This is National Novel Writing Month.

I like to put in a plug for it every year, but at over 90,000 participants (it started in 1999 with around 25 people), maybe that’s the last thing they need. That, at least, is how I’m justifying not mentioning it until past the middle of the month.

If you’re interested, you can still sign up but you might consider just lurking around the highly entertaining forums to get your feet wet before jumping in next year. On the other hand, if you need inspiration and a fast approaching deadline, go for it!

In case you don’t know, the idea is to write 50,000 words of a brand new novel in the month of November.

My first year was 2002 which makes this—doing fast math—my sixth nano year. I have considered not doing it some years, but I think I’m past that. This year even with absolutely no time to plan, there was no question that I’d be back, doing my very best to come up with another story worthy of at least 30 days of my life.

I love it because doing NaNoWriMo has taught me, more than any other class or teacher or mentor ever did, how to write a novel. It taught me how to write through the dry periods, the uninspired days, the drivel that sometimes comes out when we sit down to make up a story. It showed me the vast amount of words you have to put down before finding the right ones in the right order. It not only taught me, but also it illustrated for me, the reasons behind turning off your internal censor and suppressing at every opportunity the doubts that are always there.

A daily word count goal (sometimes even an hourly one!) goes a very long way indeed toward overcoming the mechanical (I don’t have any good ideas), emotional (I am not good enough) and practical (no time!) reasons most people never write a novel.

If writing a novel isn’t something you aspire to here’s another option. This year I’ve joined a very active social networking group called NaBloPoMo that promotes blogging everyday in the month of November (reason No. 2 why this little site o’ mine has received less attention from me than usual). I’ve been blogging most days about my NaNoWriMo writing process, as I’ve been going through it, as well as posting a few tips along the way. You can see these posts in the NaNoWriMo category on my blog. As well, I’m going to be posting the Graphic Reminders I’ve done, here on The PCQ.

I haven’t been totally neglecting The PCQ, however. There’s work-in-progress to have a new social networking branch of The PCQ. This will be a place where you can easily post and share your own works of art or writing, start your own discussions and groups on whatever kind of creativity you’re into, and decorate your own profile page with whatever you like! Hopefully an email will be going out to all registered members soon, inviting you to see it (but I have to get through November first!). Either way, look for a link to it on The PCQ home page and please do click over and see what it’s all about.

[process, essay]

by Nancy S.M. Waldman

Hi everyone. Welcome to September. Summer here in North America is fast waning—even though where I am in Nova Scotia, September is one of the best weather months.

I’ve been feeling quite ambivalent about the PCQ over the summer. There are lots of new visitors and subscribers and readers which is wonderfully gratifying and fun for me—Welcome to all of you!!—but I haven’t posted frequently or sent out emails which made me feel a little guilty. On the other hand, I’ve had a great summer for creativity so I felt that I was working to recharge my batteries, build up my reserves and just change things up for a while. As we know, it’s easy to get in a rut. Even if it’s a creative one that works for us, it’s still a rut and ruts tend to get deeper and less roomy the longer we’re in them. Sooner or later, we have to climb out, stretch and look around for a renewed way of being.

Summer is the best time for me to do this.

My husband and I have an old Victorian-era house that we’re fixing up (the exterior), so we have a small window of opportunity for working outside. August is prime time. It felt really *right* to be outside doing physical work. I had spent so much time at my computer last year that I was beginning to have nerve pain from too much sitting! I thought the physical strain might be problematic for an old gal like me who’d been so sedentary of late, but not only did it feel great (okay, there were mornings when I woke up in considerable pain—but it was the *good* kind of pain that went away fast!), but it got rid of my sciatica almost immediately!

More than all that, it reminded me that as much as I love the computer—The PCQ, the writing, the digital photo work, the website design, the computer art—I also love other things that I’ve been neglecting. I haven’t been playing the piano and will soon loose what little ability I have if I don’t remember to practice. I love cooking, baking, yoga, gardening, reading, quilting, photography, painting and more. None of those can be done while sitting at the computer.

It’s all about balance, isn’t it? And balance, like most things in life, isn’t static. It requires constant adjustment. Think of a tight-rope walker. A short walk high above the ground requires untold numbers of constant muscular changes to negotiate the span. No matter how many times the acrobat has walked the rope, no matter how talented or experienced, his awareness of balance must be at the forefront of his mind every single time.

