Category: did you see this?!!
3d paintings: This is so cool!
| December 2, 2011 | Posted by ljquillyn under did you see this?!!, Things that inspire me |
I love art. I think it can be so cool!
This artist is really awesome.
I think I’ll go paint now.
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Writing Inspiration: Derived from Nature.
| November 29, 2011 | Posted by ljquillyn under did you see this?!!, Things that inspire me, Writing with confidence |
Nature is a great place to look for writing inspiration. There are things that happen on our earth that you wouldn’t believe unless you saw them with your own two eyes. And sometimes, even then you don’t believe them.
This is a pretty cool thing that I learned about through my adventures with StumbleUpon.
Crazy, huh!?
I posted this because one of my main characters hails from an ice realm. This might be something that he would witness or even learn to control through magic. Who knows.
Do you derive any inspiration from nature? What kinds of things do you see?
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Friday Fave – Ron Weasley’s Love Life
| October 28, 2011 | Posted by ljquillyn under did you see this?!!, Things that inspire me |
Julie Kagawa’s ComicCon Interview
| October 26, 2011 | Posted by ljquillyn under did you see this?!!, Things that inspire me |
The Iron Knight came out yesterday! I’m super excited to read it! I’ll be picking it up this afternoon and I’ll be sure to let you know how it is!
Julie Kagawa did an interview at ComicCon. Fun announcement in here:
Have a great day!
LJ
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What are you pretty good at?
| October 20, 2011 | Posted by ljquillyn under did you see this?!!, Musing on life, Things that inspire me, Writing with confidence |
I love Billy Currington. As you should know by now if you’re a regular reader, I’m kind of a country bumpkin at heart. I’m also a believer that people should know who they are and what contribution they can offer to the world. As I was listening to this song this morning, it occurred to me that there was a valuable lesson hidden in it.
In this song, Billy differentiates all the stuff that he’s not that great at from the things that he’s good at and what he likes. He says, “I’m pretty good at drinkin’ beer.” He is able to describe how he likes his beer. He can describe where he likes to drink it and when he does it best.
I used to say that I was pretty good at writing. I didn’t really think too much past that, though. Self discovery is actually a really long, involved process. It takes less time if you’re actually paying attention, however. Over the last few years, I’ve been paying pretty close attention. In the last six months, I’ve finally been able to explore who I am as a writer (joys of unemployment). Now I can get pretty specific about what I mean when I say that.
I am not cut out for public speaking. In fact, I don’t even like talking on the phone. The written word is much more my style. I feel good when I capture a character’s essence in words. I feel amazing when I put together a suspenseful scene. And when I can work in some symbolism…yeah, that’s the stuff!
I’m not a huge fan of reality. I’ve tried to make myself like data and facts. That’s how I ended up studying business (finance, accounting, marketing, blah ugh) in college. I was being practical or something. Obviously, that didn’t work out. Frankly, I’m not interested in finance and status or networking to build clientele. In an episode of The Simpsons, Lisa’s friend Juliette says, “The real world is for people who can’t imagine something better.” Word, sister. I like to write about magic and supernatural creatures. I like to entertain. I like to live in a place called fantasyland where anything can happen. Writing is fantastic there.
As a kid, I sometimes needed an escape from the real world, and books provided that for me. Let’s face it, I still need to escape sometimes (don’t we all?). Books are the first place I turn. I like stories that have epic potentialities, but focus on characters who are quietly extraordinary. That’s who I am as a writer.
I am pretty good at writing, I guess.
What are you pretty good at? Writing? Something else? Expand on that! I’d love to read it!
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Fanfare for the writer, please?
| October 19, 2011 | Posted by ljquillyn under did you see this?!!, Things that inspire me, Writing with confidence |
I want to share a great article with you, dear writers. The Writing Life by Stephen King
As I read this, I found myself chuckling frequently at the commonalities of the writing life that I recognized in myself as I took in Stephen King’s descriptions. I was also thinking, “Wow! I have something in common with this guy? This is super exciting, maybe it’s more confirmation that I really, really am a writer.”
I loved how King said that the writing life is pretty much just sitting on your ass. I’m doing that right now! He explained how he just writes. Sometimes in his writing room, sometimes in the park, and really, it isn’t all that glamorous. Passers by notice his lovely Welsh Corgi, but nobody goes into raptures about the fact that Stephen King is writing!
