Your Creative Intentions: The Monday Post ~ November 12, 2012
“Without passion, all the skill in the world won’t lift you above craft. Without skill, all the passion in the world will leave you eager but floundering. Combining the two is the essence of the creative life.” ~Twyla Tharp
This is the moment to deepen, or commit to, your regular creativity practice. Regularity — a daily practice, if at all possible — is one of the best ways to stay in touch with how you make meaning.
What are your plans for creative practice this week? Given the specifics of your schedule, decide on a realistic intention or practice plan — and ink that time in your calendar. The scheduling part is important, because as you know, if you try to “fit it in” around the edges, it generally won’t happen. An intention as simple as “I will write for 20 minutes every morning after breakfast” or “I will sketch a new still life on Wednesday evening” is what it’s all about.
Share your intentions or goals 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. We use a broad brush in defining creativity, so don’t be shy. We also often include well-being practices that support creativity, such as exercise and journaling.
Putting your intentions on “paper” helps you get clear on what you want to do — and sharing those intentions with this community is a great way to leverage the motivation of an accountability group. Join us!
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today, once i have a moment to breathe, i will make an artistic plan for the week!!
brb
How’d it go, E? Did you get your artistic plan sketched out?
no plan, but i was pretty good at art anyways … i’m trying to do art every day month …. and as always, trying to keep my blog going ….. right now i’m liking pottery more than painting …. i just start stuff in my studio and don’t finish … but in the pottery studio i’m all about getting it done ….
I intend to have some working photos ready for my next blog post, a project which is LONG overdue.
Little time this week… will focus on NaNo… and then painting on the weekend! I love your blog 🙂
Yay, Jenni! How’s NaNo coming?
NaNo? What’s that? 😉
In the same way yoga and meditation are like the writing practice… the more you practice, the more you make yourself the observer of your own process the deeper and more insightful it becomes.
Last week I wrote: This week I’m easing back on my expectations, as I’ll be up late tomorrow night watching the election returns, and have a late night out on Friday as well. This will be an easy-does-it plan.
Well, it’s a good thing I kept my expectations low, because my creative output was quite low indeed.
Last week’s creative/well-being intentions:
* Daily morning centering practice w/Morning Pages and intention journaling [partial]
* Daily writing practice [partial]
* Complete installment of short story for “5PM Friday” weekly accountability group [no]
* Blog post [yes]
* Yoga/walk/run x3 [yes]
* Reading [yes]
This week I’m working on getting back into my full morning routine. This week’s creative/well-being intentions:
* Daily morning centering practice w/Morning Pages and intention journaling
* Daily writing practice
* Complete installment of short story for “5PM Friday” weekly accountability group
* Blog post [W]
* Yoga/walk/run x3 [M/W/Sat]
* Reading
Last week I had one good printing session, although I didn’t do any potato printing. I did try a new technique from the Marculewicz/ Gelatin Printing book. The book is out of print but I ordered a used copy from amazon so that I can return the long overdue library copy.
I also wrote a blog post and submitted a piece for the 5PM writing group.
This week is short week for me with a monday holiday and 2 half days for teacher’s conferences. The gallery has cycled around as well and it’s time to hang a new show. So here’s the plan. If I can get my gallery work done on wednesday and thursday morning, than Friday can be a creative day to print and draw and organize the studio.
I haven’t framed anything, although I keep putting it on my list. It’s off the list for this week and I’ll get back to that thread next week.
One post for the yoga blog. I’ve already written for the 5PM writing group and I have a feeling it won’t be hard to write more.
Nice, artem6! Will you be able to focus on creative work this week, given the holiday?
I will journal each day for at least 30 minutes.
Excellent, Eyes! How did your journaling intention pan out?
I will continue to keep up on my word count for NaNoWriMo! 🙂 Love your posts and the reminder to keep creating! Last week I took a break from creative writing to create a lovely meal for my family–salmon, broccoli, salad, homemade macaroni and cheese, rolls with honey butter–so colorful and delicious! Being creative in multiple areas of life help the creativity flow in other venues!
Love it, K–cross-pollinating is the BEST!
Thanks, Miranda! I love your posts and the reminder (I need) to stay creative! 🙂