HowToDoThings.com Recent Arts & Entertainment Articles

How To Become Familiar with Children’s Literature

Susan Niz — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:23:01 -0500

What is your child reading and how can you help them pick out good books? There are so many books to choose from- much more than when we were kids. You don't need to be an expert; you just need to know enough to be able to navigate the local library or bookstore. The following steps will break it down for you.

How To Become A REAL Writer

dangoodwin — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:37:47 -0500

So yes, you write words. Sometimes pages worth of creatively arranged, emotive and descriptive words. But do you consider yourself a "real" writer?

Or do you continually find a hundred and one reasons to convince yourself that you're not a real writer at all, it's just a nice little hobby, or you're just playing around?

What kind of effect do you think this dilettante attitude has on your writing? It certainly won't inspire you to commit more time to the writing you love, and to enjoy your writing without feelings of guilt or inadequacy.

So here are 5 reasons why you're already a real writer. Read and recognise them in yourself:

How To Read Guitar Music

Cassandra — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:17:06 -0500

Reading guitar music is different than music written for piano or other instruments. Guitar music is often written in a type of shorthand called chord boxes or tab. This article will get you started and sums up the basics, but if you want to learn to read guitar music with ease and play the guitar well, more than an article is necesary; I recommend a great online guitar program that you should check out - Jamorama.

Let's get you started with these basic steps to reading guitar music!

How To Read Music

Cassandra — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:37:00 -0500

Reading music notes is like reading another language. You cannot learn it overnight. You will need to learn the basics, the alphabet and structure of music, before you can learn to read music. For now you want to just read music notes so notice that the first step assumes you already know (or can find out) the basic structure. If that's not the case, or if you just want a complete grasp on sheet music and want it fast, I suggest the online program, "Learn to Read Music in One Evening" - it just takes one night and has helped many people.

How To Create Out Loud as an Artist

dangoodwin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:52:22 -0500

Does the world know you're an artist?

Do only your immediate family and closest friends know? Does ANYONE know you create?

There are many reasons why keeping our creative lights hidden and barely flickering in the darkness makes it harder to be creative. So here's how to stop whispering and create out loud! And the reasons why it's so important that you do:

How To Create Out Loud: Set aside specific creative time. Request that you not be disturbed. We all deserve time to ourselves, however many people we share our homes and our lives with. Many of us though put creative time at the bottom of our priority lists. In fact, it's not even ON most of our priority lists at all!

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How To Generate an Abundant Stream of Creative Writing Ideas

dangoodwin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:46:33 -0500

Ideas are the starting point for any creative venture. Without an initial idea to develop, your creativity has nothing to get its teeth into, no raw material to shape into beautiful creations.

Here's how to generate all the writing ideas you'll need, an abundant stream that freely flows!

How To Use Creative Writing Exercises To Enrich Your Writing

dangoodwin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:08:05 -0500

If you've been struggling to write much lately, or if you're looking for ways to inject a bit of energy and freshness into your writing, then using creative writing exercises is a great option.

Here are 5 steps on how to get the most from using writing exercises:

How To Find the Creative Treasures Waiting to be Discovered Within You

dangoodwin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:03:19 -0500

Each of us has a vast treasure trove within us, full of artistic creations yet to be discovered. But how many of these precious gifts ever see the light of day? Tragically, very few.

So, here are some tips to help you bring forth more of your unique creative riches:

Experiment in different media. We all have our favourite materials and forms of creating, it's part of knowing how you best express yourself as an artist. But all too often, this simply becomes an excuse to play it safe, and just reproduce almost identical versions of the same artwork over and over again. Hmm. How creative is that?

Experiment with different styles and materials from time to time and it has two key benefits. First, you may well find a new media you love creating in, but have never tried before. Second, you can't help but expand your experience in creating, taking back new ideas and perspectives to your more familiar and preferred creative forms.

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How To Politely Ask Your Inner Critic to Leave the Building

dangoodwin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:27:23 -0500

A creative friend of mine was telling me about when she is in full creative flow.

"I block out all around me, and one of the best things is it's like my inner critic has left the building!" she exclaimed.

So here are 5 of the key steps you need to politely ask (or forcibly eject!) your inner critic from the building that is your mind:

How To Rediscover Your Love of Writing

dangoodwin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:19:09 -0500

How much do you enjoy writing these days? A major reason why many of us struggle to write more is because we simply don't enjoy it anymore. What was once a carefree creative adventure has become a painful slog, about as much fun as a wet weekend indoors with the in-laws...

