Once again, I’d like to share some inspiring posts about creativity, writing and life I’ve read lately:
Why You Don’t Need Discipline: Secrets to Writing Every Day. Ami Mattison explains how she’s motivated to write every day in this terrific blog post. (from poetryNprogress)
7 Wonderful Ways to Wake Up More Creative. Dan Goodwin offers some great suggestions for starting off your day creatively. (from A Big Creative Yes)
Discovering the Virtues of a Wandering Mind. This New York Times article from John Tierney explains the research that validates what you already knew: daydreaming is good for you and makes you more creative!
49 Creative Things You Can Do Today. A juicy list of creative fun from i, Hanna’s Blog.
How Handwriting Trains the Brain. This fascinating Wall Street Journal article from Gwendolyn Bounds explains how research shows writing by hand rather than on a computer may be a key component in learning, memory and expressing ideas.
Finally, check out Hoedown from Rodeo by Eleanor Stewart. A beautifully creative video in which the musical score of Aaron Copeland’s “Rodeo Suite” comes to life with stop-motion characters in a variety of scenes inspired by cowboy and Western films.
I hope you enjoy these wonderful creative tidbits as much as I did!
Strangling My Muse 
Wonderful links, thank you!
You’re welcome!
~Sandy
Sandy, Thank you so much for including my article in your Creativity Roundup. I’ve gotten some surprising and wonderful responses from the piece, including being mentioned here! An honor, indeed.
Hooray! Daydreaming is good 🙂 I am glad because am a major daydreamer 🙂
You’re welcome, Ami, and thanks for writing such a wonderful article!
Herby, I’m a major daydreamer too!
~Sandy
dear sandy:
you’re hitting major home runs here. I LOVED the Ami Mattison article. Thanks so much for the link.
Kablooey, when I do roundups, I only include articles that I find inspiring or I really love — I think we’re on the same wavelength!
Hope all is well with you and your creative pursuits!
~Sandy
I’m OK. A little too much “life” going on right now to suit me, which is causing posts to decrease, but I’m still going.
Sorry things are a little too much right now. But yay for you for keeping a blog going for a year and a half now! Most blogs fizzle out after the first couple of months. Pat yourself on the back for me, okay? And I hope things calm down…
~Sandy
Aw… daydreaming is good. And writing by hand is even better. Great articles!
I sometimes see whole chapters unravel in my daydreams. Probably look like a sandwitch short of a picnic at work while doing it… but hey. Lets just call it a ‘condition’ 😉
Bit off-topic on this post:
I’ve found that writing something each day, even if it’s rotten work, actually helps. Just as you wrote some posts ago; in order to strike gold, you need to dig away some dirt. And just making it a habit to write off the dirt that often blocks you when you finally sit there and try to write something magnificent — sort of magically “frees” your ‘muse’.
I suddenly just have writing coming out of my ears. All just because I started writing/doodling a little, every day, as a habit. And I’ve got you to thank for getting my thumb out of the proverbial you-know-what.
Keep writing, and keep inspiring!
Best regards,
Dandy
(Dang it… I just know I’ve made a mistake up there somewhere! But I shall NOT correct it and double-post!)
Wow, Dandy, thanks so much for posting and sharing what’s going on with you. I’m thrilled to hear you have writing coming out of your ears, after your last comment, when you said you were blocked. Thank you for letting me know that what I wrote helped you with your daily creativity — you made my day!
I’m a big fan of both daydreaming and writing by hand. I’m always creating stories or meeting new characters in my head!
And a pat on the back to you for not going back and correcting anything — I still struggle with that myself, being a perfectionist in recovery!
Best of luck to you, Dandy, and keep up the flowing creativity — even on the tough days a sentence or two or a doodle can keep the flow going…
~Sandy