Musical Motivation: Don’t Give Up

What motivates you? We all have our muses, our creative Jiminy Cricket so to speak. It just so happens mine is a DJ. Music manifests whatever mood I’m in the… mood for. I’d like to offer one of the many tunes that have helped me, as the Japanese say, GANBATTE! (fight/press on).

The Caesars – Spirit from the Paper Tigers album provides that little push you need when the fear of failure trips you up. This song depressingly tells the truth f how life is hard and that you aren’t going to get much help. What I love most is how it doesn’t explain why you should press on. Instead it simply asks you not to quit. That’s enough for me, and hopefully you too.

The Caesars – Paper Tigers – Spirit

I, I need some young blood
Come Friday night
Bring on the big flood
Like September’s coming on
Summer won’t be back for long

Hey, let’s start a big fire
Let’s shake it up
Let’s try to open brighter
There’s no one here to catch our fall
No one here to hear us call

Tonight, this dirty September night
We’re stuck out here
You’re caught in the starlight
Running through these empty streets
You see this filthy you and me
Running through these empty streets
You see this filthy you and me

I, I know that the road’s long
It lingers on
And Lord knows it’s uphill
Seems like you’re not getting anywhere
You give up just before you’re there
Seems like you’re not getting anywhere
You give up just before you’re there

Hey, don’t lose your spirit
Seen all along
But its there if you need
Seems like you’re not getting anywhere
But don’t give up you’re almost there
Seems like you’re not getting anywhere
But don’t give up you’re almost there

Clean that Desktop

Cleanliness may be next to godliness, but it’s definitely before productivity. For the daily grind of a writer, nothing numbs your work rate like clutter. In the digital age of publishing, writers now have two desks to maintain. First, your physical wooden, steel, or LEGO desk. And second, the visual “desk” of your computer or digital word processor.

All Cleaned Up!

Those loyal to a daily writing regiment don’t need to worry as much. However, for the procrastinators and excuse makers, a messy desktop makes for a delicious yet unhealthy excuse to avoid writing. Generally speaking, my Mac OS desktop is organized akin to what you would expect from an obsessive compulsive. Especially when it comes to writing, there’s a menagerie of intricate folders containing everything from ideas, to inspiration photos and drafts.

I went to bed everyday knowing I should have tooled around with one of my picture book drafts. Somewhere in the hustle and bustle I “forgot.”