Insecure Writer's Support Group Day and Blog Lists Revisited: I Need An Intern, and Blog Tasks

A while back, I noted that "one of the things I used to use this blog for often was as an info-dump for upcoming writing projects, yearly goals, 30 Things I Want To Do, and so on. If they're written down, my brain feels less frazzled."

This is still true, so today I'm going to update two of the lists. I'm not adding to the list of Simmering on the Back Burner Writing Projects (not counting items already started) because there are too many now to count, and collating them is one of the tasks for my magical intern.

Task lists!

For the blog:

• Change the template again, so that I can go back to using daily drop cap
• Update all the photos in old posts
• Update all the broken links in old posts (e.g. storify links)
• Compile all posts for the next blogiversary, the way I did during celebrations for my 500th post
• Related to the above, I'd like to keep track of all my book reviews (see intern list below)
• Finish visiting everyone that's come by in the last few years and keep up with the blog roll
• Re-sync with FB and tumblr and Ello and Pinterest
• Consider adding tags
• Prepare guest posts for Tolkienist, Tolkien Library, ROW80, etc.

Things I need an intern for:

• Type up all of the scraps and scribbles where I've written my dreams
• Type up and collate all my story ideas
• Copy all my book reviews from the blog to Amazon and Goodreads (and vice versa)
• Add the 500+ books I've gotten since I finished the catalogue, including all ARCs and other items in pdf saved in emails and on computer(s)
• Create an organised system for shelving all the written drafts of writing from the past decades
• Go through all the piles of "saved stuff" and emails, then make a comprehensive wishlist of all the books to get, including from the Folio Society
• Create a database to store every knitting pattern/recipe/good idea/remember to look up/quotes/poetry/etc. I've ever collected
• Finish curating my Twitter feed: Unfollow all the spammers and sort my lists, and collate my list of favourites into groups of items to watch, read, research, etc.
• Collate all lists of places to visit and travel ideas, including those on Trello

I noted back then that "there are always items to add to the list" and this is truer now than ever. I haven't even mentioned family photo albums and unsubscribing from various email lists and bringing home all the stuff that doesn't need to be at the office and vice versa...


This month's IWSG Day question is:
Has a single photo or work of art ever inspired a story?
What was it and did you finish it? 

Have I ever! Most of my short stories have been inspired by random lines from other stories.
My vignette was inspired by an image of a taxi in New York.
Here's the beginning:

Riding home in a taxi

late at night and we’re stopped at an intersection

and I look up from where I’m slumped against the window—it’s comforting

to slump when you’ve only had three drinks and are playing at melancholy, without actually being drunk—

to see a courtyard with a tree all strung up with Christmas lights, in front of a stone-facade classic New York building

and there’s a light on in an upstairs window;

I've had story scenes inspired my images. There's a photo of Amanda Palmer wearing a green cocktail dress and wielding a knife, and it gave me all the inspiration I needed for a crucial part of Santiago and Mawdlen's plot in Captive of the Sea.
I love coming across these types of things. Sometimes, in the throes of writer's block, looking at images helps to start a scene, but mostly, it works better if the image leaps out at you. This is part of the reason I like to flip through magazines and catalogues even on topics that don't interest me directly. You never know when an image or phrase is going to spark an idea...

The awesome co-hosts for this month are

Lee Lowery,

Ronel Janse van Vuuren, 

Jennifer Hawes,

 Cathrina Constantine,

and Tyrean Martinson!

What sorts of items are on your backburner lists?

Which images have inspired you recently?