Liebster Award

I was nominated for this:

When nominated, you are to:

• Thank your nominator
• Answer the 11 questions posed by that person
• Nominate 11 people to answer the 11 questions you write

I do very much thank Angela (really happy to see you blogging again!) but I am in a grad school time crunch and motivation slump. So, I am reading and commenting on all of the blogs that were nominated but am not nominating my own - I don't follow enough to nominate 11 that have small readerships! Instead, if you're reading this, consider yourself nominated and answer me one question: What are 11 ways you motivate yourself? To get out of bed in the morning, to finish the things you don't like on your to-do list, to stop the Netflix binge, to read just one more paper before bed, or even just to take out the trash or make sure your clothes get into the laundry bin (instead of the floor five feet away). The Liebster award and its rules have morphed during its time on the web, so what's one more permutation?

Answers

• Is your day job creative or are you only creative outside of your job? Or do you not see yourself as creative at all?
• I would consider my day job very creative in some ways. As a grad student hoping to be an R1 researcher working to analyze people, I have to figure out some creative ways to ask and answer questions in order to get results. I also have to be creative in my writing to get the results out there and to get grant money. Teaching can be a creative endeavor too. I also inject some creativity into meetings, reading papers, and other times throughout the day by always having some knitting on me.
• What advice do you have for people to be more creative in their everyday lives?
• Change your definition of creativity. Aside from that (everything is creative!), pick out one new food from the produce section or farmer's market per month and/or a new recipe to try, take a new route home and stop somewhere interesting along the way (new store, nice picture spot, etc.), and find one thing about your home you don't like, then go about fixing it.
• How would you define art versus craft or are they the same thing?
• Oooh, that's a good one. They can be the same. I would say some of the things I make are definitely on the art side (cabled blanket, lace wrap, crocheted bowls), even though they are the same basic crafts of knitting and crochet. I think it depends on both the intent and the finished product more so than the technique, and you'd have to ask the artist/crafter to define whether their work is meant to be more of an heirloom/art piece or a workhorse craft item.
• If you could have any creative talent, what would you choose?
• I'd love to be better at color mixing. It's both a talent and a science, and while I can understand a lot of the science-y bits about value and hue, my husband always has the last say on colors for projects because he just gets colors and I really don't.
• Who or what inspires you in your creativity?
•  I don't think I really do the type of creative works that come from an inspiration. Crafty things I just do, they keep me sane and focused. Scholarly things are branching interest areas, often questions that are brought on by reading other things in that area. So other researchers and their works?
• What artist / writer / songwriter do you love but no one seems to know about?
• Hmmmm. I love Kathy Reichs for her rich description - she writes like I'd like to for my observational research writings, and writes the crime stories Bones the TV show is based on, so she's not that unknown. As for music, I have both The Piano Guys and Lindsey Stirling on my RSS feed, and I've gone to see Moon Hooch twice live. I'm not sure how well-known they may or may not be, but if you haven't heard of them, check them out!
• When was the last time you drew something?
• Aside from a free body diagram or engineering sketch of some sort? 8th grade art? Drawing is one of those hit-or-miss things with me, sometimes I'm in the zone and sometimes I can't even make a circle look round!
• Do you sing in the shower? To family, friends, or the dog? In public?
• I love singing and if I'm alone in the car, I'm probably singing along to the radio. Anyone want to go to the local karaoke bar?
• What would you name your band if you started one today?
•  PhDone.
• Expanding on that last question…what would be the title and topic of your first big hit?
• Something about grad school. Grad School Blues? Graduation is Just a Dissertation Away? A PhD is a Dream Your Heart Makes?

I Choose You:

You! The reader! To tell me 11 ways you get or stay motivated!