to write crickets began chirping in my head.

Besides the crickets there was nothing. I had plenty to write, but no idea on where to start or what to put on the page. My brain flatly refused to cough up a single word of fiction.

Sometimes I do go blank like that, like the page I'm not writing, and there are a couple of ways I shake it off: I get up and walk around for a few minutes, or I listen to a song from my novel playlist, or I fold laundry or do some other mindless task. Then I go back and try again, and usually that works.

Not this time. I repeated my shake-it-off routine until I ran through everything that usually works and I was still drawing the blank.

I have a long-standing agreement with my creative side; I do not abuse it and it does not bail on me. Even now and then one of us violates that agreement, and then it's time to engage more directly. When I overwork my creative side, it messes up everything I do until I take a break. When my creative side runs out on me, I go after it and drag it back to work.

When all my gentler methods fail, I sit down and start typing story. What comes out on the page is always boring and mechanical and about as much fun to write as an obituary. My internal editor immediately rears her pointy little head and starts blowing raspberries at the page. I churn on, typing whatever makes sense because I know writing badly is not just bad writing, it's bait.

My creative side is smug, full of herself and generally thinks she can do no wrong -- she has to be that way, and I accept it because she makes the magic happen. I'm just the dumb assistant who does the grunt work, and that's all I'm ever going to be, and that's fine because I know what every other stage hand knows: can't have a show without the stage.

The time I spend writing absolute crap varies; sometimes it's an hour of plodding, other times it's a few minutes. At some point in the process of typing, my creative side shows up to have a look. If she had any sense at all she'd let me trudge on for hours, but no, Ms. Busybody can't stay away. Naturally she zeroes on something particularly lame so she can sneer and make fun of it.

I let her have a few snickers as I back away from the page and let her get in front of me. See, I've got her now, and I know what she's going to do: tell me how to rewrite it. Which I do, and then continue on until she makes another snide suggestion, and another, and then loses all patience with me, pushes me aside and takes over from there. No matter how many blank cards I draw, writing through them until the creativity shows up and takes over always works.

How do you get your creativity to kick in when it wants nothing to do with you? Let us know in comments.

Little Ideas

I've gone and fallen in love with Tim Holtz's idea-ology line of art products, which a steampunk-loving friend introduced me to a few months back as inspiration for my jewelry-making as well as my 1K Cards Project.  The line mixes antique, metal and artful grunge themes and materials to create that industrial chic that mixed media artists love, and offers unique materials to play with that I think readers and writers can have fun becoming idea-ologists, too.  And since Jo-Ann has practically the entire line on sale this week for 30% off, I thought I'd share some of what I'm doing with my stash (and you can click on any image to see a larger version.

If you've ever wanted to play with a paper version of magnetic poetry, this pad of chitchat stickers is sheer perfection.  The pad features 1088 tiny word stickers printed with words in a typewriter-style font; you get two sets (six pages total) of the words, half on white and half on grocery bag-brown card stock backgrounds.  I used my pad to compose some ATCs for the project, and found that the words stick very nicely, even to a metal surface.  $4.99 for the pad; I paid $3.49 for it on sale at Jo-Ann.

These metal philosophy tags by idea-ology come in a set of twelve, and feature a single inspirational word along with some numbers so they resemble old fashioned stamped key tags.  They're great for jewelry-making and innumberable art projects; I've already used a dozen to make some steampunk pieces.  If you string them like medals I bet these would make fun awards for any creative club.  I bought another set to use them as anchors for some promotional BookLoops; $4.99 regular price, got mine on sale for $3.49 at Jo-Ann.

I've always looked around for a not-childish set of of mini alphabet flash cards to use with my art projects, and here's one that comes with 72 count (mostly letters but numbers 1-9, too.)  These will help spell out a set of 26 ATCs I'm making to pay homage to back-to-school month, but you can also use them to embellish journal covers and pages, to creatively tab a novel notebook or anything you keep in alphabetical or numerical order.  $3.99 regular price; Jo-Ann has them for $2.79.

