Your Creative Intentions: The Monday Post ~ September 16, 2013
Commit to a regular creativity practice. Regularity — a daily practice, if possible — is key to staying 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. If appropriate, use time estimates to containerize your task, which can make a daunting project feel more accessible.
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 leverages the motivation of an accountability group. Join us!
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If you’re an artist or writer with little ones, The Creative Mother’s Guide: Six Creative Practices for the Early Years is the essential survival guide written just for you. Concrete strategies for becoming more creative without adding stress and guilt. Filled with the wisdom of 13 insightful creative mothers; written by a certified creativity coach and mother of five. “Highly recommended.” ~Eric Maisel. 35 pages/$11.98. Available for download here.
Studio Mothers: Life & Art 
Reblogged this on For Your Family and commented:
“The Monday Post” on the Studio Mothers: Life & Art blog is too wonderful to not share with all of you. If you haven’t already seen the website, take a minute, and be inspired!
Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂
I love your blog!!!
Bri Martin
Much appreciated, Bri! xo
haven’t posted in a while. my one week refresh is becoming 3 weeks. I will be reviewing my progress this week, reading for pleasure, and figuring out what to do for NaNo this year.
Awesome, Heather. NaNo is looming large…who hoo!
Well, this practice is keeping me humble.
This week, I desire to let it be an unexciting week where I have plenty of time to work.
It is my intention to:
1. Do my morning practice that includes meditation, yoga, a poem or two and morning pages.
2. Green Smoothie every day.
3. Experiment with swishing my mouth with coconut oil as a healing for my gums.
4. Write 1000 words for six of the seven days this week.
5. Post at least one blog post on Laundry Line Divine.
6. Answer the prompt I get from the Avocado Sisterhood. Did it already.
7. Promote our FeMail mail art workshop.
8. Prepare for the Powder Keg Sessions writing workshop on the 29th.
9. Secure a start date for the free version of the Powder Keg.
10. Work in the garden at least once.
11. Go to yoga and Zumba, at least 3 times. Went to yoga today already.
12. Make one batch of plum jam with Mary.
13. Let the week work it’s magic on me.
Many other small things, but these are the ribs of my intention.
I will take many slow breathes bringing them to life, oxygenating my desires. xoxoxo S
I love, love, love your list. I might have to toss mine out and run with yours instead 🙂 xoxo
My life is so heavily dominated by editorial client work right now that I’m having trouble seeing anything else.
My strategy for this week is to work like a maniac, keep an eye on some health issues, and read as much as I can.
Last week’s creative/well-being intentions:
* Daily morning centering practice w/Morning Pages & intention journaling [partial]
* Daily reading [yes]
* Continue exercises in The Story Template [yes]
* Project Life update (shoot for August pages) [no]
* Art room move (weekend — MAYBE) [no]
This week’s creative/well-being intentions:
* Daily morning centering practice w/Morning Pages & intention journaling
* Daily reading
* Create two alphabet illustrations for my kindergartener’s “parents’ alphabet book” [Tues/Wed/Thurs]
* Continue exercises in The Story Template
* Project Life update (shoot for August pages)
last week’s goals: finish read through (in 3, 2, 1…) things still amped in life, kid # 2 has a stubborn staph infection and a couple of other things going on, so we’ve been doing a caretaker/doctor/specialist dance. key word this week: SIMPLIFY. finish read, finish edits, hope for artwork sometime next week, plug away at the fundraiser/self-pub thing. Anything else that happens: collaboration, or writing in the other longer work i will call a bonus.
CHECK simplify. wrote a few times, could not focus on finishing edits. going to do that now. down time was precious last week, i gave myself a mental break within my day to day.
this week’s goals: today: finish felix hand edits in copy. begin transposition into digital version manuscript edits. keep up daily writing and creativity in other areas, declutter. going to go with the flow and not force, waiting on art.