At the desk, 8:26 a.m.
It's actually Super Steve, our awesome tech guy, who first introduced me to the idea of changing my desktop wallpaper (you know the image you see on your computer screen when you're not actively working?) a few years ago. Honestly, I'd never thought of it.
Over the last few years, I've found changing my desktop to be a fabulous way to reinvigorate my thought processes, shift my thinking, and, in some ways, give me inspiration. In some ways, I'm sure my desktop image reflects my mood at the time.
When I'm deep in thought, I tend to have darker images of water. When I'm feeling open and ready to start something new, I tend to put up a lighter image that reflects my readiness. Sometimes, I see these images a lot during a day. Other times, I never think about them.
There are a few things I never make my desktop wallpaper:
- I never post winter images. While I don't hate winter and cold as much as I used to, it's best left on the other side of the blinds.
- I rarely post images of people or graphics of people.
- I never post anything pornographic.
- I don't usually post red images
I often use images that are:
- blue and green - colors that say "creative" to me;
- images of nature or natural scenes;
- trees - I just have a thing for trees;
- some ironic images - this Banksy graphic makes a journey across my desktop at least once a year. I don't have any idea why I think it's so funny, I just do;
- because I think writing requires quite a bit of perspective, I often use images that show a different perspective on something 'normal.'
(For the record, Super Steve tends to post pictures from space.)
Where do you get free and fabulous desktop wallpaper? Here are a few of my favorite sites:
- Super Steve introduced me to Smashing Magazine. (If you have a website or blog, Smashing Magazine has truly awesome resources.) Once a month, they have a kind of "contest" for desktop wallpaper. I tend to go there at least once a month just to look. You can get wallpaper images with a Calendar and without one. I go back and forth on what I use.
- Wallbase is a wonderful website which has a little bit of everything for everyone. (If you're at work or don't want soft porn/violent - like me - make sure to search with the SW button lit.) These images are gorgeous.
- Pinterest (my buddy Jeff Johnson has gorgeous photos), Flickr (my friend Janet has gorgeous photos) or... I have used images that I've found on the web. Most things are published now under the creative commons license which means you can use them if they are for personal, non-public, use. If they aren't created as wallpaper, the images can distort, but we're not talking about perfection, we're talking about inspiration.
You're probably wondering about my wallpaper. Early this year, when I was working to get Denver Cereal books, Cimarron and Black Forest, complete, add the finishing touches to Lean on Me, and wrap up the Queen of Cool, my desktop wallpaper was this:
Today, my desktop wallpaper is:
What's on your desktop?
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