An Inspiration Board

This is author Kristen Stieffel's "Inspiration Board"

www.facebook.com/kristen.stieffel

Kristen's board has inspired me to create my own inspiration board but where would I find room to hang it? Hmm...
Oh. There's always room for j/e/l/l/o/ a computer file version.

Non-authors and authors, about what do you most need inspiration?

"Song of the Candle" & writer's block

Fragments of lyrics from Stan Rogers' "Song of the Candle" came to me just now. For a moment I couldn't think from what song they were a part. I was actually starting a Google search when I remembered it was a bit from Stan Rogers' song about writer's block.

I was embarrassed. Canadian folksinger, Stan Rogers, has been one of my favorite singer/songwriters for 3? 4? decades. When I heard about his unexpected death at work in 1983, I burst into tears--the only time I've ever done that about someone I've never met.

I could go on about Stan, and would if I don't stop myself.

I created this blog to share my thoughts about imagination, inspiration and creativity--ironic given that I've just recovered from a very long stretch of writer's block. Please keep that in mind if--when you read these entries--you think I know what I'm talking about.

I've read many articles offering strategies for overcoming writer's block but hearing someone describe their own struggles helped me more.


Song of the Candle, by Stan Rogers   (original performance)


Song of the Candle

I took up my pen tonight. I couldn't seem to write.
It's like I got religion and then I lost the light
An old woman once told me she'd always felt that way...
She said "Taken from the mold when it can still run
A candle might not keep you from the cold
But buy another candle, son, it's not too much to pay
For one more try." I had to smile
Before I walked away.

Coffee houses bother me. I cannot tell you why.
But, it never seems "hello" sounds as sweet as "goodbye".
And the waitresses, in passing, remember all your names...
They say "Look around and try to meet a single eye."
And empty cups will mock me if I stay but
"Buy another coffee, Stan, it's not too much to pay.
And we will try to raise your smile
Before you walk away."

Tonight in a room full of candles another cup of ashes drains away
And, at times, it gets so hard to handle
Knowing one more song has swiftly taken wing
And I'm left alone to hear the song a lonely candle sings.

The priest, I found, was nervous. He cleared his throat a lot.
But, framed in stained glass windows, his eyes were lost in thought.
And I said "Father, can you tell me...is some happiness my right?"
He said "Rather seek you joy, the blessings of your God,
And happiness from worship in his sight.
And buy another candle son, before you start to pray
And don't forget to cross your breast
Before you walk away."

Tonight, in a room full of candles, another cup of madness drains away.
And at times it gets so hard to handle
Knowing one more simple song has swiftly taken wing.
And I'm left alone to hear the song a lonely candle sings.

One too many cigarettes, slowly burning down
And the final cup of coffee was cold and full of grounds
And maybe one last pipeful might send the words around
Still, underneath my hand this night has slipped away
And it leaves me as empty as this page
One more candle flickers out, the night is turning grey
And I just can't watch the dying flame
I have to walk away.

Tonight I have burned all my candles
Leaving only ashes in their wake...
And at times, I get so hard to handle
'Cause simple songs leave me behind, they all have taken wing
And I'm left alone to hear the song a lonely candle sings...

http://lyrics.wikia.com/Stan_Rogers:Song_Of_The_Candle


"Song of the Candle I wrote in 1972, in London, the result of a very hard night trying to write a song the night before. You know, when you sit down to write and nothing comes out and you spend a white night because of it, and watch the sun come up and realize that nothing has been done. That old burned-out, tired and wasted feeling. It’s essentially that trip, but done in a soft ballad way."
http://www.thedigitalfolklife.org/stan.html

"Stan Rogers" at Wikipedia

Thinking Outside The Box (THT again)

NEW!
Send email to The Daily Scroll or to The Scroll Chamber Press 
scrollchamberpress@gmail.com

Go to "Now For Something Completely Different" for an extract from "The Last Battle"

(Tree House Tales fantasy novelette)

Thinking Outside The Box About Something Outside The Box

I knew I needed to write a book description and an author bio for my Tree House Tales antho but I avoided both chores until the last minute. Have you noticed how obligations appear more difficult the longer you procrastinate? The last minute for these chores arrived when the publishing process refused to complete its routine until I turned in my overdue homework.

