Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for his commitment to justice, for seeing how poverty and militarism were intertwined with racism, and for trying to create a better world for all people.
Ada Lovelace, for her astounding balancing of poetic and mathematical impulses, and for inventing computer programming before there were any decent computers to program.
There are others, but I'll stop there. 2/2
Day 19: Would you like to hang out with your favourite creator or do you think it's better to appreciate the work but keep a distance?
I'm not even sure who qualifies as "my favourite" creator (heck, that includes film, TV, and music, right?), but I incline toward: yes, I'd like to chat with them, ask them about how they developed the thing I love, and just generally shoot the breeze.
Day 21: Do you create for a certain niche or do you hope to have as broad an appeal as possible?
This came up in a WritersCoffeeClub prompt just over a month ago. Sadly, I screwed up the threading, so I'll have to provide two links:
https://wandering.shop/@kagan/114128005400123220
https://wandering.shop/@kagan/114128006293293099 1/2
Basic point: I need to write for the people who will get it, understand it, and enjoy it. The ones whose hearts will be touched by what I'm doing.
Of course, I would really like it to be the case that millions of people fall into that category! But if not... then that's okay. The few who love my work will have to be enough. 2/2
Day 26: Do you engage offline with other creatives? What did you/would you do if social media didn't exist?
Offline? Not particularly. If social media didn't exist, I might try to find a local writers' group (Maybe by bulletin board? Classified ad? Usenet newsgroup? I dunno, what does exist in this hypothetical?), but I might just stay solo.
Day 30: How did it go? Were you able to work on the things you wanted to?
See yesterday's answer. Yup, got the things done that I wanted to, and got started on the first draft like I've been aching to for months!
(Then promptly found out I needed to have done even more preparation. Seriously? Whatever, I'm moving forward. No more delays, dammit!)
Day 1: What do you want to work on this month?
More of my first draft, of course! (Also, moving to another country. Ugh. That needs to happen.)
I want to be very explicit that I have ZERO expectation of finishing my first draft this month. I am currently just under 10,000 words, and I plan to shoot for ~100K (and I'm fairly sure I'm going to overwrite the first draft by an annoyingly large margin). I always thought NaNoWriMo was... 1/2
...a fairly aggressive target at 50K; trying to do 90,000 in a month (especially while working full-time and also doing other stuff like that aforementioned move) would be utter lunacy.
Just off the cuff, I think 25,000 words is a slightly challenging target for me for this month. 15K should be doable. 2/2
Day 3: What does the word creativity mean to you?
Immediate response: Creating new, interesting things, of whatever type, and coming up with new ideas.
Next thought: Or, you know, just _creating things_, whether they be "new and original" or not. Really, even if you write a "hackneyed, derivative" story, or make "trite, pop" music or whatever, you're still putting something new into the world, and putting some of yourself into it. That's creation.
Day 5: What word(s) always trips you up when writing? Common misspellings or misusage
I'm good on usage, and I'm very good at spelling, but there are a few words I still need to check every time to make sure I'm not misspelling: silhouette; camaraderie; reconnaissance; pronunciation (I somehow got "pronounciation" in my head at one point and it won't let go); and a few others that I can't recall right now.
Day 6: Would you like to go to a creative retreat? Would you prefer a mixed retreat or your art only?
I think a mixed one would probably just be too distracting for me. I'm not sure about a writing retreat; for one, that'd imply that I had the time in my schedule for it, which I don't. But also, I'm not sure if it would help me or not.
Day 9: Tell us two truths and a lie about yourself.
1) When I was in high school, I took part in the chorus and the concert choir. I even tried out for state level, but failed.
2) I used to do tengwar calligraphy — just over twenty years ago.
3) I was a model in a gothic-alternative fashion show (back when I had hair), wearing a jacket that combined ruffles and buckles.
[Edit: I'll answer guesses tomorrow.]
Day 10: Have you done collaborative projects? If so, how did you divide the work?
