Check out more horror photography by Joshua Hoffine. His work is inspiring. Some of the scenes he’s shot, like the one above, make me want to write all the story that must have happened before and after the photos.

If you visit his site, be aware that some of his portfolio is very graphic.  It’s not called horror photography for nothing.

Happy Halloween!

So has Octavia Butler. She wrote an entire sf trilogy that involves spaceships, genetics, aliens trying to take over the world, and interesting ways of generating food (and people). She’s one of my favorite all-time authors. Her novel, Parable of the Sower, made it on my top ten favorite apocalyptic novels.

Cornification

I saw Warner’s artwork on io9.com and felt inspired to share this with all of you. Something about his inventiveness and attention to detail captures my imagination and makes me want to write stories set in strange worlds like the ones he’s created. As I was writing this post though, I realized that while amazing, Warner’s foodscapes are not as novel as I had first thought.

Something about the nightmare idea of food taking over the world just-makes-sense.

Don’t believe me? Check out Shawn Hendriks post on Enslaved by Corn. Or The Ominvore’s Dilemma, or, or… well, maybe Warner’s artwork isn’t meant to be political. I mean, it is an imaginary world of broccoli trees, milk waterfalls, and biscuit mountains, but still, remember what happened to those greedy kids in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Bad things. Bad, bad things.

Thanks goes to io9 for finding Carl Wagner’s collection of foodscapes. Can’t say I’d want a bite out of Warner’s broccoli tree, plus the biscuit mountain looks a little tough to chew, but check out Warner’s full gallery of foodscapes. I wouldn’t mind spending lunchtime in his Tuscan Market.

Oh, My! (Final Thought)

Warner’s art looks like what might happen if the Smurfs had a threesome with the Twilight Zone and Charlie & the Chocolate factory. Come to think of it, UNICEF already imagined what that threesome might look like:

Your Turn

So what do you think? The Vegetable Apocalypse: a disturbingly accurate prophecy of our not-to-distant future, or does it make you want to keep a bowl of ranch dressing handy?

“Writer’s block is a phenomenon involving temporary loss of ability to begin or continue writing, usually due to lack of inspiration or creativity.”

Is a blank piece of paper driving you crazy?

There are writerly ways of overcoming the blank page, or you can Hack Your Way out of Writer’s Block.

But if you had only one sheet of paper, you could…

…Do Something Like This:

or this

or this

Or this

Each image is made from a single sheet of paper and an amazing imagination (in this case, Peter Callesen’s).

For more beautiful single sheet art visit: A Single Sheet of Paper and Peter Callesen’s selected works.

Just Write

No matter how you try to overcome that blank page, keep in mind Steve Martin’s famous quote:

“I think I did pretty well, considering I started out with nothing but a bunch of blank paper.”

Now please excuse me. I’ve figured out how to fix my first novel and I need to find a pair of scissors.

That pretty much sums up my life for these past three weeks – and my excuses for not having posted.

I plan to get back on track with posting 2-3 times per week. In the meantime, you can check out the movie review I wrote for Spiral on the QuietEarth website.

QuietEarth

QuietEarth is a website “Dedicated to genre film and everything Post Apocalyptic.”  They post news and reviews of books, movies (including foreign), and more. I link to QuietEarth on my blogroll – they are just that cool.

Check out what they say about Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse. This is a short story collection that includes authors like Stephen King and Octavia Butler. I’m about a third of the way through and loving it!

io9

If you happen to be looking for another great science fiction resource, visit io9 – a website “strung out on science fiction”

I star a lot of their posts not only for content but for the incredible images they find. Some are so cool and inspiring – like this concept art from Hatch FX about the Gorgeous End of the World:

Some are just hilarious – like this one, about how Evolution Explains Why LOLCats Control Your Mind:

(Click on images to enlarge)

Ariana Page Russell writes on her skin:

I have dermatographia, a condition in which one’s immune system exhibits hypersensitivity, via skin, that releases excessive amounts of histamine, causing capillaries to dilate and welts to appear (lasting about thirty minutes) when the skin’s surface is lightly scratched.

