Tag Archives: inspiration

Saturday with the Spark

Keyboard Musing

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keyboardmusing
Learning to play piano, for me, came entwined with the desire to create my own music, which I often began to write while just “playing around” (pardon the pun) on the keyboard. I call this “keyboard musing”…just playing a snatch of a song here, a few bars of a melody or bass line here, until BAM!–there’s a new melody or chord progression, and my brain is off to the musical races!

If you’re a beginner to piano, or if you’re a frustrated composer, I would highly suggest doing a bit of keyboard musing for yourself. There’s a whole lot of wonder and magic still left in music, and this process proves it!

Keyboard Musing, Step 0: Don’t Try to Be Perfect. SERIOUSLY.

I have heard fellow composers often say that they’re stuck on a piece of music, saying that all that they play sounds “trite,” “overused,” “not good enough,” and doesn’t “flow.” For that matter, I’ve thought those same things myself about my own music.

Keyboard musing fixes that. After all, there’s no “right or wrong” way to play around on a keyboard when you’re not going by any sheet music! Before you even get started musing on your keyboard, don’t constrain yourself to what sounds “good,” or what sounds “original.” Just play SOMETHING. Play a few measures of a favorite song for inspiration; poke around playing notes together until you run across something that sounds COOL. Then, allow yourself to go further, exploring deeper into the melody or chord progressions you’re enjoying.

Step 1: Play Along with Recorded Music to Get You Started

This is a trick I use when trying to learn new music, but this is a great way to help you recreate a favorite melody, too. Listen to a favorite song using a CD, MP3, Youtube/Spotify/Pandora, etc., and figure out what note the melody starts on…and your ear should be able to take you on from there. Get the notes right first, then match the rhythms and tempo till you can play it pretty close to the recorded song.

The reason behind doing this? Once you know how to pick out the melody of various songs, then you’ll be better equipped to pick out the melody that’s been bouncing around in your head!

Step 2: Try New Variations on an Old Familiar Melody

Now that you know how to play a favorite melody like it was originally written, try varying it up. Extend that short note out a little longer, or put in a little playful riff here and there–innovate and see what new creation you can make. Allow yourself the freedom to play in a musical sandbox.

I suggest this not to condone plagiarism, but to give your imagination a jumping-off point. Put that favorite melody through some permutations, find new chords to put with it, and eventually you will be inspired to create your own song!

Step 3: Keep Trying if You Come Up with Nothing the First Time

You may not come up with anything on your first keyboard-musing session–but then again, you might come up with something AWESOME! Allow yourself more chances to dig down into your imagination, even if nothing appeared the last time you tried.

Step 4: Listen for Inspiration in Weird Places

Especially if you’re stuck and feel like you have no “inner song,” allow your environment to inspire you. Keep your ears open for beautiful new melodies, neat chord progressions, etc., wherever you go. Sometimes even non-musical sounds like car engine roars, bird chirps, refrigerator hums, crowds of people talking, fan blades, etc. can inspire a new tune. (Don’t look at your screen like that, I’m not crazy! LOL)

When you hear inspiring sounds, try to record them if you can, or at least get to your keyboard as quick as you can. Then, try to replicate the sound you heard with the musical notes in front of you. It might feel a bit stupid at first, but don’t give up on it, even if you have to walk away from your keyboard and try again later!

Summary

Keyboard musing is a magical retreat for me, a way I can reconnect with the sheer joy of just playing music for music’s sake. If you’ve never tried music, or if you’ve found yourself stuck for a long time, just give this a shot. You might be surprised what you come up with!

Tuesday on the Soapbox

Perfect Little Moments

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perfectlittlemoments
As a break from the weightier Tuesday on the Soapbox posts of the last few weeks, I give you this poetic entry as food for thought…all the perfect little moments we live through every day, but rarely take time to really experience. Hope you enjoy the ones I’ve listed here from my own life, and I also hope it makes you think of some of your own perfect little moments in your life, too.

