Stretching my creative muscles

It’s been soooo long! Several times I sat down to write a post, but then felt overwhelmed and guilty that it had been so long, so instead of just doing it, I pushed it off…again. But I’ve recently started listening to Elizabeth Gilbert’s new podcast “Magic Lessons.” And she’s motivated me…one thing in particular that she discussed really got me thinking. She talked about how it could be possible to respect your art too much. To put so much reverence onto what you want to create that you then freeze. And that really resonated with me. I’m doing that. I’m putting so much importance on what I should write, that I’m not writing at all. What I really need to do is just create art. Just create something for me, without feeling like it needs to be high quality.

It also made me think about what Anne Lamott calls “shitty first drafts.” And while I’ve read that several times, and even logically know that’s the way it is, I haven’t been practicing that. I’m tired of letting what should be a gift become a burden because I’m putting too much pressure on myself to get it right the first time. I feel so much better about myself when I’m writing that I should be writing for that reason. I’ve always had this dream of publishing someday, and maybe it will happen, but it doesn’t have to…and even more, it’s impossible for it to ever happen if I’m not actively practicing my craft. If I’m not sitting down and doing the work, I’m never going to get anywhere.

So I’m giving myself permission to just write for no other reason than that it makes me happy. I’m challenging myself to stretch my creative muscles. To possibly fail, but most importantly to DO!

Inspiration for My Office

After reading the chapter “How to Create the Space around You for Manifesting” in Manifesting in High Heels, I’ve been craving a peaceful, pretty place to work, read, and write. Which means lately, I’ve become very excited to start working on my office. We bought the paint a few weeks ago, but decided to work on the dining room first. After it’s painted, then the office is next! (And I’ll post pictures of the dining room once it’s a little further along.)

To help organize my ideas for the room, I created a mood board for inspiration.

Only two of the items from the mood board are set. I’ve already bought the paint and the rug. The rest is up in the air, so I’ll see what I find, but maybe I’ll end up purchasing some of these items.

• Paint: Ponder from Sherwin Williams
• Rug: on clearance from Target
• Chair: Pretty sure this isn’t the right chair, but I do like the tufted look and this color. I’ll probably go to some of the furniture stores to see if I can find a matching chair and ottoman. There isn’t a matching ottoman for this chair and I didn’t really like any of the Target ottomans with this.
• Bookcases: If I go with these, I’ll probably get two with closed shelving and two open bookcases. I’ll use the closed shelving ones in the middle. I’m planning to do an entire wall of book cases because I want this room to be an office/library mix. The bookcases are one of the most exciting features!
• Office Chair: I really like this chair, but I can’t imagine paying over $300 for it. I’ll be on the lookout for something cute like this but in my price range.
• Throw pillows: I’m LOVING the colorful pillows. I’ll have to pull in some other colorful accessories to make the room happy!
  • Option 1
  • Option 2
  • Option 3
• Accent Table: I love the curves and color of this one. But this could also be a perfect DIY project. Maybe I can find a cute second-hand table to paint a bright color.

We also have a desk that we picked up curb-side that I’m planning to paint, probably a white to compliment the bookshelves.

All of these ideas are making me even more excited to get going on this room, but I’m also feeling more focused on the direction of the design and feel like we’ll be able to make smart buying decisions when the time comes. Are you decorating or redecorating any rooms in your house? Any suggestions for my new space? Please share below!

Manifesting a dream come true

Good morning friends! Today is a big day for me, it’s the launch of Manifesting in High Heels, an anthology about manifesting your goals that I co-authored. Being a published author is a big deal for me and something that I’ve always dreamed of. Hopefully this will be the first step to even bigger things!

In my chapter “The Direction of My Dreams: Faith, Optimism, and Intention” I detail the path I took which led me to be both a stay-at-home-mom and a business owner. Since writing that chapter, I’ve begun a new practice, which I think is very valuable for manifesting my goals with intention.

I’ve tried several times to go through the practices in The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I keep getting sidetracked, but when I recently re-started, I’ve been very intentional in doing what she calls “morning pages” each day. The basics of morning pages is to write, non-stop for three pages. Absolutely whatever flows out of your brain goes through your hand and onto the page. I was actually first introduced to the idea of free writing like this in high school, and I’ve practiced it since then, but never on a consistent, daily basis. It provides such a brain cleanse that if I go too long without writing, I feel stuck and bogged down. Getting into the flow of writing like this has been compared to a form of mediation. I’ve been able to use the morning pages to sort through issues I didn’t even know were issues. But by pouring them onto the page, I’m able to remove them from my head.

After now after reading Manifesting in High Heels, I’ve found some other very valuable tools that I plan to implement in my life.

1. In her chapter “The One Essential Secret to Sacred Business Success,” Lisa Fitzpatrick recommends spending time being still. She likens negative thought to a pack of wolves and says:

So many times, I witness women trying to out-run the wolves rather than to simply sit with them, allowing them to be seen for what they are. They are merely thoughts. In the face of supreme stillness, where the loving presence of the divine can be heard and felt, they have absolutely no power—except the power that we give them.