I did a collaborative cocktail project with my partner. Understanding the rest of my answer will be easier if you see what we published — here's a directory (https://www.painemactane.com/cocktails/), and every week we'd tweet a graphic like you can see in https://www.painemactane.com/cocktails/2019/11/12/bobbie-draper/ or https://www.painemactane.com/cocktails/2018/02/27/doris-bourne/. 1/2
My partner did the graphic design and layout, because they had both the skills and the software. I did most of the first-draft copy-writing, partly to try to make up for that gap. We both edited the text, though. I also tried to do a larger share of the photography, again to carry my weight. The actual cocktail design and mixing was 100% a team effort, and our favorite part of the whole thing. 2/2
Day 16: Which creative activity would you like to pursue but can't? (You don't need to state the reason if it's too private.)
I always wanted to be way better at music than I am. My ears just aren't good enough. If I work really hard, I can be passable at music. The effort-to-reward ratio is really discouraging.
Day 18: What part of your creativity gives you the most trouble?
I don't think any of it gives me trouble. Maybe I misunderstand the question?
Edit: Actually, @benetnasch has a really good point: titles! I hate coming up with titles! Partly, or even mostly, because I find it so difficult to do!
1) I've determined specific birth dates for every character, usually by randomizing it with a little script I wrote
2) I know exactly what end each of the villains will come to (and some of their comeuppances will be real doozies, muahahah!)
3) I can trace the "lineage" of each of my characters back through their mentor and their mentor's mentor, all the way to the first shaman awakened by the City in 1850
#1, the birthdays, was/is true. More details in follow-up toot…
2/4
1) Yup, I wrote a little JavaScript thing, and can even tell it "this is a leap year", so if it comes back with "Feb 29", I'll assign it to the character! The only way I'm diverging from those is that I decided I wanted Jessie's birthday to come near the end of the book, for Character Arc Reasons. But everyone else gets a randomly-assigned birth date.
2) Oh boy, do I wish this were true! I'm not yet sure of any of my villains' endings; I'm pantsing the end of the book.
3/4
3) I have mentor lineages for most characters in the book, but none of them go that far. The longest ones go back only 4 or 5 steps, which takes them to people who awakened in the 1980s. Most are more like 3 steps. A couple of older characters with '80s-era awakenings, I haven't even bothered to figure out their mentor, because they're dead.
Thanks for voting, everyone!
4/4
Day 25: How does photography shape your perception of the world? What subjects or moments do you find most captivating to capture?
I'm hardly even an amateur photographer; I'm more in the "like everyone else who carries a camera in their pocket these days, I occasionally take pictures of things for fun" camp. Given that, it hasn't really altered my perception of the world at all, and my favorite subjects tend to just be whatever I find eye-catching.
Day 26: Describe your creative workspace(s). Share pic(s) if you like.
They say a picture's worth a thousand words… and I can only fit 500 characters into a post! Here's my working (i.e., writing) chair at home. I routinely also write out at various bars, but this'll have to do. It's staged as if I just vanished from underneath my laptop, Miss Sakamoto. The scarf is a cherished gift from my sweetie.
Day 27: Think of something really boring. Now try to describe it in an interesting way.
The toast was a medium-brown that neither contrasted nor blended with the plain, white plate it sat on. But, being unbuttered, it was lying in wait for an unsuspecting person to try biting into it. Biding its time, until it could lacerate gums and parch a tongue.
(Why yes, I do like my toast with lots of well-melted butter, why do you ask?)
@kagan@wandering.shop
Day 28: Have you ever made an app?
Yes, a few of them, though I do them as Progressive Web Apps rather than fucking around with app stores and their insane crap. None of them have much uptake, but that's okay; I made them mostly for myself anyway (except one that I made for my sweetheart, and they like it a lot, so I count it a success).
Day 31: How did it go? Any changes you want to make next month?
I've had distinct problems with focus this month.
Unfortunately, this upcoming month is one where I'll have to spend a fair amount of mental effort on coming up to speed at the new job, so I expect my remaining mental bandwidth for writing to be lower than usual.
Day 3: Did you ever try Kintsugi? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi
No, I don't work in ceramics. However, one of the characters in my novel may very well refer to it as a metaphor at some point.
