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A quote for the writers [17 Dec 2008|11:58pm]

ladyofshadow
[ mood | creative ]

Reach down to that place near your stomach where you carry the loose change you received after paying life's emotional toll -- ghosts of joy, pain, disappointment, love, hate, loss, pride, satisfaction.

Burrow into your skin with two fingers until you find the end of the string that hides just under the surface of your flesh. It's there, trust me. Start pulling it out. Look at it as you draw it forth, length by length. Own it. It's bloody, befouled, and there's no goddamned end to it. There's a stinking heap of it collected around your feet before you realize that you're unraveling yourself.

Now -- show it to everyone else who's interested.

That is what it is to write a good novel.

--Paul S. Kemp

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Book-related quote [18 Aug 2008|09:40pm]

ladyofshadow
[ mood | creative ]

A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity, and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon, and by moonlight.

-Robertson Davies

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Instructions for Wayfarers [15 Jan 2008|12:20am]

ladyofshadow
[ mood | thoughtful ]

They will tell you: All the trips have been taken.
You will say: I have not been to see myself.
They will insist: Everything has already been said.
You will insist: I have not had my say.
They will tell you: It’s all been done.
You will reply: My way is not finished.
But be warned: Any way is long – and any way is hard.
Fear not.
You are the gate.
You are the gatekeeper.
You may go through and on and on.
And fare you well.


--an excerpt from What On Earth Have I Done? by Robert Fulghum

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Weekly Walk [13 Jan 2008|12:35pm]

ladyofshadow
[ mood | creative ]

An excerpt from the book Walking in this World by Julia Cameron (a book I highly recommend to foster creativity & inspiration):

Nothing brings home the beauty and power of the world that we live in by walking. Moving into our bodies, we embody the truth that as artists we are out to make “a body of work,” which means we must encompass more than each day’s march. A Weekly Walk helps us to acquire such an overview. It allows us to find both perspective and comfort. As we stretch our legs, we stretch our minds and our souls. St. Augustine, himself a great walker, remarked, “Solvitur ambulando” – “it is solved by walking.” The “it” that we solve may be as particular as a bruising romance or as lofty as the conception of a new symphony. Ideas come to us as we walk. We also invite their quieter friend, insight. Walking often moves us past the “what” of our life into the more elusive “why.”

---

Ideas come from everywhere. - Alfred Hitchcock

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Don’t Quit [02 Nov 2007|03:45pm]

ladyofshadow
[ mood | hopeful ]


Don't Quit

When things go wrong
as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging
seems all uphill,

When the funds are low,
and the debts are high,
And you want to smile,
but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing
you down a bit-
Rest if you must,
but don’t you quit.

Success is failure
turned inside out,
The silver tint of
the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell
how close you are,
It may be near when
it seems so far.

So, stick to the fight
when you’re hardest hit-
It’s when things go wrong
that you mustn’t quit.

-author unknown

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The Power of Inspiration [20 Oct 2007|11:06pm]

ladyofshadow
[ music | 'One Winged Angel' -FFVII ]


When you are inspired by some great
purpose, some extraordinary project,
all your thoughts break their bonds;

Your mind transcends limitations,
your consciousness expands in every direction,
and you find yourself in a new, great
and wonderful world.

Dormant forces, faculties, and talents
become alive, and you discover yourself
to be a greater person by far
than you ever dreamed
yourself to be.

--Patanjali
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Some of my inspirations [14 Sep 2007|09:41am]

dfasgiles
[ mood | contemplative ]
[ music | EYE97 on iTunes Radio ]

-People watching
-Nature watching
-Listening to music
-Talking to imaginary other characters, roleplaying as my protagonist (only when other people aren't watching or listening, of course)
-Drifting off to sleep (yes, I'm serious! this is why I sleep with my laptop and, before that, a pad of paper!)
-Driving anywhere (I would have said traveling, but due to financial constraints, this hardly happens anymore)
-Discussions with others about their lives, past and present
-TV documentary channels such as the various Discovery channels and the History Channel. PBS is also a great source. How Things Are Made, Dirty Jobs, Medical Detectives (only if you aren't easily creeped out), History of Sex, Plastic Surgery Before and After (only if you aren't squeamish), Runway Moms, and Animal Rescue (very hard to watch if you love animals, except if you keep in mind that most of the animals get help and get better, happy homes) are shows I recommend.

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Book Recommendation [02 Sep 2007|10:51pm]

ladyofshadow
[ mood | contemplative ]

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron is a wonderful resource to spur inspiration for writers and other creative souls.

With the basic principle that creative expression is the natural direction of life. Julia Cameron leads you through a comprehensive twelve-week program to recover your creativity from a variety of blocks, including limiting beliefs, fear, self-sabotage, jealousy, guilt, addictions, and other inhibiting forces.

If you feel that you’re in a slump, this just might be a way to get your gears moving again. Or if you need a boost every now and again – the book has a lot of inspiring quotes, exercises, and affirmations.

There’s a community, [info]artists_way, that’s just starting a 12-week course, taking aspects of the book to uncover your creative potential.

