28May11 Saturday
I've been looking for a way to reward myself for all the writing I do. But I've wanted to reward myself in such a way that fits into a few categories. One, I want to save for purchases but I feel like my budget is already tied up in other things and I can't quite figure out a better way to put money aside for them. Two, I want my purchases related to my writing. I want to have done a certain amount of work before I can purchase a new DVD player or speakers for my computer. You know the things that are more in the luxury area rather than the necessities.
One of my favorite inspiring shows to watch is Inside the Actor's Studio. I like the depth to it and I'm always surprised by the person who doesn't really interest me but drops some inspirational gem. Jay Leno was on there ages ago and I remember him saying that he has only lived off the money he's made as a comedian. He said that he does it so that he doesn't get lazy with it and continues to book gigs and do stuff related to his comedy. I've always liked that idea and somehow I've wanted to use that idea eventually. But of course I'd have to be making money from my writing. Not yet, but I will.
Anyhow I took the savings idea of paying yourself first and the idea of living off your passion and came up with the idea to pay myself to write. I've kept it simple and low yet enough that it can grow relatively quickly. So what I've been doing is paying myself a toonie for what I write. I pay $2 per poem; $2 per 1000 words in novel related writing and just recently added $2 per blog entry to get me back in to blogging.
So since the 2nd of this month I've earned $80. That money will be going up quicker for sure with the blog entries. And I have been writing a whole lot of poems lately which is a good feeling. I haven't decided what the first reward will be. Probably the computer speakers. I'm lost without music that I can blare. I had such beautifully loud speakers that I'd bought with my first imac way back when they were blueberry and grape etc. My cats running wild, managed to knock them off their perch onto the floor. The speakers continued to work for a few more years but they died recently and man, I needs me some new speakers. So to get them, I've got to write for them. And yes blogging again.
So much is happening these days, it feels time to blog again.
EY
Showing posts with label Writing Ideas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing Ideas. Show all posts
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Monday, November 1, 2010
Nanowrimo
Well it's been a zillion years since I've blogged and a zillion years since I've done Nanowrimo. I figure since I've been working on my Nano novel, day 1 and 1700 words so far, I might as well write a blog entry. That's how it all starts up again by sitting down and starting.
I'm still on a bit of a high from the International Festival of Author's that takes place yearly here in Toronto. It was a fantastic year and the cartoonist Lynda Barry came back to the festival which was awesome. She has of course her book, "What it is" about writing and is apparently based on the stuff she teaches in her class, Writing the Unthinkable. And she came this year with her latest book, "Picture This" which I guess could be considered the drawing equivalent.
It was nice to see her again and nice to have a chance to chat with her. When I met her 2 years ago I'd said that I'd stopped drawing when I was a kid and she told me to pick it up again so I did. This go round I showed her the type of drawings I'd been doing since her suggestion and she was so excited and supportive and well, how could you not a) love her and b) be inspired to continue.
There really are so many exciting ideas in the world when you feel like getting back in touch with your creativity. During Dany Leferriere's reading, he read in French, I wrote down the words I could identify from his reading and wrote a poem based on the words I identified. It's funny how the most arbitrary little games can still bring me to what I'm really feeling at the time.
I guess, the gist of what Lynda Barry gave me was reminding me about how free we all were when we were kids. We could make a song out of nothing, we would sing and never thought about whether we KNEW how to sing or not, we could make up a story in response to someone telling us to tell them a story. I'm trying to go for that childhood freedom. Get back in touch with it. There are so many reasons to take care of the myriad of distractions that abound but if I take a moment to hear what my creative thoughts my creative wisdom is telling me, well I can spend a little bit of time soaking in my own happiness. Life is really rough without inner happiness.
EY
I'm still on a bit of a high from the International Festival of Author's that takes place yearly here in Toronto. It was a fantastic year and the cartoonist Lynda Barry came back to the festival which was awesome. She has of course her book, "What it is" about writing and is apparently based on the stuff she teaches in her class, Writing the Unthinkable. And she came this year with her latest book, "Picture This" which I guess could be considered the drawing equivalent.
It was nice to see her again and nice to have a chance to chat with her. When I met her 2 years ago I'd said that I'd stopped drawing when I was a kid and she told me to pick it up again so I did. This go round I showed her the type of drawings I'd been doing since her suggestion and she was so excited and supportive and well, how could you not a) love her and b) be inspired to continue.
There really are so many exciting ideas in the world when you feel like getting back in touch with your creativity. During Dany Leferriere's reading, he read in French, I wrote down the words I could identify from his reading and wrote a poem based on the words I identified. It's funny how the most arbitrary little games can still bring me to what I'm really feeling at the time.
I guess, the gist of what Lynda Barry gave me was reminding me about how free we all were when we were kids. We could make a song out of nothing, we would sing and never thought about whether we KNEW how to sing or not, we could make up a story in response to someone telling us to tell them a story. I'm trying to go for that childhood freedom. Get back in touch with it. There are so many reasons to take care of the myriad of distractions that abound but if I take a moment to hear what my creative thoughts my creative wisdom is telling me, well I can spend a little bit of time soaking in my own happiness. Life is really rough without inner happiness.