If you like the look of vintage film strip, this spool of mini transparent plastic movie frames is beyond cool.  It feels and looks like the real thing, and when used as a border for matted photos or journal pages adds a neat antique look.  I do want to mention that because it's made of plastic this ribbon remains in a curly state (you experienced mixed-media artists probably know some clever way to use a hair dryer or something to solve that) so it isn't very glue-friendly, but I secured my photo border on the ends with double-sided foam tape, which worked fine.  This spool was a gift from my pal, but I checked Jo-Ann's web site and they have it for $3.49 on sale.

What I like most about this product line is that nothing costs an arm and a leg; the materials only look like they do.  For example, with the philosophy tags I can make a dozen cool BookLoops for under $5 (a spool of organdy ribbon from the dollar store + the 12 tags as anchors = $4.49 total.) Tim Holz also has some instructional videos here that show you more creative ways to use some of the other idea-ology products.

I'd also like to share some of the idea-ology wealth, so in comments to this post name a creative way you'd like to use one of these products (or if you can't think of one, just toss your name in the magic hat) by midnight EST tonight, September 14, 2012.  I'll draw one name at random from everyone who participates, and send the winner one set of all the products I've mentioned in this post (the chitchat pad,the philosophy tags, the mini alphabet deck and the movie frames ribbon.)  This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

Design Your Own

As much as I love shopping for fabric, I've always wanted to design my own. In the past I've produced some original swatches by printing via laserjet onto photofabric, and by hand dyeing or painting white cotton and muslin, but I've never had a chance to design and produce actual yardage.

I have some promo projects in mind for next year that would be better if I could design the fabric involved, so I checked my quilting-related bookmarks, and found a site called Spoonflower that I had never really investigated. I think when I first visited it my old computer wouldn't let me access or use the design generator pages.

Fortunately this time around I got into them, and in about five minutes had a finished design based on this photograph I took of two of my roses back in 2009:



I liked how the design came out so much that I ordered a yard of it, which I think will also give me a decent firsthand look at the quality of fabric Spoonflower produces from uploaded designs (and once it arrives I'll report more on that.) If this works out well I will definitely be doing more of this for future personal and promo projects.

While cruising around the Spoonflower site I also noted they have regular themed contests for fabric designs (winners are awarded a nice-sized credit toward Spoonflower purchases) and they also sell your designed fabric in their marketplace (designers get 10% of the sale price, paid to them in site purchase credits or as straight payments via Paypal.) Since there is no cost involved in putting your design up for sale -- the site does everything for you but design it -- this could be a neat way for you creative souls out there to earn some extra income.

29 Ways

This could be a creativity barometer for anyone out there (warning for those at work, there's some background music):

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

For those of you who are having problems watching these videos, here's the list of the 29 ways to stay creative as mentioned in the video:

1. Make lists.
2. Carry a notebook everywhere.
3. Try free writing.
4. Get away from the computer.
5. Quit beating yourself up.
6. Take breaks.
7. Sing in the shower.
8. Drink coffee.
9. Listen to new music.
10. Be open.
11. Surround yourself with creative people.
12. Get feedback.
13. Collaborate.
14. Don't give up.
15. Practice, practice, practice.
16. Allow yourself to make mistakes.
17. Go somewhere new.
18. Count your blessings.
19. Get lots of rest.
20. Take risks.
21. Break the rules.
22. Don't force it.
23. Read a page of the dictionary.
24. Create a framework.
25. Stop trying to be someone else's perfect.
26. Got an idea? Write it down.
27. Clean your workspace.
28. Have fun.
29. Finish something.

I never do memes, do I? Facebook and Twitter kind of killed the meme, I think. Okay, just this once: if you're looking for something to blog about, copy the video and the list, bold the items on the list that you're already doing, cross off the ones that don't work for you, and star the ones you'd like to try.

