the creative process

When I was a cub copywriter burning the midnight oil on an assignment I'd gotten weeks before, one I'd just started with my partner (though it was due the next day) after many Happy Hour drinks and free food-like fried objects at The Rusty Scupper, I imagined how different things would be when I was grown-up writer, when I'd learned to master my time-management skills. But. Some things never change.

think stocking stuffer

I know, I know. I'm dismayed, too, by the Christmas Creep. Some NY sidewalks (I'm looking at you, 125th) are already festooned with giant snowflakes. But one thing it does is remind you to stock up on little gifts. Funny, isn't it? Christmas comes on the same, foreseeable date every year, yet who isn't scrambling for prezzies in the last days before? Dominik Imseng, a Swiss journalist and copywriter, saves procrastinating gifters from being caught short this year. For the Mad Men and Women in your life, here comes Think Small, the story of the world's greatest ad. It's a delightful immersion in the ad world of the 1960s via the story of one of the most iconic campaigns of the era. $23.99 on Amazon, only 5 left at this writing. Secret Santas start your engines here.

last chance to see Tim Burton at MOMA

In case you've been meaning to see Tim Burton's show at MOMA, you've got just 30 hours. Museum is staying open until 8:45 tonite and tomorrow to accommodate procrastinators. Tickets are sold out (of course) but become a member and you can walk in anytime.

NSFK? The exhibit might appear to be kid-friendly, judging by the huge inflatable "Balloon Boy" in the lobby and the show's monster-mouth entrance. But it's only for kids in the way that his Alice in Wonderland is--that is, for kids who don't mind a trip to the dark side.

What I like about the collection is one thing the New York Times apparently didn't: it includes many drawings from his teenage years at Cal Arts and the four years when he worked as an animator for Disney. Interesting to see how his work develops, though his theme never veers from "revenge of the nerd" in brilliantly executed characters like Stainboy whose superpower is leaving powerful stains, Toxic Boy whose fumes burn the beard off Santa, and of course, Edward Scissorhands. There's paintings, sculptures, photographs and short films on flat screens. And, oh yes, a topiary deer in the garden.

the one club knows what kind of pressure you're under

Who has time to think about awards when there's so much unrewarding work to get done. Nice folks at The One Club understand this. So they're extending deadline for The One Show to February 6. And making that date just for registration, not for materials. So you've got another three weeks to get actual samples to their offices.

And because they know ad grunts who do digital are probably even busier than their counterparts in traditional, they've extended the deadline for Interactive to February 27.

This year, they're introducing a new category to support work for green causes: Environmental Advertising. Remember that pro-bono ad for recycling you did for your uncle on the school board? Send it in. You could win a Green Pencil. Made of--what else-- recycled glass.

(image resurrected from a dusty One Show annual, 1974. It won gold that year for Consumer Magazine Cover. Yep, people were stressed in the seventies, too.)

hack your way out of writer's block

It's Saturday. The day you set aside to do what you'd do all day if you didn't have to fill it with shitty meetings. You're all coffeed up and settled at your desk or favorite corner at Starbucks (the one furthest from the open-policy bathroom), laptop ready to peck out that screenplay or pilot script or great American novel. But nothing happens. Every writer has been there. Merlin Mann of 43 Folders provides helpful antidotes. Plus, like Jane Sample, he provides a handsome line of inspiring wear.

* Talk to a monkey - Explain what you’re really trying to say to a stuffed animal or cardboard cutout.
* Do something important that’s very easy - Is there a small part of your project you could finish quickly that would move things forward?
* Try freewriting - Sit down and write anything for an arbitrary period of time—say, 10 minutes to start. Don’t stop, no matter what. Cover the monitor with a manila folder if you have to. Keep writing, even if you know what you’re typing is gibberish, full of misspellings, and grammatically psychopathic. Get your hand moving and your brain will think it’s writing. Which it is. See?
* Take a walk - Get out of your writing brain for 10 minutes. Think about bunnies. Breathe.
* Take a shower; change clothes - Give yourself a truly clean start.
* Write from a persona - Lend your voice to a writing personality who isn’t you. Doesn’t have to be a pirate or anything—just try seeing your topic from someone else’s perspective, style, and interest.
* Get away from the computer; Write someplace new - If you’ve been staring at the screen and nothing is happening, walk away. Shut down the computer. Take one pen and one notebook, and go somewhere new.
* Quit beating yourself up - You can’t create when you feel ass-whipped. Stop visualizing catastrophes, and focus on positive outcomes.
* Stretch - Maybe try vacuuming your lungs too.
* Add one ritual behavior - Get a glass of water exactly every 20 minutes. Do pushups. Eat a Tootsie Roll every paragraph. Add physical structure.
* Listen to new music - Try something instrumental and rhythmic that you’ve never heard before. Put it on repeat, then stop fiddling with iTunes until your draft is done.
* Write crap - Accept that your first draft will suck, and just go with it. Finish something.
* Unplug the router - Metafilter and Boing Boing aren’t helping you right now. Turn off the Interweb and close every application you don’t need. Consider creating a new user account on your computer with none of your familiar apps or configurations.
* Write the middle - Stop whining over a perfect lead, and write the next part or the part after that. Write your favorite part. Write the cover letter or email you’ll send when it’s done.
* Do one chore - Sweep the floor or take out the recycling. Try something lightly physical to remind you that you know how to do things.
* Make a pointless rule - You can’t end sentences with words that begin with a vowel. Or you can’t have more than one word over eight letters in any paragraph. Limits create focus and change your perspective.
* Work on the title - Quickly make up five distinctly different titles. Meditate on them. What bugs you about the one you like least?
* Write five words - Literally. Put five completley random words on a piece of paper. Write five more words. Try a sentence. Could be about anything. A block ends when you start making words on a page.

via Boing Boing (thanks for pointing me to it, DKR)