Archive for 'preparation'
How to avoid procrastination
Posted on March 5, 2007, by dazzer67, under preparation, quick tips.
The demon for many creative people is procrastination. Many ideas lay dormant and unrealized as other ‘things’ take our energy and effort. There are many reasons as to why we procrastinate and some are deep rooted in our psychological make up. However, there are a few quick and easy tips to help you overcome ‘creative’ procrastination.
- Liver and Ice Cream - Sometimes we simply don’t feel like doing that creative work, but if it is our livelihood then it is a matter of importance. Give yourself a ‘gift’ if you spend some time doing what needs to be done. Rewards can be a very good incentive; have a little ice cream after you’ve eaten the liver.
- Allow yourself to make a s**t first draft - I know many creative people, including myself, who seek perfection in everything they do, and if they feel perfection is out of reach will not even make the effort. This is impossible! Therefore, don’t worry if your first creative attempt doesn’t work. Creativity is as much a journey as a final destination.
- Allow yourself to fail - closely linked to the point above, sometimes what we create, or make, doesn’t work. This is allowed. Don’t worry, we only truly grow by failing. This is a universal truth, trust me.
- Make sure you know what you want - we can put off attempting our creative project because we are not sure what we really want to do. Knowing the goal of our project keeps us focussed. If we are focussed it becomes difficult to procrastinate.
- Remove those distractions - obvious, but those of us who procrastinate will keep the TV remote or the google search box within reach when we should know better. You may find it useful to take yourself away from your comfort zone to do that creative masterpiece, or even unplug the modem.
These ideas only touch the surface but for serial procrastinators like myself, they are well worth spelling out time and time again.
If you want to to do some deeper digging into how and why we procrastinate, and therefore how to overcome it, take a look at The Now Habit by Dr Neil Fiore in our book store.
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How to prepare for an art journey
Posted on February 23, 2007, by dazzer67, under preparation.
If you are an artist and would like to get out and about to do your thang, then preparation is very important. It is no good getting somewhere and then realising you’ve left a vital component back in your studio or in your art box.
Help is at hand in this wonderful and very comprehensive article by innowen at DIY Planner. Not only do you get a list of bits to remember, but links to the places they can be bought and also the practicalities of using all the bits and pieces. You want to be visually creative on the move? Then take a look at the following link…
Have Art, Will Travel | D*I*Y Planner
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Launchy… free software to aid your creativity
Posted on February 14, 2007, by dazzer67, under preparation, software.
One of the frustrations with working creatively on a PC is the time it takes to move from an idea to creating with a specific application. It is far too easy (OK, I am talking windows here) to have an idea and then stumble around trying to find the application to use.
One solution is to have your desktop covered with shortcuts. However, I am a firm believer in Desktop Zen. My PC desktop has nothing on it at all and my sidebar is on auto hide. Less distractions equal more creative productivity, for me. Another option is to create special toolbars for those creative moments. I have used this for a while. A toolbar for web design apps, a toolbar for graphic apps and so on - as you can see I collect applications, [which could be an issue to deal with in the future.] The problem with this, and also the basic structure of Windows, is ‘where will the app I want be?’ Do I go start> all programs> or do I go toolbar> web>? Then the question is how have I labeled the shortcut? Where is Paint Shop Pro? Is it under graphics, Paint Shop Pro or Jasc Software? All of these, minor distractions and irritations, can hinder my creativity… until now.
Enter Launchy. I was skeptical when I first read about this wonderful little application. Basically it is a little, free Windows utility, that lets you forget about shortcuts, toolbars and start menus. It has a small memory footprint and sits silently in the background until you need an application.
Case study: I have an idea for an image and need to fire up Paint Shop Pro. Previously I would have been struggling to remember where it was and how to get it. Now I simply hit the alt and spacebar at the same (ish) time and up pops launchy. Then I start to type. By the time I have typed P-A-I for Paint Shop Pro, it has found the icon, and by pressing enter the program is firing up.
I think this is one of the best ‘free’ applications around, and ideal for creative types. So take a look at the website and see how this amazing simple program could help with your creative inspiration.
You can find out more here
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Free novel writing software - yWriter
Posted on November 2, 2006, by dazzer67, under inspiration, preparation, software.
There is an old adage that says nothing in life is free. Well that isn’t true for the above. As I start out on Nanowrimo all the planning for this month of self-punishment has been done in yWriter a wonderful piece of free software, from Simon Haynes, who has also written some published novels using this very same software. Designed by Simon specifially to be used for writing - by a writer for a writer - yWriter is really great.
It takes a while to get used to, the GUI isn’t the most pleasant and it is obviously for the more literary minded, don’t expect stunning landscape vistas to inspire you as you type away. I have had to restart several projects as I learnt to use the program by clicking and typing (yeah OK, I should have read the online help, but hey, who does?) but even though these are negative points the software does work, is very functional and is perfect for planning that novel… and writing it too. But it never claimed anything other than being a functional piece of software.
So, if you need something that will keep, organise and develop your ideas then check out yWriter, surely one of the best pieces of free software out there.
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How to refine a story plot idea?
Posted on October 19, 2006, by dazzer67, under inspiration, links, preparation.
There is a wonderful article by fellow Nanowrimo participant Innowen, at DIY planner. If you need some advice on sorting out the plot then there are some great ideas here, and as you can see, they havn’t simply been plucked out of the air, but have been of practical help…
… now where are my plot cards?
Actually, I’ll be telling you all how I’ve pulled together my ideas for Nano in the next few days.
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Nanowrimo
Posted on October 6, 2006, by dazzer67, under perspiration, preparation.
Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month and can be found here. Basically you sign up and attempt to write a 50,000 word novel (novella?) in the month of November, along with a whole bunch of others who are wanting to do the same thing - visit the site as they explain it much better than I can.
You’ll either love the idea or hate it, depending on your personality type, however, if you really need a little push to get writing then this could be just for you (and all the others who sign up).
