Tools, Essays, and Experiments for Creative People
Weren’t You Writing a Book?
On resetting a writing practice with the Bradbury (3/1/52) challenge and some book recommendations.
Image: Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916). Fear. 1866. The Cleveland Museum of Art; Collection: PR - Etching; Department: Prints. https://jstor.org/stable/community.24621110.
Summer Reading: Learn with JSTOR & Weird Detectives
It’s time for summer reading: lists of journal articles from JSTOR and an invitation to read some weird detective fiction with me!
Image: E Mervyn Taylor. Bookplate: Ex Libris G.W. Boot. 1960. Wood engraving. Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa Tongarewa; Collection: Art; Gift of Mrs E Henderson, 1987. https://jstor.org/stable/community.27022908.
RSS Feeds: Still Around, Still Good
The web is fractured and distracting! An RSS feed aggregator is one way to collect the info you want where it’s convenient for you.
Image: Magnetic Telegraph Company. Henley’s Magneto Electric Double Needle Telegraph, 1848-1852. In Henley’s Magneto Electric Double Needle Telegraph, 1848-1852 [Co32906]. 1848-1852. Science Museum Group Collection; Donated by HM Postmaster General. Open: Science Museum Group. Artstor. https://jstor.org/stable/community.26229964.
Lovely Libraries & Radiant Reading Rooms
A gallery of photos of libraries from across Wikimedia Commons.
Image: Another Believer, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Image link.
Creative Commons and the Public Domain: What Does it all Mean?
A roundup of resources to help creators and users of media of all sorts navigate licensing and copyright issues.
Image: Lachenal and Favre, 558 Glacier du Géant, Chamonix, Savoie, 1871-1882, Lachenal and Favre Glass Stereoscopic Photographs Collection, Williams College Visual Resources Center, https://jstor.org/stable/community.16225604.
Artists’ Books and New Zine Format
Artists’ books for exploration and inspiration.
Image: Artist Seated at Easel, Death Looks over His Shoulder, 1767. n.d. Wellcome Collection. https://jstor.org/stable/community.24751048.
Making the Most of Writing Advice: Paying Attention to Procrastination
A post on recognizing and working with procrastination.
Image: Ephemera Collection. QV: Drug Industry. n.d. Wellcome Collection. https://jstor.org/stable/community.24747162.
DIY Art: Turmeric Anthotypes
An easy art project using what you already have in the kitchen.
Being Bad at Hobbies as a Creative Strategy (and Zine Again!)
How to practice relaxing expectations around the results of creative work by pursuing hobbies we aren’t good at. Also, new zine!
Making the Most of Writing Advice Series
Links to every post in the “Making the Most of Writing Advice” series.
Image © 2026 by Ann Cooper
Making the Most of Writing Advice: Goal Setting, Permission, and Validation
SMART goals should be achievable, but what does that really mean? This post is about making more ambitious goals and pursuing them with self-compassion.
Image © 2026 by Ann Cooper
Another Zine Thing!
It’s time for another ZINE THING! Bring your low expectations and enjoy another minizine of emotional self-portraits. I also rounded up some places to submit your zines for publishing and/or distribution. Let’s go write zines!
Image: Biscuit Driver © 2026 by Ann Cooper
Making the Most of Writing Advice: Tune Your Perspective
This is the first post in a series on making the most of writing advice without getting overwhelmed. We’re starting with two principles for putting writing advice into perspective: consider the source and remember that everyone’s process is different.
Image: Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Dora Greenwell, and Dalziel Brothers, Young woman leaning against a wall reading a book as snowflakes fall, wood engraving by Dalziel Brothers, 1863, after E. Burne-Jones, Wellcome Collection, https://jstor.org/stable/community.24885859.
Around the Web with Cutaway Drawings
I love cutaway drawings, especially of buildings. This post is a gallery of public domain cutaway drawings, mostly from Wikimedia Commons, followed by a short list of cutaway books to check out.
Image: Russell Porter, Cutaway Sketch of 200″ Telescope and Dome, 1938, https://jstor.org/stable/community.30991769.
Lists of Rules
What’s more satisfying than a list? A list of lists! What’s more fun than a list of lists? A list of lists of writing rules!
Image: Hermann Rorschach, Rorschach Inkblot Test, Bern Switzerland, 1942, Science Museum Group Collection, Open: Science Museum Group, Artstor, https://jstor.org/stable/community.38358143.
Zine Thing!
I can't draw—I have no training and less talent—but I made a minizine of some of my drawings, anyway! This post has a free pdf of my zine and a roundup of resources on zines and zine making.
Image: Logs Don’t Need to Smile © 2025 by Ann Cooper
Mumscapes
A gallery of fall flower portraits for a winter’s day.
Image: Ann Cooper, 2025, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Around the web with Stereographs
Around the web with some book recommendations and dancing stereograph photos.
Image: Unknown maker. Stereoscopic Camera. 1875-1890. Wood; metal; glass, Science Museum Group; Gift of J.T. Chapman Limited. Open: Science Museum Group. Artstor. https://jstor.org/stable/community.38369026.
Divination and Confidence
Creative confidence and tolerating the ‘taste gap’ for November.
Image: Felix Fontaine, The Golden Wheel Dream-book and Fortune-teller (1862; Project Gutenberg, 2019), https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/60045/images/i_frontis.jpg.
Liminal Spaces on JSTOR
A gallery of images of liminal spaces.
Image: William F. Small, Robert Cary Long, Jr. and William B. Phillips, Western State Hospital, 1828, photograph, University of Virginia Richard Guy Wilson Architecture Archive, https://jstor.org/stable/community.2059536.