I must admit, Lisa’s is one of my favorite chapters in the entire book. She has such a beautiful way with words. Some of the lines that are my favorite don’t necessarily have some deep meaning, but I think they are just beautiful:

There’s a myriad of ways to master the art of drowning out the crowded marketplace of the mind.

2. In “How to Create the Space around You for Manifesting,” Lisa Nesser provides steps for creating a space around you which feeds into your creative energy. Lisa says:

I decided to treat my entire home as an entity, a pulsing energy that was affecting me physically and mentally. I began to prepare my space every day as a positive environment to heal and nurture my body and mind.

I love this and it makes me even more excited to claim our new house as our own.

3. Angella Johnson provides so much insight in her chapter “Dress for Success: Yoga Pants and a T-shirt (Without a Bra).” But I think my favorite advice of hers is when she says:

You have every right to want what you want and be in the environment that supports your desires. Accept anything less than that, and you deny your divinity.

4. In “Manifest to Be Your Best,” Polly Hadfield recommends creating a vision board with photos and sayings of things making you happy and representing your dreams. She also recommends living a proactive instead of reactive life:

Having a plan for each day of your life helps you to be PROACTIVE instead of REACTIVE. You aren’t just reacting to the demands of others, but you’re consciously designing and creating your day while moving in the direction towards your goals and dreams.

5. My final mention for this post is co-author Michelle Barr. When I first read the title of her chapter “From living by default to living by design” I instantly connected with it. If you’ve read the “About” page of my blog, you can see that one of my goals with this is to “live the life I want, not the one I fell into.” Michelle says,

It wasn’t until I committed myself to learning how to consciously create life on my terms that I transformed my life for the better—with lasting results.

 

These strategies are just the tip of the iceberg. I highly encourage you to check out our website and to buy the book!

Nursing a (Book) Hangover

I’m not one to draw out a reading experience. My sister-in-law says she’ll only read a couple of chapters at a time before walking away so she can experience a good book longer. Not me. I devour books that I enjoy. I can’t get through them fast enough. I miss the book after I’m done, but I know there are so many books out there that I want to read, that I don’t feel one bit guilty for not taking more time. Plus, I’m also a fan of rereading books, so I know I can always go back to visit my favorite characters again.

Last night I stayed up until after midnight finishing Longbourn by Jo Baker. I woke up this morning still not able to get the characters out of my head. I spent the morning feeling an emptiness in my chest and just wandering around a little dazed. This is truly the sign of an excellent book.

So, I started working through ways to get past my hangover.

1. Reread my favorite sections of the book.

When I first started to re-read, I knew of two passages I wanted to go back to. After those two, I thought of two more. And then another…this could certainly go on for some time!

I love reliving the highlights. Characters meeting for the first time, first kisses, a particularly moving monologue…

2. Read articles, inviews, etc.

In my search, I found Jo Baker’s website and a couple interviews here and here.

This is actually something I do frequently with movies as well, especially if I was not particularly fulfilled with some aspects of the movie. I’m one of those that will sit and watch all of the bonus material a DVD has to offer. I usually feel much better about the way a movie or book ends once I read/watch more about it. And speaking of movies….

3. Watch the movie.

Oh how I wish there was a movie for Longbourn. I’ve googled it to see if a movie is actually in the making and can’t find a definitive answer. Keeping my fingers crossed!

4. Read something else by the same author.

I’ve already ordered The Undertow also by Jo Baker (and a few other books…hey, I have to make the $30 mark for free shipping from Barnes and Noble, no wasting my gift cards on shipping fees!)

The most consoling is when you’re reading a series and all of the other books are already out. I try not to get into a series until I can read them all. The best is when you finish book one, slip right in to book two and know you still get another book after that. Granted, the hangover from a series can be particularly hard to come down from. My solution after flying through the entire Divergent series, was to follow it up by re-reading the Hunger Games series, leading my next point…

5. Be excited about your next book.

If you can’t or don’t want to read a book by the same author, it helps if you have another book on your bookshelf that you are excited to read. I go through spurts where sometimes I’m super excited about my next read, and sometimes I’m staring at my bookshelves wondering what to tackle next.

Right now I’m pretty excited to read Call Me Zelda by Erika Robuck as my next book. I’ve read Hemingway’s Girl and really enjoyed it, so I know I like Erika’s work and I’ve been anxious to read a novel about Zelda Fitzgerald.

6. Talk about it with friends.

This one I haven’t been able to do yet. I don’t know of any of my friends who have read this book…have you?! Let’s talk!

It’s after a really good book like this that I always think about trying to start a book club. I’ve tried before but didn’t have much success. Any tips on starting a (successful) book club? Please share!

7. Write something of your own.

When I read something really good, I get inspired to create my own stories. And reading interviews with the author sparks it even more. Today, I was really inspired to write this, but I’m usually inspired to write my own fiction. This doesn’t happen with every book I read, but it does seem to happen with the ones that give me book hangovers.

What about you, have you read anything that gave you a book hangover recently? How do you cope?

Phases of decorating

I’m starting on the slightly daunting, yet very exciting, task of making our new house a home! For now, we’re just using the furniture that we have, but over time, we want to buy new things for this house. I’m guessing most of my decorating will be done in two or more phases, depending on our budget.

