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Posts Tagged ‘creativity’

In my roles as a writer and as a person, I read a lot. Some books I purchase, but many I access through my local library. How great is that?*

So I just spent a non-zero amount of time writing a little AppleScript to automagically run a search in any of the four area library systems that share e-book resources. 

Was it necessary? No. I could click through my library portal and into each separate library system for every book I want to check, one stodgy button at a time. Ho hum.

Does this script save time and my wrists and open up new worlds of possibilities?

Yes.

Was it fun to make?

Also yes:)

* * *

I know, it’s a store, not a library. But she’s having so much fun! Photo by Ying Ge on Unsplash

* I love books, and I’m lucky enough to live in a society that supports public libraries. In fact, I made a modest donation to my local library the other day, and hope it helps bring just a little more literacy and knowledge and enjoyment to my city.

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My father is going through old boxes of photographs and other memorabilia and sent me a story, one of my first, called “The Devil’s Crutch.” I couldn’t write or (as you’ll see) grasp the intricacies of grammar, geography, or complete sentences, but I dictated it to my mother. 

First we have the story from when I was, what, maybe three years old? I‘ve changed since then (I can even hold a pen all by myself!), but I tried to understand at least a little of what might have been going through my head that day. Then for fun, I turned it into a drabble.

(My father seemed particularly taken by the word “smitchey.” I no longer know what it means but I kept it.)

* * *

The Devil’s Crutch

Once upon a time there was a old, old house up in the south pole. There in the house there is a little room in the playroom and in the room there was a lot of dust. In the room there was a lot of dolls. The dolls didn’t have dust on them because a little smitchey girl had been playing with them. The house was haunted. And this couple moved in the haunted house and every night a ghost came out at twelve o’clock and every night when the ghost came out the couple woke up and saw the ghost and the ghost disappeared whenever the couple saw the ghost. The ghost disappeared. One night the father and the mother was sleeping on the sofa and the devil’s came instead of the ghost. And the owner of the crutch came to the house with the crutch and the owner of the crutch was the devil.

The End

* * *

Once there was a haunted old house way up in the South Pole. It had a playroom of dusty dolls, a grandfather clock and a crutch like bleached bone. 

A family with a smitchey little girl arrived. Every midnight the towering clock cried out. Even when the mother stopped the pendulum, and the father hid the key.

The girl saw a little ghost waving from inside the clock.

She slept huddled under the playroom table. The dolls said it was safer that way.

One night the clock stayed silent and the ghost hid.

And the owner came for his crutch. 

* * *

Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash

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Does everything have to be perfect in order for a story to work? Nope. 

Here’s the script and breakdown for Star Wars:

Star Wars: A New Hope Script — Screenplay Analysis and PDF Download

par·sec| ˈpärsek | (abbreviation pc) noun

a unit of distance used in astronomy, equal to about 3.26 light years (3.086 × 1013 kilometers). One parsec corresponds to the distance at which the mean radius of the earth’s orbit subtends an angle of one second of arc.

A parsec is a measurement of distance, not time. Twelve of those do not a winning Kessel Run make, but, as millions of fans (and yes, dollars) attest, no one cares. The story works.

These are the things I think about when I’m stuck on a plot point, or deep in historical or technical weeds.

Just keep going.

* * *

Photo by Sam Balye on Unsplash

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Here’s a brief piece by Kate Wilhelm of Clarion Workshop fame, on writing and what to avoid. A little harsh? Possibly. But it still looks like good advice.

One year Damon and I arrived to teach the last two weeks of the six-week Clarion Writers Workshop with a list of stories we forbade the students to pursue. We explained each item on the list and said don’t do it again.

— OWW SF, F, & H Tips and Advice: Kate Wilhelm

* * *

Photo by Melissa Askew on Unsplash

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Today, more adventures with photo composites. A few simple experiments to learn where all the tools are and how to use them:

And then a more complicated example:

She who seeds the stars. Based on this tutorial. The detailed selections were the hardest part, so that’s what I’ll work on next.

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I’m on vacation today and thought I’d do some cool stuff. Instead, my afternoon looked like this:

  • lunch? lunch
  • read terrible book, give up on same
  • feel v. blah. stupid book. I hate bad books
  • think about a new story idea, make less than desired progress
  • research random topics of interest (mystery songbird illness, treasure maps, letterlocking methods, software stuff, etc.)
  • realize I should have worked out this morning, tired or not
  • start three projects, or was it four? nope
  • read about temptation bundling
  • attempt to learn a thing or two. maybe?
  • work on a new project
  • have the program crash at the last minute and decide, you know what? I think I’m done for the day

Plus Mr Man just came home with tales of unfortunate events, mysterious machine mishaps, and more.

Aaaaaand, I just realized that it’s Friday the 13th.

That actually explains A Lot.

* * *

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“When we feel powerful, it leads us to act. When we feel powerless, we don’t act.”

Amy Cuddy

* * *

Photo by John Fowler on Unsplash

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My ancestors continue to get younger, it seems. My mother found a portrait of herself as a baby and sent it my way. I like both general and family history, plus I was happy to have another chance to practice my photo restoration skills:

So cute!

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I had a lot of ideas for how today was going to go. I was wrong about most of it. It wasn’t a bad day by any means, I just didn’t get much done. I got caught in that trap where the to do list is massive and you’re surprised when nothing is completed. Too many ideas, not enough specificity. 

My list included (but was not limited to) the following:

  • make and freeze chocolate chip cookie dough
  • learn more photo compositing, make awesome chimera, floating fantasy city & light speed travel poster; yes, all of those things
  • do garden work
  • vacuum
  • make fresh pasta
  • try letter locking

* * *

So, yeah:)

I started just about everything on that list, and finished none of them. Time to take a step back, pick one project, then break it down into the smallest possible parts and start crossing them off. And by framing the problem with more clarity. When I’m stuck, that’s how I move forward. 

(Also by not being too hard on myself when I have a day like today. Sometimes, things take time.)

On the plus side? We’ve still got ice cream🙂

* * *

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I love good writing. And humor. And science fiction. And epistolary fiction, because telling stories through letters is fun. Imagine how happy I was when I found this short story* combining all of the above:

There Will Be No Alien Invasion

by Sam F. Weiss, in Fireside

To be clear: I am busy. For at least the next two years. Because getting to do research in the super-techy lab requires a doctorate these days, an obscene pile of peer-reviewed publications, and the networking abilities of a ninja. I am busy with those things. Namely finishing the doctorate. Thwarting an alien invasion? Not on my to-do list.

So that thing where I came to the lab this morning to find your phosphorescent eggs floating in alien amniotic fluid in the vacuum chamber? Not cool.

— Sam F. Weiss

* For the young or those with delicate sensibilities, this piece contains swearing. Like, a lot. To be fair, I’d say it’s warranted. Grad school, you know. And oh yes, also aliens.

* * *

Random selection of other epistolary novels that I’ve read:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The Color Purple
Griffin and Sabine (Griffin & Sabine #1)
Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (Cecelia and Kate, #1)
Code Name Verity

* * *

And a picture of a not-at-all-an-alien-probably cat:)

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