"Write now is good."

Books as benches: How many will you find?

Now through September 15, 2014, the Books about Town public art exhibit takes place all over London.

There are 50 unique BookBenches to locate, like the Shakespeare and Paddington Bear ones featured in this post—all of which will be auctioned at the exhibit's end in order to raise money for literacy initiatives in the UK through the National Literacy Trust. (The Books about Town site features some maps and quizzes to get your started on the hunt.)

Wild in Art, who is partnering with National Literacy Trust to put this on, has art education initiatives that engage students on issues both in their immediate and worldwide communities. UK artists donated their time and talents to create these benches; check out the Instagram account to see how they look out and about.

How was your vacation?

Photo: "the perfect vacation" by OneGreatClick

How was your vacation?

Did you relax your body and mind completely?

Are your batteries recharged? Have you again pinpointed your creativity's source on your artist-self map? Ready to write, draw and blog anew?

Did you get a necessary change of scenery? See new places? Smell different, more fragrant air?

You did? All of the above? Wonderful. So did I.

Wait — you didn't? No worries — August's remainder beckons. There's time enough for a last weekend escape — or at least one earnest day trip, swimming in a sea of daydreams.

Contest: Traveling Stories magazine

Here's another writing contest, also with a November 15th deadline (this Thursday).

Traveling Stories magazine wants your travel stories.

That's the second contest this week due right in the middle of NaNoWriMo; needless to say, I won't be participating this time around. Good luck to those of you who do!

Found at Maryam's always-wonderful My Marrakesh.

Writing tips for travelers

Photo: suitcase collection by Supercapacity

Travel provides fertile ground for the writer's mind. It breaks our outmoded patterns, creates new movement within, and offers fun and adventure. Follow these tips if you want to maximize travel's effects on your wordiness:

1. Designate a notebook solely for your trip. Treat it as your own travel guide in the making.

2. Write freely and often.

3. Observe. Look. Listen. Get your eyes out of the guide books; focus on what you see and what you are experiencing. Treasure your own takes on your travel.

4. Listen to your subconscious. Do you find yourself writing down things that don't make sense? Is your written voice taking on a different tone? Unfamiliar parts of your creative mind are waking up — welcome this change.

5. Preserve the details. Write down back routes you've followed, places you've stayed, people you've met, what you've eaten, ways you've gotten "un-lost". As your trip memories lose their freshness, you'll be glad that you've recorded so much, to inspire future writing, to give travel recommendations, and to plan more trips.

6. Invite others to write. If you're traveling with friends, pass your notebook around regularly and let travel companions write you a message and record their own trip observations. Encourage their own travel journaling, and write in their notebooks. You'll love looking back on these shared scribblings when the trip is over.

7. Write home, even to yourself. I'm a prolific postcard writer when I travel. My family and friends can always count on a getting a quick jot from me from somewhere along the route. Drop a couple of postcards to your own address. You'll have the stamp and postmark as souvenirs; these are fun to add to your travel journal when you get home. They also provide frozen snapshots of you (and your imagination...) at different points along the trip — priceless.

What are your tips?

Imperfection frees creativity

Photo: zen garden for a moment by Genista

During my first trip to California a few years ago, I was stunned by its ever-present natural beauty: the Redwood forests, the rugged Pacific coastline, the pre-dusk marine layer rolling over the hills surrounding San Francisco, the Mediterranean-like climate.

At this time, I also discovered the concept of wabi-sabi. Since that moment, my creativity has been liberated from the trap of perfectionism.

At its essence, wabi-sabi is an acceptance that nothing is perfect and all things are in a constant state of flux; in this imperfection and transience is beauty.

In Japanese aesthetic culture, to incorporate wabi-sabi into artistic creations ensures that the work is real, authentic. Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging), bonsai and Zen gardens, pottery, and Haiku poetry illustrate wabi-sabi principles.

The next time you write or draw or dance, keep wabi-sabi in mind. Let imperfections and "mistakes" come through. Let your human side shine. Relax, and be real. See what you get.

Mysterious, travelling postcards

This map tracks the postcards currently in transit for the Postcrossing project.

