Tag Archives: creativity

One Hundred Days of Blogging – Day Four

Posted on by under One Hundred Days of Blogging

I finally got around to seeing Pacific Rim, and I’ve got to say it was better than I expected. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m all for the age-old, time-tested tale of giant robots fighting giant monsters. I grew up on Gundam Wing on Toonami, and loved every second of its weird cartoon, semi-soap opera feel. A lot happier with the ending than I thought I’d have been going into it, too, so that’s a plus.

The flipside is that I’m feeling a touch under-the-weather, so I’m forcing myself to go to bed shortly. However, the post must go on. It’s only Day Four after all. Given that I watched Pacific Rim after work instead of working on this, I think my topic of choice is appropriate. Continue reading →

One Hundred Days of Blogging – Day Three

Posted on by under One Hundred Days of Blogging

Let me start this by saying how much I love my days off of my day job (like almost every other person alive, save for those detestable ones who do something they love). While I’m not particularly fond of my internal clock having deemed 8a.m. the point at which I’ve slept in, I’m glad to say it’s not even 10a.m. and I’ve already been semi-productive.

No need to sugar-coat it: I’m a slow-starter, and I’m okay with that. However, being awake this early and meandering through my morning, complete with moments of being hooked up to my iPod, also provided ample inspiration, between half-sleepy yawns, for today’s Day of Blogging. Continue reading →

One Hundred Days of Blogging – Day Two

Posted on by under One Hundred Days of Blogging

Day Two – Creating Stories from the Chaos of Ideas

It only seemed appropriate to focus on the topic of creating stories from the chaos of my ideas, which are all over the place, for the second day. Mostly because I’m still convinced my Hundred Days of Blogging will be more chaotic than ordered.

My process isn’t new or revolutionary, and I’m pretty sure I’ve covered as much before. I’d like to say I sit down with a concept. Some sort of message I want to get across, maybe, or an image so powerful that won’t leave my mind until I share it. Deep stuff, right? Continue reading →

This Week in Misadventures

Posted on by under This Week in Misadventures

Or “The post that almost didn’t happen because I have to be up for work at 5:30 tomorrow morning” with a dash of “Oh god, why am I still awake? Because I’d lose sleep if I tried skipping this post”.

It’s well past the 4th of July, which means everyone should be fully recovered from their red, white, and blue hangovers. Pet eagles should have been returned to the wild by now, free to soar high above the freedom and liberty of America until next year, when they return to their rightful owners to drink beer and cook burgers made from the crushed hopes of terrorists. I have no idea where all of that came from, but I’m not even kind of sorry.

This past week had ups and downs galore, but when everything is said and done it was awesome in terms of progress. That’s why I’m glad to make this edition of This Week in Misadventures happen. Continue reading →

My ideas, and their woefully high mortality rate

Posted on by under Misadventures in Fiction

At any given time, there’s probably about a dozen too many ideas rattling around in the vast weirdness of my thoughts. This can make keeping track of everything a bit difficult, though I say this as someone who also owns a good number of notebooks that are far more devoid of any writing than they should be. As I mentioned earlier in the week, I’m now working on the first draft of yet another novel idea, which arrives and leaves the forefront of my thoughts at its leisure. There are Warpt Factor plotlines bouncing off of one another like they’re all locked up in a particularly potent bouncy castle. Many short stories. Posts for Screen Robot. You get the idea. Continue reading →

Misadventures in Podcasting?!

Posted on by under Misadventures in Fiction

Or “I meant to include this in my This Week in Misadventures post, but I’m forgetful and was tired, so I forgot” with hints of “This is a title for a thing that will probably never happen”.

This is an idea that, at some point or another, materialized in my brain. It started as a whisper. Hey. Podcasts are neat. You like doing neat things. Huh? Why not? I jokingly suggested this possibility on Twitter and Facebook, where a few people made the terrible decision of encouraging such an idea. By that I mean they said I should do a podcast while very drunk.

Not helpful, people. Not even a little.

Here’s what I do know about podcasts: they’re available on iTunes, they can be free, and a lot of people make really entertaining ones (Hey there, Welcome to Nightvale).

I don’t know what I’d talk about, who I’d talk with, or even how I’d go about a podcast.

