creativiti project

The Hominid paints

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:06:00 +0000

The Big Hominid is an internet friend of mine. I found him online as we were both (I still am) Korea-bloggers. He works in education for money but also tries his hand at a variety of art-forms. At his blog,you can find his series of '100-below' - stories of less than one hundred words. You can also find calligraphy he has worked on and I think he has a Cafe-press account for his art.

He has just attempted a new form, oil painting. Learn about the making of Maqz and Satan: Part 1&2, 3, 4.

I wouldn't know if the painting shows signs of anything, but I do admire his willingness to try new things.

Some Big Hominid mugs from Cafe-press:

Yahoo news teasers as prompts

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:34:00 +0000

If you want to know more, click here.

Before you do, think about the 11 other times it is better to spend a little more up front:

(somewhat) serious:
batteries, underarm deodorant, medicine, first dates, university choice, bikes, rain coats, haircuts, umbrellas,

Silly(er):
brothels & prostitutes, shoes, interview clothes, ...Dang, these aren't very silly.

Having looked at them, I can see that the online answers were sillier than mine.

Number 1: Vending machine snacks. The advice, order (high quality) snacks online. I can see how that would save money, but preparing your own snacks at home would be even better. As a bonus, the reduced packaging would be better for the environment. This point also leaves out the socializing potential of visiting the vending machine. I would guess it is similar to a coffee break and people might gather there.

Number 2 is just sad: Don't just separate to save money; go the distance and get that divorce. It is probably good advice, but a tough thing to discuss.

This isn't a home-ec blog so let me comment on just one more thing before I conclude: Extended warranties(#6):

Overpaying for extended warranties
"The cost-effectiveness of extended warranties is minimal and simply put, they're generally a bad idea," says Schrage.
In fact, retailers typically enjoy a greater gross profit on the extended warranty than they do on the product they're selling.
Standard warranties should be just enough to get you by.
On the flipside, if your PC or laptop breaks down, forgoing the extra $50 or $100 could cost you hundreds for wear and tear.

That's good adv...oh, wait, no it isn't, chiefly because there is no advice given. Get the extended or not? At the end of the segment, you are still left in the air.

I think Yahoo lists these teasers to increase 'page-view hits' for the purpose of selling advertising. It's really annoying, but if you want prompts to brainstorm over, there are new ones every day.

Uncorking the Muse

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:34:00 +0000

While too much alcohol merely makes you think you were clever the previous night, a little might actual make you so.

Via The Hot Button, comes news of research from the University of Illinois on alcohol and intelligence.

Researchers suggest that the moderate levels of alcohol “loosened up” a person’s focus, allowing them to solve intuitive and creative word association problems, while the sober participants were more rigid in their problem-solving. In the study, both groups watched an animated movie. Afterward, they were given this test: They saw three words on a screen and then had to come up with a fourth that could form a phase with each of them. (Example: For peach, arm and tar, the response would be pit.)

Science News has a little more and the (gated) paper is here.
The abstract of the paper:

Abstract
That alcohol provides a benefit to creative processes has long been assumed by popular culture, but to date has not been tested. The current experiment tested the effects of moderate alcohol intoxication on a common creative problem solving task, the Remote Associates Test (RAT). Individuals were brought to a blood alcohol content of approximately .075, and, after reaching peak intoxication, completed a battery of RAT items. Intoxicated individuals solved more RAT items, in less time, and were more likely to perceive their solutions as the result of a sudden insight. Results are interpreted from an attentional control perspective.

I have discussed how 'controlled distraction' is one key to creative thinking and it is interesting to see more on the subject.

Unusual Amazon Ads as prompts for creative writing

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 02:26:00 +0000

A part of Landolt-Bornstein's new series: Nuclear Energy, Kindle Edition:

cost $6,232.00
(you save more than a thousand dollars by buying the E-edition over the hardcover)

(Click to biggify any photo)

This permalink goes to the review above and also has the five comments it generated.

The classic The Mountain Three Wolf Moon Short Sleeve Tee:

Cost $11.96-$26.96 (no joke to add here)

I call this one the classic as it was the first I learned (via Kottke?) about for it's great comments. Here is a sample:

Links: Dual Function Design, Great Compliment...

