366 Days of Creativity
366 Days of Creativity is a new blog project by Book Architecture. Each day we pair an event from the annals of creativity with a writing prompt (and a little development of that prompt, like those good times you know are good…)
So, here's to a 2012 littered with risks, half-sentences, brilliant glimpses, noses to the grindstone, and the camaraderie of us all saying, "Screw it—let's just try something…" Subscribe to our feed at right or like us on Facebook (below) to receive your daily inspiration.
February 20 (1857): Baudelaire’s publisher refuses to show him the cover for his volume of poetry, Les Fleurs du Mal (Flowers of Evil).
Throughout the publishing process you will need to let go: in increments, to professionals who can do their best work with your assistance but not your intrusion. It may be hard to let go, but let go.
February 19 (1963): Publication of Betty Friedan’s, The Feminine Mystique. Friedan coined the term feminine mystique to describe “the problem that has no name”—the widespread unhappiness of women, where the housewife lost her identity and sense of self.
Not everything has a name…yet. But as we evolve new ways of thinking—as new concepts emerge—we can apply the words we have in a new way. Give us something new.
February 18 (1885): Publication of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
“No matter what your critique of Twain’s most popular novel is…watching Huck’s wrestling with the threat of a literal hell as a way of keeping him from making a humanitarian choice is one of the most powerful examples of truth in literature.” — Rev. Ed Bacon
February 17 (1904): Madame Butterfly, an opera by the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, premieres to poor reviews. Puccini revises the opera, splitting the second act in two and making other changes. Four months later, it is performed again, and receives huge applause.
Knowing when something is done can be elusive. Let’s just say if you don’t know it’s done, it probably isn’t. Even if you really want it to be…
February 16 (1923): King Tut’s tomb is opened, revealing an immense gilded canopy, each chamber filled with splendid treasures.
For seven years, the English Egyptologist Howard Carter searched fruitlessly for the tomb of the richest pharaoh in history. In the last year that his benefactor, Lord Carnarvon, could support, Carter’s luck changed…discovering the greatest collection of Egyptian antiquities ever.
February 15 (1673): French playwright Moliere collapses on stage and dies while playing the part of a hypochondriac in his own play, Le Malade Imaginaire.
Find someone to read your work to today. You will be able to feel what works in a whole new way: where you stumble, where you sing.
February 14 (1994): May Sarton gets 23 Valentine’s Day Cards at the age of 82.
Bring the reader into your work. Helping them identify with your characters or your concepts is the mark of a generous spirit. You will be rewarded by how engrossed they are, because they can relate.
February 13: Dedicated to the memory of Connie Tumavicus.
Any guest at my friend Connie’s house could write on the walls of her bathroom with the Pilot silver marker she kept on the vanity counter, the kind that often pool and drip and even give you a little buzz if you sniff the tip long enough. Right there, above and below the empty towel bar across from the toilet—full rein to record thoughts and feelings and doodles.
How would you “dress-up” your own bathroom wall? What would be your Krylon?
Contributed by Amy Powell Faeskorn.
February 12 (1837): Birthdate of artist Thomas Moran. In 1871, Moran helps convince Congress to set aside Yellowstone as a national park by sending back paintings of the area that verify reports and stimulate public interest.
We could all use a little inspiration. Inspiration comes, it goes, and we’re looking for our next fix. If you have a person, a place, or a thing that inspires you — tell us about it.
February 11 (660 B.C.): Japan founded by Emperor Jimmu.
The eight islands making up the Japanese archipelago have given us Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji, Basho’s haiku, and Murakami’s novels, among countless other works of genius. We just wanted to say thank you.
February 10 (1927): Birthday of lyric soprano, Leontyne Price.
“We should not have a tin cup out for something as important as the arts in this country, the richest in the world. Creative artists are always begging, but always being used when it’s time to show us at our best.” — Leontyne Price
February 9 (1964): 73 million people tune in to watch the Beatles appear on the Ed Sullivan Show on television for the first time. It is an event likened to, “Where were you when Kennedy was shot?” or the first steps on the moon.
If you watch the Beatles now, amidst the screaming fans, and bulging press ranks — they are in total command of the situation, simply performing their songs they love with genuine excitement. When your turn comes to share something, don’t waste energy on worrying if it’s good enough. You might only get 9 minutes and 37 seconds.
February 8 (1875): French short story writer Guy de Maupassant tries to collect others’ share of the bar bill, including: cherry anisette in the evening, chocolate wine in the morning, absinthe, bordeaux, “additional wine,” champagne and billiards.
Writing may be a solitary act, but we derive our strength and inspiration from our friends. Find some time to make merry.
February 7 (1898): Author Emile Zola brought to trial for publishing a letter to the French President in the newspaper L’Aurore. Covering the entire front page, it accuses the government of prejudicial behavior and an unlawful jailing of Alfred Dreyfus.
Zola’s article headline ran: J’accuse… (I accuse). It is a typographical beauty. Sometimes, it is what it is. And sometimes it is messed up. And sometimes you have to call it out.
February 6 (1945): Birthdate of Robert Nesta “Bob” Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician.
“Marley would pull ideas from those around him—the jokes, the encouragement, the wisdom of those who spoke with the natural poetic authority that many Rastafarians are known for,” Kwame Dawes in Bob Marley: Poetic Genius. The next time someone asks, “Where do you get your material?” The answer should be, “You!”
