CREATIVITY!

I read HOW Magazine when I can get the latest copy from the library. It is a serious Design magazine packed full of wonderful design ideas for Illustration Designers. I can’t draw to save myself and my classes always laughed when I drew stick figures on the board but that doesn’t stop me wishing that I could. Illustrators are among my most valued friends. Their rich visual life inspires me and How Magazine feeds me creatively when I’m not geeking out on space stuff.

Adele Jackson the wonderful illustrator designer (on our conference committee) who designed the amazing logo for the conference tells me that How Magazine is one of the seriously drooly magazines for designers. The advertisements in this magazine are amazing! New paper’s from paper mills especially for designers. You just have to stroke them. New fonts and typefaces from type designers ...absolutely beautiful , so much better than anything preloaded on Word. But one of the best things about HOW are the articles on creativity.

The issue I am reading now has an article about Daniel Moneypenny, One of the top creative designers in the world. The article looks at how Daniel thinks. He is known for coming up with over 300 ideas a day. During the interview he stopped mid sentence to scribble an idea on a yellow sticky note and stick it on the inside of his briefcase which he puts on the table. He goes through five felt tip pens a week.

The best creative sessions are rapid-fire and crazy-chaotic. Daniel Moneypenny( HOW Oct.08)

(sort of like our conference committee meetings...just wait til you see the programme.....)

Daniel plays with words to get inspiration. One of the tools he uses is Antanaclasis-repeating a single word but with a different meaning each time. (If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm you will be fired with enthusiasm.)

Here are his tips for creativity.

Think about the projects use in the world, not the client.

State the projects goal in a few words and then think of as many adjectives as possible that also describe it.

To be prolific, don’t pontificate.

Surround yourself with 3D visuals, and change them for each client.

Realise that ideas trump syntax until you deliver to the client.

Fear, Frustration and fatigue, are the biggest creativity-zappers.

Encourage participation.

Get out of your office and be eclectic.

When you’re stuck, imagine.

Adele introduced me to Wordle. I have since told all my poet friends about it. It is amazing and creative and lots of other words.... Paste a piece of prose into it and it creates Word Art.

I recommend a play with it.(but warning, it’s addictive) Go On Get CREATIVE!

The pic is the first paragraph of the first News release of The Spinning Gold conference.

The second one, with lots of juicy information, I am working on and will be out before Easter giving you heaps of details about who is speaking and the cost and and and.....

maureen

When I have Time

The great Jane Friedman posts such useful information on her blog.

Last week I tweaked my blog in response to a comment made by John McIntyre about having difficulty following the links on a black background....So I changed the background and tweaked colours and generally played around with the site. I am not ditching my space photos...but I did check that they still look ok on the background. As I was doing all these changes I noticed the Great Jane had posted a list of red flags that editors look for, as a result of a webinar that Jane and Alice Pope (Editor of Children’s Writers and Illustrators Marketplace)ran that day on her site. I made a mental note to go back when I had time and post a link....ah the killer words in that last sentence -when I had time-

So belatedly I post this for you to peruse and then you can all go over to Jane’s blog and look at the other great things she has posted since then.

For my blog readers, here are the common problems that we identified during the webinar:
• Flashback on first page
• Too much backstory or explanation, slowing story down
• Waiting for the protagonist to appear (or unclear protagonist)
• Starting with an alarm clock or ringing phone
• Lots of characters introduced on first page
• Ordinary day stuff (getting out of bed, walking to kitchen, etc)
• Ordinary crisis moment without distinct voice or twist
• Too much telling about the story, not enough showing
• Nothing happens -- no action or problem
• Interior monologue: in character's head, just lots of thinking, no acting or interaction with anyone else
• Predictable story start or story line without a unique take
• More of a journal entry (stream of consciousness), and not a story
• Wrong starting point; not starting at a point of change
• Too confusing, not enough reason or motivation to figure out what's happening

Ahh so... I had a nagging feeling about one of my novels and this helps to put it in perspective. Thank You Jane!

However the novel will have to wait for, When I Have Time. The big words...Today I had two must reply emails, a funding form to investigate and my blog to write, in the time the baby is asleep, which is the only time I get uninterrupted. So of course I answered four must reply emails, sent five urgent ones, followed up the funding app and am now just attacking the blog....countdown to baby wakeup is on...

Conference is morphing all over the place....we are in the middle of confirming speakers and making arrangements and waiting on funding...and and and...It is just going crazy but in a good way I hasten to add....I know you are all waiting....some not so patiently...we are working hard...the next time I blithely say ‘oh lets hold a conference....” Hold me down...wash out my mouth... So if you know you want to come to Wellington around the 18-20 September you might start looking at flights....
yikes baby awake....

Maureen

pic is of The planet... (the novel feels so far away at the moment...)