I tried to write something suitable several times, loathed every effort and erased them all. In the old days, especially in old comedy films, crumpled paper would have been scattered all around my full trash can--or maybe knee deep around my chair. 

So here I was, owner of a blog about "Imagination, Inspiration and Creativity" who was defeated when she tried to describe her own work. It wasn't like I was writing a description of "Ulysses".

Why was this so hard? Simple. I was approaching the fearsome Book Description the way I imagined I dreaded writing high school book reports, specifically imagining writing a book report late at night after just skimming the last third of the book.

I didn't skim or rather scribble a rough draft of my Tree House Tales entries. Some entries were written nearly 30 years ago. I reworked and revised the already revised twenty short stories and the thirteen anecdotes or "whatevers" for nearly a year. I spent much longer than I'd expected choosing art and deciding which "Narenta Tumults" extracts to use with my "How I Write" afterword. 

I knew THT maybe better than I wanted to by the time it was ready for publication so I wasn't in the best frame of mind when required to describe the project.

There was a solution for that and it didn't involve Swiffer mops. Once upon a time, I was inspired to create everything in THT. Now it was time for all those odd little entries to do their share. Time for them to start 'thinking outside the box' of their individual stories, to inspire each other to create a book description that fit them all.

I was about to tell them this when they told me. They pointed out that all they lacked were hands--more specifically fingers--to key in their account. Since I was handy, they h/i/r/e/d/  d/r/a/f/t/e/d/ threatened me to do it.

Seriously. Threatened. "Write this up in the third person, or we'll chase away your Muse. Again."

So, with trembling fingers (and toes) I offer t/h/e their Tree House Tales Book Description.

"TREE HOUSE TALES is a fantasy collection of short fiction & non-fiction written between 1983 & 2014. THT was never a planned literary work nor was it a proto-collection awaiting critical mass. It—or rather /w/e/ they—were files saved in a common folder, once manila & now digital. Short stories, anecdotes, art, poetry and "beats-mes" kept company for as much as 30 years—all that time left to /o/u/r/ their own devices.

I theorize that works which originally had little in common—besides being file neighbors—began communicating in ways humans cannot begin to understand. I think they found they had commonalities they never guessed and not just that "We have the same author" thing.

Fantasy, folk tradition & mythic stories about the Fae discovered they had more in common than some author.

Horror & humor agreed to disagree. Maybe even work together. Deities and Demons, not so much.

Short stories written by and about Aliens compared notes with Tales by and about the Fae, i.e. elves, faeries, brownies or maybe clever mice.

Stoahs, dragons, cats and seabirds debated the existence of humans beyond their presence in fiction.

Wishbones & bear-eating fish learned about “reality” (whatever that is) at the feet of both humorous & scary non-fiction. (feet?)

Since none of their fellow literary prisoners were alike, the short works suspected that readers might vary in their tastes. There might be 100s or 1000s of people yearning to read about vengeful trout, queens of the Fae, unlikely aliens kept safe by Witness Protection, what hit men do on their day off, and why tech can be scary & hurricanes terrifying but sorcerers are much worse!

Critical mass just sort of happened. Short stories, anecdotes, artwork, poems, extracts & “beats-mes” discovered that they felt homeless & unread because they were homeless and unread.

Every anecdote & each tale from the Faerie Realm began dreaming about living where Ursa Major, Narenta & a Mother Goose pumpkin patch shared the same saunas.

Or finding their true home on the bookshelf of a compulsive reader. Or lurking inside a Kindle waiting to scare their reader inside out!

It was time to take their futures into their own … titles, join together & become a book! Not just any book but a COLLECTION!!!

Together they vowed never to rest until they had been read not once but many times!

Or until their author became a blithering idiot! Or both! Yes, both!

“Unread is unknown!

“Unknown is unread!"

~~~~~

TREE HOUSE TALES ANNOTATED TABLE OF CONTENTS

TREE HOUSE TALES is a collection of short stories, fantasy, humor, suspense, SF, horror & beats me; fantasy art, anecdotes, poems & novel extracts.

Here's the annotated table of contents.