As we grow and evolve, we’re the same. We don’t get to a point where balance becomes automatic. Our lives will always be susceptible to being off-kilter. And, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. If we come across some new passion, there’s not a thing wrong with throwing ourselves into it even if we neglect certain other things for that new activity! However, when we realize there are beginning to be negative side effects from our tilted world, (like nerve pain from sitting at a computer for hours a day!) we still and always have to stop, take stock and see what we can do to re-achieve balance.

What can get easier over time, is our awareness of the need for balance. For me, the seasons help. While I no longer have kids (in the house) who go back to school, September is a change nonetheless. I like to use the different seasons to trigger my awareness of how I’m spending my time in the context of ALL the things I love to do and want to accomplish.

What about you? What triggers your awareness that it’s time to readjust the balance in your life? Take care all and happy change of seasons wherever you are!

[-journaling, c-mindfulness-]

Next time you are writing in your journal, switch the pen to your other hand and write.

I know. I know. You can’t write with your other hand. Never mind. Go on and do it anyway.

Writing with our non-dominant hand can have interesting results because it confuses our brain. Part of that protest you just put up about not wanting to write with the wrong hand was your brain’s way of keeping things predictable. That’s okay. That’s its job. Let’s face it: we function because our brains are in charge. Our brains do a phenomenal job of keeping the world understandable and keeping our bodies and behaviours in sync with that world. But the parts of our brain that are so effective at everyday life, may not be the parts that give us the best results when it comes to pure creativity.

Since creativity may be useless, nonsensical, playful, wordless, metaphorical, musical, messy, and so on, the practical brain that serves us so well, needs a little nudge to get out of the way while we create. Try writing with your ‘wrong’ hand to make this happen.

Why does this work? Our non-dominant hand is linked to the non-dominant hemisphere of our brain. Some studies indicate that one hemisphere is active when using the dominant hand but both hemispheres are activated when the non-dominant hand is used. Either way, many people find that they ‘think differently’ or that surprising things get written down when using the non-dominant hand.

I should caution you that therapists having used this technique have found that some people can access primitive and raw emotions, so I am not suggesting here that this be used as therapy. If you are interested in that, please be sure that you’re working with a trained professional first.

The use of this technique here is suggested as a warm-up to further creative activity. It’s suggested as a way to circumvent the linear part of our brain and get into the wordless, metaphorical, visual part.

There are other ways that one can use this technique. If you have an everyday situation that needs problem-solving, try writing about it with your non-dominant hand. See if you can come up with a more ‘creative’ solution than you’ve considered previously.

Another possibility is to use it when you want to remember or learn something new. I have a friend who wants to improve her vocabulary. While she’s having her coffee each morning she copies words from the dictionary using her ‘wrong’ hand. She swears that her memory for the words is more reliable now. She even reports beating her husband in SCRABBLE for the first time after doing this for a few weeks. Now that’s worth something! Remember…both sides of the brain being are being activated. She just might have something here.

Try it. Politely and gently—using bad handwriting—ask your everyday brain to step aside for awhile while creativity and new ways of thinking are explored.

See why R-mindfulness has changed to C-mindfulness here at The PCQ. Click on C-mindfulness in our topics to read about other ways of accessing your C-mind.

[-process, essay-]

by Nancy S.M. Waldman

As we create, we use up media, materials, tools, ideas, time, and our own creative energy. Working from abundance means having a well of resources—more than we need—to create what we want.

My son used this expression in a conversation about the new songs he had just recorded. I mentioned how much the phrase resonated with me and he said that he had heard it from a professor who used it in terms of writing. In both instances, they were talking about accumulating, creating, way more than is needed for a project and then winnowing it down later to a more refined level.

Not everyone creates this way. I have a friend who writes sparsely and then fleshes out the story after she has the skeleton of it constructed. I’m the opposite. I overwrite and then must be brutal with myself about taking out everything that isn’t necessary.

However, the crucial aspect of abundance isn’t the number of words we write or the collection of materials on our worktables or the amount of paint we have at our disposal. It’s not even about time.