Passion Natural Water-Based Lubricant -55 Gallon

Sale price: $1,495.00

Link
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I think the T-shirt and the lube, and Amazon benefit from the attention these ads bring in and do not harm Landolt-Bornstien book. Good fun!

A danger in ESL: Personalization can be too personal

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 02:11:00 +0000

In almost every unit of almost every ESL textbook, there is a part where students use the grammar or vocabulary to describe themselves or their experiences. Even without a textbook, teachers quite properly, try to elicit personal statements from their students. Usually, this is a good idea.

On his blog, “An A-Z of ELT, Thornbury discusses where these discussions could take you:

In his novel, The Folding Star, Alan Hollinghurst (1994) recounts how the protagonist, a young Englishman recently arrived in a Belgian town, sets himself up as a private English tutor. One of his pupils suffers from asthma, and our hero idly asks him if he knows how he got it.

“I didn’t quite make the story out at first, I was chivvying him and making him repeat words without knowing I was taking him back, like some kinder and wiser analyst, to the scene of a childhood tragedy” (p. 20)

Some of the most personal things I have learned from my students has come from Exam questions and particularly from speaking exams. At least this is
more private for the student.

However it works out, it is often information I don’t really want to know.

“Surprises [no, my students don't really call me that], my girlfriend and I learned everything about each other’s body that it is possible to know.”

“My boyfriend and I have an intimate relationship.”

“I play Maple Story after school.”

“One goal is to make fantastic love.”

“I like Super Junior.”

Granted, some of these points are not as titillating as others, but none of them do I want to know – and some I disapprove of – fandom of Super Junior, especially!

Back to Thornbury:

When I first encountered personalization it was of the type: “Write 5 or more true sentences about yourself, friends or relations, using the word ago“.

This is taken verbatim from Kernel Lessons (O’Neill et al. 1971), one of the first coursebooks I taught from. The fact that the sentences had to be ‘true’ was regularly ignored or overlooked by both teacher and students. The point was not to be ‘truthful’ but creative. Creative and accurate.

This little personalization task invariably came at the tail end of a sequence of activities whose rationale was the learning and practice of a pre-selected item of grammar. The personalization was really just a pretext for a little bit of creative practice, as well as serving as a first, tentative step towards translating the language of the classroom into the language of ‘real life’.

It’s hard to explain to a student that the truth is not required, only that English production is. And even when that may be understood, sometimes the english is a little off, so you need to ask questions to clear up the meaning of words and phrases. Now, I am requiring the student to continue and complicate their possibly made up story. Is this english or interrogation class?

Thornbury makes only a limited conclusion and finishes with a question:

…Arguably, by foregrounding ‘what really matters to a person’, personalization both motivates and scaffolds these adaptive processes.

So, how do we accommodate the need for personalization into our classes? And – more importantly – how do we deal with learner resistance to it?

Perhaps we need to encourage and explain the option of creating a story. Instead of, “What does your home look like?”, we should ask the student to “Describe a home that you would like to live in.” or ask students in the dorms -which we already have some knowledge of – to describe them.

She wrote it but it's not hers

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:15:00 +0000

I don't follow YA vampire stories much. My sister was reading the Twilight series-possible for some school-based reason as she is a high school English teacher- and was embarrassed when I looked it over and began reading it.

Still, as I learned from my attempts at Nanowrimo, putting words to page is not easy, and writing any story creates a strong personal connection with that story.

L.J Smith - author of vampire Diaries, has been fired by Harper Collins and now a ghost writer will continue the series. The blog post I read was unclear whether Smith's name will continue to be on the cover. Either she will still be listed as the author or it will say something like, "Created by L.J. Smith".

On the one hand, the contractual details were there to find, if she knew how to read legalese and had some experience as a writer. She was hired by Harper Collins to provide a series of stories, the titles and cover images of which had already been selected. I guess the simplest way to look at it is that she was the surrogate mother...no, she actively provided more information to the 'baby' than the 'parents' did.

Two excerpts from the post:

She isn’t allowed to write another word of a series that belongs to her, a series that she has spent years writing and creating and putting her heart into because Harper suddenly decided they don’t want her to write anymore. And now a random ghostwriter (who’s skills and voice could never even remotely live up to L.J’s) is taking over.