So how can you begin to rediscover your almost forgotten love of writing again? Here are 7 steps to get you on your way:

How To Become a Fiction Writer

Susan Niz — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:47:42 -0500

You have always enjoyed reading and writing, but another career path led you away from your dream. Perhaps you find the fulfillment of personal expression in writing or maybe you want to be the next millionaire novelist. Whatever your goals, there are practical suggestions for easing into the exciting, but sometimes intimidating world of fiction writing.

How To Write

diatimb — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:29:49 -0500

Learning how to write is actually a very simple process. Through the course of these articles, I am going to share with you excercises and tips on how to get past the road blocks and brain freezes that affect most of us as soon as we sit in front of the computer. So sit back, have fun and enjoy the ride!

The Basics of Writing:

How To Overcome Creative Constipation

dangoodwin — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:53:56 -0500

Ever feel like you're full to bursting with creative ideas and aspirations, but you can never seem to get them out into the world in any useful form? So you mope around with a proverbial aching belly, wondering if you'll ever create freely again...

Help is at hand! Here are 5 steps to overcoming that feeling of creative constipation:

How To Stop Sabotaging your Creativity with Subliminal Messages

dangoodwin — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:27:32 -0500

Do you ever sabotage your creativity and your ability to create?

When you think of sabotage, you might think of obvious ways like not having your materials ready, or not keeping your workspace organised so it's easy to go to and start in creating right away, or not booking clear blocks of time with yourself to spend time creating.

But often the most dangerous and effective ways we sabotage ourselves are those that slip under the radar, the subliminal messages we continually send ourselves without even knowing.

Here are 3 of the most common subliminal messages you may be sending yourself that sabotage your creativity, and what to do instead:

How To Save Yourself From Another Year Lost Without Creating

dangoodwin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:46:17 -0500

Remember when you were a child, Summer seemed to stretch out forever, and in the Winter the snow fell so deep you were almost up to your chest in its thick white blanket?

As you've got older, the seasons seem to be over so much more quickly. You're just building up anticipation for those long Summer days and suddenly it's Autumn again with chilly morning mists and dark evenings. Another year passes without much happening. Another year lost without any creating.

You begin to wonder if you'll ever regain any kind of creative consistency, or whether instead you're destined to spend the rest of your days wallowing in the nostalgia of those golden days of creativity that seem a lifetime away.

It needn't be like this. Here's how you can save yourself from another year lost without creating:

How To Create Without the Fear of Repeating the Same Work Over and Over Again

dangoodwin — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:30:48 -0500

Sometimes it feels like although you're producing a lot of art, there's not actually much creativity going on, because it all feels so similar.

Maybe you've just written the 12th poem this month about the gracefulness of horses, or the first kiss of a new relationship, or the way you're drawn to visit the ocean. There are many reasons why you've not just become a factory robot churning out identical poems time and time again.

Here are 3 of the most important ones to us artists:

How To Create Everyday

dangoodwin — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:05:22 -0500

The key to consistent creativity is to create everyday. So just go and do that and you'll be more creative than you've ever been before. Thanks for reading. The End.

Except it's not quite that simple, or you'd be doing it already, and wouldn't be reading this article for tips, right?

So here are 7 useful tips for helping you to embrace that daily creative habit, and start to see the tremendous benefits it brings:

How To Make Sure You Never Have Any New Creative Ideas

dangoodwin — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:08:10 -0500

Looking for a way to guarantee that you never have any good new ideas as an artist? Here are 5 top tips:

How To Come Back to Creativity

dangoodwin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:05:17 -0500

If it's been a while since you last created consistently, it can feel like a huge challenge to return to creating anything at all, let alone completing a number of creative projects at once. In fact, you might feel you're so far from creativity, and so out of practice, you've lost the map and any hope of ever finding any kind of creative flow again.

However long it's been, and however far away you feel, there are ways we can all come back to creativity. Here's a simple 5-step plan to help:

How To Be Your Own Best Friend

dangoodwin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:53:41 -0500

However much support you receive from others, being the most creative you can be begins with looking after yourself and being kind and supportive to yourself. Without doing this, you'll not only be locked in an internal mental battle, but you'll also be more likely to reject or dismiss the genuine encouragement of others.

Here then are 5 steps to being your own best friend.

How To Have Hundreds of Fantastic Creative Ideas

dangoodwin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:32:08 -0500

Here’s a question. Where does all creativity begin? Where do all the greatest artworks, the most wonderful songs, the finest sculptures ever created come from?

