Creativity

March 6th, 2010

I’ve been working hard on my craft for the past few weeks–albeit that I only have one more piece of flash fiction and some editing on an existing piece to show for it. It’s a Catch 22 (great book, read it): the more I pressure my mind to think up ideas, the more it wants to shuts down. Though I’ve contemplated it, I’m not going to stop writing or stop thinking about it for a while to see what happens because, that’s just it, nothing will. However, I’m going to focus on cultivating my creativity. *Massages temples vigorously* That didn’t help. So instead I will do the following:

• Take walks, go outside and experience nature
• Mind map
• Relax and let my thoughts flow
• Pay attention to song lyrics
• Read more then think about it
• Write in my journal more (I don’t do this as often as before…)
• Ask myself a question and leave my mind to resolve it while I go about my day
• Think about current projects as I go about my day–not with a pencil in hand

I wonder if this will work.

New Shop on Etsy!

February 21st, 2010

After perusing beautiful handmade journals on Etsy, it occurred to me that I should try my hand at making journals of my own. After all, I love creating art, in all its forms.

But why stop at journals? I could create coin pouches or wallets covered with unique, colorful fabrics.

The decision to create handmade crafts then led me to discover that Etsy also accepts the sale of vintage items. My mother’s old jewelry came to mind.

After an oddly fitting afternoon of reminiscing over old photos, I unearthed her jewelry and prepared them for sale. (She gave up her beautiful jewelry graciously. Gracias Mami!) So yesterday I got to feel, sometimes reluctantly, like a model and photographer. I took pictures of all the items atop different scarfs and surfaces, on my left ear, my right ear…

I would have set up my shop last night, if it weren’t for the inconvenience of shipping costs. Basically, I don’t know how much it will cost to ship my items. I went to the nearby Postal Center today to shed some light on this, but it was closed. *Disapproval*

However, despite the yet unclear matter of shipping, I am currently in the process of setting up my shop. It’s called The One Morning Shop after the username I haphazardly created one day, OneMorning85. I reasoned that it’s a beautiful enough sentiment. One morning…What about it? What happened on that morning? A disaster, something beautiful?

In the future I will probably create handmade journals, and coin pouches, and wallets, but as of now, I am going with what I’ve got close at hand: singular vintage jewelry. If you enjoy a such thing, I encourage you to visit my new shop on Etsy: http://onemorning85.etsy.com.

Unpublished

February 16th, 2010

I have never been published. That time in 4th grade doesn’t count–and high school doesn’t either (especially since I was one of the editors).

I definitely feel that I’m publish worthy though; I just have to submit my work. But first, I recognize that I need to amass more writing and bring my current pieces up to the highest possible quality they can be.

So, despite the growing list of creative endeavors I want to pursue, I am a writer first, and I need to focus on writing… as hard as it is. To write. And to focus on it, given that it’s so hard…

It used to come more easily, and flow, when it was strictly for fun. Not that I haven’t always been ambitious, just that back then, I was too young to burden my writing with the responsibility of becoming acclaimed, published, recognized; I didn’t know it was an option.

And yes, without abashment, I admit that I hope for some amount of acclaim. I mean, how great can I feel my writing is, if no one likes it?

Goals

1. Write more flash fiction.
2. Write more poetry.
3. Furiously edit my work.
4. Have others review my work.
5. Feverishly edit again.
6. Submit for publication.

About Flower Woman

February 3rd, 2010

It is a rare thing for me to finish a story. Actually I’ve only ever finished one. Technically two, but the first one was garbage written years ago when I was a kid.

The story I finished is titled Flower Woman, tentatively. It’s a flowery, beautiful, strange, earthen, glowing, mystical, red, purple short story about a man who chances upon a mage’s spell book, and plants the spell to grow a woman.

I wrote Flower Woman at the end of ‘09, and then put it aside to clear my head from it after some unsuccessful editing. A couple of days ago, I unearthed it and began editing it again. This time I feel encouraged to be successful.

The encouragement is the result of surrounding myself with the work of writer’s who have already been successful. I’m currently reading Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathon Safran Foer, The Cactus by O Henry, and Self Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

They are all, so far, amazing and skilled works, however Self Reliance has irked me a bit. I might post an entry with my thoughts on the piece once I’ve delved through it.

