Creative Listening 

Lately I've been feeling a bit stuck. OK, I admit it. Actually I'm feeling really, really, really stuck. I feel uncertain as to how to move forward in life in general, and specifically in my creative life. What to do? Where to go?

I think that my tendency in this situation is to grit my teeth and forge ahead; either retreating into familiar habits and patterns, or else recklessly charging full speed ahead into something new. Let’s take a look at these responses.

The first is my personal go-to, the knee…

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Order Out Of Chaos 

I am participating in the Writing Contest:

How Writing Has Positively Influenced My Life

Hosted by Positive Writer 

I can see her still ... a little girl on a big rock. She fondly called it her "thinking rock". It was her safe place, her space that placed some distance between her and some very difficult situations. It was there that she created her first poems. And it was this poetic play with words that led to song writing, first changing lyrics to already popular songs to the words she wanted to…

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Creative Love 

What can I say? It's the day after Valentine's Day, so a blog about love seems logical ... or at least close to my heart! I got to thinking about the way we love each other - and wondering if creativity could play a role in helping us to do it better?  

We seem to be in the midst of a revolution of sorts in planning weddings, baby showers, and other special occasions with a bent for the unique, the quirky, the not-so-traditional, and the not-quite-like-any-one-else's. This can range from a refreshing…

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Good Intentions 

Happy New Year! 2015 has arrived and probably came in along with many resolutions, goals, dreams, desires, and plans on the calendar. By the time I write this blog, many of these grand ideas will have already been cast off like uncomfortable clothes, and set aside. 

I confess that I am a chief among list makers. I organize, sort, classify, and cross out. I compile and categorize. I order and number. There was a time in my life when I could not go to bed before every item on that day’s to-do list was…

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Celebration Creativity 

It’s the holidays! Party after party! Present after present! Food and more food! Afterwards … What is left to celebrate?

If you are anything like me, despite the overfilling and overload of the holiday celebrations, I can end up feeling quite empty indeed. After the holidays as I remove the decorations that filled me with such joy before the date, I find that my house looks sad, dejected and very, very plain. The days ahead loom very, very ordinary. The contrast is stark.

I often sense the same cycle in…

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Seasonal Creativity Disorder 

 

November is here. The time change has arrived.

Winter is approaching. 

I know many who suffer from mild to moderate seasonal affective disorder. I feel the tendency myself. And I wonder, can we suffer in this same way creatively as well? 

So many things loom larger as distractions in my creative life as the seasons change. The dark for one! Darkness early in the evening makes me want to shut down and hibernate, rather than continue any creative pursuits. Temperamental weather (at least when you are as…

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Fall Back 

The time change in the autumn season is coming soon. “Fall back in the fall,” as they say. Personally I relish the one extra hour of sleep. (This is my favorite part.) Which prompted the thought, what do I fall back on in my creative life when it needs renewal and rejuvenation? 

 

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In regard to relationships, we encourage couples to keep the spark alive with date nights. These special occasions can bring new life, laughter, joy, and a fresh reminder of what made us fall in…

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Good Enough 

Never in my wildest imagination did I ever think I would write a blog with the title “Good Enough.” My driven and perfectionistic personality simply wouldn’t allow for it. Fast forward and this is exactly where I am and what I want to talk about … good enough. 

This summer I have been a substantive editor for a book manuscript. Between 300-400 pages of information on a topic that I am only very marginally informed about. What I estimated as around 80 hours of work has exceeded that number, and shot past…

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Creative Commitment 

“For better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health …”

Over the past weekend I heard these age-old vows repeated with new eagerness and longing at the wedding of some dear friends. Stunningly beautiful. These words echoed in my thoughts as I was reminded of my own life - not just my wedded life, but my creative life as well.

 

 

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This past month I was sick for 15 straight days and even as I begin to feel somewhat like myself again, I am still very…

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Staying Rooted 

Yes, I am quite aware that “staying rooted” seems like an odd follow up to my last post “chasing dreams” - almost paradoxical, seemingly opposite. In thinking this through however, I am becoming more convinced of the close relationship between the two. One seems free spirited and the other “stuck in its ways,” but let’s dig (pun intended) a little deeper.

I have recently had some enormous gusts blow though my life … those proverbial winds of change, winds of family members’ illnesses and aging, winds of…

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