Errol tries his hand at pep talking...

Day 18 Pep Talk
=============

I was on Google chat, or twitter, one of the two, and I knew that Vix was busy. So I asked her, "Hey, if you're so busy, I don't mind doing an ML update for you!"

She then said, "SIGN UP!"

And I thought, "Sign up? Waddaya mean sign up?"

She then pointed me to the adopt a day thread.

And I thought, "OH! that's what that is for."

So I signed up for today, because tonight is the overnight writing session, and I thought that maybe I could give a pep talk about that.

Now the time has come to write the pep talk, and I'm thinking to myself, what exactly goes into a pep talk. I mean, I don't know, I never wrote one before. In my mind, I was just signing up for an ML update where I tell you things like, "The writing session is tonight!"

I then decided, "OH! I know, let's read the other pep talks."

But they're long. Now, there's nothing wrong with being long, I mean, this pep talk is going to be excruciatingly long as I go on about how I don't know how to do pep talks. But, I didn't want to read essays on example pep talks when all I needed to do was write one.

I checked out MoOman's pep talk above me. He's mostly talking about how he's failing but persevering. And I then thought to myself, "OH! If all we have to do is complain and talk about ourselves, then that's easy! I can do that!"

However, I do that enough in the Atlanta/Toronto Word War thread. If you want to see complaining and me talking about myself, you can go there.

So, I figured, hey, maybe what I can do is give you guys 10 tips. I wrote something a while back along the lines of 10 tips on creativity. Or something.

I actually can't remember where that is, but I put it somewhere. I think I even emailed it. Hold on. Let me see if I can find it. It may be applicable here. Or not. If it isn't, well, I'm hoping most of you aren't reading because it's Saturday, and it has my name attached to it.

...

Oh bother, it was 10 tips on Songwriting. Which, of course, doesn't apply that much here. Hmmm, tell you what, I'll adapt them, and if I don't have 10, I'll just make them up on the spot.

1. Creativity can be practiced - Always create, always write, always play, always make things up. Believe it or not, you can practice getting into the zone of creativity.
   
   


2. Laugh more - Daniel Pink's book "A Whole New Mind" has a whole section on "Play", and makes the claim that joyful people are more creative. Not that we ignore the other emotions, but for those that think only the suffering artist can put out works of intense art, then maybe you need to expand your horizons and lighten up. :)
   
   


3. If you cannot find inspiration, then you are restricting yourself - The world is banal only because you have stopped paying attention.
   


4. Like what you create - Your first audience is you, because you know what you like. Other people may not like it, but don't worry about it. Your purpose in life isn't to make everyone else you.
   


5. Don't be elitist - It's OK to not like a genre, a style, a book, an author, my face. But your taste isn't intrinsically better just because you like it and others are talentless hacks. In fact, you may be able to learn from 'those people' you deem 'beneath' you. If not, then see #3.
   


6. Collaborate - Sometimes, you can't do everything. Collaborate with others. That may be a bit harder to do with writing, but you never know, it could get your flow going.
   


7. Finish - The world is filled with those wishing they could have finished something they started. Nano is perfect that. Finish HIM! I mean... it.
   


8. Listen and support other people - If you hang out with other creatives, they want to push their stuff as much as you do! They are excited about their works of art as much as you are of yours. If all you can do is talk about your stuff, well, don't be offended if they no longer wish to listen.
   


9. Criticism - Your worth as a human individual is not based on your talents. Some may like what you write, others may not. Don't let it get to you. Yes, you may have poured your soul into something you love, but remember #4 and #5. It's ok for people not to like your stuff! Maybe they just don't like stories about, for example, pony apocalypses. These things aren't for everyone. However, finding someone who may give you good advice on how to make your writing better is a treasure. Don't toss it away because criticism is too hard.
   


10. Art is for yourself, but also for others - Remember, a story is normally meant to be shared. Sure, no one may ever read your nano novel, but eventually, you may want to write something for others to enjoy. Learn to interact, to accept, to enjoy people different from you. You may learn a lot.
    

I'm done. You may not agree with me, and that's ok.

I really hope I can last for tonight's all nighter. Wow, I'm tired just now reading through all that.