UPDATE:
This promo is over but all the volumes are now in 1 digital book!
Category: Creativity
Related to making, creating, and sparking discovery through creative endeavor.
Permission to Daydream
Photo Credit: fluffisch via Compfight
In school, nothing gets a kid in trouble faster than staring out the window…daydreaming. It shows they aren’t focused on the subject at hand.
“Pay Attention!” teachers say.
Maybe it’s inhibited our ways of learning or understanding the world, even into adulthood. Did you ever wonder why you might come up with some of your best ideas right before you fall off to sleep, or in the shower?
It’s because you’ve loosened your mental grip long enough to let new creative ideas in, in that more hidden, subterranean put of your mind. You’ve started daydreaming…which is actually problem solving. (Now, it sounds important, huh?)
Today, I’m giving you permission to daydream.
Put on a pot of coffee and decide on some situation you want to ponder. (And put your coffee in an air tight thermos, so it doesn’t taste like armpit after 20 minutes. Just a little tip for ya.) Then, just give yourself 10 or 15 minutes to daydream. It might open doors you didn’t know were there.
Has there ever been a time when daydreaming helped you solve a problem?
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How To: Use Your Blog to Change the World [infographic]
Did you ever wish it was easier to navigate your responses to news and happenings on the interwebs? How should you blog when your passions get ignited, so you don’t look like an ass later? It’s a navigation issue.
OR
Did you ever wish you could teach someone how to avoid doing and saying things they might regret? (Or things you end up regretting for them.)
Now you can!
Okay, plenty of people don’t take good advice. Me included. Alanise Morrisette and I are not alone. Maybe you try to help your readers navigate, and they just don’t give a care. In hopes that they will, I made a graphic to help.
It’s like a flowchart that hopes to be considered an Infrographic, because infographics are where the coolness is.
Everything seems simpler with a visual, right?
TAH-DAH! The flowchart for navigating how we post on our blogs that you’ve been waiting for…or didn’t know you needed.
You like? Then, Take it. Use it. Spread it. Whatevs. It’s free. Enjoy.
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5 Ways Blogging is Like a Mistress (for a writer)
WARNING: The following contains dark humor.
I know something about mistresses. My dad had one.
As a writer, a blog can be just like a mistress for me. Here’s why:
1. Stroking. The instant gratification that comes from being heard with such ease (blogging) is the simple sticky honey trap for a person of words, like me.
2. Quick fix over Commitment? Sure, baby. Pounding out 80,000 words grows wearisome. Why not just pop out 800, for a quick fix? Sometimes, I ditch the old ball & chain writing project for a bit of Miss Right Now (blogging). Sometimes my dreams suffer for it.
3. On-the-fly modification. Meeting up with a mistress (my blog) can be exciting because not only can I be impetuous, but I can modify a lot to my liking whenever I please. I switch things up for added interest, or improvement. But, ink on paper…I’m married to it.
4. Familiarity breeds contempt. There’s nothing like living with your words to make them frustrating and lack-luster. Months on end of book project writing can just kill the romance, and lead to self-loathing at my own impotence. However, a short, hot rendezvous (a few hours) is the most I spend on any post. Hey, blog, don’t let me catch you leaving your toothbrush here, or it’s sayonara.
5. Adventure! Weekend trysts to exotic spots? Yes, please! I don’t have to be an expert when blogging. I can cover exciting, far-flung topics with just a few hours of pesky research.
My dad married his mistress, eventually. He still fought with wife #1 (my mom) all the time–but with the new wife, it was a new life of eggshell walking and apologizing. He probably didn’t anticipate this at the mistress stage.
I don’t think I want the same thing in terms of my writing. I have to keep blogging in check. The words, “Get back, you vile temptress!” comes to mind, until I realize that this would make it sound like it wasn’t my fault. But, it is.
Has your blog ever been like a “mistress” for you? In what ways?
And please share your insights.
What helps you stay on track with longer writing projects?
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Getting my Monk on this Lent. [Blogs and Bondage]
Today, I’m getting all Jesuit. I’m here with some monks, spiritual siblings, and the Holy Spirit doing an inward gaze with a Lenten focus.
Why? Because it’s good for me.
One of the genuine spiritual perils of blogging is becoming a slave to the blog, and technology in general. The fact is, when I use social media to promote my blog then more people read it. The unintended consequence is that I grow obligated to tend that thorny patch to keep things going.
The fine line between obligatory blog promotion and bondage is a surprisingly fine one. I check my stats. Is this post working? Which tweets helped the most? Who’s retweeting and passing along the message? When and how should I thank him or her? round and round…
The quick result is little carved out time of true unplugging. Something that will directly refresh my soul, establish healthy spaces and balance, sharpen my awareness to God’s will, and in fact create reservoirs in me for better blogging and interactions later.
It’s like going too long without water. Once dehydration sets in you stop feeling thirsty…when water is necessary to put things right again.
As bloggers (or any kind of humans) we must block out time for this true rest. Put it on the calendar in pen, and schedule it in like any other appointment. Otherwise, the urgent crowds out the crucial space and genuine pause we need. And, trust me, we suffer for it.
Have you ever gone on this sort of retreat? You know, a time away with…quiet, prayer, silent or common meals, great scenery, no technology, and maybe even a kind of spiritual Gandalf type guide to help you along the way?
I haven’t been to a monastery for a retreat, so I’ll be excited to share some of what I learn. Friends, Please pray for me today.
See you on the other side!