Drama Mama

Drama. We all have it. We all live in it – one way or the other. It can suck the life out of you and it will suck the life out of your creativity.

Today’s Right to Write by Julia Cameron’s topic is about keeping the drama where it belongs….in your art, not your heart. It’s easy to be caught up in the mess of life. Whether it’s ours or someone else’s it can screw with your mind. It will drag you down, sap your time, and completely eat at your happiness and creativity.

I’ve been reading another book this week that speaks directly to this. Take time to get away from the drama…all your stress and excuses… and just enjoy life. All of us can do that, but those of us that are artists, who thrive on exercising our creativity, can truly benefit from this. When we learn to relax and keep the drama where it belongs – on the page/canvas etc – life can become a joy again. I never want to create when I’m feeling grumbly inside. I typically enjoy pity parties when I get to that point, and creativity backs off like I’ve got the plague. Can you blame him/her?

It’s tough to walk away when we feel like we have to fix everything. I am learning that I can’t control the Universe. Someone else does that job. Mine is to be happy in my life, doing what I love to do. The problems of today will eventually work themselves out, and a month or two from now, I won’t even remember what it was I was anguishing over.

Do yourself a favor and find something to enjoy. If you aren’t sure what that is anymore….make a list of the things you love, and pick one to accomplish when you are feeling blue. You can also create 🙂 I know it always cheers me up!

Journaling or Something Like That

Well, as you may have noticed, I’m behind. Life just ran over me this past week, and I ended up needing a break (So much was going on). I have missed blogging, I have missed reading…. I have missed unwinding through writing.

Over the weekend I was to continue Julia Cameron’s Right to Write chapter on the Writing Life. Today is the day I got to it 🙂 and what a moment of truth. She talks about the writing life and how our art can be an outlet for pain, or happiness. It can be a place of comfort or exhilaration. Many of us, I’m sure, have had diaries or journals through our lifetime and can attest to the way they make us feel. A journal can be in any form. If it comes from your heart, it is effective.

Since I’ve not been able to write I felt as though I was separated from a loved one. I thought about it day and night, longing to steal a moment, but that moment never came. The guilt set in and I’ve not been happy since. Sitting here, typing away my heart is smiling. It has been instant lift to my spirit and I feel connected to myself again.

There is something to be said about art. I’ve used it to vent, to spill my secrets, or to just get energy on paper. It’s such a tender and personal process. We long to have a life filled with successful art/writing, yet we can easily neglect ourselves in the most intimate way…by ignoring our creativity. What a way to defeat the purpose!

I can’t promise that I will never run away from my art again, but I sure will be more aware of my behavior. It’s time to be good to ourselves. Take 15 mins and write or do what you do best…get it all out…connect with you…

The Book Thief…My New Fave

Trust me, though, the words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like rain.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief  

I have been commuting by train to work, and I have had more than my share of time to read. Most days, I fall asleep while reading. Not a good thing to do when you wake and don’t know where you are 🙂 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a book I would recommend. It is my new fave. This is one of those gems that is the bad girl of books (if you’re not sure what that means, read my post on Creatively Bad Behavior). I am convinced the author has my mind. He is very descriptive and quirky with his words. I immediately get sucked in with the style. The storyline is cryptic and pulls the reader further in. It does not follow a particular pattern of hooking a reader, and I like that. At first I flipped through the book because of confusion, and as I kept reading, it still wasn’t answered – funny twist. I finally have a sense of it now…

I’ve not finished the book yet, but it is about a girl who steals books and the reason is unclear other than the fact that she wants to learn how to read. I will say that death plays a main character and I love his personality. It all takes place in Nazi Germany and the suspense builds as you get further and further into the book. The young girl struggles after losing her mother and her brother, while living in a foster home. She finds her new parents harsh and endearing (one is what the other isn’t) and she makes friends with German boys. The family honors a promise and the suspense climbs from there. They are safekeeping a jewish man in the heart of Germany.

