the NaNoWriMo folks

are starting to pester me and all the other lunati - I mean, novelists out there who have in the past or are planning to pound out a 50K-word book in one month. I partook in NaNo last year, and it wasn't pretty. Neither was I by the end of it.

This year is all about focus on the essentials, so I - sadly - won't be doing the November novel blitzkrieg. It may be a bad decision, since the book currently in the hopper really does need to be finished and sent off. But instead of the NaNo I'll be focusing on the day jobs - mommying, teaching and soaping (and, of course, working on the book as much as possible).


It seems a little pathetic to blog about t.v. shows, but the fact is I rely on a couple of them to give me some inspiration when it's time to create the season's new and not-so-new soaps. For instance, while whipping up a batch of these Waltz of the Flowers bars



I have been getting inspiration from Ace of Cakes, which is basically a day-in-the-life look at the bakers of Charm City Cakes. I'm also a huge fan of The Rachel Zoe Project. I'm not nearly as interested in the personal drama inherent in these shows so much as I love seeing examples of the creative drive in action.

So, for you creative types out there, what do you do to get those artsy juices flowing?Follow @nicole_mcinnes