The links below on creativity, inspiration and writing that I tweeted this week take us around the world. Our international stops include England, Sweden, Italy and Australia, and our U.S. destinations are Vermont, California, Idaho, Texas and Nebraska. That is where our nine bloggers reside, but here at The Artist’s Road they are part of one community. Best of all, at The Artist’s Road we don’t celebrate our global community of creativity by forcing anyone to listen to perhaps the most insipid song of all time, “It’s a Small World.”
CREATIVITY:
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I love Disneyland, but the Autopia ride captures the true park experience -- traveling slowly in lines. “5 Unique Ways to Brainstorm Your Way Out of a Creative Rut,” Lori McNee, fine art & tips: When you’re staring at a blank canvas or page, Lori tells us the easiest way to start filling that white space is “to flood your brain with new fodder.”
- “The 4th Stage of the Creative Process: Drafting,” Orna Ross: I’m jumping you into a 7-part series (the last few are still to come), but as Orna points out, “this is the central phase in the creative process.”
- “5 Steps to Believing YOU Are a Creative Person,” Marianne Mullen, awaken creativity: I love any blog post that tells me I’m allowed to make mistakes (one of my greatest skills). I’ll forgive her for not adding a 6th step, “Follow Patrick’s Twitter feed @on_creativity.”
INSPIRATION:
- “9 Mindfulness Rituals to Make Your Day Better,” Leo Babuata, Zen Habits: If you’re stressed over filing your taxes or anxious about having to survive a day at the Magic Kingdom, try rituals like #8, “Look at someone gratefully.”
- “How to Spread Positivity in Your World Today,” Henrik Edberg, The Positivity Blog: Eleven great tips, such as “Encourage someone.” He opens with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi: “You must be the change you want to see in the world.”
- “5 Blog Posts Every Artist Should Write,” Irene Zuccarello, Imaginative Bloom: This list nails it. Enough said.
WRITING:
- “Nine Writer Woes and How to Cure Them,” Roni Loren, Fiction Groupie: She had me at the first line: “I’m a writing book whore.”
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On my last trip to the Magic Kingdom I was envious of this park attendee (seen here floating in the moat of Cinderella's castle) for achieving zen-like calm. “Most Common Mistakes Series: Why Vague Writing is Weak Writing,” K.M. Weiland, Wordplay: She provides four concrete examples of vague writing with revisions to strengthen the passages. And of course the post is in no way vague.
- “7 Tips for Writing About Places You’ve Never Been,” Suzannah W. Freeman, write it sideways: Suzannah provides some useful tips, but also is frank about the limitations a writer faces. (Hint: If you’re writing a contemporary piece, some reader is going to know you haven’t been there.)
It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears, a world of hope, and a world of fears. It’s not clear why we would want to share that message with our young children, but it is the unvarnished truth, much more true than the message that a beautiful young woman’s path to happiness is to passively await rescue by a dashing prince. Here at The Artist’s Road, of course, it is always a world of laughter and hope; I’ll leave the tears and fears to Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal.
The Artist's Road 
Thanks! Love it all, except that now “It’s a Small World” is rotating around in my brain. Must go bang head against wall now.
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I don’t force anyone to listen to it, but it seems just mentioning the song is enough to infect people. My sincerest apology! 🙂
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Great links and thanks for including mine. Glad that first line hooked you, lol. 🙂
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It did, in a good way, not like the melody of “It’s a Small World.” Thanks for stopping by!
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Another great list – as usual, I don’t know where to click first because everything sounds delicious.
Loved the theme you chose for this post – and the captions and pictures were giggly and delightful, as we have come to expect.
P.S. It annoys my husband that every time he shows me a stunning photo in a travel magazine, I read the caption first. I just say, “Hey, I’m a writer.”
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You’re the best, Milli! As a journalist I never got to write photo captions, that was the copy editor’s job. They probably wouldn’t have let me write these kinds of captions, however.
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We’re such a match! I love reading captions and you love writing them. And I love the goofy slants you put on them. I laughed out loud at “traveling slowly in lines.” And the “park attendee” with zen-like calm was a classic hoot.
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You are an evil man. Good thing I like you so much. “Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm Its a small, small worrrld.”
Aside from that, I LIKE Tears for Fears – a lot. Just not when they are the emotion kind. Gimme the music … good music, not that … aaaarggghh! … Crap that I almost had out of my head. That you placed in my brain cells from 3,000 miles away. Drat!
Alright, off to actually check out the content now. Maybe THAT will scrub that irritating musical mess out of my cranium. Maybe. One can only hope. :-p
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Tears for Fears was a major part of my adolescence, not just Songs from the Big Chair but the under-appreciated The Hurting. And what is a blog if not an outlet to shout, shout, let it all out?
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They had some really good ones released in the 1990’s as well (when Roland was basically solo under the name). Particularly “Raoul and the Kings of Spain” and “Elemental”. If you haven’t checked those out, do! 🙂 You may enjoy them.
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Thanks for including my post in this collection! Thanks for forgiving me about the 6th step. Will definitely work on that one!
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That’s all I can ask! 🙂 Happy to include you.
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