While my review is incomplete, the purpose of this post was to pay tribute to a storyteller that has a way with words; he is very poetic. If I could plagiarize in order to demonstrate his ability to write, I completely would. Instead, I will just encourage you to pick up the book and read it. That’s all 🙂

Creatively Bad Behavior

Working through Julia Cameron’s The Right to Write has had me do too much thinking. This week is about letting it all hang out. It’s about not following the rules and writing badly. I like to think of it as trash talking because trashy just seems to be a sexier vernacular when talking about how badly we can bomb as artists.

So how many of you have created something you love only to have it trashed by someone else? That’s not so sexy, it’s hurtful and rude. Creating bad art or bad writing takes talent and typically calls for critics. It doesn’t follow rules and it is created from the song carried out in one’s head. We see or hear the tune, and transmit on paper. There is no rhyme or reason to it or for it, it just is.

Books that are written perfectly are boring. Books that play with words and make our heads connect with images and outlandish ideas are fantastic. Art in any form, when it takes on the dimension of being the bad girl, becomes alluring. Both men and women love a little mystery when pursuing the opposite sex. It’s the untold story that keeps us moving toward someone that we know will destroy us. It’s the nature of humans to want to touch something they know is bad for them. Art should be the same way. We should unveil a portion of naughtiness and lure our readers; create wild images or sounds that overload the senses. Then, and only then have we achieved greatness. Who cares about those that don’t approve of our coloring outside the lines. Art is not about following rules. It’s about learning to live without boundaries and to trust ourselves enough to create something outlandish. Only then will be feel fulfilled.

I thought I would include the exercise Julia lists in the book for those of you that would like to participate. I have changed it up so it is applicable to all forms. Enjoy yourself this week and try to be bad!

Exercise:

Look through tabloid sites or magazines. Find stories that interest you and look to be inspired. Pick 5 or so stories that you are drawn to and look for the common theme. Are they completely ridiculous or are they sad? How crazy are they on a scale of 1-10?

Pick up your art of choice and create. Just get it out. Let your emotions guide you and enjoy the ride. See what transpires and don’t allow the censor in your head to speak. Put duct tape over its mouth, and tie the bastard up for an hour or so as you finish your business. It will be worth it 🙂

Liebster Blog Award

Sweet! That is all I have to say abou that! Jar of Salt has been most gracious to award me the Liebster Blog Award. So thank you!!! Again, it’s so fun to pay it forward. I have found so many great blogs out there in my reading and many of you I have gotten to know – which has been fun! Now I’m sure some of these have way more than 200 followers, but I just couldn’t help myself!

With this award originating in Germany, the Liebster Blog Award recognizes fresh bloggers with less than 200 followers. By accepting the award, it would be nice for the blogger to:

1.  Acknowledge the person that gave the award and link back to their blog.

2,  Copy and paste the award to your own site.

3.  Share 5 of your choice blogs to award and let them know by commenting on their blog.

Here are a few of my faves as I’ve travelled the blog world. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

Good Girls Inc.  – So much girl stuff to look at. Love it!!

Fern Express – A place to celebrate artists and their art….Love the art 🙂

Quote The Book Evermore – I’m a quote queen so this site really gets me thinking 🙂

 Ephemeral Gecko – Truly a great artist just having a good time!

Foodimentary – A fun site that houses quirky facts on food. I’m sure they have more than 200 followers, but it’s one of my faves….

BTW, I have also been working on another award, but it’s taking considerably more time…Yasniger, stay tuned 🙂

The Ginger Man | Beer Paradise Somewhere in NYC

Proof you don’t need fancy equipment…just a great eye and an expectation that you will find something beautiful. ART.

Identity Crisis

Mondays are personal growth days here at Weelilwimsy. My opinion is that Monday’s suck, period. We are recovering from a shock to our system by going back to work or school; getting up with the crazy chickens (whoever the hell they are). This will hopefully kick off the week and send you into something more meaningful than just getting up, going to work/school, going home…and repeating all of the above.

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“The goal of human life is to live beyond the small, narrow, prison of our own cares, wants, and worries. By learning to choose what is good and right, we give ourselves the keys to true freedom” ~ Desmond Tutu

I picked up a few books this week that have challenged my thinking. I like books with meaty messages. I like to chew and savor them. I have found three books this week that I am loving! Each book has a resident theme that runs through them like a refreshing river. It’s a message of love. It’s a timeless message, and it’s one that renews my faith in man (it’s so easy to look at all the ugliness and forget who we really are).