  • Driving down the highway, windows down and music turned up, with a bunch of best friends.
  • The faint, pleasant chill of early morning coming in through open windows, as you lie in bed, perfectly snuggled up in covers, perfectly aware that it’s your day off and you can sleep in.
  • Stepping out from a dreary building into a rain-washed world, where even the sky looks bluer and the sunlight seems cleaner.
  • Finding the cool spot on the pillow.
  • Bare feet on a gently sun-warmed wooden porch.
  • An honest, much-needed conversation over hot chocolate on a chilly day.
  • Being the only driver on the road as far as you can see, both ahead of you and in your rearview mirror. (Perfect time for serious, out-loud contemplation, or enthusiastic singing along to the radio)
  • Watching dawn or dusk creep across a quiet, rural landscape…soft light and shadow playing across the streets and into the fields and forests, colors of leaves and branches shifting in the changing light.
  • Coming into an air-conditioned building from the sweltering heat and humidity of high summer–like diving into a pool without getting wet.
  • Putting on still-warm-from-the-dryer underwear.
  • When the knot of traffic ahead finally eases and you can speed up at last.
  • Bowing your head to pray, and feeling all the worry and hurt ripple out of you as you honestly talk to God.
Saturday with the Spark

“But I’m Not Good Enough to be an Artist”

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butimnotgoodenough
Okay, first of all, I want to refute the statement in my title. When someone says “But I’m not good enough to be an artist,” I want to say back, “Who says??”

Breaking the Art/Artist Stereotype

For too long, art has been given this elevated, almost holier-than-anything status in our culture. And people we call “artists,” stereotypically speaking, are people who dress in “artsy”-looking clothes (all black and berets are the cliche), who claim that no one understands their art, who seem to be just a little bit unhinged at times, who rarely go out into the world so as not to disturb their “creative process.” Right?

NOPE. Artists are everywhere, talented in many different art forms, and they are not all intensely focused people, or all hoity-toity about their art. And art can be found in all parts of life. In fact, Grandma’s herb garden is just as much an art form as any painting or dance performance.

Art is Everywhere

Our whole culture is full of art. Art is self-expression, not just talent in a particular subject that seems “artsy.”

It pains me to say this, being a math-phobe as I am, but even math has artistic qualities–ever heard of fractal geometry, for instance? And even the symmetry of a perfectly-solved equation has beauty in it (even though I might have no idea how in the world it got solved that way). People who create beauty in their worlds are artists, whether they are organizing the clutter out of your apartment or rescuing your workplace’s database from certain cyber-doom.

Art is Approachable

Art does not have to be created in a vacuum void of anything except your own thoughts. In fact, art can be created as a result of human interaction, even as a result of crowds of people. The susurrus of many people talking can sound like a bumblebee’s whirring wings, which might just put you in mind of “Flight of the Bumblebee,” and inspire you to create something based on that, for instance.

You also don’t have to be a particular kind of “focused person” to create art. Sometimes, the random doodles you make on a paper napkin could be inspiration for a design you end up using in your home office, for instance. Art is everyday and yet it transcends the everyday. I like to think art just makes regular life a little bit spiffier. ^_^

Art Can Be Done by Anybody

You can become an artist even if you don’t think of yourself as creative. Anything you do well, whether at your job, at home, or out and about, can be art. Shopping can be an art. Fixing computers or cars can be an art. Whatever you do that you have great instincts for and a large amount of technical knowledge of, you can transform that into art by lending your passion for it into every action and thought. If it expresses who you are (like if your ability to organize and save money lends itself to shopping on a budget), that is part of your art.

And you don’t have to have just one type of art in your life, either–I am expressed by many different kinds of art, from songwriting to blogging, from beading to web designing, and on beyond.

Try a Little Art for Yourself

Even if you don’t think you’re creative, even if you think art is for elementary school kids, how about trying some of the artistic pursuits available to you? The following list is a starter list, but feel free to come up with your own!

  • Jewelry designing (beading, etc.)
  • Painting and modeling gaming pieces
  • Fabric crafting (sewing, fabric painting, etc.)
  • Woodworking
  • Painting
  • Gardening
  • Drawing/sketching
  • Interior designing
  • Acting
  • Cooking
  • Car detailing/finishing
  • Composing poetry
  • Couponing (just not the “extreme,” lawbreaking kind)
  • Short story writing
  • Organizing
  • Computer building
  • Novel writing
  • Web designing
  • Dancing (ballet, modern dance, etc.)
Saturday with the Spark

Expanding the World Inside Your Book

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expandingbookworld
As I’ve progressed further and further in writing my first novel, I’ve found myself thinking about the world my characters live in rather than just about the characters themselves. After all, a book with great characters is one thing, but if they live on blank pages rather than a colorful fictional world with its own backgrounds and settings, the characters feel a little flat. We as authors have to provide information about our book’s “world” so that its characters’ actions make sense.

