First loungey morning in a while. Mrs. Rabid is all moved in, though the studio is in utter disarray and there's a computer desk wedged in its doorway.
So, QOTD (and a bit more comprehensible this time, I promise ): Do you have a specific place where the creative juices flow? A workspace that brings out the muse, if you will.
No. There's a notebook on me at all times, and pretty much wherever and whenever is the place for me.
Ok, it's Tuesday but it's like a Friday for me. (just don't tell my other job that I have tomorrow off!)
qotd: I do not have any particular place. I find though that I need to be around people to have magic moments. My life might be going 1000 miles an hour and I'm thinking to myself, boy I really need some 'me' time. However 'me' time just turns into me being extremely lazy. I need 'action' to kick my creative juices in the butt. I TRY to use this community as that whenever I'm not at some coffee shop creepily staring at some girl.
For me, it's any time I'm travelling, in a hotel room by myself, with a couple hours to sit down and write. A lot of my song lyrics are written on hotel notepads or stationery, and then I work out the music when I get home. Of particular note amongst inspirational places would be Jumer's Castle Lodge in Urbana, IL. I got to stay there on work trips a few times, and I'd have dinner in the big dining room with all the deer heads and paintings and highback chairs, and then go up to the room and write for a couple hours (or go to sleep early, wake up about four, and write for a couple hours). I remember a fairly productive writing session at one of the hotels in Pittsburgh that looks out over the Three Rivers junction... I think I actually went out and bought a 15-watt bulb to put in the table lamp just to help create a little atmosphere in the room...
Today is mostly a "stuff with mom" day - pool class and lunch at Macayo's Mexican restaurant, and then this evening the community band is doing a big 4th of July concert at the Rec Center - free, but you have to get there early to get a decent seat (just like the old days at Dead shows...)
So I stayed up late last night to see what Jon Stewart was going to have to say about this Scooter Libby thing, but they had a Daily Show rerun instead. I think Bush waited until Jon Stewart was on vacation to pull this off, although I also think there's something to the thought that by Bush (who is not up for reelection) giving the pardon, that means none of the other Republican candidates will have to answer "if you're elected, will you pardon him?" questions. Interesting also that Bush commuted his sentence (no jail time), but didn't do a pardon that would have wiped out the conviction and let him keep being a lawyer, etc. I wonder if he's still making decisions based on bad intelligence...
Charles
P.S.: Jumer's Urbana is now known as "Historic Lincoln Hotel & Conference Center," it looks like the exterior, at least is the same is before...
Last edited by king_arthur on Tue Jul 03, 2007 3:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"...one does not write in dactylic hexameter purely by accident..." - poetic designs
Wow, two questions of the day. I must have died and gone to hell.
QOTD:
Three places:
#1.My music room when left alone for long periods
#2. While I'm driving. My notes are hard to read because it's hard to write and drive, but I do my best thinking when I drive.
#3. My living room late at night when the world is sleeping and I'm drunk and sincere
I lived in NYC for a few years, and when I was up there, I did...
I lived in an apartment/dorm-type building right on the east river in Brooklyn. I'd go on the roof and look at the southern side of Manhattan at night. It was pretty dang impressive. Especially in the fall, when the brisk air made it feel pretty dang good to be up there. There was also a building I worked in that was.. if I remember correctly, since it's been some years, 29 stories tall. THAT building had an awesome view off of the top. I wrote some of my earliest songs at those two places.
"Out of all I've learned in Life,
You always keep your friends close to your heart,
cause they'll help you if you're falling down..."
- The Ataris - Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, B, A, Start
QotD: On the train. 2 hours rides back and forth, NYC to NJ, give you a lot of time to write. Case in point, I just finished my 10th chapter of Septemberian which means I'm ready to release Chapter #1 on the web. So the 4th may be full of website building for me.
Niveous wrote:QotD: On the train. 2 hours rides back and forth, NYC to NJ, give you a lot of time to write. Case in point, I just finished my 10th chapter of Septemberian which means I'm ready to release Chapter #1 on the web. So the 4th may be full of website building for me.
I actually wrote what I thought to be my best song on the 6 line in NYC.
"Out of all I've learned in Life,
You always keep your friends close to your heart,
cause they'll help you if you're falling down..."
- The Ataris - Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, B, A, Start
Ya just never know when the muse will strike. But when working deliberately like against an SF deadline, it needs to be a place with a little space that I can stare into. Not necessarily a little space, though.
Good lord, I just spent, like, 10 bucks on two tomatoes from the farmer's market!
Ok, granted, they probably weigh over a pound each, and are lovely heirloom-bursting-with-tomato-ey-juiciness tomatoes. Real tomato porn stars...
...But I still suffered a bit of sticker shock when the dude rang me up. Holy crap.
One of them will probably be eaten straight up on the hoof... and at least part of one will end up on the pizza I'm making. (Applied fresh and uncooked after baking! They'd melt if I cooked 'em!) Perhaps some pico de gallo is also in order.
QOTD -- Hmmm... I think I do a lot of brainstorming on my way to and from work -- (busing, biking, or walking) That's yet another reason not to car commute. If I drove, I'd just curse the whole way.
1lb tomatoes, nice! My first tomatoes of the season are just about ready. I was hoping for vine ripened maters for the 4th, but it might be a couple more days. They just started turning red yesterday.
I like the "tomatoes on the pizza after cooking" idea. I never thought of that. It keeps the fresh tomatoes from melting away. Thanks.
Intoxication sleep does nothing for me. Falling to sleep on the bus, spacing out during a meeting, being in a daze after taking Diphenhydramine (Benadryl)... those are what put me in another world of music and images. That's also where I usually come up with my best algorithms.
): Do you have a specific place where the creative juices flow? A workspace that brings out the muse, if you will.