February 5 (1914): Birthday of William S. Burroughs, mentor to two of the most important figures of the Beat Generation, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. Burroughs felt a special affinity towards both men as kindred fantasizers and encouraged their literary production.
Choose a sympathetic soul, and put their interests before yours for a while. How you mentor them is up to you of course. Burroughs, for example, taught Kerouac and Ginsberg, that, “In the U.S., you have to be a deviant or die of boredom.”
February 4 (2004): Facebook, a mainstream social network, is founded by Mark Zuckerberg.
Writers and artists can no longer ignore the vast impact of the internet. Instead we need to harness its full potential to communicate our vision and support our work. Even if we were born before 1987…it’s not that difficult, really!
February 3 (1959): Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens die in the same plane crash in rural Iowa. This event will later be immortalized as “The Day the Music Died,” in Don Maclean’s song, American Pie.
It goes without saying that one piece of writing will be our last, just as one certain performance will be a musician’s last. When say carpe diem are we aware that the day is today? That living and working “in the moment” means this moment?
February 2 (1993): Release of the movie, Groundhog Day, where Bill Murray’s character relives one day of his life over and over again until he spiritually transcends his selfishness.
Revision does not only make your piece of writing better. It makes you better because it reflects the values of commitment and ingenuity. Rather than being a necessary evil, revision is a lot like life: two steps forward, one step back — but always moving forward.
February 1 (1893): Thomas Edison finishes construction on the first movie studio, the Black Maria, housed in a barn with a retractable roof. The first copyrighted film in the U.S. is made there; it features Edison’s assistant, Fred Ott, sneezing.
This film is five seconds long, and you can find it on YouTube. Some days we think Edison should have filmed a burial, or a wedding, or a child being educated for the first motion picture…but why would that be exciting or interesting? Why be serious?
January 31 (1909): Jack London struggles with malaria to write a novel in the South Seas.
Kinda makes you feel better about what you’re struggling with today, doesn’t it? The thing about writing is that when you feel the forward momentum, when you start to accomplish a little of what you set out to accomplish, you find that your previous concerns reorient themselves. Even if writing can’t cure malaria.
January 30 (1692): Rembrandt paints a very large picture which he expects to make him famous.
Confidence can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you are on the right track with your subject matter and your materials, then go for it. Go big.
January 29 (1845): Publication of Edgar Allan Poe’s, The Raven. In an attempt to appeal to both critics and the general readership of the The New York Evening Mirror, Poe approaches the writing of his poem as methodically and logically as possible..
There seem to be two schools of thought regarding creation. There is what we might call the Coleridgean (smoke opium and hope no one disturbs you) and this one, a rational grappling detailed by Poe in his essay “The Philosophy of Composition.” You might want to alternate between the subconscious and the conscious approaches (Note: we are not advocating the use of opium!) Today: think about it a little.
January 28 (1813): Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, first published in the U.K.
Sometimes there’s just too much interior monologue in our writing. It is the relationships between our characters that readers find most interesting, especially the way characters change depending on who else is around! Demonstrate those connections today.
January 27 (2010): Death of American novelist, J.D. Salinger. Noted recluse, he once tells his girlfriend Joyce Maynard, that publication is a “damned interruption.”
All this talk about getting ahead is pointless unless you are producing. Do your very best today to create something of value, and let everything else work itself out.
January 26 (1953): Birthdate of Lucinda Williams, American songwriter and noted perfectionist, taking up to five years of continuous effort to record a single one of her albums.
You know when something isn’t right. A lot of good advice (and some we might offer in this space!) says, “Get on with it.” “Keep it moving,” and so on. But there are also times when you know something hasn’t been done to the best of your ability. That means you’re not done.
January 25 (1949): The first Emmy Awards are presented at the Hollywood Athletic Club in an attempt to give credence to a new dramatic art form, television.
With the emergence of new media, we are presented with new literary forms. While it may seem ‘unserious’ at first, tweeting, posting, and blogging require us to use our powers of analysis to determine appropriate content, length, and tone of voice…not everything has to be a sonnet!
January 24 (2005): U.K. Psychologist Cliff Arnall determines that due to holiday debt, eroding New Year’s resolutions, and the cumulative effect of midwinter weather — January 24th is the worst day of the year.
Fortunately, writing is largely an indoor activity. As long as we have heat, light, and “a room of one’s own,” we can create something. And it’s better to do it now because when the warm weather rolls around, we are going to be distracted…
January 23 (1977): Roots debuts, a miniseries that traces the saga of seven generations of an African-American family. Airing over eight consecutive nights on ABC, it is the highest rated week any network has ever had.
As writers, we often feel pressure to finish our projects. But what if this short story we are working on is actually a novel, or this novel is actually a trilogy? Take the time to enjoy the world you’re creating—isn’t inhabiting a reality created by your imagination why you became a writer in the first place?
January 22 (1892): The Norwegian painter, Edvard Munch, walks on a bridge with two friends. He stops, and lets them go ahead. “I felt as though Nature were convulsed by a great unending scream,” he says, and paints the most famous depiction of modern anxiety.
Contrary to what the kids say these days, it is not all good. Unless you are taking a very macro view of it. Otherwise, these “negative truths” as our friend Julie Matheson refers to them, should very much be the focus of our effort. What else should art transform but pain?