The following parts of a fictional world, in my experience, need to be fleshed out:

Geography/Topography

What does your book’s world look like? Where are the mountains, beaches, deserts/plains, forests, oceans, volcanoes, and so on? This information impacts the characters’ ability to travel and adds to the mythos of the world you’re creating.

Political Divisions of Land

How is the land divided up, politically? Are there separate countries, states, provinces, regions, etc.? Determine where these boundaries fall in your fictional landscape, and what that means for your characters.

Weather Patterns and Seasons

If your book’s world has different seasons than our Earth’s, you have to note that in your book, otherwise readers will be very confused! Also, any weather patterns that impact your characters’ travel plans and daily lives should be described.

Governments, Social Classes, and Social Structures

Is your book’s world largely governed by representatives, a monarchy, or some other structure? What about the social classes–is there just “rich” and “poor”, or are there subtler divisions, like “upper middle class,” “lower middle class,” etc.

Also, think about how people’s jobs might divide the population into classes, such as those dedicated to a particular deity, those who work in service industries, etc.

Races, Ethnicities, and Genders

How diverse is the population of your book’s world? Is it largely the same as our world, or are there more or fewer races/ethnicities? Are there just two genders, or are there more? (Hey, in fantasy worlds, you never know!). These decisions will impact your characters either indirectly or directly, depending on your book’s events.

Society Type

Is your fictional world based in an agricultural or technological society? In other words, are they mostly farmers or mostly not-farmers? This will determine what all types of conveniences your characters have available to them, such as running water, toilet facilities, and electricity, among other things.

Technology

What kind of technology is available to your characters? You’ll have to determine that too, and note that for your readers so that they know what parameters your characters are working within. It’d be weird, for instance, to be reading a book that’s supposedly about an alternate reality of ancient Greece, and then come across a Facebook reference in there somewhere.

Religion(s)

What religion(s) are present? Are there even multiple religions? What is the deity or pantheon of deities like? What are the rituals associated with each religion? Outlining your world’s basic belief systems will be very helpful in determining how your characters will interact with each other on a spiritual basis; it may not be necessary for all plotlines, but a subplot or two may require it, so it’s good to have it fleshed out beforehand.

Where to Contain All This Information?

Keep a written record somewhere of this world-building information–for instance, I have several digital files on my computer with these details, kept separate from my novel but backed up in the same places. But you might find it easier to build your fictional world using a journal, notepad, or even a visual inspiration board to help you remember what places look like, etc. Whatever helps you access this information and reference it most easily!

Summary

Certainly, building a fictional world is difficult and requires a lot of questions to be answered. But if you want to make your book a fully-enriched experience, this background work will help readers appreciate your plot and characters.

(And even if your book is largely set in our world, it still helps to directly express the truth of the world as you experience it–other readers will be approaching your book with a different take on the world and will need to know how you see it to understand your book!)

Saturday with the Spark

Papercrafting Post #2: Ornare

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papercraft_ornare
Though the word “ornare” may look exotic and strange, it’s actually the word for piercing paper to “draw” cool patterns and designs.

I never knew this crafting art existed until I was researching my first papercrafting post and happened across supplies for “ornare” among the listings at various papercraft websites. “What in the world is ornare?” I wondered. Then I clicked and found out!

Ornare the Professional (More Expensive) Way

You can buy actual ornare kits, complete with special foam board, all kinds of pretty paper, and special needles to poke the holes with. Along with Creative Papercrafts’ page, I discovered a couple of other interesting sites where you can pick up ornare supplies, like pattern templates, piercing pads (to protect the surface underneath your pierced paper as well as to give you a cleaner punch), needle tools, etc. They appear listed below:

Kamya.com Ornare Templates
EcstasyCrafts’ Ornare Section
TerryficTimes.com Ornare Introduction
PaperWishes.com Ornare Template

Ornare the Cheap Way

However, while looking at all of this, a thought kept popping to mind: “Why couldn’t I just do this with regular printer paper of any color, a few pieces of foam core or flat styrofoam, and a regular sewing needle?”

