• my friends: what's up
• me: I can't stop thinking about how birds don't remember a time before roads. Like, birds have no written history or oral tradition. As far as any bird is concerned, This is how the world has Always been and they're just tryin' to make it like the rest of us. They just keep on keepin' on. Birds have no idea there used to be so much more for them. So much forest and food abundant, so they just live in this era the best they can without the burdensome knowledge of the life they could have lived and I find that both fortunate and sad.
• my friends: Why Are You Like This.

[schrodingersowen]

no but really, like 

i know that some folks love telling creative people that “you should be doing it for fun because you love it not for the compliments” but creative people thrive on feedback whether it’s critical or just complimentary

so when i write fanfiction and don’t get any actual feedback i feel like i spent all that time and energy doing it for nothing because i’m not getting feedback from the people i wrote it for 

doing something you’re proud of and then presenting it to the sound of utter silence is like the worst feeling on earth 

[prince-vegeta-universe]

I know the feeling of this.

[thebestpersonherelovesbucky]

i like to think: what if you were in a play and you spend all that time learning your lines and your cues and going to rehearsal for hours and hours and being bone tired and then getting up on stage opening night and giving it your all only to be met with silence from the audience at the final curtain call. No one would question why that upset them.

[redshoesnblueskies]

An art instructor in my childhood said something to me I’ve never forgotten - that a work of art isn’t complete until it has been experienced - seen, heard, etc.  That this wasn’t just some abstract concept, but a visceral truth for the artist - that the work wasn’t DONE until the end result had been witnessed, appreciated, critiqued - whatever, it didn’t have to be positive negative knowledgable, it just had to happen as the concluding event, the final brush stroke.

Some folks who don’t get it go about thinking we make art or write fic because we crave praise or attention or fans, or even that some writers/artists thrive on negativity and drama (and to be sure, all of these things are true some times!).  But that’s too narrow an understanding of why we art. I think my art teacher was telling a fundamental truth about the psychology of creativity - that art is a communal experience, that until we share our creative work and see how people respond, we do not have closure on that work.  

Art is communication - and communication shouted into the void is frighteningly isolating. We need our readers our viewers our audience. We need to hear what you think. We need to converse in comments, answer your counter thoughts or thoughtful critique, we need the conversation - that’s what art is :)

Never feel bad for desiring feedback - it’s not some extra frill that exists outside of the creative process. It is a critical part of the creative process - and if you cannot find your audience in one venue, don’t give up.  Keep putting your art out there until your audience finds you :)

[aristoteliancomplacency]

Yes: that.

I don’t make art because I enjoy it. I make art because I am trying to communicate. And if it fails to elicit any response at all, or I can’t even tell if anyone saw it/read it then I have failed, or will suspect I have failed, to communicate and I’m gonna feel bad about that.

[slitheringink]

Same goes for writing folks.

-Morgan

[purplemaple-xoxo]

Its true

[ladyyatexel]

I’ve been saying it’s my attempts at communication for years. This is a good.

Understanding today’s rocket engine market

[spaceexp]

Bethesda, MD (SPX) Jun 01, 2016
Many innovators have proposed a variety of concepts that might propel a launch vehicle from Earth to orbit. However, only two basic types of rocket engines have survived the test of fire: Solid propellant and liquid propellant rockets. There are still a few who believe hybrids are the answer to achieving orbital speeds with meaningful payloads. However, none of the liquid/solid contraption
Full article

[miss-mandy-m]

Makeup Mondays:

Pastel purple sparkle inspiration

[retrocgads]

USA 1995

You have to write when you’re not inspired. And you have to write the scenes that don’t inspire you. And the weird thing is that six months later, a year later, you’ll look back at them and you can’t remember which scenes you just wrote when you were inspired and which scenes you just wrote because they had to be written next

Neil Gaiman (via nevernlandia)

How does wandering a western desert
help me travel to an island far to the east? Because I need to pick
up a shoe to throw at a cat so a rat will save me when I’m trapped in
a cellar – otherwise I won’t have a leg of lamb to give to an eagle
so he’ll carry me to a beach when I’m captured by a roc. That’s why!

http://advgamer.blogspot.ca/search/label/King%27s%20Quest%20V%3A%20Absence%20Makes%20the%20Heart%20Go%20Yonder

[jackviolet]

Photo by Kornel Michalič.

Samovars are a totally steampunk way to make tea, say I.