December 29, 2010

“I believe the most important thing to remember is that nothing comes from nothing,” says painter Thomas Kinkade in Lightposts for Living: the Art of Living a Joyful Life. “Creative output must begin with creative input.”

Are You a Starving Artist?

Children’s book author Katherine Paterson once said that she didn’t believe in writer’s block. In her experience, the panic of a blank page or blank computer screen came from writer starvation.

Are you a writer facing the new year, but stuck with old ideas? Do you find it difficult to think of fresh ideas to write about? Do you find it really hard to think of new approaches in revising your stories?

Kinkade’s answer? “The the first thing to do is to fill your mind and heart with sights, sounds, ideas, images, experiences.” But how?

Take Yourself on a Date

Get outside, for one thing, and really look at the world around you. Look up close at things, like a small child does. Read everything around you. Go to thought-provoking movies. If you surf the web, choose sites that feed your mind with new images.

I love those virtual cameras set up in famous cities. I like to watch the ones in London and soak up what’s happening in real time. You might enjoy science sites or virtual tours of museums. When you’re short on time or money or energy or freedom to leave home, the online virtual opportunities can fill that need. [NOTE: see the #4 comment below for how to find links to virtual webcams like this.]

Too often, in the hurry and flurry of living our lives, we writers fish our ponds till they’re empty. Take a break today–short or long–and spend some time purposefully restocking your pond.

You’ll be amazed at how this will spark your creativity!

7 Comments »

1. 

   I agree, Kristi. It’s good to fill the well. But I also disagree. If we’ve even lived through childhood, we’ve got so much on the inside … we need to simply let it pour out of us. So perhaps we need to unblock in some way.

   Comment by Vijaya — December 29, 2010 @ 7:16 pm

2. 

   Vijaya, you’re right in thinking that you have more material inside than you’ll ever have time to write about. What I found, though, after about a dozen novels, was that I was starting to repeat myself with ideas that came to me. But getting out and seeing new things gave me new ways to say what I wanted to say, more up-to-date ways. So I agree that it’s a combination. (FYI: yesterday the “laundry, liturgy, women’s work” book arrived. Should be interesting!)

   Comment by Kristi Holl — December 29, 2010 @ 7:31 pm

3. 

   Kristi,

   I love the idea of the virtual cameras around the world. I’m trying to do a search for them, but coming up pretty dry. Any suggestions? Thanks.

   Andrea

   Comment by Andrea — December 29, 2010 @ 7:41 pm

4. 

   Andrea, when looking for virtual cameras, Google the place you’d like to see. For example, since I love England, I Googled “London webcam” and found some neat sites around England. Examples:
   http://www.goandroam.com/webcams/uk/london/ [has many London locations to choose from, plus other towns/cities in England]

   I walked across Tower Bridge once, so I like this one: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/towerbridge

   Yesterday I watched an old English movie called “84 Charing Cross Road.” I Googled and found a webcam that showed it today, refreshing every 5 seconds.
   http://www.camvista.com/england/london/trafsq.php3
   Scroll down the page to see the little box.

   Maybe you prefer MUSEUMS–just Google them. You might like to tour the Titantic Museum at Branson here: http://www.titanicbranson.com/titanic_webcam.php

   I found museum webcams for railroads, tsunamis, art, maritime, wax museum, science and history, etc. There was even one for Corvettes: http://www.corvettemuseum.com/webcam/

   Famous museums like the Louvre have webcams too. Or maybe you’d like to see the view from the Eiffel Tower: http://www.paris-live.com/paris_webcam/eiffel_tower_webcams.htm

   Just Google your subject plus the word webcam.

   Comment by Kristi Holl — December 30, 2010 @ 9:44 am

5. 

   Oh, I see what you mean, Kristi … thanks for clarifying. Yes, new and interesting experiences will absolutely give rise to new things to write about and also new ways to look at the old.

   Oh, you will enjoy Laundry … lots of great wisdom in that little book.

   Comment by Vijaya — December 30, 2010 @ 4:25 pm

6. 

   A book that can make me enjoy laundry is worth its weight in gold!

   Comment by Kristi Holl — December 30, 2010 @ 5:30 pm

7. 

   Thank you for the websites, and the instructions to Google the web cams. I’ll be Googling Germany, myself

   Andrea

   Comment by Andrea — December 31, 2010 @ 11:55 am

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