OK, that’s two questions. The answer to both is the same. From an initial idea.

Everything we create as artists starts with a tiny seed of an idea that we then explore and expand upon, add other ideas too, edit and hone until we can release it into the world as our art.

So it follows that no ideas equals no creativity and no artwork. And a very unhappy artist.

If we don’t have that raw material to shape, it doesn’t matter how talented we are, it’s like the equivalent of asking a gourmet chef to conjure up a delicious banquet - without any food.

Here then are the crucial 3 steps for having a lifetime of fantastic creative ideas:

How To Stop the Shoulds and Create with Freedom

dangoodwin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:58:00 -0500

When you create, how often does the word "should" cross your mind?

I should be doing this perfectly, I should be doing as I was taught, I should be observing the rules, I should be doing what they want me to do...

It doesn't make for a very happy artist. In fact, whatever you create under these kind of conditions (that is if you manage to create at all) will be tainted by an underlying resentment that you haven't created what you heart truly desired.

Here are 3 of the most dangerous forms of "should" and how to shut them off.

How To Create Without Feeling Completely Selfish

dangoodwin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:34:42 -0500

When you create, are you able to do so guilt-free, unconcerned with what else you could be doing with your time?

Most of us struggle to get close to this state, instead being racked with guilt that we're even contemplating spending time on our own doing something as self indulgent as creating when our partners are seeking our attention, our children approach us with some new "emergency" every 5 minutes and there's an ever expanding stack of domestic chores nagging at our conscience. Ever been there?

If you can put all these factors to one side for just a moment though, you'll see that creating is actually one of the best things you can be doing with your time. Not just for you, for everyone. Here are the 3 big reasons why creating is not completely selfish:

How To Swim When You're Drowning in Creative Ideas

dangoodwin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:58:58 -0500

If I asked: "Do you struggle with creative ideas?", you'd probably think I was talking about not having enough ideas and the problems that can cause. Equally debilitating though - and often overlooked - is the dilemma of having TOO MANY creative ideas, and being so overwhelmed with possible creative projects that you COULD start, you end up doing none at all.

So here are 5 tips to help you learn to swim when it feels like you're drowning in creative ideas:

How To Release the Creative Writer Within You

dangoodwin — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:01:32 -0500

We all have writing ability within us, just as we're all able to communicate in other ways, like speaking and listening. If you've been curious about how you can explore the writing talents within you, but haven't been sure how to get started, here's your chance.

Follow these 7 tips to release the creative writer within:

How To Rediscover your Motivation to Create

dangoodwin — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:07:09 -0500

Momentum is an important word in the life of a creative person. When you have momentum, when you create regularly and feel fully in the creative flow, then creating comes easily. There's no time to stop and think about the struggles and the blocks--you're too busy creating and having a great time!

Creating with momentum has a cumulative effect and once you're going, it's much easier to keep going.

The opposite state to this kind of momentum is inertia--when you can barely create a word, a stitch or a stroke, let alone a novel, tapestry or painting. And, like momentum, inertia breeds and builds. The longer you stay inert, and the longer you struggle to get creating, the harder that first step feels.

How To Become an Endless Wellspring of Creativity

dangoodwin — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:33:07 -0500

Would you say your creativity was like a bottomless well, an everlasting supply that can provide all the ideas and energy you need, whatever new creative project you begin?

If you're thinking "Bottomless well? More like a shallow puddle!" then read on for 7 steps to becoming an endless wellspring of creativity.

How To Rediscover Your Creative Inner Puppy

dangoodwin — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:25:39 -0500

Have you ever had a new puppy that's absolutely bounding with energy? Each morning it wakes at the crack of dawn, hurtles into your room and jumps all over you with its oversized paws before you've even opened an eye? Then when you do get up, puppy takes YOU for a walk round a few blocks, seemingly having the strength of a small cart horse!

This kind of energy may not be exactly what you need first thing in the morning, but nonetheless it's amazing to see that kind of endless enthusiasm for life.

How does this compare with your approach to creating? Do you have a similar bounding energy, passion and zest for life when you create? Or is it more like a tired old flea-bitten mongrel hoping to be out of its misery?

Here are 5 steps to helping you rediscover your inner creative puppy!

How To Write When You Think You’ve Forgotten How

dangoodwin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:09:02 -0500

Beneath all your fears and concerns about writing, you have the same abilities that you've always had. In fact, because now you're more experienced than you've ever been before and you've more material in your own life to draw upon, you're actual in the best position you've ever been to rediscover your creative writing abilities.