So, here’s what I brainstormed (and my theory is backed up by this post over at Gem’s Cottage):

  1. Find an outline of a picture you like (nothing too detailed or you’ll go crazy trying to copy it).
  2. Lightly draw your chosen pattern on your printer paper with pencil. Make sure the outline can erase neatly!
  3. Lay your paper pattern on top of some foam core or flat styrofoam. Likely you will need to affix it using either some sort of clip, or even a piece of easily-removable tape or pins.
  4. With your needle, begin to punch holes at small regular intervals along the lines of your pattern–almost like Connect the Dots in reverse!
  5. Once you’re finished piercing the pattern out, erase all the light pencil marks.
  6. Now, you can leave the paper as is, cut out your pattern and layer a contrasting color of paper underneath it, or whatever your crafting heart desires!

With these kinds of instructions, ornare is an approachable and easy art form for making delicate and beautiful paper art!

To Learn More

The Search Press Book of Traditional Papercrafts offers even more insight on how to start doing crafts featuring ornare. Try it and let your imagination pierce through the paper!

Saturday with the Spark

Play-Doh: An Exercise in Mooshy Creativity

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playdohmooshycreativity
For most of us, Play-Doh is a product probably best left in our childhoods, due to the messes we made (remember that mixture of blue and orange Play-Doh that would never get un-mixed, or the bright green blotch in the beige carpet?). Not to mention the unintentional hair extensions we might have made with purple Play-Doh (I was 3 1/2 and thought it was pretty…the adults around me weren’t quite so enthusiastic, as I recall). 😀

But I loved playing with the stuff, because it was just so delightfully MOOSHY in my hands (“mooshy” being a word our family came up with to describe the unique texture of Play-Doh and other similar products). I loved squeezing the slightly-cool mass through my fingers, the smell of it lingering long after the little yellow tubs were put away for the day. And most of all, I liked making strange little shapes, even if they were just really long, skinny snakes that particular day.

I’m sure you have your own childhood memories, positive or not, which involve Play-Doh or another type of soft molding clay. Trouble is, they’re just memories. As adults, we don’t often let ourselves have the time to just mess with something fun. Fun has to be educational or possibly work-related, fun has to be multi-tasking or going towards an eventual goal, because we’re adults and we’re too old to play.

…Or are we?

I would venture to say that if given the chance, we should all play a little more. Not just play with a computer or a video game controller, but really play with our hands, interacting directly with our environment. In fact, there’s a few things Play-Doh can teach us about living in and reacting to our world, lessons we might need to relearn.

Things Play-Doh Can Teach Us

#1: You Can Make ANYTHING With Your Imagination

We tell our children this all the time, but do we really believe it?

With Play-Doh or something else that is infinitely moldable (even Legos), we can form anything that we wish to. Even though my Lego-building expertise sort of stopped with building skinny skyscraper-looking “buildings,” I still had fun doing it, because that’s what I imagined. Even though I couldn’t sculpt a David or a Venus de Milo out of Play-Doh, I still had fun making fake hair and funny face shapes.

But as adults, we tend to lock ourselves into a traditional mode of doing things. We might do something the same way every time because it’s easier–it involves no thinking, perhaps, or it’s just comfortable. We might also do something the same way every time because we were taught that way, and we aren’t sure how to innovate.

Play-Doh teaches that you don’t have to do anything any particular way, because it begins as just a nearly-formless mass. Feeling and instinct, therefore, guides us, where intellect and reason would only keep us away from possible new ways of doing things. We can look at that little blue or red ball and just start squeezing and mooshing at it rather than planning every step.

#2: If It Ain’t Right, Moosh It Up and Try Again

Ever seen a kid playing with Play-Doh? They might spend a lot of time sculpting something, only to look at it, shake their heads, and merrily mash it all into a vaguely potato-shaped mass again. When the Play-Doh doesn’t match what they were thinking of, they think nothing of just mooshing it all back together, and more importantly, trying again.

Here again, as adults, we forget that lesson. We get so attached to our creations, knowing the effort and knowledge that it took to make it, that we can’t fathom just erasing it all and starting again, even when we’ve reached an impasse. But when what we have created doesn’t match our vision and is not successful, we must either tweak what we’ve got, or mentally moosh it all up and start again.

Play-Doh represents the flexibility of our brains to visualize, tweak, re-vision, and if necessary, totally reshape. If we can let go of our pride long enough to moosh up our failed ideas and mix them all up again, maybe with some fresh thinking added to the mix, we just might come up with the solution.

