A Few Crazy Ways to Stay Creative by Kiki Howell

I’ve heard it said that to keep creativity flowing (or even to get it to start again) you need to be creative in another way. And, I mention it because it’s long worked for me. You need never stop creating even when you’re not feeling very inspired in your current craft. It’s at those points especially that you need to make something out of your comfort zone. Why? Well, because in doing so you give yourself permission to fail. In fact, you expect to fail. So, that horrid inner critic is silenced and your creativity can just flow. Plus, I truly believe for creative people, making something, anything, breeds happiness.

As an author, I don’t get writer’s block anymore. If the fears take hold, and I start to back down from my current manuscript, then I move to another creative outlet. Before I know it, I’m back to writing again with the creative juices overflowing. Honestly!

I have a lot of different ways I do this. One is by drawing. I’m not very good at it, but the sound of the pencil on the paper comforts me. So, I’ve taken a few art classes, and I’ve kept the stacks of drawing instruction books that my boys had when they were young. I have no expectations of what the picture will turn out like. I just begin. Really, I just scratch away. And, I find myself smiling! Confidence is gained through the fact that no one will ever see it. I won’t have to polish it up and submit, and it will never be up for review!

When I’m done, I like to snap a picture of the drawing and play with it on www.picmonkey.com . But, you can us whatever photo altering program you like. This one if free and fun. I crop the picture, add an overlay, play with the saturation, maybe add an effect, and so on.  Here’s a witch, a grim reaper and a headless horseman I’ve done.  I picked October-themed, of course :)

Sometimes I get out my camera and set up a photo shoot. Doesn’t matter with what. One day I emptied my spare candle drawer, burnt the candles, messed with the drips, and then shot a few pictures. Of course I went to Picmonkey afterwards! I came up with a whole set of what I call Candle Mess pictures.

How can you do this? Well, there are countless ways. For example, if you write stories, well then write a song. This is not about learning the art, or mastering a new craft. This is permission to let yourself fail. So what if you don’t know anything about song structure? Write the words in your heart. Expect nothing. Sit down at a piano or pick up a guitar and play badly to go along with it. Or sing it a cappella and dance it out. Whatever!

Sometimes I just go walk around a craft store until I’m inspired and I buy something to try something new. I’ve gotten a friend to teach me to knit.  Again, I do a lot of basic stuff, and I have to watch my hands, but I like to hear the needles click. I’ve watched YouTube videos to crochet a snowflake. Of course I made three of those and that ended that, but hey, I did it and they hang proudly on the tree each year since. I’ve made jewelry, scrapbooked, made floral arrangements, and even tried an excessive cake recipe or two. Of course, the cake that took me all day people liked and insisted I make again, but sadly I’ve lost the recipe now *winks*

Really, it doesn’t matter fs you don’t have an iota of talent for what you are doing. Do it anyway!  Cut pictures out of a magazine and make a college. Buy a kid’s craft kit. Just enjoy it. That’s the point! Just be creative! Creativity breeds creativity. I believe this works for any type of creativity. You’re a songwriter with a great verse but only two of the choruses, then paint a ceramic figure. You’ve lost your desire to write your blog, choreograph a dance to your favorite song.

I jot down ideas sometimes. I still have yet to make an artistic journal or a modern chapbook. But, I’ll get there eventually. So, go on, try something! Then, stick around and check out all of the books I have on sale this month, my giveaway, etc.

For the month of October a couple of my witchy shorts are available for only $0.99. These are limited time sales - on both my paranormal erotic romance Spelled and my pagan erotic romance Working Out the Kinks - to celebrate the October releases of two new shorts - an erotic, dark fantasy horror story called A Violent Seduction and a much sweeter paranormal erotic romance called Soul Lights, A Hallowe’en Romance of an Erotic Danse Macabre – both of which will also be only $0.99.

Of course I’ll throw in a few extras along the way!

First, I’m having a sort-of BOGO Sale incentive. Just buy one of these books, review it (hey, one to two sentences is good with me), and email me at howell.kiki@gmail.com with the link to the review and the name of the second book in this collection that you would like free. I’ll send it your way :)

Second, I have a giveaway. I’ve just created a new account on Twitter, so anyone who follows me on Twitter up until October 30th will be entered for the chance to win either

~a copy of my witchy suspense novel, Hidden Salem, ebook or print, your choice

Or

~DVD copies of two of my favorite witchy movies to re-watch in October, Practical Magic and The Covenant

If you are not on Twitter, hey I understand, I resisted forever, simply comment below for a chance to win.