Here's my meme version of the list:

1. Make lists.
2. Carry a notebook everywhere.
3. Try free writing.
4. Get away from the computer.
5. Quit beating yourself up.*
6. Take breaks.
7. Sing in the shower.
8. Drink coffee.
9. Listen to new music.
10. Be open.*
11. Surround yourself with creative people. (well, I do virtually)
12. Get feedback.*
13. Collaborate.
14. Don't give up.
15. Practice, practice, practice.
16. Allow yourself to make mistakes.
17. Go somewhere new.
18. Count your blessings.
19. Get lots of rest.*
20. Take risks.
21. Break the rules.
22. Don't force it.
23. Read a page of the dictionary.*
24. Create a framework.
25. Stop trying to be someone else's perfect.
26. Got an idea? Write it down.
27. Clean your workspace.
28. Have fun.
29. Finish something.

Video link brazenly swiped from Kuriositas.

Reinventing the Bookmark

One unusual step I took with promotion for After Midnight was to hire a student artist in high school to create the artwork for my bookmarks (click on the image to see a larger version.) It was a great time-saver for me and I'm quite pleased with the results, and I think going through the commission process gives young artists a chance to experience what it's like to work as a pro and create on demand.

As a reader and a writer I've been casually collecting bookmarks for years. I have every kind of paper bookmark there is, along with cloth, metal, ceramic and glass specimens. Some of my bookmarks double as magnifiers, calculators, book lights, to-do lists and even mini-calendars. I've also designed, printed and even sewn my own, but I've never really found the ultimate/ideal/perfect bookmark.

My latest acquisition is the Booksling, an elastic bungie-type bookmark that also has end slots that hold two pens (handy when you're reading Larissa Ione's newest bestseller, need to make notes for a blog post about it, and your kids keep swiping your pen.) I like the Booksling, although it's a bit awkward to use with paperbacks. While the $4.99 price tag is a bit high, it's made of well constructed, sturdy materials and will probably outlast me.

I don't really know what I'd consider the perfect bookmark. I like the artiness of those bead-and-string book thongs, but they tend to slither out of the pages too easily. Bungie or clip-on type bookmarks stay in place better, but sometimes leave tears in the pages. Bookmarks that perform extra/electronic functions have the gadgetry appeal, but usually require those tiny little watch batteries that I can never seem to replace without consulting NASA. Laminated bookmarks inevitably part at the edges, paper bookmarks get scratched, torn, wrinkled, etc. (I did find some metal bookmarks from WellspringGift.com that I thought would be indestructible, but discovered they're also prone to scratch and bend.)

For right now I'm sticking to traditional card stock bookmarks, although I'm experimenting with printing them on different types of photopaper. As for the perfect bookmark, I might as well try designing one myself. Cloth is my thing, and in the past I've dabbled in making beaded/quilted bookmarks, so I think I'll start there. I have a vague notion of somehow combining a paperback book cover with a bookmark that might be interesting. If nothing else I'll have fun with it.

What's your favorite type of bookmark? What would you consider the perfect design to mark your reading places? Let us know in comments.

Creative Places

Any time I have an especially chaotic week I try to take a couple hours and escape to the water. When I've had a choice of where I lived I've always picked a place within driving distance of some coast. While I prefer the Atlantic to the Pacific, I think one of the reasons I was so productive as a writer when I lived in California was half the state is just one long beach. I never had to drive more than twenty minutes to be in a creative place.

A creative place is exactly what it says: a place where you can be creative. This is not the same as a writing space, workroom or wherever you choose to practice your art. A creative place is not about the doing of the work; it's a place that inspires you and gives you the time and space to think without the demands of your life and the rest of the world intruding or distracting you.

I know why my creative places are always around water. Water seems to be my natural element, and not just because I grew up in South Florida. For some reason the sight, sound, smell and feel of water has always rejuvenated me. When I need to quickly relax, I take a shower or a bath. When my insomnia is at its worst, playing a CD with the sound of ocean waves, a rushing stream or a rainstorm is the only thing that can help me fall asleep. The only place I've ever visited that completely creeped me out on every level was the desert.

Moving away from the sea to a place where lakes are the only significant bodies of water proved to be quite an adjustment, and at first I didn't like it at all. There is no comparison between walking along the beach and hanging out by a lake where 90% of the water's edges are on private property. Also, lakes don't smell the same, there aren't any seashells to pick up and the only waves that come in are from boaters who ignore the no-wake signs.

