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What creative projects have you been working on?
This topic is part of a series. It is meant to be a place for users to discuss creative projects they have been working on.
Projects can be personal, professional, physical, digital, or even just ideas.
If you have any creative projects that you have been working on or want to eventually work on, this is a place for discussing those.
A list of all previous topics in this series can be found here.
I have one bin of unsorted LEGO left and then it's time to build a castle. But man, motivating myself to finish sorting, besides all the other things going on in life, is hard. I'll get there though.
I'm not sure I'd entirely call it 'creative' but I suppose it is because I'm doing all the design, and I'm enjoying the fabrication bits and pieces - I'm respeccing my workshop. My biggest workbench is being cut up and turned into a series of carts, to which each tool will be bolted or, without a tool attached, the cart will provide work and clamping space. Storage space will be under the carts, and they're designed to park neatly out of the way when not in use, which will allow me to reconfigure my limited space in whatever way suits whichever project I'm working on at the time. Eventually I'll pull everything out of the shop and skim the floor so it's lovely and flat but that needs better weather and a lot of tidying. It will also mean I can invest in one or two really good lights for my main work area and move the tools to the lights (and to the vacuum for dust management) rather than having everything sort of not very well lit.
Also, and I didn't plan this, but my cart design provides a shelf which exactly fits a standard 400mm Systainer box although that does mean I feel like I should buy more Systainer stuff and even the boxes are horribly expensive, let alone the tools that come in them.
Definitely ceative if you ask me!
Very cool to see you have it all planned out the way you do. Do you think your plan will change in the process? Or do these things mostly go as planned for you?
My plan includes a plan to change the plan. :)
I had an idea, planned out on paper, about how my workshop might end up, then figured out the minimum amount I need to start that process - I need to make two carts, where my initial designs had six or seven.
So I'm going to make the two (the one pictured isn't finished - I don't know if it's having more shelves, or drawers, or something else), then sell a bunch of tools I don't use, throw out a load of other stuff, re-arrange and tidy everything and I'll see where I am then. I have a potential end goal but goalposts are expected to move. It might even be that tools-on-carts doesn't work at all and then I'll have to lash them all together into some sort of frankenbench.
I've found this is, in general, a fairly good way to approach making this sort of change. Plan big, act small and be ready to adapt along the way.
I’m working on another new website. My plan is for this site to actually cover more professional experience: like product management, leadership, design process, as well as healthy opinion on those topics. (This is in opposition to most of my past/ongoing websites that are more “fun” or one-off topics.) I have been itching for a “serious” writing outlet for a while.
I’m making good progress. is moving quite fast—it’s just another fork of my battle-tested CMS with a different theme, and I’ve already got a few drafts in progress with the intent of nailing down my message and tone before launch. (This comment of mine is a good reflection of the sort of content I’m aiming for with the site—but obviously more thoroughly researched with real data, not something casual and off-hand.)
...but I’m also completely stuck, too. I can’t find a name for it. I don’t want to go for the default route of just using my name for the website—I already do so much on the internet that I want to keep alexguichet.com as a surface level view of and everything I do, with plenty of friendly links to take you all my other web stuff. I have been doing 20 minute freewrites for the past few days to try to come up with inspiration for the name and nothing is coming to me. I want too much from the name: it has to be me, but also convey a bit of my message and style at a glance. Nothing so far is really sticking with me.
I’m also realizing that I’m getting a bit lazy with my writing—but I don’t know what to do to improve it. I’m pretty decent at editing writing of peers for grammar, style, and message, but when it comes to “editing” my own stuff, I usually need to put it away for a month before I can see it with fresh eyes and tear it apart.
It feels like a “professional” site is my best target to start paying an editor to shape up my writing. Theoretically those lessons would then trickle down into all my other writing.
If you're looking for some naming advice/suggestions, there was a recent topic on that subject you might find interesting: https://tildes.net/~creative/lo8/coming_up_with_a_good_personal_domain_name
Most replies in there were kind of specific to the OP, but some were more general purpose, E.g. Copying my comment from there to here:
I've reached that phase myself – not just with writing, but with any project that involves worldbuilding or storytelling that's worth a damn – so I've been considering my options. Learning to edit seems to me less cost-effective than hiring an editor.
One, it keeps the workflows separate in a healthy way (there's a reason designers are a separate category of payroll from engineers). You get to work on the stuff you do best, and someone else does their job better than you do, on your behalf.
Two, it's more time-efficient: they can be editing one script of yours while you work on another.
Three, it's more resource-effective: rather than spending years on learning a separate branch of the craft (something you could be doing anyway in your spare time, at no harm to your writing), you get the results right away.
Methinks them big-name writers know better if they think hiring an editor is worthwhile.
I've been making dinky DIY toys for my cats to play with. The one I made today is a fishing pole type toy made of a pair of wooden chopsticks, one folded and cut up index card, and some twine.
I was very excited to see that Tapioca, a very timid kitten whom I adopted 2 days ago, was in interested in stalking and hunting the new toy!