If you'd like to receive a postcard from a random place on earth, sign up. It's easy to participate:

1. register to get a login
2. obtain an address and a postcard ID
3. mail the postcard
4. wait to receive a postcard from another postcrosser
5. register the postcard ID of the card you have received
6. go to 2

There's no cost to play (except for the postcard and postage fees), and more than 500,000 postcards have been registered in the project as having been sent and received.

I love thinking about all the stories behind these postcards.

Found at Moleskinerie.

Messengers

 

I took this photo in London, September 2002.

This is my first Poetry Thursday, and its prompt is "image inspiration" or ecphrasis.

A supreme warning
Hovered above cobblestone
And a winged friend.
He held a wrench,
His dour expression speaking
Quite clearly
That the broken
Was almost beyond repair.

He grumbled,
"Am I only for display?"
Resigned that his
type
Might not signal the
Huge shift that many had hoped for.
He dug his hands deeper into pockets,
Found them empty as always,
And dreamed of promises
He would never fulfill.

Still, they beckoned the hopeful,
The Fixers looking to repair
Anything that moved,
Metal and rubber,
Flesh and blood —
All needed maintenance.

We need you
Now,
They pointed at us.
But being strangers in this land,
Temporarily removed from our own need
To be repaired
And to fix,
We kept walking.

Attention writers, artists and travel lovers

Spring is slowly approaching, our energies will soon awaken from their hibernation (were yours sleeping?), and we'll begin to look for fresh, inspiring outlets for our creativity.

Here's one possibility. What a brilliant contest — "Moleskine and Air France announce Invitation Au Voyage"

In order to encourage and inspire the creativity of travelers, Moleskine has decided to do its first collaboration project with Air France. If you love to travel, if you always carry a Moleskine in your pocket — join the competition and win a round-trip flight ticket to cities in Europe! You only need one qualification to enter this competition: that you love traveling.

For all the details you need, click here.

Good luck, and continue to dream...

Turkey traffic solutions

I rarely rant on my blog, but I thought this one could have many environmental and societal benefits.

My family and I were stuck in traffic for 4 hours (the trip should have taken 1-1/2 hours) the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The extra time gave my husband and I lots of time to discuss traffic solutions, especially when we discovered that our jam was caused by cars waiting to go through tolls. We came up with one, which I shall put to a haiku (5-7-5 style):

Mandatory E-
Z Pass! Mandatory E-
Z Pass — no toll jams!

No mention of a season in that haiku, I know. Not subtle either, forgive me. But when you and your nearest-and-dearest are stuck in a barely moving vehicle, surrounding by other barely moving vehicles, for such a frustratingly long period of time, poetic license and structure are left far behind, like the toothbrush you forgot to pack.

So, here are some benefits of a mandatory E-Z Pass system. All drivers who go through tolls would benefit:

1. Saves time. (More-enjoyable car trips, fewer traffic jams = more people on time for work, more business productivity.)
2. Saves gas. (Less idling and time on roads from traffic, saves families money and puts less pollutants into the air and land.)
3. Saves wear-and-tear on cars. (Cars last longer, fewer car repairs needed.)

The time- and environment-saving benefits alone could be enormous, especially when calculated over millions of cars and billions of gained hours and conserved gallons of gas.

I know traffic can be caused by a variety of other factors not related to highway toll booths, but if all cars manufactured had an E-Z Pass chip built into them, then it could be programmed to activate only if it went through tolls. This could seriously alleviate toll-plaza-induced traffic jams...

...which leaves more time for writing!

I now return you to your regularly scheduled writer's blog. Thank you for your patience.

How do monarchs do this?!?!?

A few days ago I blogged about the annual monarch migration. There's a fascinating story in today's New York Times explaining the migration process and what scientists are doing to understand it better. Here are a couple of amazing facts from the article:

"They [monarch butterflies] are one of the few creatures on earth that can orient themselves both in latitude and longitude — a feat that, Dr. Taylor notes, seafaring humans did not manage until the 1700’s, when the clock set to Greenwich time was added to the sextant and compass.

"All monarchs start migrating when the sun at their latitude drops to about 57 degrees above the southern horizon."

Every day, I watch monarch after monarch flying above me, heading south. I love finding out more about what's going on here!

If you're interested in finding out more about research, conservation efforts, and education for and about the monarchs, go to Monarch Watch.

To read the complete article, "The Monarch Butterfly Migration Mystery," click here.