Driving and photography helped change my mind. I found a seldom-traveled road by one of the big lakes that quickly became a favorite route when I wanted to look at the water, plants and birds without being charged with trespassing. The first time I photographed a sunset over a lake, the light and the sky and the water conspired to blow my mind. Unlike the sea, lake water is generally calm, sometimes enough to act like a mirror.

Lakes, I quickly learned, are also very quiet, private places. You can't escape the hordes of noisy, nosy tourists at most beaches, while lakes are almost always deserted. When you can find the right spot on an empty public dock or in a small lakeside park, the solitude and silence can feel welcoming, as if the lake is lonely and wants you to pause and relax and think just to keep it company.

I've grown to love lakes so much that I've had to turn in my beach snob card, but I don't mind. I needed to reconnect with the water. I'm always finding new lakeside spots and retreats to love, and over the last couple of years have amassed a nice collection of places to go when I need some time to myself. Occasionally I'll take work with me if I'm planning to be there a while, but most of the time I just got to sit and look at the water and soak up the peace. That's when I get my best ideas, when I'm away from everything that buzzes and rings and demands my attention. If there were such a thing as an ivory tower, I'd build mine next to a lake.

Finding a creative place of your own isn't that difficult; you probably already have one. It doesn't have to be an outdoors spot, either; it could be an art museum, a library, a porch, a spare bedroom, a tea room or a little coffee shop. Where and what it is doesn't matter; it's your place. All it has to provide is the room for your creative side to bloom.

Now it's your turn: where do you go when you need some creative space?

3 Mags

The Feb/Mar/Apr 2011 issue of Artful Blogging is not only visually gorgeous -- the cover art made me want to immediately go and dye a batch of Easter eggs -- but also has an impressive collection of motivational articles by art bloggers. I always like the photographers who write for this one, as they regularly prod me into trying more things with my camera. This month Pink Picket Fence proprietor Chris Carleton has me taking my Canon off auto-mode and again trying some of the other settings I wasn't as comfortable with (so I can blame her for all the blurry pics I will likely be snapping. At least for the first week.)

This magazine is a great spirit booster when you feel mired down by the negative energy that so often spreads like a bleak plague around the online writing community. Whether you're an artist or a writer or knitter or whatever, making the choice to focus on your art and go Renaissance with your creative life can make your work better, richer, more meaningful and definitely so much more fulfilling. And why bother? Well, Angela J. Reed, whose blog is called Parisienne FarmGirl, sums it all up with two lines: You cannot turn off a creative brain. You simply can't. Amen, homegirl.

For those of you who are handy with a needle or sewing machine, the Winter 2011 Sew Somerset issue is chock full of mixed-media creative sewing projects, from themed journals to scrap bookmarks. I know, it's all about the e-readers these days, but you can get a lot of satisfaction out of hand making your own books and journals. These are skills which might also come in handy if we ever get hit with a massive cosmic EMP that turns all the electronic gadgets and machinery in the world into useless junk. Hey, it could happen.

I thought Connie Freedman's how-to article A Bundle of Bindles was particularly cool, and has me thinking of ways I can translate one of my poems that way (a bindle used to be that knotted cloth sack on the end of a stick sported by hobos and runaway children in cartoons; in this incarnation it's a little cloth pocket in which you put a small necessity or treasure. Connie made a small bindle sewing kit themed to the song Do-Re-Mi.) I'm also wondering if there's someway I make a set of bindle bookmarks or ATCs. I like the projects published by Sew Somerset because they're usually pretty simple and small-scale. That means you won't spend weeks or months working on a single project while attempting to master difficult techniques and investing in a lot of pricey supplies you'll never use again.

I'm fond of creative projects that incorporate recycling and repurposing, which is also the theme of my quilting guild challenge this year, so I've been keeping an eye out for the Spring 2011 issue of GreenCraft. (Warning: if you're a arts/crafts snob this mag will probably seem hokey to you, but then, it's really not written for your end of the market.)