Time is necessary and without it we can’t create. But, there are people with loads of time who don’t use it to record music, make art or write novels. So having the time will only work for us if we have an abundance of what will motivate us to work, to play, to innovate.

Working from abundance is more about a certain attitude. This attitude incorporates elements of openness, generosity, fearlessness, confidence. At times, whimsy and audacity. It involves letting go of negatives, so there can be no sparsity of spirit. It’s about not worrying that we will use up all our good ideas if we throw everything we’ve got at a project. It’s about having faith that creativity is a renewable and sustainable resource.

There’s also energy to consider. Creative energy doesn’t have to be about being upbeat and feeling energetic. Many depressed people, who didn’t have the energy to bathe, have created masterpieces. It’s about using what we have to put into the process of creating.

While it’s true there are those instances when the more we create, the more energized we feel, it does have a limit. We have to always be aware of when we begin to feel like a worn-out battery. At that point, the idea is to get away from what is depleting us and re-charge ourselves. Working from an abundance of creative spirit will always result in a more effective creation.

And perhaps, that’s all we need to remember about abundance. If we can accumulate a deep pool of the attitude of abundance, then we will have what we need to create what we want.

[-quick tip, practice-]

Keep a tablet and a pen or pencil on your bedside table at all times!

DREAMS
If you wake with a dream still in reach, jot it down immediately. If you want to fall back to sleep, don’t worry about transcribing the full dream. If you write the most important words and images you’re likely to remember the connecting links later.

SOLUTIONS
Those transitional times just before falling asleep or waking—especially from a nap—are rich times for problem-solving and inspirational ideas. Having paper and pencil nearby will allow you to capture these gems that might otherwise disappear from your mind as the world crowds in.

SKETCHES
The tablet isn’t just for words. If you’re like me, you’ll sometimes *see* images that need to be painted or drawn. Make quick sketches before they too are lost to time.

[-writing, exercise-]

Writing takes activity. You have to write the words down on the page. Everyone knows that. But what’s going on inside as you make that effort to put a story together? Think about the issue of control and how it does or doesn’t work for you. We tend to think of energy, activity, the doing part of it as the most important. But consider another viewpoint. Here’s what Brenda Ueland says about it:

Willing is doing something you know already, something you have been told by somebody else; there is no new imaginative understanding in it. And presently your soul gets frightfully sterile and dry because you are so quick, snappy and efficient about doing one thing after another that you have not time for your own ideas to come in and develop and gently shine.

In this spirit, here’s a daydreaming exercise to foster the idea of letting go so that you can dream something up rather than just jotting something down.

Sit in front of your computer. Look at the keyboard for a few moments. Put your fingers on the keys and type a sentence. Type ANYTHING.
For example:

your thoughts:
• I am typing a sentence.
• This is a stupid exercise.
• I hate this.
• What am I doing this for?

whatever comes into your head, no matter how weird:

• Dogs with feathers would create nests in their sleep.
• Wallpaper hides cracks and peels when it’s old.
• My teeth might crumble before I die.

the most random nonsense you can come up with:
• Jumbled crossover blinks always allay floods.
• Accessing liverwurst can be the answer to pink socks.
• Everyone jousts because the ghostly phone didn’t ring.

Now here’s the hard part. As soon as you’ve put the period on your sentence, delete it.

As fast as you can, type something else.

Delete that.

Keep doing it for at least ten minutes, more if you can tolerate it.

Now begin your writing for the day.

This exercise does three important things:

1. It loosens your mind by making flighty associations and spurring imaginative juxtapositions on the page
2. It clears the mind of the top layer of dry, tired dirt so that the underlying fertile soil is available to you
3. It provides practice in letting go of words.
   This is a valuable lesson for a writer because we all tend to love what comes out of us. Our words are our babies and we don’t like to make them disappear once they are on the paper. But we have to know how as well as when to delete. This will help.

[process, inspiration]

A Good Sunday Morning in May to you all!

The photo to the right is one from The Practically Creative Group on flickr. It’s posted by ‘cramzy,’ a wonderful fibre artist whose work has impressed me continually.

Cramzy, also known as Emmy Schoonbeek, does all kinds of fanciful, beautiful and colourful stitchery, constructions and embellishments. This one caught my eye because of its cross-pollination effect. It’s so many things and includes so many things all at once.

