You've finished your huge project, the one that's kept you up at night for months. It's all done, wrapped up and delivered. And in the echos of the free time you suddenly now have the question reverberates "Now what?" All the adrenaline is gone and with it the excitement that was coursing through your veins … Continue reading Now What?
Author: Kristen Miller
Writer. Animator. Mom.
Mood Shift
We all have emotional good days and bad. It's part of being human. Sometimes we need that for our creative work, sometimes that actually works against us. Permeate Your mood will permeate whatever you're working on. And because our moods can shift from day to day, we have to be careful. If you're frustrated, it … Continue reading Mood Shift
Creative Life Advice
There are a lot of ‘self-help’ books out there. Most give generic life advice to ‘normal’ kinds of people. But for creative types, the kind of people who live life a little bit differently, this generic advice doesn’t apply. Creatives need their own special words of wisdom in order to thrive in this strange world.
Things Are What You Make Of Them-LifeAdviceForCreatives by Adam J. Kurtz speaks the creative language very clearly. It inspired and motivated me to continue with my creative work, even though sometimes it can be rough on the psyche. When you’re working from the heart, there’s a lot of internal pressure to make things ‘perfect’, and this book helped sooth those rough thoughts into something more manageable.
An interesting physical characteristic of the book is that the pages are perforated so they can be removed and hung up for inspiration anywhere in your creative space. I…
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Plan G
I've had a rough day. I'm working on a freelance motion graphics project and I'm getting a 'glitch'. The glitch is a white rectangle that appears across the bottom of a frame, and I don't know how to get rid of it. Frustration We've all been there. Where you're working on something, and there's a … Continue reading Plan G
“Do The Work”
I recently finished reading 'Do The Work' by Steven Pressfield. The book is, in a nutshell, encouragement to see your way through a project. To take on an enterprise and see it through to the bitter end. Pressfield uses the example of a novel because he's an author, but it could apply to any kind … Continue reading “Do The Work”
Little Gifts
When I write, I usually have a good time with it. My keyboard goes klickety-klack and the words come out ok. Usually. But not all the time. Sometimes the words don't come at all and I get 'knotted up.' I'm worked up so tight that there's no other way out than to let it go. … Continue reading Little Gifts
Where’s The Story
I recently finished reading Stephen King's book 'On Writing'. It's an amazing book, I recommend it highly. In the book, Mr. King reiterates frequently the importance of telling the story. The importance of the story itself. The problem I have right now with some of my short stories is that I can't seem to find … Continue reading Where’s The Story
Blogging vs. Writing
Which is more important, blogging or writing?
Day Trip
What I learned from a day trip to visit Cleveland.
500 Words
I wrote this back in January when I was just beginning to create a ‘writing rhythm’ for myself. I’m now up to 1,000 words as my daily quota. Maybe in the next three months, it will be even higher.
‘A writer writes, always.’
I remember that line from the movie ‘Throw Momma From the Train’. The main character, played by Billy Crystal, is a struggling writer who teaches a creative writing class on the side. The above line was the mantra of his writing class, and has become my mantra as well. Whenever I think ‘What am I supposed to do today?’ the thought always comes back to ‘A writer writes, always.’
But when I tried to sit down and work without a guideline of what is ‘always’, it was never enough. I would work and work until I couldn’t give anymore and then I would leave the work untouched for days at a time. Almost in childish defiance. As if the work had taken so much out of me, I refused to give it any more of myself.
So, in order to keep working without the…
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