Jeannine Stein, the author of Re-Bound: Creating Handmade Books from Recycled and Repurposed Materials and the upcoming Adventures in Bookbinding: Handcrafting Mixed-Media Books also has an article in this issue: Repurposed Paper: Stitched that shows a couple of different, neat notebooks you can make from stuff you probably have sitting around the house. One of her photos of a gift wrapped in an old dressmaking pattern sheet made me feel vindicated, as recycled gift wrap is one of my latest obsessions (do you want to know how many Simplicity patterns from the sixties and seventies that I've saved that I never used, or will never use again? No, you really don't.)

By Chance or By Change

While we were fiddling with the computers on New Year's Eve, I noticed for the first time that the date for the first day of 2011 was 1/1/11. I'm not superstitious about numbers or dates, but seeing all those ones lined up seemed like a poke from the cosmos: Pay attention, this is important. Or maybe it was just the universe's way of nudging me to watch The One movie again. Been meaning to do that; I love Jet Li.

Rather than get all wrapped up in the concept of one (the cosmos is never that obvious) I decided to be on the lookout during New Year's Day for four things that would inspire me. Using the world as a creative navigator is one of my favorite things to do, and I thought it would be fun to see what directions the universe thought I should take for the next year.

The first one came as I went to file a bookmark I'd made for my readers. I put it together from a photograph I'd taken of one of our pines, and a haiku that I wrote on Christmas Day. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out, so I wanted to save it. Then I opened the filing cabinet and found that my 2010 poetry folder was empty. While the haiku wasn't the only poem I wrote last year, it was the only one I thought was good enough to print out, share and save. I know poetry makes me a better writer, and one resolution I'd been thinking about was making a conscious effort to write more verse in 2011. Looked like the universe agreed with me, so #1 -- Write more poetry went on my list.

The first project of 2011 my guy and I had planned is to renovate one of our bathrooms, and that morning we went to local home improvement store to pick up some things we needed. On the way to the check-out we passed a magazine rack with all the usual how-to gardening, painting and other home stuff, when I spotted the Dec/Jan issue of Fine Cooking. Generally I don't see many cooking mags in home improvement stores, so that struck me as odd. So did the gorgeous towering dessert featured on the cover, which was one I'd never tried to make (and mentioned that here on the blog.) The message couldn't have been plainer if they'd printed it on the cover: #2 -- Don't be afraid to try things you think you can't do.

Then came the third inspiration, almost as soon as we got home. We've been hustling to get ready for Mom, our first visitor of 2011, who was due in on Monday. While I always love having company, after the holidays I'm a little wiped out, and prefer to have some downtime to regroup, shop, straighten up, etc. (who wants their mother to visit when the house is a mess?) On my desk is pile of writing work that I wanted to get a jump on, but family comes first, so I had already resigned myself to some late nights playing catch-up. Until Mom called that day and unexpectedly rescheduled her visit for mid-January. This never happens with my mother, who is the acknowledged Queen of Planet Scheduling & Punctuality, so I saw it as another kick in the backside: #3 -- Be more open to the unlikely and unexpected; it isn't always a bad thing for you.

Nothing more sparked my imagination that day, and I thought I might have to go with three inspirations versus four. We happily tired ourselves out working on the bathroom, and as a reward ordered take-out from our favorite Chinese restaurant. During dinner we talked about our new year's resolutions (no one had made any) and then finished with our take-out ritual of passing around the fortune cookies and reading our slips out loud. My cookie yielded this dour advice:



At first my fortune seemed like a universal slap on the wrist: Bad girl. No cookie for you. The more I thought about it, though, the more it tickled me. I got this cookie purely by chance; and it was telling me not to depend on that (I love a good paradox.) But I felt the fortune wasn't condemning chance, it was simply telling me not to rely on it to improve my life -- that I had to do that myself by following through and taking action. It's something I completely agree with, too. So the final addition to the list was #4 -- Make the changes you need in order to make life better.

Now that my list is complete, and I know what I'm going to do about it, I feel more centered and ready to take on 2011. How about you guys? Any new year's messages from the cosmos land on your doorstep? What's one thing you're planning to change this year?