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Monday Mojo

Twinkle, twinkle baby blanket

I've been struggling to do anything lately. If it requires brain cells, I can't do it. Massive burnout from too much stress the last few years. Unfortunately, writing falls into that category. Don't get me wrong, I'm writing new stories and novels, it's just very slow going right now.

In the meantime, I'm exploring other creative avenues. I'm crocheting again. Check out my profile on ravelry.com if you want to see my projects. If you do knitting, crocheting, spinning, or weaving, you should join up. It's a great site for connecting with other crafters. I find way too many free patterns on there. It's inspirational to surf through the collections.

Mmm, fresh raspberries

I'm gardening now more than ever before, mostly because we finally have dirt that I can dig in. Our house in Utah had clay soil that was like trying to garden in cement. We grew the usual veggies there—tomatoes, peppers, a little squash—and tried a few fun ones—popcorn, rhubarb, and some herbs—but most things just got choked out by the weeds or failed to grow much. Something killed my zucchini every year. But here, we have sandy soil that is easy to dig. Of course that means we need to mulch and fertilize, but I'm having fun with that, too. We're trying out vermiculture. That's using worms to create compost out of kitchen scraps, lawn clippings, and cardboard. It seems to be helping the garden areas. So far we have harvested raspberries, red currants, peas, herbs, and potatoes. We've got tomatoes, popcorn, squash (including zucchini!), melons, cucumbers, onions, and a whole row of assorted berry bushes. I can't wait for more produce.

The view from my kitchen as I'm writing this.

And I'm spending time learning to relax again. We have a swimming pool. Floating in the water is very relaxing, although figuring out the chemicals and cleaners and stuff is not.

The clouds here are amazing. The variety and beauty is astounding. The skies are wide open, too, and mostly dark at night so the stars really shine. I'm tempted to take up painting just so I can do clouds. And so I have an excuse to watch Bob Ross more. I find him very soothing to listen to.

My question to you is: What do you do to de-stress, unwind, relax, or whatever you have to do to let your inner creativity loose again? I would love ideas.

Yarn is My Weakness

I love yarn. Every time I walk into a craft store or the megamart, I have to find the yarn aisle. I drool over the colors. I touch the skeins to feel the texture. Is that yarn as soft as it looks? Is that one scratchy? How thin is that one? How fat and lumpy?

I adore the ombre yarns, the multicolored ones. Most of them are loud and scream, "I escaped from the seventies!", but that's what I love about them. When I work with them, I never know how the colors are going to turn out. That's part of what attracts me to them. They're chaos and anarchy in a bundle of fiber, but not really. There is a pattern to them, an order, but the only way to really see it is to make something with them.

This is where I run into problems. I get all fired up with ideas of what I'm going to do with that yarn. I know the exact thing I want to make from that gorgeous shade of lilac, or from that skein of mixed blues and purples and oranges, or from that whole pile of easter egg spring pastels. So I buy the yarn and bring it home. And it sits in my yarn bins because I either ran out of time or energy or I got bored with the idea or I can't find the pattern I was hoping to use.

Every once in a while I go on a burst of crocheting energy and finish stuff up, though. Yarn gets used. I work my way through skeins, leaving nothing but small balls of leftovers and finished projects behind.

My house would be overrun with crocheted doohickies except I've found ways to sell projects or give them away. It's all good. I keep the ones I really love.

I rarely crochet intricate things or fiddly patterns and I rarely use fine yarn and small hooks. Partly because I don't like fine work; my eyes are going bad and my coordination isn't the greatest. Crocheting little threads with tiny hooks is hard work, not what I'm usually craving when I sit down to crochet. I like to use thick yarn and big hooks and make things that work up quickly. I like to see progress.

Most of what I make are amigurumi - crocheted toys shaped like big-headed people or animals. It's fun, not too taxing on my eyes or brain, and people love them. Babies, especially, love the texture of the yarn and the squishiness of the toys. As long as I avoid using buttons for eyes, I'm good.

It's a creative escape. I get to play with fun colors and feel the yarn and end up with something at the end. The actual process can get boring, which is why I tend to stick to small projects. Working stitch after stitch of single crochet gets repetitive in a hurry, but sometimes that's what I crave. It's soothing. I get into a rhythm and just keep it going. I can see whatever it is I'm crocheting growing under my fingers. It's tactile, not intellectual.

And it gives me an excuse to buy more yarn. I really need more of that rainbow ombre...

The Need to Create

Do you feel the need to create something? It seems to be an almost universal human drive. You don't have to be an artist or a musician to participate. Everyone has an outlet for their creative urges. I like to use words to create worlds and stories. I also love playing with cloth and yarn, piecing quilts and creating costumes and crocheting all sorts of things. Even cooking can be a creative exercise. I have friends who garden to fill that need. Others who build things with wood or metals or other materials.

What is your canvas? What do you like to create?

I'll leave you with a few pictures of some of my latest projects as inspiration:

Why Nanowrimo?

For any of you who haven't heard, November is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Thousands of people sign up for the competition. This is really about competing against anyone else. The goal of NaNo is to write a 50k word novel during November.

A writer posted an article (wish I could find the article and link it, but it's lost in my browser history somewhere) declaring that NaNoWriMo was a terrible waste of everyone's time. All those amateur writers attempting to write absolute drivel should just not bother. Agents and editors cringe in anticipation of the flood of horrible manuscripts about to be submitted. NaNo should be a NoNo.

I say, what's the harm? I'm all for NaNo. Anything that encourages people to reach higher, to try something new, to be creative, is a good thing. So what if 99.99% of what's written is crap? It's the process of creating it that matters. If only "professional authors" were allowed to write novels, we would very quickly run out of stories to read.

What if we told all those people taking painting or drawing classes that only "professional artists" should create pictures or paintings? Where do you think these professionals come from in the first place? Everyone started somewhere. I'm sure Michaelangelo's first drawings were absolute crap. The point is that he tried it, liked it, and stuck with it. The rest of us benefit from encouraging creativity.

I'm not saying that all those aspiring writers participating in NaNo will become creative geniuses. Most of them won't ever be published. And that's just fine. For those who attempt NaNo, it's an eye-opener to how difficult the whole process of writing a book can be. Those who finish have a sense of accomplishment.

This is only my second year doing NaNo. Last year, I was derailed by a book release. Yes, I'm already published. Guess what? It doesn't matter. NaNo this year gave me the push I needed to get writing novels again. I needed something to get my story moving, to give me enough momentum to finish it.

As for all that crap being produced under such a rushed deadline, so what? There is a freedom to the writing that happens when you don't worry about editing and making it perfect. Too many writers stop after a few chapters, realize what they've written is crap, and go back to edit. The story rarely gets beyond chapter three. NaNo pushes you to just keep going. You can go back to fix it later. That's what editing is all about. For November, just get that story written.

Any honest author will also tell you that the first few manuscripts they finished were awful. Writing is learned by doing. You can learn techniques and skills in classes, true, but the only way to really learn to craft a good story is by doing it. So write one for NaNo, shove it in a drawer, write another one next year. Each draft will improve.

As for that novel release of mine, Nexus Point is my first book in print. It was #18 in my draft pile.

I salute all of you that attempted NaNo this year. It's a worthy goal to write 50k in one month, even if no one but you ever reads it. You've reached outside your normal life to try to create something. That is a goal worth applauding, whether you achieved it or not.

For those who did write 50k, WOOT! Now go write more...