  ~~~~~  

Fantasy Mostly

  ~~~~~

I Need a Horse;
A Sailor's Tale (mythic tale);
Sisyphus (interlinked horror story); 

Circles (aliens & daydreams);
Garden Mosaic (poems);
Daisy & the Paper-Mice (2 sides of a paper trail); 

The Windowed Door (prose poem);
Luckiest Hunter Ever (story outline, story-telling suggestions);
The Dragon's Tail Tale (tall tale fantasy); 

No Substitutions (Parental love & Fantasy adoptions);
Winter's Season (a what if);
Smashed Fairy Song Cycle (humor); 

Dream, With Joey (strange luck w/ a side of paranoia);
A Dream with Bowling (Confidential informant in hitman land. With bowling); 

The Queen of the Tor Sidhe (poem);
Shadow Harper (new take on an old tradition); 

The Pumpkin Smasher (Mother Goose vs the FBI. With trolls);
Gajit's Research Expedition (SF, undergrad research papers, culture shock);
Dingle (finish the story challenge); 

The Last Battle (novelette: faerie tales, horror & war) -- 

  ~~~~~  

Reality, Whatever That Is

  ~~~~~  

Preteens, Horses & Aliens;
Baffled by the Green Door;
Fandom 101;
How I Learned to Hate Phones; 

A Fannish Internet Sub-Creation of a Hyper-Dimensional Pocket Universe; 

Sherry's Cake is Major Hit at Coffee Hour Film at 11; 

EgoBoogling or what artists, authors, actors & musicians do when they ditch work; 

Catzis#1 by the human,
Catzis#2 by Khiva & Vartha;
Rainstorm Coming (scattered drops of poetry); 

Hurricane Hazel (an 8-year-old's memories);
Between Worlds (poem re Ocean City NJ)

END OF REALITY (that's a relief!) 

  ~~~~~  

How I Write

  ~~~~~  

Extracts from 5 Narenta novels: 

Seabird, Earthbow, Marooned,

The Gryphon & the Basilisk; Da Boid,Da Tree-rat 'n' Da Loser

A Smidge of Plot, A Glob of Character:

Khiva the Stoah (Earthbow and G&B);

Bert-and-Marsha-from-Hoboken (Marooned).

 ILLUSTRATIONS

~~~~~

TREE HOUSE TALES; A Collection of Short Stories, Non-Fiction Shorts, Art, and Extracts From Five Narenta Tumults Novels

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0692348441/

Tree House Tales at Goodreads

The Other Swiss Army Knife

We all have at least one swiss army knife.

Probably not this one

Wenger Giant Swiss Army Knife: 85 tools, 110 uses, 100% bonkers

"…absurdly stuffed Swiss Army Knife: over two pounds in weight and nearly nine inches across, it has 85 different tools and 110 ways to use 'em...    $800.00"

Talking about the one you were given in elementary school is "safe"

as is the one you later learned to use in scouts & have used ever since.

Mentioning the swiss army knife inside your brain, not so much safe. 

This in spite of expressions like, "She's sharp-witted." or "He's got a mind like a steel trap." Only small children will imagine we have a tiny mouse trap inside our heads.

Okay, there's your best buddy but they already know about that off-kilter way you look at things and how you express your reactions. They've got it too. Looking at the world differently from your other friends and family probably brought you together.

But claiming our minds are like swiss army knives? Most people won't try to debate this--they'll just wisk around the other side of the jeans rack as fast as they can. Preferably before you prove your point by opening the top of your skull to show off that Wenger Giant. 

Yes, that would be strange... Please don't back away. My brain is full of imagination, not teensy knives. Wanna see? ...Phooey! Lost another one.

Back on track. We were all gifted with a brain capable of astonishing multitasking and filled with so much data we sometimes need our internal version of Mr. Peabody's "Way-back Machine" to recall details or even an entire incident. (Associated scents help us recall memories, by the way.)

We all dream during the REM stage of our sleep. (REM=rapid eye movement)  Yes, all of us do, even those who never remember their dreams when they wake. If I remember right scientists say the building blocks of dreams are memories, issues not yet resolved usually from the previous day and current sensory input. We may also be gifted with unexpected insight and guidance. Viable solutions to the real life problems in our waking world. Hence the advice, "sleep on it."

For example, you dream that you're chocolate melting into a candy bar mold. Only to wake up and find the kitten curled up on your chest, your spouse's head on your shoulder, and the beagle wedged between your knees and ankles. As you gently shift souces of excess warmth, thoughts kick in. Heatwave... 3rd day... lightweight shirt... TWO water bottles... icepack on neck... ooh... Uh...Mmph... electric bill...get car's A/C chec...