EY
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Taking Time For Myself
Sunday 21June09 11:22am
I took the month of April off from people. I went to work of course and was personable but my free time I saved for me only. I didn't make plans with friends and turned down any invitations. It wasn't easy to make people understand. It's funny that we can understand when a girlfriend has a new boyfriend and disappears to go build that new relationship but we can't see the same value when a person needs to disappear to build a relationship with ones self. Needless to say, it was difficult for some people to understand when I said, "I'll see you in May."
I'm a prime candidate to go on a silent retreat and thrive because of it. But that's just me. Most people I tell about it look at me like I'm crazy.
I didn't know what it was that I needed specifically other than time for myself. But as the month of April moved on into May and I was enjoying the time so much that I continued for the month of May, I realized that I needed to find my voice. Not necessarily my writing voice because I'm pretty clear about that but that other inside voice. My own authority. I find that my mind goes a mile a minute and I often hear what others have said to me, what others tell me what they think I should do. After a while it buries your own voice. You get away from what do you want for yourself and waste time fighting against advice that you never asked for.
Recently I said to a girl friend, "It's great that you have all these wonderful ideas for me but it's not your voice that I need to listen to, it's my voice." I know it is something that I will have to repeat.
During my time to myself I discovered that I have an insane amount of journals and letters and poems and dream journals that I have kept over a good 20 year period. I found my mother's journals, letters and poems as well. Sweet Jesus, it's a treasure trove that will take me years to look through. I got back into keeping track of my nightly dreams after reading 'Dreamways of the Iroquois' by Robert Moss. I forgot how much better I feel when I have some contact with my subconscious mind. And I wrote poems, a crazy amount of poems. I wrote 74 poems in April and 41 poems in May, thanks to Robert Lee Brewer at Poetic Asides.
He has a great poetry challenge every April, well this was the 2nd year in a row. He offers daily prompts to write a poem a day for the month of April. I was having so much fun writing a poem a day that I decided to go back to the year before and pick up those prompts as well. So I ended up writing two poems a day and an extra poem on Tuesdays. For May I picked up Robert's daily prompts from November of 2008 when the challenge was focused on writing a book of poems on one theme. I used those prompts to write poems in character.
I treated the poetry writing as a stream of consciousness and was thrilled to see what was in my mind on any given day. For the poems in character, those were more guided in that I had to ask, how would Kali or Rachel answer this prompt.
There are many gifts to be found in taking time out for yourself. It's not easy to commit to because people go crazy, get insulted, become needy... but if you can stick to it, for yourself.
My gifts from that time include: finding my journals and mom's journals; getting back to poetry which is what I started writing at 10 years old; keeping a dream journal which has always made me feel more centred, and over all a peace of mind that I've come out of and through the storm of the last couple years. Everything got so dark and painful and negative and excruciating for a good two years and at the end of all that I feel like I've come back to what truly makes me me and hearing it from within me. Giving myself permission to be me.
It's great that people have all these wonderful ideas for us but it's not their voices that we need to listen to, it's our own voice.
EY
I took the month of April off from people. I went to work of course and was personable but my free time I saved for me only. I didn't make plans with friends and turned down any invitations. It wasn't easy to make people understand. It's funny that we can understand when a girlfriend has a new boyfriend and disappears to go build that new relationship but we can't see the same value when a person needs to disappear to build a relationship with ones self. Needless to say, it was difficult for some people to understand when I said, "I'll see you in May."
I'm a prime candidate to go on a silent retreat and thrive because of it. But that's just me. Most people I tell about it look at me like I'm crazy.
I didn't know what it was that I needed specifically other than time for myself. But as the month of April moved on into May and I was enjoying the time so much that I continued for the month of May, I realized that I needed to find my voice. Not necessarily my writing voice because I'm pretty clear about that but that other inside voice. My own authority. I find that my mind goes a mile a minute and I often hear what others have said to me, what others tell me what they think I should do. After a while it buries your own voice. You get away from what do you want for yourself and waste time fighting against advice that you never asked for.
Recently I said to a girl friend, "It's great that you have all these wonderful ideas for me but it's not your voice that I need to listen to, it's my voice." I know it is something that I will have to repeat.
During my time to myself I discovered that I have an insane amount of journals and letters and poems and dream journals that I have kept over a good 20 year period. I found my mother's journals, letters and poems as well. Sweet Jesus, it's a treasure trove that will take me years to look through. I got back into keeping track of my nightly dreams after reading 'Dreamways of the Iroquois' by Robert Moss. I forgot how much better I feel when I have some contact with my subconscious mind. And I wrote poems, a crazy amount of poems. I wrote 74 poems in April and 41 poems in May, thanks to Robert Lee Brewer at Poetic Asides.
