Showing posts with label Being Creative. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Being Creative. Show all posts

Monday, June 22, 2015

MONDAY MUSINGS—LETTING THE CREATIVE SPIRIT PLAY






I thought I’d start the morning out with something Celtic and energetic—not sure about you guys, but I need it. Plus, I love Slainte and really like Heath’s fiddle playing and his bagpipes. These guys are having a great time playing and that’s always a joy to hear.



This past weekend I actually only worked a half day on Saturday and off on Sunday. It’s been a good long while since I had almost a whole weekend off. I was planning to go see Jurassic World but Dan decided he’d rather see it next weekend. Quality time off, what do I do? Write? Well I do have some clamoring characters but I told them they’d just have to wait (although I did spend some time writing in my notebook while sitting outside).  When you spend as much time in front of a computer as I do, the last thing you want to do is sit in front of one and so writing was out. I couldn’t face my office or my computer another minute.
  
I exercised my creative spirit in other ways. I worked in my garden, admired my tomatoes, planted some more blueberries, counted my healthy strawberries—about half are doing fine and I’m looking forward to eating lots of them soon. I also worried about my eight new fruit trees—they’re not responding from bare root. I’m giving them another week and then if they still aren’t responding, me and the nursery staff is going to have words.
  
My creative spirit also wanted to play baker. I haven’t done a lot of baking with yeast in several years. I used to make my bread and rolls. Between having had MRSA and then the shoulder reconstruction, I got out of the habit of that kind of baking.  For one, it takes quite a bit of time and physical effort. I had a hankering for yeasty cinnamon rolls. The recipe I have used for years produces some yummy cinnamon rolls and I used to know it by heart. I had to dig it out so I could proceed. Sheesh.


The first batch…well…let’s just say they weren’t great. Personally, I think they’d have made great hockey pucks although the horses thought they were great. Second batch were good but still not great. Part of it was adjusting for my new stove (relatively new—2 years old so the proofing of the dough was different as was this oven’s temps). The other part of the problem is when working yeast dough it takes practice. I don’t use a bread machine and then there is remembering temperatures for liquids so you don’t kill the yeast or being too rough with the dough so it becomes tough. Use the skill or lose it. It all comes back, well most of it, especially the second time around. Third batch will be a charm—just as soon as I buy more yeast.


  • So, how was your weekend? See any good movies? Read any good books?

  • Did you let your creative spirit out to play? How did that work out for you?

Monday, December 10, 2012

MONDAY MUSINGS—DIGGING INTO EDITING





                                                                                                                                                            

The weather has been so mild here the last week it makes me think of spring. Not that spring is anywhere close but I can wish, can’t I? I've been sighing over flower catalogues and dreaming of beautiful flowers and plants. The garden pictures are breathtaking.  My fingers are itching to get in the dirt.

I look at my existing flowerbeds. Hmm, they’re in relatively good shape, well defined but a bit of a mess. Several are under several inches of oak leaves from my big oak trees. There are weeds to pull. I’m going to have to clear a lot junk to make them flower garden worthy. I can see the picture in my head of what I want it to be. What it should look like. Then I look at what it is. Sometimes the transition between what is and what you want to be is overwhelming.  It’s a lot of work.

It reminds me of editing.  I have a clear picture in my head of what it should be, but then there are all those layers of *leaves and weeds* that have to be so it matches the story in my head. At this stage of the season, some things are hard to identify as weeds. God forbid I pull the wrong thing. Of course I have done that before and I know most things can be replanted or, to carry the analogy further, dropped into a data file and inserted later.



Just as my eye looks over all the existing flowerbeds in my yard and I feel overwhelmed with the work involved; so it is with editing. When gardening, I tend to look at my whole yard and what I’m trying to create. Then I take a section at a time and work on it. Editing? I’m trying to apply the same principle. A section at a time.

Presently, my work schedule is hectic—a couple hours shy of full time. By the time I’m finished with working for a paycheck and the work around the ranch, my mind doesn't have a lot of creative sparks. I do have a ton of finished stuff I've written the past few years that needs editing. I've been feeling an itch to tackle it and get it cleaned up to the point I can hand it over to an editor. This is my project for this winter.

Let’s throw this to the practiced. Some of you have had the benefit of professional editors. I’m not sure if that’s a blessing or a not, but it is interesting how the professionals look at your work and make a cut here or suggest additions there to improve the story.

                          
  • So share. How do you edit your work? Do you have a system?
  • What would you suggest to those of us who aren't as experienced and just beginning to edit some of our work?



   


      
You only need 2 tools in life: WD-40 and duct tape.  
      If it’s supposed to move and doesn't, use the WD-40.  
If it isn't supposed to move and does, use the duct tape.

Monday, July 16, 2012

MONDAY MUSING: BLESS HIS HEART


I'm hiding the tan one from hubs. It's the one he'll love. Sigh.