...[ this is a big ellipsis]

I had no idea that these type of things can happen to a published author. So to those of you who are going to be published or hope to be published one day—read everything in the contract and beextra alert. Even if the publisher has a good name/reputation don’t let them fool you into thinking everything’s fine and dandy where legal terms are involved. Stay on top of things and make sure you are informed on everything that's going on. That means keeping close tabs and getting constant updates from your agent.

I've read some crappy self-published novels and much appreciate the editing at a publishing house provides. Still, this is pretty grim news and I suspect that while it is bad news for Smith, it will also be so for Harper Collins and major publishing houses in general. I sure hope all other options were explored before this one was chosen.
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Via a post on Google+ by Wil Wheaton. I don't know if I can link to it from here. Try it.

I want this office.

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:18:00 +0000

Wade Davis, the 'explorer-in-residence' for National Geographic has a beautiful office. I'm sure that if I had it, once I tired of climbing the ladder to view my books, I could be very productive.
Photo from Travis Price Architects.

Another from Washington Life:

Creative and content knowhow

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:11:00 +0000

Via Boingboing, a link to an article on two types of knowledge, both important in the creation of new products.

The article features an air pistol with an air-pressure gauge built into the reservoir. The problem is, the gauge is at the end of the gun, directly below the barrel. You must point the gun directly at your own forehead to check the pressure.

Technically, I don't think you could put the gauge on the side. I am not sure where you could put it, but if a pistolry expert had spoken with the design expert, this design might have been cancelled.

Sudden Genius?

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:50:00 +0000

In Sudden Genius; the gradual path to creative breakthroughs, Robinson explores the lives of ten geniuses; five scientists and five artists, to see if he can find any common threads to how, why and what makes a genius.

He starts by spending some time explaining his definition of 'genius', which isn't easy. He settled on the ten in his book as they are all considered geniuses even if what a genius is is not clear.

"An individual is judged to be 'creative', psychometrically speaking, if he or she can consistently produce a spectrum of divergent responses to a request, of which a proportion are markedly different from the responses of other individuals. but not too different, otherwise they are not recognizable as answers to the request." (page 24)

He briefly looked at creativity tests, and I have linked to some in the past on this blog. His research showed that they were measuring something, but it wasn't precisely creativity. He wrote that subjects who took the test years apart typically scored the same but that a high score on the test did not make the subject particularly creative in real life. They are quite similar to IQ tests, which have the same characteristics.

Turns out, geniuses don't have much in common.

"If creativity researchers have proved anything about 'a' creative personality, it is that beneath a huge variety of external behaviors, often unconventional, all highly creative people preserve a steely, autonomous determination." (5% - Kindle provided page numbers for my other quotes but not this one.)

Geniuses were driven people, who worked long hours, entirely by choice.

Oh, and many geniuses suffered the death of a parent or other traumatic family experience in their youth:

"Various explanations have been proposed by psychologists. One suggestion is that creative achievement, delinquency, and suicide should all be viewed as dissatisfied responses to the society that took away the life of the parent. By criticizing or attacking existing social beliefs and practices, creative achievement enables an individual to develop in an independent, nonconformist way, rejecting society's rules and regulations." (Page 258)

This reminds me a researcher discussing why orangutan orphans began catching and eating fish, but wild ones did not. I cannot find a link and the researcher was only offering an opinion, but he felt that these orphaned orangutans were not held back or meddled with by adults as they grew up.

Although many scientific breakthroughs necessarily come from collaboration, creative breakthroughs generally do not:

"Thus collaboration and teamwork tend not to be a feature of the lives of the exceptionally creative - inconvenient though this fact may be for advocates of 'brainstorming' and 'group creativity' in commercial companies and other institutions." (Page 265)

And where does formal education fit in? Darwin hated school and Mozart was home-schooled.

"Can formal education ever instill this kind of exceptional creativity? Not on the evidence of past geniuses. In Professor Eysenck's parting shot at the academic system at the end of his study Genius, he writes, "The best service we can do to creativity is to let it bloom unhindered, to remove all impediments, and cherish it whenever we encounter it. We probably cannot train it, but we can prevent it from being suffocated by rules, regulations, and envious mediocrity." (Page 278)

The book offered few suggestions on how to turn my son into a genius, but at the same time it did let me know what would be a waste of time.

Shocks to increase learning

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:51:00 +0000

No, not shocks as a punishment for misbehaving students.

There is research into how shocking some parts of the brain increases learning ability.