6 comments|post comment

The Wisdom of Fortune Cookies [31 Aug 2007|09:56am]

nagaina
Sometimes inspiration comes from some simply goofy places.

Such as the twenty million fortune cookie slips in the bottom of my purse )
2 comments|post comment

A quote that makes you think [30 Aug 2007|10:44pm]

ladyofshadow
[ mood | contemplative ]


The simplest questions are the most profound.

Where were you born? Where is your home?
Where are you going? What are you doing?

Think about this once in a while, and watch your answers change.

-Richard Bach, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
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[13 Aug 2007|05:49pm]

thrillkiller
Music is my primary source of external inspiration. I'm a metalhead, but lately I've been on a big rap/hip-hop kick, especially good blends of metal or rock and rap/hip-hop. In particular, MC 900 Foot Jesus has come to my attention. I really dig this guy. Dali's Handgun, Adventures in Failure, and The City Sleeps are all great songs (The City Sleeps and Dali's Handgun tie for favourite song of his,) but the one that's been most out-and-out inspiring has been Killer Inside Me.

You've probably seen me hanging around
I'm a very familiar face in this town
A day doesn't go by I don't meet
A lot of my friends walking down the street
I'm never too busy to stop by the way
And I've always got something pleasant to say
Maybe some perceptive thoughts about the weather
Or the latest from Wall Street, whatever
I can stand around all day making small talk
Tossing out platitudes, blocking the sidewalk
Tying up people for hours with ease
My one big talent is shooting the breeze
When they start to squirm I really get going
But only my half-face smile is showing
Why can't they see what I'm trying to hide?
I'm busting a gut laughing on the inside
It's in their smile when they say hello
I can see they think I'm a little bit slow
But after a while with me they look dazed
Their eyes are covered with a donut glaze
I really start to cook when I see that look
I hit 'em with every cliche in the book
Watching their knees wobble and weave
It's like they're begging for permission to leave
They think they're having a brush with stupidity
I don't laugh even though it's killing me
Watching them wilt like day-old flowers
Ticking off the minutes as they turn into hours
They're wondering how much more they can take
I give them a friendly smile and a handshake
They say goodbye so very politely
Now say hello to the killer inside me.
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this gives me goosebumps every single time [13 Aug 2007|03:15pm]

guiltyred
[ mood | goose-bumply ]

Hmm, if we're not careful, this "post your favorite poem" thing could become this group's first meme...   ~_^


"Ode" by Arthur O'Shaughnessy (as found here)

We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams.
World-losers and world-forsakers,
Upon whom the pale moon gleams;
Yet we are the movers and shakers,
Of the world forever, it seems.

With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample an empire down.

We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.

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My favorite poem - Kubla Khan by Coleridge [11 Aug 2007|03:19pm]

riverotter
[ mood | ecstatic ]

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree :
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round :
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree ;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
But oh ! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover !
A savage place ! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover !
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced :
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail :
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean :
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war !

The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves ;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice !
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw :
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me,
That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome ! those caves of ice !
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware ! Beware !
His flashing eyes, his floating hair !
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

4 comments|post comment

[11 Aug 2007|10:31pm]

freaky_nea
I feel inspired by rain and/or awesome music, often by great written books or fics, too.

By the way, does anyone knows the quote on my icon and who said that?
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Musical Inspirations [11 Aug 2007|03:31pm]

ladyofshadow
Here are a few songs from my 'writing mix' that never fail to get me into an inspirational mood:

"Walking in the Air" - Nightwish
"Pompeii" - E.S. Posthumus
"Mitternacht" - E nomine
"Path" - Apocalyptica
"Requiem for a Dream"
"Duel of the Fates" - Star Wars Episode I
"Seigi to jiyuu" - Gundam Seed
"Coming Home" - The Cruxshadows
"May it be" - Enya
"Bless the Child" - Nightwish
"Mein herz brent" - Rammstein
"Stand My Ground" - Within Temptation
"The Phantom of the Opera" - The Phantom of the Opera soundtrack
"O Fortuna"

I definitely recommend them. ^___^

I'm very much into soundtracks, instrumental, lyrics that merge with the music, rock, chanting - all mixed into one. Or at least arranged so they can amplify a mood. ^__~!

I find that if I let the mix go on random, the way the songs end up in an arrangement can almost tell a story of their own, even if some of them have no words at all or words in another language.
5 comments|post comment

Greetings and felicitations! [10 Aug 2007|01:15pm]

guiltyred
[ mood | cheerful ]

Let's start this off with a few rss feed recs. These tend to have multiple large pictures, and feeds don't keep their lj-cuts, so be aware that by adding them you may have an exploded flist to deal with. Personally, I created a private account just to keep tabs on them when the bunnies demand a visual sacrifice.    ^___^

Abandoned_Places

Decayed Machinery

Deathly_Decayed

ephemeral village

ruralRuin

Urban_Decay

Each of these features photographs of forgotten and abandoned places and things -- rusted-out vehicles, fields filled with old aircraft, railroad cars in the middle of nowhere, old empty churches -- the sorts of things that may just inspire a tale or two.

Happy viewing!

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