Today, the buzz in Seattle is not:
Today, the buzz in Seattle is the possibility of a warm, sunny weekend in Spring.
Yes, the news is That Big.
Posted in Seattle | Tagged Seattle, seattle weather, springtime, sunny weekends | Leave a Comment »
Over the weekend, I experimented with the “clustering” technique, with mixed success.
It is a great idea generation tool, and similar to Ray Bradbury’s morning word association ritual, can seemingly bring something out of nothing. It needs a seed, a kernel from which to grow, so it’s not literally “from nothing,” but that kernel can just be the first word that pops into your head. I’ve had success before, born of this sort of free-wheeling (my Ploughman Chronicles started from just such a random idea generation technique), but what clustering provides is a definite method.
Another way I found it of use is in focusing and honing an idea I already had. I used it when I created “25 Hz,” posted yesterday. I already had the idea, born of a crappy mood and a little cat therapy, but didn’t know exactly what I wanted to say. Clustering around the word “purr” gave me a page of word associations and–to my surprise–almost all of them appeared in the short poem.
However, there was one area in which I found clustering to be of no use whatsoever: Rhyming.
Yesterday, I got the bit of doggerel stuck in my head. I knew the start. I knew the finish. I just needed help with the in-between bits, all of which needed to fit in with a strict meter and rhyming scheme. Here, clustering failed me, utterly. To finish, I had to resort to an old school method; I slept on it.
Posted in Writing | Tagged clustering, creative writing, doggerel, poem, Poetry, Writing, writing techniques | 4 Comments »
the number on her breath—
inward, louder
outward, gentler
my scent pulled in
peace exhaled
jewel eyes half-lidded
surrounded by safety
in this moment
my hand along her fur
—is a purr of love at 25 Hz
Posted in Writing | Tagged cats, creative writing, poem, Poetry, purr | 3 Comments »
A recent episode of “The Good Wife” made me laugh out loud. (In case you didn’t know, “The Good Wife” is not a comedy.)
In the episode, the management at a (rather ill-defined) software development firm referred to their staff as “artists.” Yes, that’s right; we were supposed to believe that this firm not only believed that the job I do–variously titled Programmer, Developer, Coder–is highly creative in nature, but that this firm also chose to encourage that by building an atmosphere that was conducive to the artistic temperament.
It’s not that software development isn’t creative. It is.
I spend my day solving problems. As a software developer, you bring me a problem and I create a solution for it. That’s it in a nutshell. I create a solution. Oh, sure, there’s a bunch of other bushwa in there, like translating your problem from Business-talk into Tech-speak, like translating it from Tech-speak into something a machine will understand, like trying to break the solution through testing, but the kernel of this job is highly creative in nature.
What I found laughable is the idea that corporate management would recognize this. Anywhere. Continue Reading »
Posted in Culture | Tagged Agile, agile methodology, Corporate America, Creativity, IT Management, problem solving, programming, software development, The Good Wife | 2 Comments »
Yesterday I tried the “clustering” technique for the first time. I was not pleased.
“Clustering” is an idea generation technique where you start with a core idea in the center (the nucleus), and start jotting other notions around it. This sort of random, free-association is what the right-brain does best, and clustering is a way to do that without the left-brain getting in the way.
In the book (Writing the Natural Way), Rico tells of how easily people fall into the technique of clustering, how even second graders are able to generate story ideas using it. It’s the “rare individual,” she says, who has problems with it.
Meet a “rare individual.” Continue Reading »
Posted in Writing | Tagged clustering, creative writing, idea generation, natural writing, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips | 5 Comments »
I am setting aside work on my new novel.
If you have a problem with this, take it up with Ray Bradbury.
Some comments on a recent post of mine got me thinking, and I went to get my copy of Dandelion Wine. I hadn’t read it for a long, long (loooong) time; such a long time, in fact, that I’m really a completely different person, and I knew I’d enjoy it more. I’ve always liked Ray’s stories–he and Roger Zelazny were the major influences on my decision to attempt writing, myself–so, an indulgence. I opened the book and began to read.
I didn’t make it past the foreword. Continue Reading »
Posted in Writing | Tagged brainstorming, clustering, creative writing, gabriele rico, generating ideas, novel writing, ray bradbury, word association, Writing, writing techniques, writing the natural way, writing tips | 4 Comments »
The Boston bombings brought out great emotions among my acquaintances, and understandably so. They brought out great emotions in me, as well. One thing I try to avoid, though, is letting my emotions cloud my judgment.
Occasionally, in regard to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, I hear people say, “We didn’t learn anything from him,” and “Great; now we have to pay for his room and board for the next 50 years,” and “We should have killed him on the spot.” Their rhetoric feeds their frenzy, bolstering their own anger. My calm and reasoned responses to these views are refuted by ad hominem attacks, calling me a hand-wringing bleeding-heart Liberal (and other, crispier descriptions, that I’m sure you can imagine). Continue Reading »
Posted in Culture, Politics | Tagged Boston, Boston bombings, Boston Marathon bombings, civil rights in modern society, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev | Leave a Comment »
Kurt R.A. Giambastiani 