I think I mentioned that I’m a multi-creative person. There are many things I enjoy doing using those skills. It works well with writing and I’m steadily plugging away on my story—one chunk of words at a time.

Then there is my living room. God knows it is in dire need of creative attention. It’s pictured in Webster’s as the definition of blah. Go ahead, laugh, but I swear it’s true.

When we bought our house, several years ago, there were so many things that needed attention. It was a sound house but honestly, it was the outside that was the draw—barns, pasture, room for my growing family of Great Danes. It didn’t help that I couldn’t actually move there until my son finished out his school term. Two separate households for almost a year. My husband, bless his heart, tried to put things in order and arrange the furniture set up the kitchen and bedrooms. But his idea of decorating and mine are, well, poles apart. I don’t do, gasp, naked walls. Especially naked white walls. Years in the military just put a major hurt in my soul over the color white—except for ceilings. I love bright white ceilings.

There was just too much to do outside to worry about the inside. I had hay fields to harvest, pens for the Great Danes to build, and I needed to prepare for the horses moving up to their new home. Fences fortify, a barn and outbuildings to clean, a new lagoon to build, replacing pipes some numbnut put in wrong.

When I had the chance to breathe I really got a look at the inside I calculated and decided oh, well, sheetrock will have to wait and we’ll live with white, shudder, paneling. That didn’t keep me from incorporating lots of color—after all, I had lots of experience doing that—pictures, wall décor, cushions, throws, and nick knacks. At least the carpet wasn’t a shade of white.

This is the year of redoing the living room. 


Hubs cringed when he saw my color selections. He looked lost over terms like focal wall and color accents, and he actually shuddered when he considered the upheaval and chaos involved.

“It’s called Pomegranate? Isn’t this color you painted the barn a couple of years ago?” 
“Nope, that was barn red exterior rustoleum. This will have a satin finish. Not at all the same shade. See?” I take him outside so he can look down toward the barn and hold up the paint chip. He squints in the direction of the barn and back at the chip.  “It’s really, um, bright.” 
“Yeah, isn’t it wonderful?”  He gives me that look he reserves for people who have seen UFO’s and met the aliens. “Are you sure this green and purplish color goes with pomegranate?”  I launch into an explanation of accent colors complementary tetrad colors. His eyes glaze over. 
“Honey, trust me. You’ll love it when it’s done. You’ll see how the lime green and lavender pillows will blend and make the room pop.” His jaw drops at the mention of lime green and lavender and mutters under his breath. I think I heard something about sunglasses. I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t mention the turquoise and lime plaid throw I have on order.

So, with him being out of state for several weeks of training, it’s the perfect time to redo the room. It’s not done yet, but I am intimately acquainted with Lowe’s cavernous floor plan (I hadn’t set foot in this store until this week). I’ve trekked miles, the past week, in search for everything I need. I know the clerks by name. I’ve ferreted out all the sale items. I’ve ordered clearance sale (I love clearance sales even though I don’t love shopping) lamps online and saved seventy-five percent off store price (Pats myself on the back).

I’ll let you know how my traditional husband deals with the finished product. Wait until he sees the turquoise watering can vase with sunflowers and purple heather arrangement. He’s just going to love that throw I got for the back of his recliner, too.

Bless his heart. 

Monday, January 24, 2011

Monday Musings: Balancing Creativity

I’ve been writing on an intensive schedule since before November. The story is coming along good, but I hit a spot I need to do some thinking. I have my plot points clear in mind; the character arcs are there. I’m having fun with the adventure but I need to do some layering in a section. I’m letting it percolate in my mind for a while. This past week has been a much-needed break and a healthy step away from a long-term project.

 
So, instead of editing and layering my WIP I’m playing with another passion of mine, photography. I have a couple-hundred pictures I took for a wedding and for another function, both formal and candid, which need to be cropped and edited. I have other photo projects to do for various family members too. It’s a different creative process but it allows me to do something with hands while my ADD mind is thinking on another project. I’ve always enjoyed taking pictures and I love the creative process of editing them. It’s fun and relaxing for me, especially when I can add some of my favorite music. I find I need that periodically.

 
I also need to finish filling my February and March Over Coffee calendar (I’m willing to entertain suggestions on authors to have here). So when my eyes start to cross because I’m doing some concentrated detail work, I take a break and work on the calendar. Or read books I need to write reviews for which currently stands at six. Meanwhile a section of my brain is busy at work with my story. I did mention my ADD brain, right? When it’s finished processing the hows, I’ll be going ah-ha and go back to my story with a fresh perspective. It’s all good.

 
  • How do you balance out your writing time? How do you relax so you come back to your project with a refreshed spirit and a mind ready to work?

  •  If you don’t write, how do you relax from your daily workday?