Then I started thinking about the order in which to do the rooms. And if I’d want to complete one room before starting another. And I think the answer is no. Part of me would love to tackle each room, finish it, and then move on. But I don’t think this will really be in alignment with the priorities I’ve been setting for purchases.

I have SO many purchases I’d like to make, but not too many that I really need at the moment. So I’m trying to prioritize the purchases based on how much we want them and how much they cost. Top of the list right now is rugs. I think rugs will make a huge comfort and style impact. Right now, I feel like my living room is just a huge expanse of space with scattered furniture. I’m leaning toward this one, but we’re not set enough to pull the trigger on it yet.

We did find a clearance rug at Target for the office! It’s no longer listed on their website, so I can’t share the link, but I’ll share a picture once we get it in place.

Next up, I think I’m going to make some mood boards for different rooms so we’ll feel more comfortable making purchases and not feel like they are just random items that we hope will fit together.

Tell me, do you decorate one room at a time or move from place to place?

Creating flawed characters

I just finished reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. Around the same time, I was looking for quotes for a chapter I was writing for the new book I’m coauthoring and I came across this one in Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: “a person’s faults are largely what make him or her likable.” And I would add, interesting.

The plethora of characters is what I found most intriguing about this book. At the center of the plot the book becomes a true-crime novel, but that is not what kept me coming back to its pages. It was the characters. The Lady Chablis, the preoperative transsexual, who captivates both the narrator and the reader. She’s a drag queen and you are never sure what she will do next. Several who try to give the impression of perfection, but it doesn’t take much digging beneath the surface to see their real flaws, limitations, and motivations. Joe Odom, the lawyer and con-man, who moves from house to house with his entire entourage, having a knack for finding a place where he easily take advantage of a situation. And Savannah itself feels like a character. I found the following review by the New York Times Book Review particularly true: “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil might be the first true crime book that makes the reader want to call a travel agent and book a bed and breakfast for an extended weekend at the scene of the crime.”

This book is a perfect example on how to construct characters for any story, both fiction and nonfiction. People want to relate to characters and since none of us are perfect, why should the people we read about be? Anne Lamott goes on to say “I like for narrators to be like the people I choose for friends, which is to say that they have a lot of the same flaws as I.”

Full disclosure: this post contains affiliate links.

It’s been awhile…and some big news

It’s been so long since I last posted, but it’s been an incredibly busy couple of months!

First, we bought a house! We’ve been waiting for years to be in a position to buy our dream house, and we’ve finally done it. I’m so excited to decorate and personalize this new space of ours and I hope to document the process with all of you. I’ve already made some progress making our new home feel inviting with a wreath, a new doormat, and some mums to welcome our visitors!

I also spent some time to really clean it up, and that has made all of the difference! Sometimes all you need to make a space beautiful is to tidy it up.

Another big announcement: I’ve been invited to be a co-author for an upcoming anthology. I’m so excited about this opportunity and I’ll be sure to post more details soon!

I’m also ramping up the marketing on my business. If you’d like to check it out, visit me over at www.graveswriting-publishing.com. I’ve just created a new logo and website. It’s a nice way for my creativity to really spill over into my work.

So what have you been up to since we last chatted?

Stealing lines

Like I’ve said, I always dreamed of being a writer. But while I’ve always had this pull to write, I’m not overflowing in the story idea department like it seems so many writers are. For such a long time, I hated that I wasn’t a “typical writer type.” And let’s be honest, I sometimes still do. I’d think “Well, maybe I’m not really cut out to be a writer.” But lately, I’ve been leaning more toward why-should-I-want-to-be-like-everyone-else?

So needless to say, when I’m feeling the pull to put pen to paper…and I do literally like to use pen and paper, the computer doesn’t always do it for me…I usually need some sort of inspiration. My latest method has been to pull out a book from my bookshelves, open to a random page, and use the first line I see as the start to something new. I’ve been trying to use a book that I haven’t read yet, so I just steal the line and not the story behind it.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that my creativity feeds more creativity. When I’m on a creativity high, I keep coming up with more ideas. When I’m in the middle of designing a storyline, it just keeps flowing, and then I usually have other storylines popping up in my head that I can’t do more than write down in hopes of getting to it later. But during a dry spell, I’ve got nothing!

Any other tips for jump starting creativity? I’d love to hear them!

Plunging in…

“…from now on, whenever you want to find out about something, plunge straight in.”

~Paulo Coelho (Brida)

“Fifty years from now when you’re looking back on your life, don’t you want to say you had the guts to get in the car?”

~Transformers (movie)

 

I’ve been wanting to learn about blogging for sometime now, and I guess there is no better time than the present.

I’m planning on this being a place where we can discuss creative ideas, projects…

I love writing, reading, decorating, design and look forward to working with you on loads of new projects. Maybe I’ll get really brave at some point and try some baking…but let’s not get a head of ourselves!

I’m not claiming to be an expert in anything creative, but I want to learn…

 

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” -Dorothy Parker

“If you’re going to be passionate about something, be passionate about learning.” –Daniel Golston