Courage Journey

Last week, thanks to a suggestion from my friend Brooke, I read Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic .  It was one of those experiences where you read or hear something at exactly the moment you need to read or hear it.  Maybe you've been told the same message before but this fifth, twelfth, hundredth time it clicks in a way that it never did before.  That's what reading her book was like for me.   Big Magic got me thinking about how long I've let creativity live in a shadow world that I was ignoring.  Deciding to write this book about my camp experience was like creaking open a door and peaking into a dark room, uncertain about whether to go inside.  It was a sudden realization that I hadn't given myself permission to cross the threshold.  I hadn't given myself over to writing yet.   Yes, I have been speaking it into the universe that my goal is to publish.  Yes, I've been doing the work behind the scenes to learn more about craft work a...

This last week was a difficult one for creativity.  It was difficult for democracy above all else, and for me, that translated to a lot of internal work to emotionally process it.   For the first time since I started the writing component of this project, I did not want to engage it.  I wrote two scenes at the start of last week, all signs pointing to my usual level of productivity.  But as events unfolded on Wednesday at the capitol building, the threat to our democracy was truly the only thing my heart had the space to think about.  I tweeted, I texted, I lost myself in media, admittedly more than I should have, and tried to breathe in between.  When I thought about the writing I had scheduled for Wednesday night, I just couldn't go there.  I needed to be a part of the events that were unfolding in real time and not just lose myself in fiction.  I meditated before bed, and hoped for a re-set for my creativity in the morning. Early morning y...

Despite my own intentions, I have not done a 2020 year in review, nor have I put pen to paper on my goals for 2021.  The New Year came in a flash for me, as I decided to host my nephew for a few days and thus focused all my energy on him.  When he left on January first, I immediately took a nap to restore all the expended energy...and then I felt like that state of "rest" needed to extend to the remainder of the weekend.  Honestly, it's what I needed and I have no regrets about it, even if I find myself 4 days into the year without a "plan" or broad stroke "goals."  Admittedly, I do need to strike a balance between planning/goal setting and spontaneity though, as I find I work best when I am in that sweet spot.  To help with the former around my writing and this project, I took another page out of my friend Greta's book and ordered myself a Passion Planner.   It may still be a few weeks before it arrives, but I'm going to give thought to the ex...