Monday Post ~ May 16, 2011
“Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training.”
~Anna Freud
What are your plans for creative practice this week? Given the specifics of your schedule, decide on a realistic goal or a milestone to reach for. A goal as simple as “I will be creative for 10 minutes every day” is what it’s all about. Share your goal(s) as a comment to this post, and let us know how things went with your creative plans for last week, if you posted to last week’s Monday Post.
Suggestion: When you’re deciding on your creative intentions, it’s a good idea to think about WHEN you’re going to write those 2,000 words or paint that canvas. Try to schedule the time slots in your calendar (if you keep one), understanding that flexibility may be required. If things don’t happen when you wanted them to, that’s OK. Give yourself a gentle push with one hand, but pat yourself kindly on the shoulder with the other if you don’t reach your goal for a given week. Sometimes it’s easier, sometimes it’s harder. Ride whatever you’ve got.
It’s also useful to have a sense of your minimum requirements (come hell or high water I’m going to write 100 words) while keeping a lookout for sudden opportunities to do more. You know, the day that the baby takes a monster nap or your partner takes the kids out to run errands and you find yourself with an unexpected “extra” half hour. Grab that time for yourself. You can catch up on the dishes and the laundry later. If you keep something creative in the back of your mind for those sudden opportunities, you’ll be more likely to use them to your advantage — rather than squandering your precious bonus moments on Facebook or vacuuming out the sofa cushions.
Studio Mothers: Life & Art 
i’ve been inconsistent in posting here lately, however, however i have been more consistent in my editing process. it is still slow going, hard to carve out more than one or two good chunks of time for it a week. but last week i found the joy in it again. i was chugging along typing the tweaky changes into the new document, when i struck muse gold. it lasted for about 20 mins and i found exactly what was missing from a crucial scene, the heart of it.
this week’s writing goals: keep at it, definitely hit the library for a few hours on tuesday morning, possibly wednesday, too, if i can swing that with childcare for toots by mil.
in other creativity, i have been gardening again, and the weeds went crazy in my plots this winter, so things are happening slowly and late, but i plan on moving one plot across the yard and out of the shade this week, and sowing the other plot i have cleared. peas and beans are starting to snake up the poles i planted in a third plot.
and, an heirloom sheet that honey’s grandmother hand-embroidered got torn up in the washing machine. i recently joined a sewing group, and am hoping to convert that embroidered material into a sundress for toots with a little help from my friends with more pattern skills than i have.
Very nice, Cathy! Your idea for the sundress is wonderful — what a nice way to turn something upsetting into something beautiful.
Good luck on your editing and gardening this week!
I am putting the finishing touches on creative devotional #2 and hope to have the self publishing process down by the end of the week.
Feels good to see another big goal for the year checked off the list.
Cath c well done on your editing accomplishments!
thanks, robin and miranda! and good luck with your goals this week!
Only made it through half of my list, again, but I also submitted a painting to a charity auction jury and drafted a guest blog post for another site — so there was a bit of creative momentum.
Last week’s goals:
* CCA homework and coaching (two classes) YES
* Finish three more Life Assessment responses NO
* Do the next exercise in Right Brain Business Plan NO
* Read at least 30 pages in current book YES
* Journaling YES
* Project Life update NO
This week’s goals:
* CCA homework and coaching (two classes)
* Finish one Life Assessment response
* Work on newsletter
* Finish reading book group book
* Journaling
* Project Life update
well hello strangers. 🙂 i’ve been even more inconsistent posting here than cathy lately as things have been a bit overwhelming in my world. but thankfully, the last of the big events wrapped up this weekend (mermaids and mamas) and this weekend will be the first weekend i have had nothing to do since the second weekend in March. it’s been that crazy.
so my goals for this week are to decompress, edit mermaids and mamas photos and get the recap post done, get my studio back in order after my frenzied mermaids and mamas prep, and get reaquainted with my life. 🙂
i’m also applying for another faculty position and must get the application in this week. i talked with one of the faculty members in that area today (it’s english, but it’s primarily college prep) and she said it’s truly insane how much free time you have as compared to teaching a full load of college credit. that’s something that sounds very very attractive right now, given the hours i’ve been putting in over the past three years. it would be well worth the paycut.
good luck to you all. k
good luck with your application for the new position!
I read this great interview with Jennifer Egan recently: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/writing-to-the-extreme-20110513-1elu8.html
where I was amazed to discover that she writes 5-7 pages a day max (by hand), while her kids are at school. So heartening!
that’s what i try to do, too. 2 of my kids are in school fulltime….and i have a distracting 3rd adult in my house, too…so i try to leave for writing when i can. of course, today’s goal is to write in the house! lol! kipper the dog’s theme song is rather nice in the background, moreso than some…
I’m quite possibly the least consistant of the bunch of us, since I don’t even know the last time I logged on.
Lately, my creative pursuits have been really spontaneous. I’ll just get a wild hair to do something fun, go on an internet search for inspiration, and voila: http://brittanyvandeputte.blogspot.com/2011/05/rainy-day-fun.html.
I’ve also been thoroughly enjoying the spring here in NY. Tom made me a raised bed for Mother’s Day and I’ve been busy planting a garden. We assembled a new playset for the boys. Have been dealing with a small preschool-closing crisis and had to get John re-registered somewhere new on the fly. I’ve been making a few notes here and there on my novel, and have been pretty consistent getting to the gym, even if my dreams of running a 5K weren’t realistic. I also made a new doll that I’m pretty happy with. With a few tweaks, the next one could be really good.
Basically my creative intention for this week is to complete a guest blog I’m writing on canning strawberry jam, and work further toward scheduling a local book signing for me and Wendi (just have to iron out the details at this point).
How are things going, Brittany?
that’s great, brittany! i have been doing a lot of yardwork and gardening, too.
keeping spontaneously creative while i’m frustratingly editing has what has kept me alive.