Nicheless & Loving It #88

March 4, 2024

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Greetings

March is often considered a month of contrasts. The wisdom often says “In like a lion, out like a lamb” and vice versa, referring to the weather. When we had more traditional weather patterns, that was often true. The month, starting out with nice weather, often saw a late winter storm to close the month.

With the exception of a couple of weeks of frigid temperatures, this winter has been really mild. The temp took a plunge, and the wind was up to bring March in. Let’s see how it departs.

I completed the post I was working on last Monday. It was using ambient occlusion in Midjourney and updating an older post to do the images in version 6 of Midjourney. The differences between the two versions were quite noticeable.

A discussion about fiberarts and using AI to get pattern ideas during PYPT sparked me to use a style I’d come across, Amigurumi Style, in Midjourney 6. I created several images placing popular characters in unusual settings, then I remixed the images using the style. It was a fun post to create.

I finally started playing with the new style reference feature in Midjourney 6 yesterday. It’s a feature that allows me to use images as part of the style of a new image. I want to play more.

Hope you have a great week.

ShadowsPub

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Quote of the Week

"Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties." - Erich Fromm

Building Resiliency At Any Age

I grew up in a home where my mother held the philosophy that if you were going to do something; you need to do it right the first time. Her reaction to failure was never pleasant. She was fine with it, sort of, if something was ‘practice’. She’d not be as impatient.

She never seemed to get that life is practice. Her children needed to learn resiliency more than perfectionism. I never lost my inner need to be creative. There were just periods of my life when it wasn’t allowed the opportunity to come out and play.

I’ve mused over the years on this by trying to imagine what my journey would have been like if her response to mistakes or failures had been, “Okay, you know what doesn’t work. What will you try next?” No judgement, just implicit encouragement to try again.

The musing is not a ‘poor me’ exercise. There’s value to envisioning yourself being empowered to keep going rather than being berated for not succeeding. Think about the warrior you could become with encouragement.

Why would this matter? That was then, and this is now.

Chances are, if you had a similar experience as a youngster, you might still carry a feeling of fear and dread at every failure. The ghost of the judgemental adult sitting on your shoulder pointing at it, disappointment dripping from their fingertips.

Sound familiar?

Now, turn your thoughts to the empowered you — you who look at an error or failure and think, “well, that didn’t work. Let’s try this.” Start nudging your image toward your shoulder, nudging the negativity out.

You’re building resilience. The resilience young you were not encouraged to build. It took me a lot of years to embrace my resiliency. In doing so, my creativity and confidence grew.

As a creative solopreneur, resiliency is the bedrock to starting, building and sustaining a business. Neither creativity nor business is easy. Learn to keep going, iterate and pivot as needed to find a success path. It’s crucial.

Published:

​Fun With Ambient Occlusion & Midjourney​
​Playing around with the ambient occlusion style and the different versions of Midjourney. The difference between images is fascinating.

​Playing With Amigurumi Style in Midjourney​
Amigurumi is a Japanese term for knitted or crocheted stuffed toys. Use the term in Midjourney and you get some interesting images with knitted or crocheted characters.

​More Great Content Found at PYPT Feb 29th​

Pimp Your Post Thursday (PYPT) is a live content curation show happening every Thursday at noon Eastern in the DreemPort Discord. Some great discussions take place during the shows. Anyone who creates content anywhere can share it on PYPT—community matters. PYPT is a community you’re welcome to drop into. READ MORE​

Podcast:

​Harnessing the Power of Writing Prompts to Break Through Creative Blocks – Ep 3​

Feeling stuck and uninspired? This episode dives into the power of writing prompts to help you overcome creative blocks. Learn how prompts can spark ideas, silence your inner critic, and reignite your creative flow. Tune in for practical strategies and tips to get you writing again!

A Final Thought

"The creative adult is the child who survived." - Ursula K. Le Guin

Take care and be safe, everyone.

ShadowsPub