Some felt that the shocks quieted conscious parts of the brain so subjects wouldn't overthink their activities. I think that is possible but wonder - the great thing about learning only a fraction of the actual research and information- if the shock could have erased some of the early prejudices and doctrines of the activity so that the subject could start afresh without misconceptions getting in the way. A swimmer who has swum tens of kilometres using poor arm position needs to forget what he has been doing to change it.

Anyway, maybe electroshock is a shortcut. Time will tell.

failing Malls - what to do with them?

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:44:00 +0000

Being a fan of the genre, I immediately imagine using them as sanctuaries against the coming zombie hordes.

Via Boingboing, I found they are a real problem - malls falling into disuse, not zombie hordes.

Boingboing links to an article in the New York Times. An excerpt:

Cleveland’s Galleria at Erieview, like many malls across the country, is suffering. Closed on weekends because there are so few visitors, it is down to eight retail stores, eight food-court vendors and a couple of businesses like the local bar association.

So part of the glass-covered mall is being converted into a vegetable garden.“I look at it as space, I don’t look at it as retail,” said Vicky Poole, a Galleria executive. “You can’t anymore.”

Before looking at the rest, what uses can I come up with in three minutes: Before I start, let me get mallwalking out of the way. It's a good idea, but it's not mine.
GO:

Other athletic activities requiring space but not equipment - hula hooping, roller blading...
indoor farmers market
outdoor gear set up area - learn how to set up your tent
learn how to fix your bike and other educational uses
oops, that last one is pretty big
day care
PSA poster area
Picnic shelter in case of rain
new location for libraries - problem - conflict with local bookstore
smoking area

Times up.

Huh. I don't smoke and dislike the habit in others. I guess desperation led to me adding it to the list.

Alright, lets see what ideas the article had in addition to the vegetable garden one above (which I really like). This is the heart of the article so I will excerpt cautiously - please follow the link for more:

Schools, medical clinics, call centers, government offices and even churches are now standard tenants in malls. By hanging a curtain to hide the food court, the Galleria in Cleveland, which opened in 1987 with about 70 retailers and restaurants, rents space for weddings and other events. Other malls have added aquariums, casinos and car showrooms.
...
Even at many malls that continue to thrive, developers are redesigning them as town squares — adding elements like dog parks and putting greens, creating street grids that go through the malls, and restoring natural elements like creeks that were originally paved over.

I like the ideas in the above paragraph as they were completely absent from my list. They are summed up as “Basically they’re building the downtowns that the suburbs never had,” said Ellen Dunham-Jones... I lived on the outskirts of a small town with highly spread out properties but I knew all of our neighbors and would have liked to be able to sit out on the porch and talk with passers-by. A spacious indoor play area for kids, where parents could also feel comfortable would be welcome even though I can imagine liability insurance would be a challenge.

Oh, one other addition was a 'Wait Room', where people could have a coffee or beer and use computers while their significant other shopped. And on page two you can read about how the indoor garden fared -good and interesting stuff.

I had been sure I could find a few blog posts on derelict shopping malls here in South Korea but after a short Google search I could find none.

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Challenge for my reader(s): what else could be done with failing malls? Quick, to the comments!

unusual homes and how to make them

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:27:00 +0000

I read National Geographic World ( magazine for pre-teens) as a child and I clearly remember a home built of tires and pounded earth. The finished home didn't look like tires as it had some coating and inside cladding but it did look great -the walls were very organic and nothing was straight.

The Ekinoid Project homes look very different but also are similar in that they look quite different from normal homes as well.

Other homes:
Rammed Earth and tires/ cans, Hexayurt, and my favorite, the plastic bottle floating island.

When well-done, they look great and are certainly eye-catching. I don't think they can live up to their hype though. The Ekinoid home is built as a sphere for better insulation by volume, but I don't buy it because so much space is wasted in a sphere. Few people want to walk on the sloping sides of even the bottom eighth, nor can they use, except as a crawl-space attic, the edges on top. The project calls for the home to be 'off the grid' but again, I don't know how easy that is to do. I do like them, though.

To my mind, environmentally friendly housing needs to be multi-family housing. Perhaps a standard box with four families each using a corner and two outside walls but having an open space interior. The unconventional aspect would be the uses the open space would be for. Each family would have privacy in their nearly dorm-style apartment, but share a common cooking and recreation area. The savings would come from shared appliances, a one big fridge rather than four medium sized ones.