Desmond Tutu and The Dalai Lama both acknowledge that the human race is interconnected. We all are one. Children know this concept and live by this motto. We lose this truth as we get older and life jades our sweet little minds.

One of the books I found by Desmond Tutu is called, Made for Goodness: And Why This Makes All the Difference. I believe (just as he does) that the “goodness” in each of us – you know the one we are all born with – is what we need, in order to recognize who we were created to be.

Before I get into the message of this book, I should first state that I believe in God (gasp). It seems to be unpopular these days. However, I also believe in truth. I believe that God, and the Universe, and Buddha and Whoever He may be is all of the above. He is truth and He created everything good; and that is inclusive of everything. I’m not a fan of religion. I believe it is just a vehicle for man to figure the hard stuff out, and it often ruins people’s lives.

Desmond Tutu shares his life experiences (which are horrific to my western mind) and the evils he has encountered in this world. These events have not made him bitter in the least. He has leaned more and more on his faith, and as a result his soul is stunningly beautiful. I wanted to cry a few times through the first few chapters because his words were so full of truth. They challenged me to stop trying to be good enough, and to just be good…because that is who I was created to be. It’s already in me.

Every person on this earth is born with a goodness in his/her soul. We believe a lie that we have placed upon one another – that we have to earn love. Unfortunately, we stop being human beings and we hop on this merri-go-round of the human doing club. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired….We never measure up to anyone’s standards, and often times we don’t measure up to our own. I want to get off this treadmill of trying to make my life count; and I want to accept the first truth (and the only truth) – that I am lovable because my Creator loves me.

Life is messy. We get dirty, we get stuck, sometimes lost; and we can feel alone more often than we like to admit. I think this journey of truth seeking is an exhilarating one, but it also comes with some heartache.  Understanding that love is at the center of our souls is tough for our unlovable brains to grasp.Why would we ever want to acknowledge someone who is bad (insert your definition of bad here) as someone that is worth loving? But they started out just like we did…good…and God loves them the same as He loves us.

If you get a chance, Desmond Tutu has beautiful words and wonderful examples of what love is, in his book. I think I’m going to reflect on these for a while and meet you all back here in a week to talk about what I’ve learned 🙂

This week I encourage you to reflect on your own goodness and how you show goodness to those around you. How has this challenged you? What challenges you when you hear the word LOVE? How has this changed your life?

Until then….be well and be happy!

It’s None of My Business

http://forum.xcitefun.net/interesting-odd-couple-among-animals-t11854.html

Creativity is none of my business. Neither is it yours. What wants to be created just wants to be. We aren’t to stand in it’s way.

Julia Cameron’s The Right to Write this week is about laying a track for our creations to find a place to travel. What I found interesting about this, is that my mood really has been central to how good my writing turns out. What? I’ll say that again…My mood was to blame for the quality of my writing. Have you ever written anything that was so fantastic, yet the next day you tried to pick up where you left off and your Mojo was gone? Oh, let me tell you…this happens to me all the time. It’s truly remarkable how many unfinished pieces my portfolio holds (and I’m a little embarrassed to say so).

When we throw writing and re-writing into the mix, or pull information from our “how-to” book lodged in our brain, this really screws things up. It actually pisses me off (there’s my mood swing). It’s really where we get technical and block the way for our true creation to emerge. If you are a perfectionist like me, then you probably struggle with perfecting your sentence, your rhythm, or your punctuation. If you only write when you “feel” like it, this can also affect the quality. Creating is not about emotions. It’s about tapping into your place of genius and getting out of the way.

Today, I tried to help my husband polish an English paper for one of his classes. His persnickety teacher has deducted points for his arguments, his thesis, his punctuation, etc. Is he going to really use this in his professional life? Maybe if he’s a Journalist but he’s planning on a life in Public Safety. I’m sure it’s useful in some aspects, but NO wonder we get uptight when writing…it’s always to please someone else. Often times it’s an external source, but the majority of the time it’s our inner critic and this makes us down right moody.