This allows me to painlessly draw patterns and words on my skin, which I then photograph.

The words/welts on Russell’s skin look like they should have hurt, even though she states it’s a painless process.

It’s a fascinating combination of art mediums that turns the written word into something beautiful, intimate and disturbing, all at the same time.

Click through to view the full post on the blog to see the photograph.

I’ve never seen anything like what she’s able to create.

It reminds me of Sugar’s skin problem in The Crimson Petal and the White. This was an excellent historical novel about a well-read 19th century London prostitute – in case you’re looking for something to read.

(Ectoplasmosis Blog deserves the credit for pointing me towards Russell’s artwork.)

What do you think of her chosen art medium?

I think some images of Brian Dettmer’s sculptures made its way around the internet a few months ago, but I stumbled across them again last week and felt the need to share.

Not for the faint of heart, since Dettmer’s artwork involves what some might consider the wanton destruction of books. It’s beautiful.

To encourage you to wander through more of his art, I’m reposting my favorite:

If you captured this post through a reader, click the post title to see the image.

Now go see more… and have a great weekend.

This first Friday post is about the practicals of writing – of producing art – every day.

No Exception

I’ve found through much trial and error (including weeks of ‘not finding time to write’), that I must make time to write first thing in the morning, every morning.

I always thought – I am the exception! Don’t people know that creatives, us true artists, stay up late and do all their best work at 3:42am?

Discipline Set Me Free

I run my own home business and before I learned to discipline myself I would head straight to my business computer to figure out if there were any emergencies I needed to handle. After that, I might work on a project or two, run a couple of errands, eat lunch then think, if I work really hard and fast for the next two hours I’ll get done WAY early with work and have HOURS of time to work on my novel.

Reality Bites

Guess how many days I finished early and then had enough energy and self-discipline to write? Not many. So I decided to change a few things.  (This makes it sound instantaneous, but it took a good three months of misery – lots of work, almost no writing – before I made the changes stick).

– I get up early.

–I don’t tell people I get up early. (Shhhh, don’t tell anyone.)

– Therefore, people don’t expect me to even know about an emergency until after I’ve already been awake for hours.

– I turn my phone off and I DO NOT let myself check my work email until the work day begins. (Ok, I’m not 100% on this, but I’m trying!)

– Every day that I fail to wake up early is a day that doesn’t turn out as good as the day I wake up early. Without fail.

That Tricky Pavlov

How did I get it to ‘stick’? By realizing that I am an animal, much like Pavlov’s dogs were animals. I reward myself. Every time I wake up early I get to:

– Enjoy a peaceful cup of coffee.

– Do nothing I do not want to do (except write). I don’t have to look at email, worry about a project, clean the dirty kitchen. Nope. I got up early – I’m exempt.

– Not feel guilty about not being productive (this takes a lot work).

You get the idea. A bell let Pavlov’s dogs know food was coming. My reward trigger is an alarm clock – at least, that’s what I keep telling myself to believe :)

What I do know is when I wake up early, my life feels balanced. I have time to earn money, pursue my writing goals, eat a good lunch, walk the dog, practice the piano and not feel stressed.

Check out ZenHabits blog post on 10 Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It. And the post on Write to Done - How to Write First Thing in the Morning. Both posts list a number of benefits as well as methods for waking up early. My favorite tip is number 3 in the second post:

Topic. Don’t wake up in the morning with no idea what you’re going to write about.

Have your topic chosen and give it a little thought the night before. It’s great to sleep on it anyway — let your subconscious do the work for you.

Of course, if you’re one of those superhuman people who works all day and still writes in the evening… well, I’ll still like you, even if I don’t quite understand you.

When is your favorite time of the day to write? If you wanted to make waking up early a habit, what would your rewards need to be?