That all aside, I like the sound of Misadventures in Podcasting because, I mean, it goes with my Misadventures in everything else.

Thoughts?

This week in my brain turning to gelatin

Posted on by under This Week in Misadventures

William Shakespeare provided a quote that accurately summarizes how I feel after this past week. It’s one of great wisdom and power, and it channels every fiber of my spirit in its present state.

“O, I am slain.” – Polonius (Hamlet).

That, coincidentally, is also my favorite quote from Shakespeare…which says a lot about my capacity to enjoy his works, I fear.

My week in misadventures was a busy one, and my brain has been rendered into a slimy, disappointing blob of gelatin. I write this in the haze of post-nap dreariness, knowing I need to get to bed soon because I open at work tomorrow.

That’s not important, though. It is, however, my justification for any verbal missteps. Moving on. Continue reading →

Why misadventures in fiction?

Posted on by under Misadventures in Fiction, Misadventures in Non-Fiction

Once upon a time, not particularly long ago in the bigger scheme of things, I started a WordPress blog named Phil’s Misadventures in Fiction. It happened because I had an idea for a story, which would eventually (still very tentatively) end up named Joshua’s Nightmares. In moments of pride, I would insist on calling it my web site and not my blog. I would post frequently, and then I would drop off of the planet because of other obligations. And then I would do absurd things like force myself to keep active while binge-writing a novel in under three months. I even shelled out some money so my WordPress could be listed as misadventuresinfiction.com (a fact that will never fail to make me smile for some reason).

Why misadventures, though? Why not adventures? Quests? Journeys, even? This is something I failed to consider, largely choosing misadventures because it felt right. It had that little bit of silly humor to it, and Misadventures in Fiction just sort of rolls off the tongue (or, perhaps, it awkwardly clunks off of the tongue). The title happened, it stuck, and I grew to love it as time marched along, as any creator often does (while spending much time in self-loathing for other things). Continue reading →

This week in Misadventures

Posted on by under This Week in Misadventures

Or “It’s been a pretty sparse week in terms of creativity, but I’m excusing that because other good things happened and I’m good at making excuses.”

Here we are again, on a stormy Sunday afternoon, and I find myself thinking back on what writing I did (and didn’t) get done this week. There’s a couple ideas rattling around in my brain, demanding their time on the pages, so I suspect I’ll have to find time to get to those before they start shouting things like “neglect”. Anyway, let’s move onto the better parts of this post before I get distracted by shiny objects again. Continue reading →

A little laziness never killed anyone important

Posted on by under General Bloggity Stuff

Or “I’m trying to justify my brief span of not really accomplishing much, and only sort of succeeding.”

I’ve not really done a lot of writing lately, and I’m actually kind of okay with that. I’d be better with it if I weren’t so very good at guilt-tripping myself, but that’s nothing new. Side-note, before I continue: my mouse is being extra finicky as I write this, so I can already tell that’s going to be an ordeal in itself.

Moving along.

Generally speaking, as evidenced by a plethora of blog posts on the subject (or, at the least, mentioning as much), I’ve been trying to do a little writing every day. Up through the past month, I’d succeeded. My actual, paying job, as well as my fondness of taking naps, slowly but surely ended up interfering, as work has become a bit tumultuous lately.

However, this isn’t all about bad news and me being a slacker. On the contrary: I’ve picked up not one, but two, contributing writer credits. I’ve written, and am eagerly awaiting, my first post for Screen Robot, and I’m actually really excited to announce I’ll be contributing to The Useless Critic (a pop culture web site run by a fellow Edinboro alum, featuring writing by other fellow Edinboro alumni, which can be viewed here). I say I’m really excited because, quite frankly, all of the people who contribute to The Useless Critic are substantially better writers than I am. It’s like being welcomed into a Pantheon of creative gods (note: if any UC writers read this, please know the comparison may contain some hyperbole) I previously believed I had no business being a part of. Like I said: really exciting.

If anyone has any suggestions for where I could find some motivation to actually finish a short story these days, it’d be appreciated. I’ve checked all the usual places (ranging from behind the fridge to lodged between my teeth, where popcorn bits usually lurk), but have had no such luck.