#3: There Are Endless Ways to Tweak

Once we have an idea we like, we tend to be obstinate about changing things. Somebody else thinks your work project ought to be done this way? “Not on my watch; I worked hard on this design and I don’t think it needs to be changed.” Young children often think in similar ways–“it’s MY Play-Doh and it’s MY shape, and you don’t touch it!” We are very protective of our ideas and don’t usually like to hear criticism or suggestions of change.

But Play-Doh teaches us that there are endless ways to pinch, curl, flatten, and roll your ideas without changing the basic essence of what you have created. That smiley face made of purple and green Play-Doh is great, but what if it had a blue nose instead of a pink one? And what if its nose wasn’t a long, skinny shape, but a squat flat one? No matter what the nose looks like, you’ve still got a smiley face, haven’t you? When we are open to tweaking (open to compromise), we allow others to be part of the creative process, and in so doing, experience a bonding that usually doesn’t escape the kindergarten classroom.

#4: Just Because It’s Dried Up Doesn’t Mean It’s Trash

We’ve all had it happen–one of the little yellow canisters gets left open overnight, and we’re greeted with the sight of crumbly, dry Play-Doh the next morning. Usually, such sad lumps get tossed in the trash, because there’s no way to revive it, right?

As adults, we can feel the same way about our old, tired ideas. We’ve run them around so much in our minds that we’re sick of them; we’ve tried to make them work so many times that we’ve lost count. The idea feels dry, crumbled, lifeless in our mental hands. Sometimes, we end up just throwing them away, tossing them aside as failed projects that will never, ever work.

But even Play-Doh can be brought back from the brink of crumbling death. I remember one morning, when I was about six or seven, trying to figure out how to get my beloved blue Play-Doh to be springy and full of life again–I’d left it open two nights before and it resembled blue scrambled eggs that morning, falling apart in my hands.

I tried working at it and working at it with no success, and finally I went to the sink and washed my hands because they were coated in little bitty blue crumbs. I didn’t dry my hands very well (I was too impatient for that), so I returned to work on the Play-Doh with slightly damp hands. Imagine my surprise when the dried pieces began to feel just a bit softer, and began to stick together again!

Inspired, I went to the sink and got a few more drops of water directly on the Play-Doh, and then a few more, until it felt just a bit slick in my hands. I ended up kneading it and kneading it, and I worked that dried-up old mess into a moldable ball of blue beauty in about 30 minutes. (I’m still not sure what exactly happened, but I think the combination of the water and the oils from my hands and the hand soap helped rehydrate it.)

Believe it or not, we can do the same with our ideas. We may not be able to “just add water” and get everything working again, but we can add new inspiration, new research, or even other people’s input to help us try to revive our old, dried-up concepts. Sometimes, it just takes someone else’s eyes on the page to help; sometimes, it just takes being away from the idea for several days (or weeks) for us to regain some perspective.

Summary

We might not be kids anymore, but sometimes we ought to allow our brains to play instead of chaining them to desks and computers. We might be surprised at what we can come up with when we aren’t hindered by tradition, pride, tiredness, and lack of compromise.

Saturday with the Spark

Soul Notes

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soulnotes
Since I was a child, I’ve often “heard” musical pitches whenever I meet someone. It’s not a actual sound, but a tone resounding between my ears–a strange “mental hearing.”

This probably sounds pretty wacky to people who don’t experience this. I mean, how can somebody “hear” something that’s just in their heads? But for me, these pitches are not just random occurrences; they are clues to that person’s personality, and perhaps even their soul. I call them “soul notes.”

Detecting Soul Notes

My perfect pitch likely helps a lot in this, but it seems to be an automatic, possibly instinctive process to pick up on someone else’s soul note.

For instance, when I met my boyfriend for the first time, I heard, clearly and distinctly within my head, a high B, as if played controlled and soft on a stringed and bowed instrument. This matches his quiet mien, his way of carrying himself, but it also matches how he approaches life–with utmost self-control and logic. The key of B is gentle and subtle, but definitively “there.”

By contrast, when I hang out with one of our mutual friends, a very boisterous (and funny) person, the brassy trumpet-like sound of an F is in my ears, at a barely-conscious level, the whole time. F is a key of celebration to me, a key of joy–but also a key of solidity and strength. While our friend may be a little loud and wild at times, he is also a steadfast buddy and a family man at heart.