I am recruiting anyone who is willing to read Flower Woman (approx. 6,500 words) and give me their feedback. If you are interested, please contact me! Do not be discouraged if you are reading this as an old entry; contact me anyway; the more eyes the better.

A Better New Layout

January 16th, 2010

After weeks and a myriad layouts, I think, I might, possibly have created a layout that appeases me. It’s too simple to be amazing, but I wanted something simple. In my opinion, simple fits a poetry site–or at least my poetry site.

Take a look.

New Layout

January 4th, 2010

Lace Words doesn’t just exist to showcase my writing, or my meager collection of writing resources; it serves as my only outlet for web designing. It’s the only outlet I can think of really. I gave up personal sites a while ago, and a stand alone blog isn’t for me. So, as my only outlet, I take it very seriously because I love the design of webs.

I’ve been working on this new layout for weeks. It took me so long because I kept comparing my work to that of professional web designers. Oh they look simple enough? No.

I don’t know how I feel about my current layout exactly, but it has a certain feel that I do know I like.

I tried to revamp the poetry and prose pages this time around, so I merged them into one page called Writings, and installed a lightbox-like script for text. The script is amazing. But the display of my links is not. I will continue to rack my brain I guess.

A little help wouldn’t hurt though. Is there anything regarding my layout, or the display of my content you would change?

Off to play the Sims 3.

Update: I have become unsatisfied with my layout (this is common). Will work on it behind the scenes.

Publishing Co. Phase One: The Epiphany

December 13th, 2009

This evening, as I was smoking a cigarette that I shouldn’t have been smoking, a perfect little epiphany formed in my mind: I should start a publishing company someday! I could even go to school for business instead of psychology.

I’ve had a similar idea in the past; one night in a car, I reveled in the thought of owning a journal manufacturing company and selling unique journals and stationery out of a small shop. I could even design some of the items myself, I thought.

The idea didn’t grow due to my lack of confidence in my artistic abilities and my reluctancy to kill trees.

I know a publishing company will “kill” trees too, but…at least there will be content on the pages, whereas if someone buys a journal, there only may be content on the pages. I could use recycled paper anyway; the use of recycled materials could be one of the company’s *things*, for extreme lack of a better word.

Another of its *things* would be to publish mostly poetry collections and short works of fiction (novellas, novelettes, etc.). I haven’t researched publishing companies thoroughly yet, but just from hoping to be published in the past, I have gathered that publishing companies are hesitant to accept short works. They don’t earn much from them because consumers are reluctant to pay more than a few dollars for thin, thin books.

I personally don’t care about making a mass amount of money though; I just want what I need to be comfortable, so I will publish small books. Maybe, I can even create a venue for short story writers to get published easier.

I might sound a bit uneducated in the matter, but–as the title states–I’m only at phase one. Right now, I’m just an ambitious girl with a lovely idea.

Update: As usual, my goals for the future have divided and transformed. Expect no follow up on Lace Publishing.

John Amen – “Enough is Enough”

December 5th, 2009

Sometimes it seems like there is no good* poetry out there. It’s true, as much as I love poetry, sometimes I feel that it is futile. But then I find small slivers of poetic hope–pieces such as this one: “Enough is Enough“.  “Enough is Enough”, from At The Threshold of Alchemy a collection of poems by John Amen, is a solidly good poem.

I would have really liked to post the poem here, but not as much as I want to respect copyright laws–ha! So please, click the link and enjoy.

*has flow, purpose, and creativity

First Post

December 3rd, 2009

I have dealt with Wordpress so much lately. I actually like trudging through this kind of thing, but I am at the point where I, finally, hope I’m done with it.

Well, the second time I installed it, it was done properly, but everything was loading very slowly, so, I switched hosts. Instead of being hosted at Awardspace, Lace Words is now hosted at WorthTheRisk.net. It is a new hosting site owned by Jessica of Ponterosso.net. This new host provides me with more databases, subdomains, accessibility–essentially freedom. Even if, in a way, being hosted by an individual limits my freedom. But logical insights aside, I am very glad to have a new host. So, thank you Jessica.

Oh yeah, and I guess I’m also glad Wordpress may  finally be installed. If you don’t have Wordpress and want to try your hand at installing it, this is the easiest tutorial I’ve found: link.

P.S. 4 new poems. Check them out?