But we can't necessarily sweep all those fears and concerns to one side in an instant and just return to writing again in full flow. Or you would have done that a long time ago already.

So how DO you get back in touch with your writing abilities? How do you even begin when the thought of writing even a couple of sentences seems about as easy as running a marathon backwards? Whilst giving a gorilla a piggyback!

There are two key components:

How To Become the Most Creative Person You Know

dangoodwin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:49:37 -0500

Who is the most creative person you know? What is it that makes them so creative? Is it their outlook on life? Is it the amount of ideas they come up with? Is it the number of new and varied creative projects they take on?

Whatever it is that makes them this creative, their position is about to be under threat. From you! Here are 5 tips to help YOU become the most creative person you know:

How To Write a How-To Book

fawcett — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:56:20 -0500

I define a "how-to" book as one that is written by an expert or specialist in a specific field that explains to the reader exactly how to successfully perform and/or replicate a particular task, process or activity related to that field. How-to books are always non-fiction. The essence of a how-to book is a set of instructions that one can follow to complete or achieve the task, process, or activity that is being described in the book. Based on e-mails that I receive on a regular basis from aspiring how-to writers, many are intimidated by the actual writing process itself. So, what I have done in my book titled "How To Write A How-To Book (or eBook)" is to share a surefire step-by-step writing process that I have developed and fine-tuned over the last couple of decades. In fact, I started developing an early version of this process more than 20 years ago when I first found myself having to write structured reports on various subjects.

How To Punctuate Dialogue

Kidwriter — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:12:38 -0500

How To Find Your Natural Writing Style

dangoodwin — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:57:55 -0500

Finding your own unique voice in writing is not something that can simply happen overnight.

When we’re born, we don’t pop out of our mother’s womb conversing fluently in 3 different languages. It takes time to discover how to communicate, and even when we’ve achieved a competent grasp our native language, it’s still a lifelong journey of finding new nuances, learning new words and honing the way we communicate so we can understand – and are understood – more clearly.

So your writing is a natural extension of this. Even when you have that competency in your mother tongue, as a writer you can then go on to develop an original and distinctive writing style. Here are 5 tips to make this a rewarding journey:

How To Create When You’re Feeling Blocked

dangoodwin — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 12:04:25 -0500

All of us as artists go through phases where we feel blocked, and struggle to flow creatively as freely as we could. When you find yourself in one of these sticky and frustrating periods, here are 5 tips to help get your creativity gushing forth like a mighty river once more:

How To Be a Better Creative Writer: 7 Top Writing Tips

dangoodwin — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 01:17:18 -0500

There are many ways to enhance your natural abilities as a creative writer. Here are 7 of the best tips to get you started:

How To Get Unblocked and Enjoy Your Creative Writing Again

dangoodwin — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 01:10:58 -0500

There are times when we get so caught up in the struggles of trying to write, we forget that it's actually supposed to be fun. But sitting at a blank page for the 10th time in two days, finding it about as easy to write as tap-dancing on a tightrope, it's not hard to see why we don't associate this with pleasure and enjoyment.

So what can YOU do to get unblocked and bring the enjoyment back into your creative writing? Here are 5 top tips:

How To Put the Fun Back in Your Creative Writing

dangoodwin — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 01:06:08 -0500

How much fun have you had writing lately? Has it felt carefree and exciting, like an adventure of discovery with good friends? Or as enjoyable as a wet weekend in a cramped hotel room with people you don't even like?

Here are 5 tips for putting the fun back in your creative writing:

How To Be Creative: 5 Ways to Give Up Perfectionism

dangoodwin — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:50:36 -0500

There's no one who creates who hasn't been struck at some point by the deadly effects of perfectionism. Trying to get every last detail of a creative project "just right" before you can say it's finished can add days, months, even years to its duration. Sometimes we're so dominated by this kind of perfectionism, we never finish any projects at all.

Even worse, sometimes we're so afraid of not getting something right - or we don't believe we can - that we don't even start anything creative. So our creativity just decays and writhes inside, and we punish ourselves daily, not only by not creating, but also by blaming ourselves for not creating. Not a pretty situation from any angle.

So how can we give up these destructive traits of perfectionism and create with a new freedom and sense of adventure? Here's a 5-step plan to get you started:

How To Create and Use Metaphors Effectively

tmiller158 — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:27:40 -0500

How To Record Your Own Music

yen03 — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:08:31 -0500

Here I share my experience recording my own music.