Last Friday on FFF #4, I wrote... "we have the freedom to create as many scenarios as we wish from whatever raw materials we choose..."

There's a never-ending supply of fascinating "stuph" stuffed into our versatile brains and "room" to stuph in even more. And that's "just" our brains. We're surrounded by an infinite variety of "raw material". First, everything to which we have sensory access in Creation. Second, and increasingly, everything we have access to via human endeavor --whether we want it or not. 

Each bit is waiting for us to notice it when we're conscious. Or, close enough to conscious to get on with it. 

"Each bit is waiting.." Did you find my wording uncomfortably anthropomorphic?  Maybe you're reading the wrong blog.*   

We may tweeze and examine, or split something apart gently in search of its origin. Or study the movements of a hawk, the sparkle in a child's eyes, the sniffing of a dog on a trail we can't sense--only guess at by the animal's actions. Fascinated we may even scribble a word or three. (If you write it down, you're more likely to remember.) We sniff, taste, touch if carefully. Poison ivy! Personal space issues! No matter where we are or what we're  else doing. We only need be observant about everything selected things around us--including other people--to enrich our lives and stimulate our imagination. 

Immersing ourselves in our environments may seem like nothing more than a time well to some. EgoBoogling is a time well! The practice I've been describing isn't, whether you make practical use of the experiences you've gathered up like wildflowers. O savor on your own. Once you get the hang of it, the practice is virtually effortless. More trouble remembering to turn it off when necessary, than to turn it on.

I hope you give this a try, not once but many times. Pass what you've experienced on to others. Use relevant bits in classes, at home or at meetings. Where possible, don't just describe the hawk's drift along the thermals. Add hints about your physical, even your emotional reactions at a given moment. The shiny leaves, the itch, the feelings of stupidity and doom. 

Of course, you can't insert your experiences randomly into every conversation. If you do, you'll find yourself involved in far fewer conversations as friends flee your imminent encroaching on their personal hearing space.

Much of which you've taken note may find a comfy home inside your memories, next to be noticed in a dream, a fascinating image or a flash of inspiration. I hear on good authority that everything we've experienced remains somewhere in our thoughts. Maybe if we shake our heads vigorously, out will pop the elusive image of our tenth birthday cake.  If desperate, we could visit the paint shop and clamp our heads... Yeah. Maybe not. 

Unless we're misers, we don't gather up stuff just to store it. If we're creative--and we all are--we can select and blend images and every other type of experience into something new. And free!**

Myriads of sensory experiences--not just from nature--are waiting in our seemingly barren offices, sidewalks and staircases, supermarkets, car washes. Thousands upon thousands of words from conversations, books, media. Allow your inspiration and imagination to pick whatever they wish. No limits. No boundaries. It's all free. Never tell the "I & I buddies" to put something back.   ;-P

Creativity will pitch in without your prompting. Don't set limits. Don't clamp down. Accept. Nothing yet? No pushing! Toss that wonderful pile of experiences up into the air like a pitchfork full of hay. Eat dinner. Do your homework, work on tomorrow's report, listen to a concert, play with your pet. Do anything but push. Remember the brain multitasks. Creativity & imagination work best when you don't stare at them, tapping your foot.

Just before you go to bed (pets shut of the room tonight), later in a dream, the next morning as you dump yogurt on your cereal--or your coffee if you're not yet awake-- a line of poetry or a lyric, a new image, the beginnings of a tune or an unexpected link between seeming disparate thoughts will gift themselves. 

Enjoy!

For more on how to gather the good stuph:

"Discover YOUR place in the world!"

And the Places of Things, Joy, Living Beings, Curiosity, Thoughts. All in your world...

"Discover YOUR place in the world!"  Photo: Brain Pickings

Maria Popova owns the "Brain Pickings" blog.
You can have her blog entry issues emailed to you. Cool, huh?

~~~~~

*     "Maybe you're reading the wrong blog."   No, please! Don't go! Give me another chance! It'll get weirder!
**   Unlike those expensive natural food juicer/blenders "Hurry! Call now, and we'll send you two!" (for the price of ten blenders).