“The one clear thing I can say about Wednesday, the worst and most amazing day of my life, is this: it started out beautifully.” -Rajesh Parameswaran, I Am an Executioner: Love Stories
I record these words for a posterity that will not exist. -Zachary Jernigan, Pairs, Asimov’s Science FictionAug 2011
We have tried to understand the rules by which the door operates. It appears and disappears unexpectedly. When we step through it, we do not know where we will be, or how long we will be there. When it comes back for us, it usually takes us home. But not always. -Theodora Goss, Pug (Asimov’s Science FictionJuly 2011)
The night that cats were wished away was a hard one full of wine, tears, and spectacle. – Laura Ellen Scott, Death Wishing
Carnival of Creativity 2/26/2012
Welcome to the Carnival of Creativity for February 26, 2012. All links will open in a new tab or window, so feel free to click through and leave some love in the comments. Once you close that window, you’ll be right back here for more linky goodness.
The Creative Mindset
Patti Onderko presents Get Unstuck at Success. 17 ways to bring more creativity into your life and work.
Rodney Maley presents Battling Self-Doubt posted at Life-fficient. Tips on dealing with your inner critic.
Dr. Mike presents Get Creative posted at UpbeatBrain.com, saying, “Creativity covers a lot of ground, and we can all find a spot to explore it and enjoy it.”
Chrys Fey presents Yes, You Can Write A Novel! posted at Write With Fey, saying, “Writing a novel has never been impossible in the past, nor will it ever be in the future. Anyone can do it, even you!”
Pamela Jorrick presents A Letter A Day posted at Blah, Blah, Blog, saying, “Why do I participate in these crazy challenges that I find on the internet? I don’t really know. I actually don’t need any more challenge in life, but this sounded like a fun idea, so I wanted to give it a try.”
Resources/Tools
Sheila Scarborough presents How to know when your content is pinned on Pinterest posted at Sheila’s Guide To The Good Stuff, saying, “The visual bulletin board service Pinterest is getting a lot of attention lately, and it’s certainly fun, but how do you know if your own content has been pinned on someone else’s board? This post gives a quick how-to explanation.”
Sharing Our Work
Derrick Roberts presents Mid-week Ramblings: ‘Front-porch Wisdom’ posted at Writing Wrong(Handed).
Kate Croston presents 20 Biggest Soccer Tragedies and the Internet Response posted at Internet Service, saying, “The history of soccer is dotted with some of the worst tragedies ever recorded in sports. Whether by natural means, or by the hands of men, there have been numerous disastrous events throughout soccer’s past.”
Lindsay Willison presents 10 Ways to Get Even with Automated Answering Services posted at Landline Phone Service, saying, “The chances of reaching a live person when placing a call these days get slimmer all the time. Every call turns into a form of techno-gymnastics, hopping through a maze of push-button options until you finally reach a human being, if ever.”
Coleen Torres presents 10 SOPA Boycotts That Were Impressive posted at phonetvinternet.com, saying, “The hotly contested Stop Online Piracy Act was one of the most controversial issues of late 2011 and early 2012. Lawmakers, entertainers and consumers alike spoke out vociferously against the potentially-dangerous legislation, which was eventually shelved.”
NSFW: Gracie J presents Body Counts posted at How Sweet It Is To Be Gracie, saying, “For readers with an open mind and open discussions”
Writing Tips and Prompts
C.S. Lakin presents First Paragraph, First Thoughts at Live, Write, Thrive.
Dan Wells presents How to Build Your Story (now on video) at Fearful Symmetry.
Rebecca Joines Schinsky presents 7 Surprise Twists I’d Rather Live Without [or The Airing of Grievances, Literary Style] at BookRiot.
Catherine Ryan Howard presents How (Not?) to Get Your Book Reviewed at Catherine, Caffeinated.
Liz Shaw presents The Test of Time at LizAndraShaw, asking “Will your writing stand the test of time?”
Syaiful presents The Art of Finding Ideas For Poem posted at Poetry Writing Tips.