It’s fibre art. It’s collage. It’s construction. It’s functional. It’s art. It’s a box. It’s a book. It’s got words, music, textile, paper, beads and probably lots more that we can’t see. Do click the image to see it in larger form.

I believe that this process of cross-pollination is one of the best ways to be freshly inspired and motivated.

It’s easy to utilize various skills and interests in our work when we’re already FEELING inspired and creative. That’s part of what makes it fun when one good idea or impulse bounces off another to create something new and unique. But it also can work for us when we can’t find that FEELING.

If you are in the doldrums with painting, try writing in your journal. Brainstorm. Do calligraphy until it turns into something else. Play with letters until they are abstract shapes.

If you can’t get started writing, do a quick symbolic collage of your main character. Or put on music that you love but don’t often listen to.

Another trick is to use these alternate parts of ourselves to be creative while taking a break from whatever has depleted our motivation. For example, when I’ve written myself into a corner, I find cooking to be a wonderful activity to immerse myself in. It’s creative and involves the senses but it doesn’t require a lot of mental concentration. This flow of activity allows my mind time to wander in a relaxed way. Without forcing it, I often find a way out of that corner and come back to the writing inspired and motivated—with a good meal under my belt!

Thanks, Emmy, for your inspiration this morning. Be sure to visit cramzy on flickr and at her blog.

Welcome!

The Practically Creative Quarter
is a webzine that focuses on

Whether you are looking for tutorials or tips, philosophy or photography, process or product, crafts or fine art, uplifting support or a motivating poke, The PCQ is likely to have something to interest you. We have a variety of articles, essays, tutorials, cartoons, graphic reminders, quick creative practices, fun projects and loads of inspiring creations from many different areas of creativity. Keep yourself working creatively and your creativity working for you!

What’s New ~

images from our network members

It’s a new dimension to The Practically Creative Quarter
~ The PCQ with YOU in mind ~
A social network for everyone interested in creativity.

Creativity shared is creativity energized!
• Customize your own Being Practically Creative webpage and blog.
  Upload photos, badges, music, widgets.
  Share photos of your work.
  Share your stories, your process, your tips.
  Discuss your successes and your woes.
  Tell about the creativity that you do…or want to do!
  Write a tutorial about how you work.
  Get tips from other people.
  Start groups about what you’re interested in.
  Start a discussion about whatever interests you.
  Invite friends, meet new ones.
  Show your work to like-minded people.

Check out This Month’s Goody, a featured article from our archives!

The Gallery page is a sampling of some of the visual art that has been featured in our zine.

Thanks go out to all our great contributors who’ve enriched and given depth and breadth to this zine. Bravo!

Scroll down to find this month’s sampling of Oldies but Goodies.

Winter Lights on Second Life

an interview wtih Annie Octavia/Beth Felice about her art showing in her Gallerie Octaviana and a glimpse into Second Life

The Crafty Songwriter - Tip #1

Carson Metzger’s debut article on songwriting (look for more monthly, we hope); this one’s on how to show your meaning

Writing Like the Wind

- why I love National Novel Writing Month!

The Smell Game

- not only a sensory game but a smelly way to do art

Using our Good Sense

- smell your way into a creative frame of mind

Cooking up Creativity

- why and how cooking can do so more for us than simply fill our tummies

Legitimate Distractions

- what happened to September? featuring the art of Tyler Darvintyne and a photo of my granddaughter

Changing Seasons

- a Practically Mperfect article on balance

“The world looks after artists”

- the inspiring art and artistic journey of Donna Marsh

check this space each month to find some of our older articles that are too good to miss.

Working From Abundance

- essay about attitude and energy

Polaroid Transfer Art

-creations by Angela Petsis

Getting Back on Track

- a graphic reminder

Boxed Out

- altering boxes into art and art into boxes

Hacker Baby

- short short fiction from found fotos by Indie

Garage Sale Retrospective

- an illustrated poem, by Carson A. Metzger

Metaphors - creating illusions

- how metaphors ARE magic

You can find guidelines on submissions on the About page in the navigation bar under the header.

let me know—either through comments or email—if you have any suggestions, concerns, problems with layout or design, find links that don’t take you anywhere or anything else that you think I need to know. If you have a suggestion for a poll, I’d love to hear it!

