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Halloweenie

Okay, that’s a bit macabre, but that’s Halloween for you. Right? Hmm, now I’m hungry for some Pumpkin 🎃 Spice hot dogs…

Tomorrow

Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia. ~Charles M. Schulz

And it’s not the end of the world if I can’t squeeze two dozen work projects into a four-day week. We can only do what we can do.

4th Quarter continues apace with plenty of work to do and even less time to get Merry 🔔 Bells done as planned. I’ll have to have some seriously productive writing time this weekend to get back on track.

I was burning the midnight oil to chew through my To-Do list at work so that I wouldn’t be burdened by guilt as I shifted gears.

That means that I’m going to be getting a jolly good night’s sleep every day this lovely long weekend to ensure I’ve got the energy to get some writing done.

Prioritizing and scheduling work next week is going to have to wait until Tuesday morning. Fair is fair, after all.

🍂More Autumn Chill Tunes🍂

Fall Jazz Music ☕ Relax Autumn Smooth Jazz Piano Instrumental Music

I find music streams like the one above help me to get in the right headspace for creative endeavors.

Whether that’s cranking out VBA code, figuring out how to wrangle data out of a random database or actually getting some writing done, I find it’s very helpful to have this sort of continuous stream of mellow music on.

So, if I’m working my tail off or recovering from doing so, it helps to have some tunes to chill with.

As much as I enjoy geeking out about the latest fantasy series online or whatever, I also have a need to use music like this to help me shut down all the ancillary thoughts and either focus on one thing or nothing at all.

I can tune in and tune out for a while to give my rampaging mind a chance to get into a single channel.

Imagination

Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power to that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared. ~J. K. Rowling

And that’s what I always enjoyed about role-playing games and writing. Imagination gives you the ability to live other lives.

This is the single most useful feature of the human mind. Even if you don’t use it for fiction writing or any other form of art, using imagination is a core part of our human existence.

Imagine what your kids will be like before they emerge from the womb.

Imagine what your house will be like when you get done redecorating.

Imagine what you’re going to have for dinner.

These things don’t exist until you spend a moment thinking about them.

Solutions to complicated programming needs are just as much a use of my imagination as writing a Holiday Season Serial Romance.

As such, using your imagination is as much of a process as any other skill. I would say that, for me at least, imagination is as integral to my life as a heartbeat or breathing.

I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time not imagining things. My mind runs amok if I don’t have something to engage in.

Fortunately, i haven’t had that problem lately. Between work and Holiday Season Serial Romance writing season, I have no lack of opportunity to use my imagination productively.