Podcasts
Writing Excuses presents The City as a Character at WritingExcuses. Mary and Dan discuss using a city as a character with Sarah Pinborough, for whom London is an important setting and one of her favorite places.
Visual Arts
Greg Phelps presents Give a photographer a promotion… posted at Lucrative Lumens, saying, “The specific examples of marketing techniques in this article apply to pro portrait photographers but the concept discussed could easily benefit other types of photographers or even people in other lines of business who want to raise their profile in the community.”
Erica K. presents 5 Avenues for Logo Design Inspiration posted at ground up graphics
The Business of Creativity
Hannah Howard presents 10 Reasons Most Social Bookmarking Sites Suck posted at Longhorn Leads, LLC, saying, “The trouble with most social bookmarking sites is that they don’t have the proper balance that would make them as useful as they could be. Either there are too many sites that rank highly for no apparent reason, or there are too few gems to pluck from the sea of rubbish to make the effort worthwhile.”
Valaney Martin presents How to get your game noticed and get paid from it posted at Ubiquitense, saying, “Here are some guidelines for the average indie game developer to follow so that there’s a better chance of their game being noticed and making a profit from it.”
Writing Quote of the Week
Why do writers write? Because it isn’t there. -Thomas Berger
Spam of the Week
An intriguing speech is couturier annotate. I think that you should write statesman on this message, it mightiness not be a preconception soul but generally grouping are not enough to verbalise on specified topics. To the next. Cheers.
Well, thank you, I think…
That’s all for this week. Be sure to submit your article for next week’s Carnival of Creativity by Saturday at midnight!
‘Poisonous ‘ plants and creatures can be evoked as protectors, protectors of place. Within a bioregion, they protect the deeper forest and are allies to their ecologies. As allies of human beings, they protect against drowsiness and insensitivity, preventing us from charging through fragile terrain with a heavy foot and blind eye. They teach alertness and respect as we interact with place. They also evoke certain qualities within humans. One can like the jaguar stalk and enjoy the night, blend with the environment and disappear into its body. Protectors teach humans to sing like wolf, to go inside like bear, and to relax like snake. -Joan Halifax, The Fruitful Darkness: A Journey Through Buddhist Practice and Tribal Wisdom
A lovely world indeed is Galgala the golden, where myriads of auriferous microorganisms excrete atoms of gold as metabolic waste. It is everywhere on this planet, the lustrous pretty metal. It turns the rivers and streams to streaks of yellow flame and the seas to shimmering golden mirrors. Huge filters are deployed at the intake valve of Galgala’s reservoirs to strain the silt of dissolved gold from the water supply. The plants of Galgala are turgid in every tissue, leaf and stem and root, with aureous particles. Gold dust, held in suspension in the air, transforms the clouds to golden fleece.
Therefore the once-precious stuff has grievously lost value throughout the galaxy since Galgala was discovered, and on Galgala itself a pound of gold is worth less than a pound of soap. But I understand very little about these economic matters and care even less. Only a miser could fail to rejoice in Galgala’s luminous beauty. We have been here six weeks; we have awakened each morning to the tinkle of golden chimes, we have bathed in the golden rivers and come forth shining, we have wrapped our bodies round with delicate golden chains. -Robert Silverberg, The Travelers
In an essay titled “Futuristics,” Isaac Asimov pointed out that the obvious prediction is not the most interesting one. It was easy to predict the automobile; what was difficult to predict was the traffic jam. It was easy to predict radio; what was difficult was the soap opera. It was easy to predict the income tax; what was difficult was the expense account. Equally, it was easy to predict the cell phone—Dick Tracy had his wrist radio back in the 1930s—but what was difficult to predict is that users would become so attached to them that they would step into traffic or allow their cars to drift out of control….Science fiction might well be considered the literature of unanticipated consequences….In fact, to write an effective science-fiction story, all you need is something that the world thinks is an unmitigated boon and to focus on the unforeseen problems that it might create. -Science Fiction Imagines the Digital Future by James Gunn in Analog Science Fiction and Factmagazine
It was the day my grandmother exploded. -Iain M. Banks, The Crow Road
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