As for my own soul note? Well, it’s been quite a bit harder to hear than others’, but I believe my soul note to be C-sharp (aka D-flat). It is a very deep, “original”-sounding tone, almost foundational, and it can both fade into the background as well as sound itself loud.

Soul Notes as Predictors of How I Get Along With Others

It’s funny how the harmony or dissonance of these perceived notes seems to predict how another person and I will get along together. My boyfriend’s soul note and mine are a major-second interval apart (B and C-sharp)–they could strike against each other in disharmony, and yet when played together, they form a shimmering duet of each not overpowering the other.

Our boisterous mutual friend, on the other hand, reacts with my boyfriend differently than me. B and F pull against each other a bit more, creating the framework of a B-diminished chord; C-sharp and F are a major-third interval apart, more harmonic. It’s weird; I sometimes understand our mutual buddy better, understanding possibly why he gets mad or frustrated, while my boyfriend can be puzzled by his reactions to situations.

Usually, other people’s soul notes interact with mine on first meeting, and then get stronger as I continue to be around them. A person I met a few months ago had an indisputable A-flat (G-sharp) soul note, which sounded harmoniously but hollowly with my C-sharp. Being a fifth apart, it had the potential to either be a major chord or a minor chord, to either have a happy sound or a sad sound. This interaction mirrored how we got along–we were usually in accord, but there always was a little tension, as if we were both waiting for the other person to disagree.

How I Use These Notes

Initially, I use these notes as another clue to the person, doing my best to harmonize with them not only verbally, but subconsciously. As I get to know people, however, I’ve also been able to write and perform piano music that “represents” people in my life, writing how I “hear” their note (and eventually a melody) in my mind. (Most famously, I wrote a representative song for my boyfriend, about a month and a half before he became my boyfriend… 😉 )

I write and play these songs because they are great ways to honor friends and family. It’s not always a love song, but simply a “This is what you sound like to me” song.

Summary

Most people are either amused or weirded out when I tell them of this ability, because it is so unusual–I’ve never heard of anybody being able to do this, or of others even being aware of musical tones in their heads. It’s not like I’m hearing voices or anything, but it is a very cool phenomenon. I like to think of it as just one of the ways God is making my life unique and fun. 🙂

Saturday with the Spark

Becoming Creative

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becomingcreative
Because I’m naturally so creative, I often forget that for some, creativity is not the instinctual, natural process that it is for me. When I talk to others who don’t do a lot of creative stuff, they’re sometimes puzzled or amazed by how much time I devote to these activities, or how I come up with the ideas for poems, music, jewelry, web layouts, etc.

This disconnect got me thinking. Might there be a way to become creative? Is there a way to tap into creativity you never knew was there? I find it hard to believe that there are people who do not have any creativity whatsoever–when I taught in a city middle school, I was actually able to help some students find creative expression that they never knew they had, and they were energized by that.

Working off my teaching experience as well as my social experience, I think there are ways to tug out your creativity. The following two exercises might just tease out a few creative fibers in your spirit!

Exercise #1: The “Meh” Object

Have you got an object in your house that you’re kind of “meh” about? It’s okay, but it’s not exactly your style, not exactly your favorite color, etc. You may not even be sure why you don’t like it a whole lot, but it’s just kind of…there, and it doesn’t do much for you.

If you could change this object, how would you change it to make it fit your personality/style better?

For Instance…

In my freshman dorm room, I had the standard orangey-brown desk, dresser, wardrobe, and bed, and while the furniture was really basic, I had done pretty well with most of it. I had decorated my desk with some personal pictures, had dressed the bed with my favorite blue bedclothes, and had even hung cute little decorations on the front of the wardrobe, but the dresser was just…BLAH. It had to hold my TV and DVD player on the top, leaving no room for anything else that was purely decorative.

Finally, I found myself thinking one day, “If I could just put something on it that was navy blue, it would match everything else, at least.” Then my eyes drifted over to my desk chair, where I had a navy chenille throw with delicate fringe draped across the back of the chair. The throw always bunched into uncomfortable shapes against my back, and usually ended up in the floor anyway.

Inspiration struck, and struck hard. In a few minutes, I cleaned off and dusted the top of the dresser, and settled the narrow throw longways across the top of the dresser, letting the fringed edges dangle gracefully to either side. The previously-plain dresser was transformed, and I still had room for the TV and DVD player!

What Does This Have to Do With Creativity?

