Monday Post ~ October 3, 2011
“I believe and know that your willingness and ability to live your creative dreams directly benefits the whole world. Every person living or actively engaged in living his or her dream is more available to be of use to others. When we are consciously expanding ourselves and our dreams, we attract and add to what is needed in this world.” ~SARK
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” or “I will gesso three canvases” 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 
Last week I launched the Minerva Project, which made for a frenzy of last-minute work, and a lot of excitement. Registrations for our first workshop are coming in, which is total awesomesauce. If you’re in the central New England area, please check out last week’s Minerva Project announcement here at Studio Mothers!
Last week’s goals:
* CCA homework for two classes [yes]
* Workshop/website development [yes]
* Draft September Creative Times newsletter [yes]
* Journaling [yes]
* Project Life update [no]
* Finish revisions to creative nonfiction piece [no]
This week’s goals:
* CCA homework for two classes [TBD]
* Journaling [daily target]
* Workshop materials [T/W/Th]
* Project Life update [Sat/Sun]
* Finish revisions to creative nonfiction piece [Thurs]
yay minerva project!
last weeks goals:
1. two edit sessions: met
2. bathroom cabinet – met. is painted and installed, thanks to honey. the darn thing is making me have bad allergy attack when i go upstairs though, so for the next few days, i’m running on minimum and albuterol til the latex settles.
3.landscaping phase 1.5 – complete.
this week’s goals:
edit at writing group on tues. a good few hours to devote to it. maybe do another session on Wed. otherwise, the rest of my week is jammed with appts for me and kids.
maybe more landscaping next weekend, unless i can convince the fam to go for one last beach day. i NEED it.
Cath, I so wish you still lived up here so that you could Minerva with us!
Three cheers for squeezing in another beach day while you can…
me, too! still crossing my fingers against the weekend forecast for the beach.
October 4, 2011
It was a decent week. The 15 minutes of clean-up and paperwork have been helping and the paperwork monster is slightly tamed. The 3 videos I found on yoga for athletes were AWFUL but jclm gave me some ideas for others that I can try. I drew those 3 drawings, and now need just one more from the Surya Namasakara A series, a simple standing at attention pose. Yesterday I worked on a template for how they might all look together on a page to give out as a handout at the workshop. Not sure about reproduction costs.
I have blogged and started looking at wordpress to see if I want to make a switch. I’d like more control over the layout and more statistical information too. For some reason I’m afraid to plunk down $$ on a domain name for myself, something I’ve been thinking about for years. I’m also not sure if I should have two separate websites, one for art and one for yoga. If I get to that point that I’m knocking on the door of the “art world,” will gallery owners and curators find it odd that there’s yoga on my website too? Sometimes I just wish I could pick one career! It would be so much simpler.
Okay, goals:
1. one more drawing in the Surya Namaskara A series, lay them out on one sheet or scan them and do this on the computer? I don’t really have quite the program or skills for that and it would take a while.
2. Yoga for Athletes: get a sequence down on paper and practice it. By next week I want to be working on a script.
3. 2 more blog posts, look more at wordpress, try a post there and see if I like it. Perhaps I could link to it from my blogger account for now? I don’t see an easy way to migrate my blogger stuff to wordpress.
4. Didn’t paint w/S last week, so this week we’ll try again: Wednesday or Friday, probably Friday since it’s already Wednesday.
5. Daily home practice: continue the same, 15 minute clean-up, 1 load laundry WDF, 15 minutes of paperwork. Consider adding 10 minutes of alternating living room/gallery stuff.
Wonderful progress, Deborah!
The question of a single website versus multiple websites is one that comes up often. This is how I responded to one recent query on that very issue, to someone who wanted to use a single website for his coaching and graphic art pursuits:
Throwing in my $.02 here, I’ll don my “day job” hat (writer/editor/communications consultant) to put in an enthusiastic plug for separate websites.
Your audiences may have some overlap, but they also may not. Aside from simply displaying your various products within a cohesive brand, ideally your website will have a strong call to action (or a few different ones that clearly support each other). What is it that you want your prospective coachee visitor to do? Sign up for coaching? Enroll in a workshop? Contact you for a complimentary first session? Sign up for your newsletter? You will want to make these messages clear through the way you build your navigation and the content you include on each page. To my mind, the call to action you’d create for a prospective coaching client would be quite different from the call to action you’d create for a potential customer of your artwork.
In addition to different CTAs, your architectural approaches will be very different. For the coaching side, you need to use words to sell your services. Yes, the graphic presentation is important, but the right words are crucial. On the art side, while you may want to include your bio and artist’s statement, the work will need to sell itself: images. Whether or not you end up going for an online shopping cart or you simply want to have an online portfolio, this graphic-intensive framework is, in my opinion, not so compatible with the copy-centered coaching side.
Cross-pollinating is an excellent strategy, but you can accomplish this by linking to each site from the other (for example, the bio on your art site includes mention of your coaching practice and has a simple hyperlink to that site–and conversely, your coaching site bio includes your credential as a visual artist and has a text hyperlink to your art site).
All of this said, you will want to determine what feels right for you and what will best support your careers. There isn’t any wrong way to do it–I’m just sharing the best practices from my own experience.
Does that just muddy the waters even more, Deb?? 🙂
Last week’s goals:
-intention journaling [2 times]. Finish my Family Manifesto. UMMM…not exactly, but see below.
– running [3 days] YES
– yoga [1-2 times] YES
– a.m. play with son [M-W-F] YES
– mama-daughter activity [at least 1] NO
– create and procure supply list for Advent Calender project NO
– assemble supplies for herbal immune system support kit SOME
– Go to Garlic & Arts fest in Orange, MA (the best fall fest around)!! YES!
Three add-ons:
I made a list of nature-based crafts to do with the kids after the inspiring time we spent in the Raven Treehouse Native American crafts tent at Garlic & Arts. And after we had such a sweet time needle felting together (http://cultivatejlcm.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/create-family-felting/). I focused on arts/crafts we could do with things we could glean from Mother Nature, and collected sticks, pinecones, maple seeds, corn husks, and leaves on a walk yesterday with my son.
I have been a decluttering queen (thanks for the inspiration, Deb!) and have been devoting chunks of time to the process. My house isn’t excessively cluttery to start with, but it feels so good to clear the space. I like to think in terms of backpacking – carrying only what I truly need. Because even if I’m not physically carrying it on a day-to-day basis, I am mentally and emotionally.
Finally, as part of my permaculture education, I have embraced the “inner permaculture” work that needs to be done. Decluttering helps make room for that. So does yoga. I started this process a few months ago here, and it has taken on a whole new priority for me as I realize it’s the beginning step for everything I want to do. This is a different direction than I anticipated, but it’s exactly where I need to go. The universe is wise.
Okay JCLM, that Monday post is so darn good that I want to jump out of my life and into yours. I have to breath and center and remember that I like my life! And I definitely want to hear more about the inner permaculture work.
sweet friend!