about those resolutions . . . .

Welcome to the New Year.

This is going to be a different sort of year for me than past years.

For one thing, it will be my first full year as a retired person.  That seems to be working out just fine, fine, fine.  (This is where I do a few back flips).


I'm finding myself more prone to just being quiet and doing a lot of pondering.  I like to ponder.

source:  parisandbeyond-genie.blogspot.com

Sitting quietly and allowing thoughts to just wander is a luxury.  One I'm allowing myself more of.

source:  chrisridley.photoshelter.com

And it's the year I'm truly going to try to stretch my wings.  To grow creatively.



And also try to learn to "just be."



It's the year I'll be attending my first Malice Domestic convention, which I am super excited about.   Some of my all-time favorite writers will be attending, Jan Burke is this year's Guest of Honor, Dana Cameron is Toastmaster.   And - a huge big major plus for me -  a woman I admire more than I can say, Elizabeth Peters aka Barbara Michaels, is being honored.  I would not miss this for the world!  I think I own every Barbara Michaels book published and re-read them all often.

I'm riding up to the convention on AmTrak.  My first experience on AmTrak.  I haven't been on a train since I was at Brandywine College and used to scoot around to a few favorite cities for the weekend - and loved it.  I'm pretty much through with planes, I think.  If I can't get there conveniently by car or by train, it's probably not gonna happen for me.  I worked in the airline industry for several years in the late 60s/early 70s and I remember how much fun it was; it is so far from fun these days that I've decided it's just something I'm not going to do.



This was year I gave in and made some resolutions.  Three of them.

One, to write.

Two, to read Julia Cameron's THE ARTIST'S WAY, and do the accompanying exercises.

Three, read David Busch's book about my camera and learn to use all its features.

So, nine days into the new year it may be time to give an accounting.

I'm writing.  Happily so!  I now have 48,214 written words.  Not that they're all great words, or even THE words, but it's a pretty decent start, I think.

I've been getting lots of questions about this new venture of mine, and I have to say, I'm surprised at how much interest y'all are showing - Thank You!!!

I'm not ready to say too much yet (isn't that bad luck, or something?), but I'll tell you what I feel comfortable telling you.  I started writing "The Book," in April of last year.  It takes place in the south (surprise!!  LOL!!).

 

Actually, truth be told, y'all are probably going to be sick to death of this book way before I ever get to "The End."

I'm reading THE ARTIST'S WAY, and have started doing the Week One exercises.  It's interesting.  Some of what she says is the sort of thing that makes me kinda itchy.  It's not my normal way of looking at things, or going about things.  I'm not one who puts the name "God" so "out there" in my normal course of conversation.  But.  At the same time, some of what I've read so far has resonated with me.  So, I'm going to continue and we'll just see how it goes.

Sadly, David Busch's book about my G12 camera is still sitting on my nightstand looking a little lonely.  But, it is after all, only the 9th day of the year.  There's still time!

The one thing that has suffered so far this year is my reading.  My "reading for fun" reading.  It's very unusual to have only read one novel in this many days.  I'm going to change that, or end up with a major case of the blues.

I hope all of you who made resolutions this year are feeling as though that's working out and feeling proud of yourselves.  And I hope you're all reading more than I seem to be!!!!!

Happy 2012!

Suffering a Creative Crisis?

Many of you are aware of Julia Cameron's THE ARTIST'S WAY.  For those of you who are not; it's a book described as "a course in discovering and recovering your creative self."  Actually, there are several Julia Cameron books of this sort, but this one, I believe, is the most well known and widely used.

After a recent discussion with friends, I learned there's even an on-line course.  I am not taking The Artists's Way course, nor am I involved in it in any way, but I am interested, and I intend to start exploring it a bit.

Too often, I think, we all tend to lose a little of our creative selves simply because life gets busy and keeps us occupied with the mundane.  I seem to be going through a bit of that.  And - I hate to admit this; but my on-line life seems to be contributing to that loss as well.  Do I give up my blogging, my email, my DorothyL and my Facebook in order to reclaim a bit of my creative self?  No - Not my blogging; it's a huge part of my creative self, and I cherish it.   But as you can see for yourself, even that has fallen off, and it's at the top of my list of things to work on reclaiming; I miss it.

I don't want to give up the others either, but I definitely need to find a way to fit all the things I want to do into a day.  A day that makes sense.  And one that's fulfilling.

AND one that still allows me time to read.

Oh.  and work.  Once again . . . there's that pesky thing called a job . . .

So here's what I'd like to know.

Anyone out there use THE ARTIST'S WAY?  Or did you at one time?  Do you follow the book?  Have you taken the on-line course?  Or are there specific tools from it that you use after casting others aside.  Can you recommend it?

Or, completely aside from THE ARTIST'S WAY,  what exactly do you do to utilize your time best to tap into your creative side?  

Have you had a "creative crisis?"  What means did you use to resolve it?