Writing often feels that way to me too. I rarely get any sort of praise for it, you know, unless I demand it (which I sometimes do). When writing comes up in conversation, here’s how it usually goes:
“Guess what I did today!”
“What?”
“I wrote several pages of a story! And this one scene, oh my gosh, it is amazing. Of course, I can’t tell you what happened.”
“Oh, cool. What else did you do?”
“Oh, not much.” Whomp.
On the inside, I’m a little less blasé. On the inside, I am saying, “Oh my gosh! Yay! I did it! I wrote today! Where’s the fanfare? I may have just written a chunk of the most amazing story of all time. I hope I can do this again tomorrow! I hope I can do it again right now! Maybe I’ll sit down and see what happens!”
I’m actually very lucky in that my husband is always very proud of me for writing. “Good job, darling! I’m so glad that you wrote today!” That’s usually what he says.
At any rate, the writing life, though it mostly involves sitting on your ass if you’re actually working, is pretty awesome. Sometimes, or, really most of the time, we do have to provide our own fanfare. That’s okay. It’s kind of fun, honestly. More than that, it is important to give yourself props for a job well done. Don’t be hesitant to encourage yourself. You can be your own biggest critic and your own biggest advocate.
Happy writing!
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Book sculptures
| October 6, 2011 | Posted by ljquillyn under did you see this?!!, Musing on life |
Do you know the story of the Shoemaker and the Elves? A poor, but kindly shoemaker is in need of money to pay his rent. In the night, elves come and make shoes that he can sell! How nice! He woke up to find such a wonderful pair of shoes that had magically appeared!
That’s the story that I thought of when I saw this article. There’s an artist that leaves these little sculptures made from books all over the Edinburgh library. Wouldn’t it be such fun to work there and to be surprised by a new one every now and again?
There’s something magical about it. I’d just like to send out a thank you to the person who creates these. They’re absolutely wondrous.
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Steven Johnson – Where Good Ideas Come From
| October 4, 2011 | Posted by ljquillyn under did you see this?!!, Improving your writing, Writing with confidence |
Hello fabulous writers!
I wanted to share another video with you today. I know I’ve been posting a lot of these, but I just keep finding good ones!
This video is about where good ideas come from. As writers, we’re ALWAYS on the lookout for good ideas. So I thought, hey, maybe we should learn a little about how to be more savvy in looking for them. Watch:
I watched it and thought, “Well shit. I’m not sure what to think about this. How connected am I? I sort of suck at using social media and due to my delightful social anxiety, I can’t just go talk to people.”
But what kinds of connections does Mr. Johnson suggest here? Any kind? I don’t know. At any rate, I think I need to watch his TED talk about this. It is twenty minutes long and therefore must give better insight.
What do you think? Where do your best ideas come from?
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Beautiful music
| October 3, 2011 | Posted by ljquillyn under did you see this?!!, Things that inspire me |
Gratitude to the greats: Elizabeth Gilbert
| September 29, 2011 | Posted by ljquillyn under did you see this?!!, Gratitude, Things that inspire me, Writing with confidence |
This is my favorite Ted Talk. Totally worth the twenty minutes. I have connected with Liz Gilbert’s books as a soul searcher and someone who doesn’t believe that the conventional life plan is for everybody (you know, me in particular). I just feel so thankful that she has been willing to write about this stuff, much of which I have experienced for myself, but never really put into words. Same with this Ted talk. This lady’s an inspiration.
This talk has been very important to me as a writer. Each day, I have to ask myself if I have shown up to work.
Who has influenced you? What stands out to you about this talk?
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This is my favorite Ted Talk. Totally worth the twenty minutes. I have connected with Liz Gilbert’s books as a soul searcher and someone who doesn’t believe that the conventional life plan is for everybody (you know, me in particular). I just feel so thankful that she has been willing to write about this stuff, much of which I have experienced for myself, but never really put into words. Same with this Ted talk. This lady’s an inspiration.
This talk has been very important to me as a writer. Each day, I have to ask myself if I have shown up to work.
Who has influenced you? What stands out to you about this talk?
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