He has a great poetry challenge every April, well this was the 2nd year in a row. He offers daily prompts to write a poem a day for the month of April. I was having so much fun writing a poem a day that I decided to go back to the year before and pick up those prompts as well. So I ended up writing two poems a day and an extra poem on Tuesdays. For May I picked up Robert's daily prompts from November of 2008 when the challenge was focused on writing a book of poems on one theme. I used those prompts to write poems in character.
I treated the poetry writing as a stream of consciousness and was thrilled to see what was in my mind on any given day. For the poems in character, those were more guided in that I had to ask, how would Kali or Rachel answer this prompt.
There are many gifts to be found in taking time out for yourself. It's not easy to commit to because people go crazy, get insulted, become needy... but if you can stick to it, for yourself.
My gifts from that time include: finding my journals and mom's journals; getting back to poetry which is what I started writing at 10 years old; keeping a dream journal which has always made me feel more centred, and over all a peace of mind that I've come out of and through the storm of the last couple years. Everything got so dark and painful and negative and excruciating for a good two years and at the end of all that I feel like I've come back to what truly makes me me and hearing it from within me. Giving myself permission to be me.
It's great that people have all these wonderful ideas for us but it's not their voices that we need to listen to, it's our own voice.
EY
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Tarot - Flash Fiction Formula
Entry Transplanted from Writing Zazen
I’ve mentioned that I found Mark McElroy’s pdf Tarot for Creative Writers and I’ve been playing with writing stories using the Tarot. What I’ve come to realize is that it’s become so much fun for me that I’ve been rushing home from work to write a new story.
Back in the day, I used to rush home every single day from work anticipating sitting at the table in the living room (when I still lived with room mates) and pulling out my steno and writing like a fiend. I’ve moved so far away from that person for many years. It often felt like more of a fight to get organized and then the television somehow seeped into my time and I was vegging instead of creating. I’m happy to say that I’ve been keeping the television turned off and I’ve been playing with my writing.
That’s really the key for me, there has to be a certain amount of play. It’s that beginner’s mind and attitude when you know that you don’t know what you are doing and you believe that with daily practice things will improve.
I’ve been doing the Tarot short stories and I’ve been doing the poems where I pick five words out of a box and try to write a piece using all of those five words. Play! It’s great to have that focus to mold and sculpt the serious writing work like my novel but there still needs to be some play for me otherwise I start to avoid all the work I feel I need to do.
Here is the Flash Fiction Formula from Mark McElroy’s PDF Tarot for Creative Writers:
Card 1 - Who/When
Card 2 - What/Theme
Card 3 - Want/Need
Card 4 - Turning Point
Card 5 - End-Hint
Card 6 - Midpoint
Card 7 - Dark Hour
Card 8 - Learn Lesson
Card 9 - Rising Action
Card 10 - Climax
Card 11 - Reflection
I use this to get me to write and have fun writing. I have no plans on rereading the stories any time soon. Maybe in a year or so. I’ve got more than enough other writings to revise. This is purely for the fun of writing. And Thank Mark McElroy for giving me that again.
Hmm and I still allow myself the really good televison shows like Heroes… two more episodes.
Mark McElroy’s sites … Tarot Tools
Made by Mark
And google Mark McElroy Tarot for Creative Writers to find his PDF book!
EY
I’ve mentioned that I found Mark McElroy’s pdf Tarot for Creative Writers and I’ve been playing with writing stories using the Tarot. What I’ve come to realize is that it’s become so much fun for me that I’ve been rushing home from work to write a new story.
Back in the day, I used to rush home every single day from work anticipating sitting at the table in the living room (when I still lived with room mates) and pulling out my steno and writing like a fiend. I’ve moved so far away from that person for many years. It often felt like more of a fight to get organized and then the television somehow seeped into my time and I was vegging instead of creating. I’m happy to say that I’ve been keeping the television turned off and I’ve been playing with my writing.
That’s really the key for me, there has to be a certain amount of play. It’s that beginner’s mind and attitude when you know that you don’t know what you are doing and you believe that with daily practice things will improve.
I’ve been doing the Tarot short stories and I’ve been doing the poems where I pick five words out of a box and try to write a piece using all of those five words. Play! It’s great to have that focus to mold and sculpt the serious writing work like my novel but there still needs to be some play for me otherwise I start to avoid all the work I feel I need to do.
Here is the Flash Fiction Formula from Mark McElroy’s PDF Tarot for Creative Writers:
Card 1 - Who/When
Card 2 - What/Theme
Card 3 - Want/Need
Card 4 - Turning Point
Card 5 - End-Hint
Card 6 - Midpoint
Card 7 - Dark Hour
Card 8 - Learn Lesson
Card 9 - Rising Action
Card 10 - Climax
Card 11 - Reflection
I use this to get me to write and have fun writing. I have no plans on rereading the stories any time soon. Maybe in a year or so. I’ve got more than enough other writings to revise. This is purely for the fun of writing. And Thank Mark McElroy for giving me that again.
Hmm and I still allow myself the really good televison shows like Heroes… two more episodes.
Mark McElroy’s sites … Tarot Tools
Made by Mark
And google Mark McElroy Tarot for Creative Writers to find his PDF book!
EY
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