This Friday, instead of offering one of my own photos, I want to recommend the digital artwork of Ryan Bliss, creator of Digital Blasphemy. There are hundreds of wallpapers available on the site for paid members, but Ryan also offers some fantastic selections in the free gallery. I regret to say I haven’t yet sprung for the paid membership, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time (and money, of course).

Something about Digital Blasphemy wallpapers always spark my imagination. The details are so rich and complex, the images often provide the perfect backdrop to writing and other creative efforts. If you’re looking for a little visual inspiration, check out Digital Blasphemy.

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Posted: November 30th, 2007 under Inspiration.
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Recently, I entered my post 15 Tips to Prevent Repetitive Strain Injury and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in the Lists Group Writing Project at Litemind. The entries below are my favorites from the other submissions.

• To Do To Make Tomorrow Better
• 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure
• ten things i didn’t know until last week
• 40 ways to make your mind your playground
• 100 Sites I Seek Inspiration From
• 7 Tricks You Need to Fight Procrastination
• Escape the Rut

Enjoy!

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Posted: November 29th, 2007 under Briefly.
Comments: 4

Author Lynn Viehl posted today about the importance of balancing inspiration and practicality in writing. She brings the point to vivid life by describing the demons Necessity and Creativity, who pull her writing chariot:

“Generally Creativity gets all the credit for the success of the journey — something that would never have happened without Necessity’s determination and endurance — while Necessity takes all the criticism for every bump, pot hole and pitfall along the way — something that it knows would smother Creativity if it had to deal with it.

“They squabble, bicker and try to resist each other, but after a time they learn to travel together. They know that if we hitch only one of them to the chariot, we’re not going anywhere interesting, or we’re not going anywhere at all. Or Ego and Fear will take the lead, in which case there’s going to be a huge pile-up down the road.”

And at the end, she asks, “What’s harnessed to your chariot?”

I would have to say, right now, that Creativity and Fear are pulling my chariot, most of the time in different directions. Sometimes Fear takes the lead and Creativity is almost lost in the cloud of brimstone the demon casts in his wake. Sometimes Creativity charges forward and leaves Fear choking on dust, wondering where she went. It’s an uneven load they have to pull, as alternately thin and bloated as my writing often is, but somehow we manage to arrive together, usually with all limbs intact.

So what demons drive your creative work? Please leave a comment on Lynn’s post at Paperback Writer, and feel free to leave one here as well.

As a sidenote, I can’t believe I missed this when I was researching writers who use Dragon NaturallySpeaking, but Lynn Viehl has a post on Taming the Dragon that I found useful. The comments from other writers were also insightful.

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Posted: November 28th, 2007 under Creativity, Writing.
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I apologize, but my posting is going to be a little light this week so I can spend as much time as possible working on my novel.

If you haven’t yet seen this video about the Writers Guild of America strike from the Daily Show writers, it’s worth watching, both for the humor and for the inside perspective.

Also, take a moment to read Joss Whedon’s response to the New York Times on the writers’ strike:

“We’re talking about story-telling, the most basic human need. Food? That’s an animal need. Shelter? That’s a luxury item that leads to social grouping, which leads directly to fancy scarves. But human awareness is all about story-telling. The selective narrative of your memory. The story of why the Sky Bully throws lightning at you. From the first, stories, even unspoken, separated us from the other, cooler beasts. And now we’re talking about the stories that define our nation’s popular culture - a huge part of its identity. These are the people that think those up. Working writers.”

(via Deep Genre)

(Edit: If you liked the video above, here’s another one from the writers of the Colbert Report.)

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Posted: November 27th, 2007 under Writing.
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This is my fourth report on my progress toward my goal of completing a 50,000 word novel by November 30 as part of National Novel Writing Month. Read more of my thoughts on NaNoWriMo.

It’s not looking so great. My word count is stalled at just over 30,000 words. Yesterday was supposed to be my big catch-up day, but it seemed like I was distracted by one thing after another. I’m starting to lose faith that I can actually finish my novel by the end of the month. I do have Friday off from work, but I’m not sure how many words I can write in one day. I guess I’ll find out.

I did finally receive my Dragon NaturallySpeaking software. As I’d suspected, I don’t think I’m going to get used to it quickly enough for it to be a real asset for this year’s NaNoWriMo. I’m finding it hard to concentrate on my story and remember to enunciate at the same time. I’m sure I’ll re-learn how to speak clearly, but for now, using Dragon is slower than typing for me, especially when Dragon hears one of my characters’ names, Beth, as “death” every other time I say it. I’ll write a complete review of Dragon once I’ve used the software a little more.

Next Monday will be my last NaNoWriMo Report for the year. I’ll let you know how it all turned out.

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Posted: November 26th, 2007 under NaNoWriMo.
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