Here’s all the book info!

A Violent Seduction

Blurb:

When David stumbles into Myrissa’s Wiccan Supply Shoppe — the man bruised and bloody, complaining of strange occurrences and true night terrors — she agrees to help him. After studying his clouded aura and listening to his story, she believes he’s been cursed, bound to a succubus.

Agreeing to come home with him, cleanse his apartment and try to banish the sexual predator, she gathers her supplies. What she witnesses and battles though proves darker and more seductive, than she could’ve ever imagined. Will her magic be enough? Or will she also fall prey to the dark and violent seduction of a demon?

Warning: This story is Dark Erotica/Dark Fantasy Horror involving a succubus. It contains a mix of sex and violence as well as mind control and magic during such acts.

Genres: Dark Erotica, Horror

Available Now at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Soul Lights, A Hallowe’en Romance of an Erotic Danse Macabre

Blurb:

Lighting a soul light in a cemetery on Hallowe’en hoping to catch a glimpse of her mother in the danse macabre, Nina’s sadness weighs her down. Then something shimmers on the edge of the tree line. Called to it, she lets a spirt whose flesh is hot and solid but invisible, like no spirit she’s encountered before, lead her into the woods.

With sensations of Deja Vu, she immediately trusts him but knows not why. Wanting that dangerous reach for life that comes only through skin on skin contact, she gives into her needs, outside, against a tree, at the whim of this spirit who feels like a real flesh and blood man. But, secrets await her once Kailen’s spirit materializes fully. And, who steps through the portal next with a Hallowe’en gift will change her life forever…

Genres: Erotic, Paranormal Romance; Hallowe’en

Available Now at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Spelled

Blurb:

When Sandra’s aunt discovers a dark and disturbing spell during a ritual in her store, Sandra flies to California at her families urging. What she never expected was a dark-haired, silver-eyed man to walk into the store and propose the most insane of ideas to her - that they were spelled, generations ago, by a dark warlock. 

The implications of this history lesson are as complicated as they are startling, and their only options are not all that clear. Real or magick, there is an obvious attraction between Sandra and Daniel. Together their powers are strong, and their options appear limited.

Sandra and Daniel have only one night to find a way to not only to save their families magick, but also to save the earth from a magick-al catastrophe. They must put their minds, their bodies, their magick, and maybe even their hearts on the line, or all could be lost.

Genres: Paranormal (Witches), Erotic Romance, Suspense 

Available Now at Excessica, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and All Romance Ebooks, etc. 

Working Out the Kinks

Blurb:

The First Book In The Erotic World Of Pagan Romance

Can an unconventional sex life a couple experimented with before their breakup be the one thing that might just spark life back into their relationship after months of being apart?

Can a sex magick ritual combined with this BDSM lifestyle help a man win back the woman he loves?

Can he earn back her trust by putting her in a situation where she has to trust him with her safety and emotional well-being?

Making an appointment with his ex-girlfriend under a fake name, David buys himself one hour to get her attention. Hoping to apologize and remind her of their time together, he intends to do whatever he has to in order to make Meredith, a practicing Wiccan, forgive him for being idiot enough to have listened to those around him and choosing his political aspirations over love.

Meredith is resistant to let David anywhere near her heart again. Desperate, David plays all his trump cards and suggests a sexual magick ritual that incorporates the BDSM lifestyle he and Meredith used to experiment with. The methods he uses may be unconventional, like sensory deprivation and sensation play intended to build trust and to achieve altered states of consciousness. David is more than willing to do whatever it takes if he can just get Meredith to agree.

Will Meredith give in to David and put the past behind them?
Can David truly give everything he has ever known and strived for in order to be with his beloved witch?

**Based on real Pagan traditions and celebrations, “The Erotic Pagans Series” brings erotica and romance to reality, and shares the passion of erotic romance in the lives of Pagans with everyone.**

Genre: Contemporary, Erotic Romance, Wiccan/Pagan
Available Now at NNP Store, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and ARE