Oh, how to make an Ekinoid home? I don't know. If you have ideas, visit their site (link is above) and read the criteria they have.

A few names added to the sidebar.

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:48:00 +0000

I just added Stephen's Lighthouse, and heart of innovation (link is to 100 ways to increase creativity at work - for the current page, look at the sidebar). Shelly Terrell -whose blog I follow, but don't appear to have noticed this post from a year ago - is also worth mentioning.

From 100 simple ways to be more creative:
3. Tape record your ideas on your commute to and from work.
8. Go for a daily brainstorming walk.
22. Transform your assumptions into "How can I?" questions.

43. Ask yourself what the simplest solution is.

44. Get fast feedback from people you trust.

45. Conduct more experiments.

45. Ask yourself what the market wants or needs.

46. Ask "What's the worst thing that could happen if I fail?"

47. Pilot your idea, even if it's not ready.

97. Make drawings of your ideas.
Other on the list are varieties of brainstorming and ways to improve collaboration. I approve of both, but chose to list ten that were more unusual to me.
Terrell focuses on goals for the year and works up some interesting and very specific ones. Here are here for creativity:

Goal
Short-term- Have a lesson where your students are allowed and encouraged to explore several options and discuss which one was a success and which not so successful.

Long-term- Support an art, music, or drama, or other creative program in your school. If the school is lacking a program then help students create an event/club that supports creativity. For example, in my church we hosted monthly open mic shows and served coffee and snacks to raise money.

Caption Contest at Monster Island

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 11:43:00 +0000

Kushibo at Monster Island wants you to report Kim Jong-un's words as he climbs out of a tank.

My contribution was " What? This was my grandfather's hat."

Carving at camp

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 09:51:00 +0000

I'm at an ESL camp and using some down time to finish some carving that I had started and left for too long.

In the picture you can see some the nearly-done carvings, chisels, a small saw and Swiss Army knife... and a bandaid. The bandaid is every bit as important as the others! I nicked my finger finishing the wardrobe-elephant.

Below is the wardrobe elephant as it is meant to be used.

I don't know if I will ever finish the triceratops head, but the owl is about ready for sanding.

There is a lot of sawn-down trees. Perhaps it is time I tried carving in the round.

problems with creative students

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 23:37:00 +0000

Two links from economics blogs today*.

From Marginal Revolution, comes a retelling of a problem I reviewed last year: "Teachers don't like creative students". I'm quoting from Alex Tabarrok, who is quoting from someone else and Blogger won't nest quotes inside other quotes, so let me quote in blue:

My experience as a parent is consistent with the idea that teachers don’t like creative students but I try not to blame the teachers too much. Creative people, for better and worse, ignore social conventions. Thus, it can be hard for teachers to deal with creative students in a classroom setting where they must guide 20-30 students en masse. As Jonah Lehrer puts it:

Would you really want a little Picasso in your class? How about a baby Gertrude Stein? Or a teenage Eminem? The point is that the classroom isn’t designed for impulsive expression – that’s called talking out of turn. Instead, it’s all about obeying group dynamics and exerting focused attention. Those are important life skills, of course, but decades of psychological research suggest that such skills have little to do with creativity.

The article offers a link to a "good review paper" on the subject. Creativity: asset or burden in the classroom.

Freakonomics offered a quote with this comment: Creative types are more likely to cheat. The link goes to Time Healthland:

Creative people think “outside the box,” a gift of psychological flexibility that, it turns out, may also apply to their ethics, according to the latest research from the American Psychological Association. Creative types, in other words, may be more likely to cheat.

The article quotes Dan Ariely, who is well worth reading on a variety of subjects. I tend to trust what he has to say, but I wonder.

“Dishonesty and innovation are two of the topics most widely written about in the popular press,” wrote the authors. “Yet, to date, the relationship between creativity and dishonest behavior has not been studied empirically. … The results from the current article indicate that, in fact, people who are creative or work in environments that promote creative thinking may be the most at risk when they face ethical dilemmas.”

Perhaps I am using my creativity to rationalize unethical behavior, but I wonder if we are seeing a rebellion against artificial deadlines and rules that are arbitrary and not-so-meaningful outside of school. If an explanation for the rules that the student felt made sense were offered, perhaps they would be less likely to cheat.

