I have never been a doll person, even as a little girl. Would I be opposed to my girls gettings Barbies or other dolls? No, but that doesn’t mean that I would prefer them to get something else, like a Transformer.

The Zombie Attack Barbie, on the other hand, is a doll I can get behind…

Via Laughing Squid.

Writer’s block. Lack of inspiration. They are the bane of any blogger’s existence, and I must confess that they occasionally make me want to just throw in the towel too.

Today, Katie writes about how she finds inspiration and even gives us a few choice quotes that may help other bloggers tackle writer’s block as well. Even if you’re not a blogger or writer, I’m sure that you will find this post helpful and inspirational. Enjoy!

I’m excited to be guest posting for Jenny while she, J and Claire enjoy their first few weeks with little Aerin. I’ve known Jenny for three years now through her blog and really appreciate what she has to say on her blog about motherhood, her faith and her family, as well as her fun posts on tech and pop culture.

(image source)

I have been thinking a lot about writing lately — particularly, better developing my own writing style. I love to read well-written blogs, but I rarely put in the time or hard work to do it well myself. It’s usually easier to skip writing the tough stuff and focus on the more trivial topics that take less effort to write. Good writing usually looks easy, but can be agonizingly hard work.

Blogging has always been a very personal writing medium, but I find it’s difficult to balance remaining transparent, as well as keeping the interest of an audience of readers when trying to post multiple times a week. So I’ve been looking for ways to both keep writing inspiration coming, and to improve my abilities.

What inspires you guys to write?

I get really inspired by other bloggers who write about their lives honestly and candidly. I get inspired by reading great novels and by reading the Bible. I get inspired by time spent with loved ones and time spent alone, reflecting.

I also get inspired by the advice of experienced authors. I’ve been compiling a list of writing advice from some talented authors whenever I come across them, and I thought I’d share.

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CS Lewis
I love CS Lewis’ advice because it is practical to all sorts of writing. He wrote the following tips in 1956 to a young girl who asked him for writing advice. (My personal favorite — and possibly the hardest to do – is #4)

[Originally published in the collection, Letters to Children]

Flannery O’Connor
“I’m a full-time believer in writing habits…You may be able to do without them if you have genius but most of us only have talent and this is simply something that has to be assisted all the time by physical and mental habits or it dries up and blows away. Of course you have to make your habits in this conform to what you can do. I write only about two hours every day because that’s all the energy I have, but I don’t let anything interfere with those two hours, at the same time and the same place.”

[Originally published in a volume of her letters entitled, The Habit of Being]

Ernest Hemingway
I recently finished the book, A Moveable Feast, a posthumously published memoir by Hemingway on which the recent novel The Paris Wife was based. In addition to talking about his years in Paris with his wife Hadley in the book, he also writes much about his writing processes. Hemingway believed there was no real formula for writing so he rarely gave advice on the topic, but his philosophy on writing is so refreshing.

“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”

“My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.”

Once, when Hemingway was challenged to tell a story using only six words, he said this:
“For sale: baby shoes, never used.”

Jennifer Egan, via my friend Carly
“Don’t write when it moves you — that’s a loser. Try to make it habitual, even if you just start with 15 minutes a day, two pages a day. Make it such a part of your routine that not doing it makes it a stranger. You have to be willing to write badly. You can’t say, ‘I’m going to write habitually,’ and it’s going to be good. It’s unpleasant to write badly, but it’s much more important show up on a regular basis so that you’re there when the good stuff comes.”

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I realize blogging is a different medium from what most of the authors above draw their experience from. But the takeaway for me? Write regularly, write honestly, and write what you know.

I’ve set a goal to write in my personal journal for 15 minutes every day to both record more personal anecdotes, and to be better at putting thoughts and words together. And I’ll keep reading really good writing.

What moves you to write?

About the Author:

Hi! my name is Katie. I’m a wife, grad school admissions counselor, and coffee lover. I spend my free time cooking, blogging, reading, dressing up, and going on thrift store adventures. I blog about those things and more at my blog, LatteLove.