[-writing, technique-]

by Nancy Waldman

“…the successful use of metaphor is a matter of perceiving similarities.” ~ Poetics, Aristotle

Metaphors are magic. The right metaphor in the right place transforms a felt hat into a black rabbit, a silk scarf into a flower, solid reality into illusion. In magic, however, tricks can be spoiled if the magician allows the viewer to see the slight of hand being used.

The metaphor needs skillful handling if your reader isn’t going to notice you pulling it from your sleeve.

Metaphor is a type of analogy, a figure of speech, but it is also a common way of thinking that starts early in life; our brains, it seems, are made to use symbols of one thing standing in as another. Perhaps it arises out of human beings need to communicate even before vocabulary has sufficiently developed. For instance, a young toddler might say I want that “sock for my hand” to mean “mitten” if that word isn’t yet in her vocabulary.

As well, metaphors are commonly used to express what otherwise feels inexpressible—love, spirituality, passion, any strong emotion. In response to a tragedy people often use metaphors of hell, nightmares, storms, war (assuming the tragedy isn’t a war). When they are uplifted from the tragedy by kindness or compassion they speak of wombs, bridges, home, cradles. It is a natural way of thinking and expressing what “normal” speech doesn’t adequately cover.

Language is figurative because our brains have the capacity, the tendency, to make disparate connections. Using metaphor in creative writing is an essential part of communicating in a way that is specific, unique. A well-placed metaphor can layer levels of meaning, can bring characters to life, can resonate with the reader so fully that they never forget the connection you’ve made for them.

In the simplest form, metaphors state that one thing is another, as in Shakespeare’s, All the world’s a stage or Juliet is the sun.

Similes are often confused with metaphors. The difference is that in a simile we say that something is like something else whereas in a metaphor that thing IS something else. Here are two sentences that use figures of speech based on birds. Can you tell which is the metaphor and which is the simile?

Carl strutted around the room like a peacock.
Carl preened his feathers.
In the first—a simile—he is like a bird, in the second—a metaphor—he becomes the bird.

There are many examples that are said to be “dead metaphors” in terms of creative writing because they are so common that we don’t even notice them as being metaphorical. They are the magic equivalent of taking a coin from behind someone’s ear. We’ve all seen it; it’s no longer interesting and certainly not magical.

Everyday items:

the leg of the chair, the cradle of his arms, being on time is the default setting

Emotional expressions:

I hit the roof! I saw red. I fell in love.

Nature:

mother earth, the storm’s rage, the caress of the sun

It is instructive however, to look at these everyday metaphors because they show that metaphors do not have to follow the A is B formula. Metaphorical connections can be made not only with nouns but also with verbs, adverbs, adjectives and even prepositions. Also, the metaphor can be as simple as expressing a single similarity or as complex as the overarching concept that provides the direction and philosophy of an entire piece of writing.

Often the most effective metaphors are those in which the two things being compared are dissimilar in most respects. The skill comes from finding that one attribute that is so similar, that—as a writer—you can say: this is that, and mean it. The writer must not only believe it, but also be relatively certain that the reader will be able to pinpoint that one aspect of the two things are perfectly attuned. Just as a magician must set the audience up for an illusion, the writer must prepare an illusion so the reader naturally understands and believes.

If I say that Carl is a peanut butter cookie, I’d better have let the reader know ahead of time or soon, what characteristic of Carl I’m referring to. Crusty around the edges? Full of delicious goodness? Chunky? Or perhaps, having fork marks on his face? Your reader needs to know what you mean or your metaphor won’t serve your story.

If I say that “Carl swam through the room.” the reader might think “swimmer “or he might think “fish.” If you want to have the reader think “fish” you need to make it more specific and since there are all kinds of fish, why not make it very specific?

“Grey and sleek, Carl sliced through all the smaller fish in the room, beady eyes locked onto his prey.”—we are pretty darned sure that he’s a shark and he’s about to attack (probably a metaphorical attack). “Shark” has many associations. The writer needs to make certain that those won’t conflict with other things we know about Carl.

In this instance, “Carl darted in and out of the corners of the room, camouflaging himself behind the bright anemones and starfish.”—we get a very different picture of this character.