I must admit that in reading my paragraph above I see that I am confusing creativity with intelligence. I would like the two to be related but can't say for sure that they are.

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* Merry Christmas, everyone!

A 7 year-old's view

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:38:00 +0000

Two images involving my son today. First is a wall mural we are working on together.

This mural will eventually reach across to the right about four more B5 pages worth. Click to enlarge, if you wish. You will find a variety of animals and objects and some are obviously poorly-drawn by me and others may be well-depicted elements from my son's imagination. The whole mural is a fun project but also a contest of wills for whose creative vision will predominate.

Next, my son drew a picture of the living room in our apartment:

The thing is, this picture is a 270 degree view. Leftmost, is the entrance to the bathroom and moving right: our fridge, sink, rice cooker, kitchen table, bookshelf and sofa. If you can see into the bathroom, the kitchen table would be directly behind you and the sofa behind and to your left. I don't know what this means in my son's artistic or cognitive growth, but it is interesting enough that I want to keep a record of it here.

Being a writer in Korea

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:39:00 +0000

IfIhadaminutetospare has written a series of articles on being and becoming a writer in Korea.

I guess offering them by date would be easiest: November 24, December 4, December 4, December 7.

From the first article (On Becoming a Writer in Korea):

This week, I started a distance learning journalism course with the London School of Journalism. I suppose it’s a way looking in the right direction for becoming a real writer, as opposed to an unreal writer. It was something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, as journalism is probably the most realistic and recognisable way of making a living out of writing, which is actually a, ahem, dream of mine....Don’t ask me where writing came from. Maybe it was from one of those awful aptitude tests they force on you where you find out that you are actually incapable of being good at maths so why bother trying? In fact, I know I was good at spatial relations, but that’s nothing to do with writing (although I do like my page to look neat and organised…)...So anyway, one day I decided I’d give it a shot. I bought a pen and a notebook and decided to scribble down a few things I saw, and I even attempted a poem. I got a lot of satisfaction from this and basically continued on with it.
One drunken night, I spoke with my friend Keith and showed him my notebook. Keith, a bit of poet himself, was more than impressed and encouraged me to keep writing and to keep trying. Then word got around to another friend of mine, Jeremy, who was even more of a poet, and next thing I knew I believe I was being taken under their wings and essentially became some form of an apprentice.

Nanowrimo is over

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:16:00 +0000

Not complete, but over. I did not get close to the goal of 50,000 words.

I did enjoy the process and do plan to keep writing the story I started.

In many respects, I approve of the idea. The core concept is to pour out as many words as you can without slowing to edit yourself. Editing is important, but brainstorming comes first. Churn out ideas, then throw out the bad ones.

On the other hand, my unfiltered ideas were clearly crap. If I had reached 50,000 words, I would have needed to use them as notes and write an entirely new 50,000 good words to make a quality story.

Years ago, I read a description of what a plot needs by James Blish. As I recall, the problems had to be solved directly and specifically through the action of the protagonist. He said something like, "A lightning bolt cannot kill the villain in the last act, saving the day." In my story, there were a few scenes where violence occurred and in one of them, a villain was unlucky enough to be struck by lightning. It made a little sense in the context, but still was not thrilling.

I liked the location I placed the fight in but will need to tear out all the action and replace it.

Nanowrimo became for me, a sort of wasteful and high intensity first draft of -not the story- but the plot. I understand the need for multiple drafts but feel horrified that if I finished my Nanowrimo story, it would be draft 0.5.
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I wrote much of my story using Ommwriter on my iMac and found that to be everything it claimed. Ommwriter is a word processor that has few settings - it is only available as full-screen - and is intended to reduce distractions. I like it. Still, I also wrote away from the apartment and so used Google Docs often. I know the goal is unrestricted production, but I found accessing Google Maps and occasional searches helped me produce.

Also fun to type in is Written? Kitten! For every one hundred words (you can adjust this number) you type, a new photo of a cute kitten is shown.
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I have started following John T. Spencer's blogs and books. I really enjoyed Pencil Me In.
He also started nanowrimo - and is probably finished now. This is what he had to say early in the month:

I am starting the process of writing a novel in a month. It's part of the National Novel Writing Month. You can check out the description here. I plan to edit it throughout December and release it sometime around the first of the year. I'll be posting the chapters to this blog and to a Google Doc. It's the first time I've ever been so open with the writing process.