I have learned as far as writing goes, that my logic brain is for second drafts. My rich, fertile, whimsical brain is for laying track ~ Julia Cameron, The Right to Write

When creating anything we should just go with it. Allow the first draft/attempt at anything, to be as rough as it’s supposed to be. Allow the second draft/attempt to be the one that gets technical. It’s more important for the meat of the story or the creation to get out of our brain into reality. Then we can tweak it.

What I have found by laying this track that Julia talks about, is freedom. It’s been so much fun to see what emerges from the place my creativity lives. It (and I’m not talking about voices that I hear or a small devil on my shoulder) shows me what wants to be created (my creative source). It’s so much better to have a wild abandon on the page or canvas than to obey structure and be stifled.

How have you overcome your inner critic to produce quality work? Where have your moods affected your work? How do you handle first and second drafts?

An Old Classic Had a Secret

Jonathan Winters is one of my favorite comedians. I grew up in the 70s and 80s, but my family made me watch old black and white movies/shows etc from time to time. This included all the comedians of their generation. I love them for that!

This particular man I discovered as a kid by watching Mork and Mindy, where he played their child Mearth.  He not only was a talented performer, but he was also an unbelievable artist.

Today’s post is to celebrate Mr. Winters. Here is a video that makes me laugh. He was given a stick to be creative with. If, like the husband, you hate classic movies and find the old comedians boring, then you may not like this (scroll down to the artwork). If, however, you have an innocent humor (I believe this still exists) and you love Abbot and Costello, Tim Conway, or Johnny Carson, you might like this. For those of you that know all about this… enjoy :0)

The Stick (sorry, couldn’t embed it)

I recently watched a biography on Netflix called Certifiably Jonathan and I remembered how floored I was when I found out he painted. His art is like nothing I’ve ever seen. It has a whimsical surrealist feel (which is my favorite type of art). In the documentary, he goes into detail about his art, his showings, and the meanings behind the images. Quite fascinating. In it all, he remains humorous.

http://www.jonathanwinter.com

http://www.jonathanwinters.com

http://www.jonathanwinters.com

These are only a few of many. There are so many things on the web about Jonathan Winters. I would encourage you to find clips of him on YouTube and view his art at www.jonathanwinters.com

Cheers!

The Mother of all Lies

The trick to finding time to write (or create) is to do it from the perspective of love and not product ~ Julia Cameron

Well, today is Saturday and I got a good hard slap in the face when reading Julia Cameron’s book The Right to Write. This is the 3rd week of walking through her book and blogging about my experience. The hard topic today is….drum roll please….TIME.

The initial slap came when I read…”If I had a year off I’d write a novel”. Hmph. How many times have I heard that come out of my mouth? It seems to be the universal lie we tell ourselves. It’s an excuse to fail. Someone else is to blame for our lack of passion and want to. It’s too hard, too competitive, and well, time is the perfect scape goat.

Creating anything takes time. So does having a family, working a job or two, cooking dinner, feeding dogs, raking leaves, cleaning house…etc. What’s the difference between those who live their dreams and those that don’t? How they value time.

I believe those that are successful, obviously don’t get there overnight. It’s a process, a decision, and a journey. Learning how to use our time and leaving our lies to fall to the ground is the first step toward reaching our goals. We should be actively creating a love affair with our art.

Julia’s point in this third chapter was to steal time. To do it one sentence at a time.  She mentioned she had friends that did it on a commuter train, on coffee breaks, at Dr. appointments, or while the onion’s sauteed on the stove. I wonder if J.K. Rowling knew this secret? Did she steal her moments in a coffee shop while her infant daughter napped because she was smitten with her art?

A friend of mine loves painting and wants to do it every waking moment she has. She does one small detail each morning between waking and going to work; coming home and cooking dinner, homework and bed. She uses what she has, to do what she loves. I’m sure this dedication will pay off. If not, it at least brings her happiness, and that is good enough for me!

Every time I use the TIME excuse, I am going to start saying I do have time…an abundance of time…and I am going to write whenever I can until that lie disappears.

What excuse do you use or why/how do you use time as a scape goat?