Creative people see the world around them and see how they could make it better. For example, they might dress up a plain, clear bud vase with a decorative bow affixed to the front of it; they might throw a bright, solid-colored tablecloth across a beat-up card table to make it fit for company. They might even take a bunch of wooden candlesticks of different heights and group them together, tying them together to create a fun, multileveled centerpiece for a table.

And it doesn’t have to be just decorating things, either. You can make your personal world better through arranging your desktop icons in fun shapes, fixing up your profile picture with some color or text, or rewriting your profile information to portray your sense of humor. Anything you see in your world that you wish was better, try something new to fix it up and make it better!

Exercise #2: The Room

Look around your personal space, and answer the following questions (mentally, ’cause this ain’t a test):

  1. How would you describe it?
  2. What is most special to you in this room?
  3. Where do you spend the most time in your room?
  4. What colors/lighting/fabrics are used?
  5. How do you feel when you’re in your personal space?
  6. What does this space mean to you?

Make a quick list of your answers to these questions. Now, how would you describe all of what your personal space is and what it means to someone who’s never been in your room? Would you use words, pictures, sound, gestures, etc.?

For Instance…

shaded dappled light filters
through old lacy curtains;
too lazy to try climbing down the wall,
it instead splays itself across the ceiling,
echoing my sprawl across the bed,
luxuriating in the fan breeze,
the cool crisp sheets under my body,
and the rare quiet of this afternoon room

This short poem I wrote describes my room as I experience it–quite simply, a haven. Each description in the poem (such as the lazy light, low breeze, crisp sheets, and rare quiet) creates an image of rest and ease, and oozes the enjoyment I have in just kicking back and relaxing in my room.

What Does This Have to Do With Creativity?

Creative people describe their world through their creations. Writing, art, music, drama–all those arts describe, celebrate, or seek to change the world they experience. My poem both describes and celebrates my room; if I was instead unhappy with my room, I would write about how all the junk on the floor and in the closet really depresses me every time I look at it. (Well, it kinda does, but that’s beside the point at the moment. LOL) I would then write about how I want to change it.

Many artists of all types make art about the things they see in the world that they want to change, or they make art celebrating the world they came from, viewing it with pride and encouraging others to take pride in it as well. Beginning with your room or your world, you can choose your favorite medium for art, and then use that art to talk about your experience. That’s definitely part of creative expression!

Summary

Being creative, and becoming creative, doesn’t just mean making a bunch of decorative “junk” or spending your days with your head in the clouds. Seeing your world for what it is–or what it could be–and describing it to others through all sorts of mediums is creative, too!

Monday in the HTMLab

Clothing for Your Website: Color Schemes

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clothingforwebsite
Choosing the colors for your site’s layout might seem like an arbitrary decision, but in fact, a layout’s colors can have a remarkable impact on your visitors. Using color strategically and beautifully is one more way we as designers can delight our visitors (and keep them on our site long enough to enjoy our content!).

But how do we choose just the right colors, and how do we implement them? Here are a few tips:

Image-Heavy Sites: Simple Blocks of Low-Key Color

imageheavysites

Sites with a lot of images, such as photoblogs, Tumblrs, or craft sites, just need color to visually delineate the site, since the images themselves will be attractive enough to viewers’ eyes. In the illustration above, the “navigation/sidebar” is a different color blue from the “content,” and the lower panels are done in light green, enough to draw attention when the user gets to the bottom of the page. This separates out the site’s content.

Image-heavy sites don’t need a lot of dramatic color; choosing softer shades of any color will work best, especially colors with lots of white, gray, or black mixed in (such as pastels, slate blue, and jewel tones). Try working within the “warm” colors (red, orange, yellow) or “cool” colors (green, blue, violet).

For Text-Heavy Sites: High-Contrast Text and Background Colors

textheavysites

The number-one concern for sites with a lot of text content is readability, and for that, you’ll want a color scheme with a high contrast between its text and background colors. The example above uses a light blue for the background color and a dark blue for the text, which helps the text stand out. (An even better contrast would be white background and dark blue text, but you can still use lighter colors for your background.) You can arguably use a dark background and light text, but your older visitors will have a harder time seeing the text.

As for which colors to choose, it’s best to stay within the same color family on a text-heavy site. Shades of the same color make the site both easy to read and attractive. (Just don’t use a red background color!)