On writing logically

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 23:22:00 +0000

My friend Kevin Kim has posted a description of how to write essays well. His talk doesn't necessarily cover new ground, but it does explain the concepts clearly and well. I think it is useful to remind me how to write - particularly my longer posts that do need better organization - and could be helpful to students of mine in writing classes.

lot of students will say something like, "But I don't like outlining. I just start writing and go with that." My response to this is twofold: (1) if you're mentally organized enough to produce essays and research papers that come out in beautifully organized form, then bravo! You've alreadymastered outlining, even if you're not writing your outlines down. But, (2) if you're like most other students, your initial attempts at "going with that" will result in mushy, disorganized writing-- arguments that start but reach no conclusion, or arguments with conclusions arrived at through no discernible logical process. My rule of thumb: better safe than sorry. Get into the habit of outlining your arguments and expositions before you even begin writing. It's hard work-- I remember disliking doing this as a young student-- but it's a valuable skill that will stand you in good stead later on, especially if you're planning to get through college, and maybe even graduate school.

What makes a good scientist?

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 22:43:00 +0000

This Scientific American article looks into the question but I also had a conversation with a publisher at a convention on the subject that I would like to share.

The clerk described the core of science as being good literacy. To be fair, she was at a conference for ESL teachers so the literacy angle was a marketable one.

I felt, and feel, that science is about questions and thinking. I can see that clear thinking is required and clear thinking is aided by clear unambiguous writing which is aided by being literate but we are a few steps removed from the core. Perhaps we are now in the mantle.

Being a science professional certainly requires good literacy as one must understand what other science professionals have done and write clearly ones further contribution to the field.

distraction and concentration

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:39:00 +0000

I have come to the conclusion that a creative mindset is reached by achieving a sort of controlled distractibility.

If you find you aren't focusing enough, perhaps these suggestion could help (tools for better attention & focus). Here are two of the ten offered:

2. TrackTime – Audit how you’re spending your time on your computer.

This good-looking app tracks everything you do on your computer, spitting back out a sort of "attention audit." How much time are you spending in Firefox? How many hours a day in your email client? What are listening to on iTunes? If you let TrackTime run in the background, it builds these patterns into a lovely rainbow-colored timeline of your online life. Its most effective use is as a sort of wake-up call: If your daily timeline shows you shifting between apps and tasks every 2 minutes or less, you know there’s a problem. For Macs only.

3. Concentrate – Maximize focus while shifting between different tasks.

Concentrate is great for shifting between tasks that require different mindsets. I have a variety of recurring tasks that require different tools: 1) Writing, 2) Social Media Management, 3) Event Planning. Concentrate lets me configure a different set of tools for each task. When I activate "Writing," the app automatically closes my email client and Internet Browser; blocks me from Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube; launches Microsoft Word; and sets my instant messaging status to "away". Then, when I want to concentrate on "Social Media Management," I can customize a completely different set of actions to happen relevant to that activity. There’s also a handy "concentration" timer. For Macs only.

time lapse of stop motion puppeteer

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:25:00 +0000

From Boingboing.

art from several personalities but also from only one person

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 22:24:00 +0000

Apparently, her ID gives her name as Kim Noble, but her dominant personality goes by Patricia. She was interviewed in the Guardian recently. She has more than 100 separate personalities and many of them create art.

I have always hid behind a 'manly and masculine lack of understanding of art' but the variety of media and content shown here do appear to be from different people.

Writers wanted at JetSettlers

noreply@blogger.com (brian dean) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:20:00 +0000

Via KoreaBridge, I found an ad for writers "to create a community of storytellers, reporters, reviewers, observers, and even vicarious expats that may never leave their borders—a place where the collective experience is being away from home."

From the JetSettler's website:

Need info? Want to write for JetSettlers?

If you’re an Expat who LOVES to write, then you could be our next writer! Here’s what kind of articles/expat writers we’re looking for:

Articles about daily expat life, foodies, entertainment lovers, thrill-seekers, book reviewers, movie buffs, photographers, and more.

Remember, this magazine is about ALL the different aspects of expat life. All voices are welcome and expats from all countries are wanted.

Let your voice be heard and share your world with the rest of us.