Remember, you are carefully, skillfully teasing out the similar in the dissimilar. Your metaphor must match what you are most trying to illustrate in that character, situation, or theme.

Bringing vividness to your writing is one of the greatest benefits of using effective metaphors. Suppose you’re telling a story about a man who has had a tense, terrible day and has an increasing number of reasons to believe that he might be in danger. The suspense has built to a high pitch. He’s trying to calm himself down but suddenly, as he’s preparing his supper in what he presumes to be an otherwise empty house, someone taps him on the shoulder.

You could say, “Carl jumped in the air.” This may be literal, but it’s dull and doesn’t express the depth of shock and fear that you want Carl to be feeling.

You could say, “Carl jumped out of his skin,” but that’s a cliched metaphor. Everyone will know what you mean, but it’s overused; it has no power.

How about using a fresh metaphor and one that matches the scene?
“Carl was a drop of water splashed on a hot skillet.”

In this, we see Carl jump, rather than being told about it. This is one of the wonderful aspects of using metaphors creatively. With few words, you can show the character, or the action. Your material comes alive.

What’s happening with the following two sentences?

“Carl wanted her to notice him, so he stealthily entered into the conversation and said exactly what he needed to in order to get her attention.”

“Carl waded into the conversation without creating a ripple. His opening line, cast gently and precisely, hooked her immediately.”

We get basically the same information, but the second has much more interest. We see Carl being stealthy, patient and skillful and the fisherman metaphor brings with it many other rich associations.

But would this metaphor work in any material? No, no, no. The metaphor has to resonate with the character, the setting, the tone of the writing. Otherwise, the reader becomes aware that you’re trying to create illusion instead of seeing—and believing—the illusion.

If Carl were a Wall Street workaholic who didn’t go outside except to go from office to car to home and back again, the fisherman metaphor would fail miserably. On the other hand, Carl doesn’t have to be a fisherman for this to work; in fact, it would likely be too strong a metaphor if he were because, in that context, the metaphor might not be fresh or unexpected. However, if Carl were on his first visit to a Caribbean island or perhaps had a summer job working in a boatyard, then this metaphor might not only fit the work and the character but extend his evolution by showing that he’d absorbed some of the setting he found himself in.

This brings us to the mixed metaphor. It’s the clumsiest trick of all with sometimes comical results. A mixed metaphor is sawing a rabbit in half or pulling a top hat from a silk scarf. It’s one that combines two or more totally different metaphors in close proximity.

“Carl held his cards close to his vest, but he couldn’t keep from wearing his heart on his sleeve.”

For one thing, those are cliched metaphors but more importantly, they are going off in two different directions. They may both be true of this character, but you need to find a one metaphor that can express both things.

“Carl held his cards close to his chest, but he still had an ace up his sleeve.”

This is equally cliche, but at least the metaphor is all about card playing.

Perfect metaphors will, from time-to-blessed-time, arise naturally out of the writing process. Our minds will effortlessly make the connection that resonates the most effectively. But—to say the least—that doesn’t always happen. During the editing process it is possible to analyze any writing that hasn’t come alive, that is more telling than showing, that seems less emotionally true than it needs to be, and look for metaphorical language that will enrich it.

This doesn’t mean that creative writing needs metaphors in every paragraph or even on each page. Every magician’s act prepares and distracts us from the tricks themselves. Moderation is the key.* Don’t force a metaphor and if in doubt, leave it out. That way when the well-placed metaphor appears as if out of nowhere, your audience will gasp.

Metaphor is a powerful reinforcement of the flexibility of language and the interconnectivity of that language within our brains. Our minds enjoy playing with the possibilities of turning the literal, abstract—the familiar, strange—the superficial, deep—the real, magical.

Metaphors do the trick.

*did you pick up on the dead metaphor? probably not. that’s why they’re referred to as “dead.”

© 2007 Nancy S.M. Waldman all rights reserved

This article barely scratches the surface of a rich vein of metaphorical information. Keep digging!
Here’s a place to start: changingminds.org/techniques/language/metaphor/

The PCQ’s MetAphorism feature use metaphors to bring out lessons in creativity:
The Desktop Shortcut
The Road Map
Burma-Shave signs
The Costume Box

Example of the use of an overarching metaphor to make a point (over and over and over again ): Growing Inspiration.