How To Have All the Creative Ideas You'll Ever Need

dangoodwin — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:59:04 -0500

Do you feel like the major reason you're not more creative is because you just don't have enough good ideas? Or that you don't have enough ideas at all, good or otherwise!

Here's 3 steps to having all the creative ideas you'll ever need...

How To Write Books for Children

Kidwriter — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:47:27 -0500

How To Paint Flowers with Acrylic Paints

Cassandra — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:46:36 -0500

Painting can be a relaxing or frustrating endeavor. Starting with flowers can be an interesting way to develop your skill. Follow these steps and you will be able to paint flowers with acrylic paints.

Materials:
Acrylic paints (in a variety of colors)
Canvas

Tools:
Paintbrushes (in a variety of sizes)
Pencil

How To Be Creative: 7 Sure Ways to Greater Creativity

dangoodwin — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:20:47 -0500

If you’ve found creating about as easy as tap dancing knee deep in molasses lately, here are 7 ways to help you get your creativity flowing again:

How To Do a Good Translation

CVRAJAN — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:59:05 -0500

The world may be divided by peoples of different languages but knowledge transcends the barriers of language, thanks to the existence of translators. Doing translation from one language to another is both a skill and an art. Mere knowledge or scholarship on two languages alone can not make one qualified to be a good translator.

When translating a written text from one language to another, the type of skills required for a translator varies depending upon the content -- whether it is fiction, non-fiction, poetry, textbook, biography, philosophy, religion, holy scripture, mythology, hymns, etc. A good translator, having excellent command over the two languages, need not be able to do translation in all (or several) of these groups of content. A translator must make an honest self-judgment about his range of knowledge, exposure and degree of assimilation and decide to undertake translation only on those subjects where he can do real justice.

How To Be Creative: 7 Secrets of Creative Flow

dangoodwin — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:11:58 -0500

Being highly creative is all about finding your natural rhythms, and getting into your creative flow so you create without even thinking about it.

Here then are 7 secrets of creative flow you can start putting into action today:

How To Organise Your Creative Space To Be More Creative

dangoodwin — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:37:32 -0500

How you organise your creative space has a major impact on how freely you create. If you’re struck with an idea you just have to start work on, but then rush to your work space only to find a sea of materials, papers and miscellaneous ephemera piled a foot high, and your tools and equipment partially buried underneath and scattered around various other parts of the room, you’re not giving yourself much of a chance to create at your most freely.

Imagine an Olympic sprinter preparing for the final of the 100m. He’s going to want to be fully prepared, clothed, and warmed up physically and mentally so he can be at that starting line in the best possible position to perform at his best for the race.

How To Unlock Your Unique Creativity Code

dangoodwin — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:51:29 -0500

What if there were some secret code you could crack that would allow you to be as creative as you wanted, some way of finding the creative routines and techniques that worked better for you than any others? How valuable would that be to you?

Well, there is a code, your own unique creativity code. It needn’t be such a mystery if you follow these 5 steps to finding it:

How To Rediscover Your Passion to Create

dangoodwin — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:40:57 -0500

However many creative blocks you overcome, if underneath them all you realise you’ve lost the desire and passion to create, it will end in the same result. No creating plus lots of frustration and unhappiness.

What can often happen is because it’s felt like you’ve struggled to create freely for so long, because it’s seemed like you always have a hundred different obstacles to overcome, that creative passion at the core of it all has been reduced to a mere flicker, rather than the roaring flame it once was.

Imagine it as being like a single candle burning on the ground floor of a huge skyscraper. If you’re on top of the building looking down, there’s no way you’ll be able to see the flame or feel its warmth. All you’ll see is a dense mass of concrete glass and steel....even though the candle’s still burning.

So how do you rediscover this passion through all the dissonance? Here are 5 steps to help you on your way:

How To Silence Your Destructive Inner Critic

dangoodwin — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:20:54 -0500

Your inner critic is that destructive voice (or symphony of voices!) in your head that tells you you’re not creative. Here are some of the other common phrases it comes out with:

You’re not a REAL artist, you’re only playing around.
Who ever told you that you had talent anyway?
Why bother starting a new creative project when you’ll only mess it up?
You should be doing something more worthwhile with your time.
Creating is such a selfish act.

How many of those sound familiar?

When you listen to your inner critic and take whatever it says as the truth, it’s unlikely you'll ever get to creating anything. But you needn’t listen to it so attentively.

Here are 5 steps to silencing your inner critic that you can start using right away: