I apologize for not being able to dress myself

Today, to round off the unofficial series of guest posts on creativity, I've invited Krista D. Ball to the blog. Krista is an awesome writer, and we just happen to be TOC buddies in the upcoming Ride the Moon anthology, which is of course tremendously exciting. For me, anyway O:) Go check out her website for some great stories.


Most of the authors I know are incredibly talented. For example, Billie Milholland paints, writes, and does general crafty things. Susan J. Forest writes award-winning short fiction and paints beautiful landscapes.

Me? I need help matching my clothes.

When the kindergarten kids were expressively painting their cats and elephants, I was still working with basic stick figures. I've never actually moved past that stage. I managed to successfully do one splatter painting called "Artist Killed By Sniper" but it generally gets me odd looks; it's currently buried in a box.

Music? Nah, I can't carry a tune. Sew? Please. I don't even know how to use a sewing machine, let alone attach a button. I do crochet, but I can't move past the beginner patterns and even those are often too difficult for me. I used to do cross stitch, and would spend more time pulling apart the pattern than putting it together.

And, yes, I need help matching my clothes.

I have two stores that I shop at and the store people know me now. I go in and say what I need (i.e. I need an outfit to wear at a readercon). They will then go and pick me out an entire outfit: pants, shirt, sweater, scarf, jewelry, socks. The sales staff will tell me if it works or not and I buy the entire set. I then only wear that entire set together until I'm comfortable to switch it up.

I really have no idea what matches, looks good, or is in "good taste."

I've had several bosses over the years that have nitpicked at how I dress. My white socks clash with my grey pants. My brown dress hose clashes with my black shirt. My blue shirt doesn't match my dark jeans. My make up clashes with my eye colour. My hair doesn't match my face. My glasses don't match my eye colour. I can go on. I've come to realize that it really was me, not them. I have no taste.

Oh, I'm sure I am still creative. But outside of books, I'm really not sure that statement applies. So the next time you see a photo of me, remember: someone else dressed me.


According to her mother, Krista D. Ball tells lies for a living. She is the author of several short stories, novellas, and novels. Krista incorporates as much historical information into her fiction as possible, mostly to justify her B.A. in British History.

Krista enjoys all aspects of the writing and publishing world, and has been a magazine intern, co-edited four RPG books, self-published several short stories and a novella series, and has been a slush reader for a small Canadian press. She has also written a non-fiction blogging guide and is currently writing a non-fiction historical book for authors called, "What Kings Ate and Wizards Drank."

Whenever she gets annoyed, she blows something up in her fiction. Regular readers of her work have commented that she is annoyed a lot.

Guest Post: Creativity

Today I'd like to introduce you all to my friend Clare! Clare is an Australian graphic designer and illustrator with a passion for making puppets (and they are awesome puppets, too). Samples of her work can be found at www.clarebarnes.com.

First off, let me say that I am not a writer.

Well that is not entirely true. I mean, obviously I can write, but writing in and of itself is not the core of what I do.

So you might well be wondering how I came to be following and writing a guest post on an authors blog…

Well let me explain.

In the last few years as I have been studying graphic design, I have come to recognise that as a creative professional, it is incredibly important that I not only explore my own creative field, but that I also develop a habit of exploring the creative fields outside of my own.

Whilst this can be a time consuming exercise (and a wonderful tool for procrastination) I have found that exploring other fields enriches my understanding of the world around me and inspires me in ways that I would miss out on if I restricted my field of vision solely to that of graphic design.

The main reason for this is that most people are just plain inspiring. I am continually amazed by the countless ideas, techniques, stories, experience etc that people all over the world develop and share on a regular basis.

Another reason for exploring outside my own area of expertise is that I am constantly reminded of how many different ways people can view the same sorts of topics, and that problems can be solved from more then one angle. If I am able to remember this, then I become more understanding of other peoples perspectives, and if my own solution for something isn’t working I can try solving it from an angle I may not have thought of if I had not been exploring.

For example, I have discovered that some of the world and character building techniques that are used when writing, can also be used to generate ideas for illustrations.

By giving my mind access to all this information I am allowing my imagination to be sparked by concepts that it may not normally come across. And whilst not all of the information that I find will be immediately useful, I know my brain is able to store bits away in boxes and on shelves, in readiness for when I need it.

Here is one simple way to think about it:




As creative people we are like the little box. As we explore new or different areas, we collect information and inspiring ideas and store it away. Then, the next time that we need some of it, our brain is able to pull bits from here and there and somehow combines information in ways we might never have thought of otherwise to create an Awesome Idea.

Pretty cool huh?

So next time you are stumped for ideas, how about going exploring? You never know exactly what you’ll find….