A couple weeks ago I bought a beautiful new softcover ruled Moleskine, and wow, I love them. With this one I’ve started writing down quotes and passages — …
The Archives: Creativity
Note: This isn't quite functional yet, but I'm working on it... :) -bmc 4.5.08
1. Commonplaces
2. How I write
[Cross-posted from Blank Slate because I want to go to bed right now instead of writing a whole new post. :P]
How do I write? Spurts (squeezed out by …
While being sick is driving me stir crazy, it does have one big benefit: time. I’d rather be well, of course, but since I seem to be doomed to …
I just realized that it’s been almost two months since I uploaded any photography. Amend that: it’s been almost two months since I took any photographs. Not sure …
I used to compose music a lot back in 2000 and 2001. (Well, by “a lot” I mean more than I’m composing now. :)) But since then I’ve …
Just a quick report that my resolution to post a drawing a day on BenjaminCrowder.com is going well. Here are some of them:
They’re …
I went to Gary Gillum’s retirement address today (he’s been the ancient studies librarian here at BYU for a while, and he’s done a lot of other things — he …
“Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about?” says Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables. “It just makes me feel glad …
When it comes to the arts, I seem to be bounce back and forth between creation and consumption. Both halves are important to the whole, and in a sense …
“For I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth.” –Moses 3:5
In my creative work — …
12. On the surface
I ordinarily rather dislike Microsoft, so I hate to plug this, but it’s cool enough that my anti-MS sentiments are peacefully sucking their thumbs and clinging to their blankies as …
Spent six hours today at “Life, the Universe and Everything”, BYU’s annual science fiction & fantasy symposium. Where to begin? First, overall impressions. I’d expected more …
14. More carrots
Yet another flurry. My mind has felt like a tornado these past few days, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this is all incoherent. Watch, I’ll come back …
15. Deadlines
Nice post yesterday from Roger von Oech about deadlines:
Strict limits can be a powerful stimulant to the creative process. If you’ve ever been asked to solve a challenging problem …
I used to finish every book I started, thinking I had a moral obligation to not be a quitter. In fact, here’s a poem I learned as a kid:
Stick …
17. Free time
Joni’s got a good post on free time over on her blog. Rather than just repost my response here, you can go over there and read it. …
One of the first items of business for me when starting a new project is coming up with a name. Names matter a lot to me; a good name …
19. Side dish
Most of my projects have been on the side. Before my mission, for example, I digitized a handful of books for Project Gutenberg in my off time, including retypesetting …
20. USBcell
From Read/WriteWeb, a battery that charges through a USB port:
Ingenious.
[tags]USBcell, USB, batteries[/tags]
21. Stone soup
I’m going to teach myself how to cook.
I’ve felt this way before, and my cobblestones of good intentions were sincere, but nothing ever really materialized. Not unless you can …
My friend came up with a cool collage from her trip to Europe this spring:
It’s a brilliant idea, really, compressing …
Listened to a talk by Sir Ken Robinson on creativity in education. You have to watch this. He certainly has his head on straight. Here’s a …
24. The trail behind
Sometimes I wonder why on earth I’ve gotten myself into a project. Take Beyond, for example. What was I thinking?!? It’s a huge undertaking, with lots of …
I’m in the middle of giving birth.
Not to a human child, of course (and now you no doubt have images of some alien creature emerging out of me, which is …
Lately I’ve become rather enamoured of the idea of studying the masters. In my own art, I can tell that a lack of having studied other artists has stunted …
I’ve been thinking lately about creativity and motivation. (Much of this springs from reading Uncommon Genius, but a lot of it is innate in the things I tend to …
From LifeHack.org, Conversations About Passion:
My number one trick for talking with people I don’t know is that I steer the conversation as fast as I can away from weather, …
A while ago my dress pants (which I happen to wear pretty much every day — meaning the various pairs, not the same pair, of course, but I can’t …
In the CES fireside address which ended about 30 seconds ago, President Faust quoted Teddy Roosevelt:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the …
From Vaughn J. Featherstone’s talk A Wise and Understanding Heart, this quote by Wilfred Petersen:
“A master at the art of living makes no distinction between his work and his …