For Feed-Heavy Sites: Small Shots of Color

feedheavysite

When you have a feed-heavy site (or a site with a lot of little sections you want to draw attention to), you can get away with little pops of different colors. Above, I have used colors from Facebook, Youtube, RSS feeds, and Twitter, with a couple of random colors mixed in, to show how this can work. Tiny bits of different colors helps your visitors see right away that your site has lots of different content–just don’t go overboard! Use unifying neutral colors (I used gray) on the rest of the site.

As for choosing which colors to use, you can just about use any shade of any color you want, since you’ll be using each color in such a small dose. Just try not to use the entire rainbow in your site–limit your color usage, perhaps, to 5 or 6 different brighter colors for the “color shots,” and use neutrals everywhere else.

Get More Color Scheme Inspiration

Be sure to look around you wherever you go for color scheme inspiration. In my hometown, for instance, there’s a beautiful old hotel that was once painted in cream and light pink, with a lot of black wrought-iron details. The colors have all faded somewhat over the years, so that the wrought-iron is now dark gray, the pink is just barely there, and the cream is almost white, but you can still see parts of the building that haven’t faded so much. I took that unexpected color scheme, modified it a bit, and used it for my novel update page. Literally anything can be color inspiration!

Color Scheme Websites

ColourLovers
Adobe Kuler
Paletton
ColorCombos.com

Saturday with the Spark

Novel Therapy

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noveltherapy
I never thought I’d be a novelist, ever. And yet here I am, producing original characters and inventing extended plotlines!

Why I Never Considered Noveling: Impatience

I was supremely impatient as a child and teenager; my brain balked at the idea of writing about a character or set of characters for a long time. Not to mention that I was notoriously horrible at picking names for my characters, anyway. Something in me at that age rebelled against the whole process, even though I enjoyed telling stories and I enjoyed the art of writing creatively. But I stayed within the world of writing largely short fanfiction, because I felt as though I had to keep my characters contained in a pre-approved box to make them workable. Writing a completely self-produced novel, or even longer fiction at all, I reasoned, would feel more like work or a school assignment than a pastime.

I continued with this self-philosophy well into graduate school, because I struggled to write enough pages for my professors’ long paper assignments. While I enjoyed creative writing, I decidedly did not like long academic writing. Sometimes I felt that I’d said enough about my perspective on a piece of literature in just 4 paragraphs, and I didn’t need to beleaguer the point; yet, my assignment said that the paper must be 10 pages long. That goal, of a set number of pages I had to produce, was locked around my neck time and again, like a yoke. “See,” I told myself, “this is why I don’t bother with writing a novel. I won’t like the process, and it’ll be too long and too hard for me to focus on and be happy with.”

The Sharp Mindset Shift

I had not counted, however, on my teaching career disintegrating into flaming ashes under my feet. I had to utterly quit the teaching degree program and return home, not because of any family emergency, but because I had begun to suffer severe depression and even suicidal thoughts. If I had thought writing a novel would feel like a prison, teaching had felt like a lightless dungeon.

So, while I sat at home recovering, I began to poke around with a story I had crafted about two years before for an online role-play. I had written a bit of backstory for the character (about 30 pages), but after my teaching classes got started, I hadn’t returned to it (though I had wanted to). I had all but forgotten about it…and then, there it was, sitting in a writing folder on my computer. Now, I had nothing else to distract me from it, so I turned to this little slice of backstory…and I began to write again.

Hope from Within My Own Pages

As the character’s backstory spun from my fingers into the keyboard, I began to take heart from the sparkles of hope appearing within the story. The heartbreak of my teaching career was still a fresh wound in my back, in my side, but in this story, which was so open, bright, and sweet, there was light to be found. My own story, one I never thought would ever be, was beginning to pull me from the mire.

As 2009 ended, I had a story of about 50,000 words; now it’s well over 100,000 words and still going. I’m writing on my own terms–not by a schedule, and not holding myself to a word count or a page count, and I think that’s what helps me keep on writing. It’s something of my own design, something I can find solace in. (Plus, if I make it feel too much like work, that feeling will come out in my writing and make the novel very hard to read!)

Your Writing Can Be Therapy for You, Too!

I’ve found that the act of creating (whether it’s writing, music, or another art form) is soothing and joyful, returning me to a better state of mind. If you find yourself in need of a “reset button” for your mind, try writing; you might just surprise yourself with what you create. Who knows, you might have your own novel buried in your head waiting to be discovered!