I may be a geek and a gadget-lover, but I don’t always embrace new technology. I like to stay old-school in some aspects of my life, including my preferences of old-fashioned books over e-readers, physical keyboards over touchscreens, and even a pad & pencil over many phone apps.

And this is precisely why I love the Little Printer.

Created by London-based design firm BERG and running on BERG Cloud, a web-based system for controlling wireless products, the Little Printer is an adorable web-enabled printer that prints mini-newspapers containing content from the Internet. Users select the content — anything from news to puzzles to status updates from friends — using an iPhone or Android app.

In other words, it makes mini receipt-sized newspapers!

Check out these examples of what the Little Printer can spit out — birthday reminders, puzzles, news headlines, and  to-do lists…oh my!

For more uses (including a running coach), be sure to check out the website!

I know that some readers may see the Little Printer as a giant waste of ink and paper. But I know that anyone who prefers physical reminders and lists over digital ones — or even anyone with an often-used bulletin board, would greatly appreciate this little device.

Besides, it’s just so darn cute.

Pre-orders for the Little Printer will begin in 2012, at which point Little Printer will launch in beta form.

Via TechCrunch.

You know me. I can’t resist well-designed pieces of graphic art, especially when they relate to my favorite television shows, movies, books, and video games! So when BreeAnn offered to submit a guest post on Olly Moss — whose work embodies all four subject matters and much more — I couldn’t help but be excited.

A big thank you to BreeAnn for introducing me to this wonderful artist, in addition to highlighting some of his best works! And to my readers: I hope you all enjoy this post as much as I did!

I tend to geek out when I come across a movie poster or book cover design that utilizes a minimalistic style with a clean, brilliant idea. And while Saul Bass‘ opening sequences and logos have inspired many graphic designers to follow a similar path in their designs, I got especially excited when I discovered the works of UK-based artist Olly Moss.

His works are visually stunning and his ideas are brilliantly concise, but what really has me jumping up and down with glee are the movies that are represented. These aren’t your everyday posters for your everyday films… these are spectacular posters for some spectacular favorites and cult classics.

I absolutely love how Olly’s ideas are presented in such an in-your-face manner that I can’t help but wonder, now why didn’t I think of that first? He makes it all look so easy with his subtle associative imagery.

Some of his most popular designs include the set for the original Star Wars trilogy, which is currently listed on eBay for upwards of $3,000. This set would make the perfect gift for any fanatic, but Olly has sadly confirmed that there is no chance they will be re-printed. Still, they make for a great desktop background!

Unfortunately for fans of old and new, Olly Moss’ screenprinted designs sell faster than hotcakes and are often in limited runs… which means once they’re all sold out, you’re only hope may be forking over hundreds on eBay. Which is too bad, because I wouldn’t mind plastering the walls of our office room with his designs.

And if you’re like me and can’t get enough of his work, check out the images from his recent solo show, Paper Cuts. The show was comprised of more than 300 silhouette portraits of just about every pop icon you could hope for. I doubt there’s a single person that wouldn’t discover or recognize a figure they were a fan of.

While the majority of the portraits are laser-cut from black paper, a few have a burst of color that they just wouldn’t be complete without, like Rufio from the movie Hook.

The silhouettes cover a wide range of beloved movies, comics, and television shows. My husband’s personal favorite is the Solid Snake portrait from Metal Gear Solid.

Needless to say, I absolutely love when art meets geekery and produces a love child of this caliber. Now I’ll just have to try and wait patiently to see what project Olly tackles next.

*All images courtesy OllyMoss.com

About the Author:

BreeAnn is a freelance illustrator and designer who spends the majority of her time running her business, Lullafly Studios. When not hard at work, BreeAnn enjoys going on adventures with her husband and two cats as well as blogging as Mrs. Bunting at Weddingbee. You can follow her creative adventures on her art blog.

After watching this kickass stop-motion video announcing the birth of baby Althea Elicona, I wish I had been more creative in announcing my pregnancies and the births of my children…

Via haha.nu.