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Feb 10

10 Comments

Miranda: Moving toward creativity

dsc_0004Hi all! Just a quick post to thank everyone for all the well wishes and support during my move. We’re hard at work getting settled, and my library (yes, my library!) is going to be a wonderful space. (Below is a shot of the work in progress.)

After nearly two years of limbo, it is an amazing relief to finally be “here.” No more wasted time, energy, and emotion spent trying to improve our house situation and fretting about it and cleaning the house for showings (while pregnant and then with a newborn) and hoping that “this time we’re going to get an offer.” It’s finally over.

dsc_0013All the kids are enjoying the new space and I think the house is a big improvement for everyone. Even the teenagers seemed pleased, which is no small accomplishment.

By the end of this weekend, all of the boxes will be unpacked. We’ll make a trip to IKEA for a few necessities. At that point there will till be lots of organizing left to do, of course, but the limbo — and life amid boxes — will have ended.

I guess that means that I’ll actually have to start being creative, huh?

Feb 9

8 Comments

Cathy: Yard work is a blessing

trellisfix-003I know most people feel toward yard work the way I feel about dentists. I’d rather let my teeth rot in my mouth than go and deal with the dentist head on, mouth open. But I love yard work, especially now, for a few reasons.

Last Saturday, I did a lot of yard work. I cut back the crazy roses and repaired the trellis for this year’s crop, and reset it so they won’t grow up into the siding. I cut back the holly that has no business being taller than me or overwhelming the rest of the front landscaping. It was a great day to be wearing a thick old Irish fisherman’s wool sweater and a good pair of gardening gloves, as I dealt with all those thorny things. I dug the tarp out of the dirt pile that never really made it behind the back fence into the gardens and has started growing into a grassy knoll at the side of the garage. I loaded thorny things galore onto the tarp. I dragged it to the fence and headed out back for more branches and brambles.

I removed all the branches from the old pine mulch pile I started the first autumn in the house. From under those branches, etc, is now a beautiful bed of piney compost, and later I consulted with the garden center lady about what would grow in a shady piney corner, and think I came up with a new corner of interest plan. But first I moved those branches as well as fodder from the surrounding trees into the wheelbarrow, wheeled it over to the fence and lifted it all over and threw it on the tarp. I then dragged the tarp to the driveway, and put the Christmas tree and wreath that the garbage company wouldn’t take away for three weeks, and added that to the tarp. Then I recruited my dear Honey’s aid to remove the seat in my van and get the tarpful of yard waste into the back of the van and took it all to the dump. In the end we had to tie the tree to the top, but hey, we got a lot done. Er, I got a lot done in the yard. He helped at the end. There was no wind and it was about forty degrees — a lovely day to work up a sweat outside and have cool fresh air to breathe.

While I was out there, somehow my mind cleared and I didn’t even have to think about the novel or the kids or my Honey or not having an income. I just enjoyed being out there and communing with my piece of suburban Mother Nature. I like to think I made her a little prettier and she appreciated it. I definitely got the scragglies out of her hair.

The next morning in the shower, it occurred to me that one year ago I went to church with a walker. I was seven months pregnant and had no business with my complications getting out of bed to do anything. I had the wheelchair in the back of my van, but I refused to use it. I dragged my son K along and he helped me in and out, carried my purse and bottle of water, held doors, etc. It was also the first time I attended that church, but I was in serious need of some spiritual gathering and to get out of my stir-crazy bed.

So last Sunday, I ended up crying in front of the whole congregation that I’m just starting to get to know, about how far I’ve come from not walking to yard work since my first appearance there last February. I proclaimed in front of all with shaky voice and tear-filled eyes, “I know most people view yard work as a curse, but to me it is a blessed thing — especially since I was able to clear my yard by myself yesterday.” I think I was trying to say, don’t take things for granted, because you have a home, you can bend over and pick up sticks in your yard. It’s the simple things in life we must always appreciate. But I blubbered.

Then Monday, mind uncluttered, I sat down to write as soon as Baby C was asleep. Everything flowed beautifully. I was able to get my main character out of his clammed up state and began to resolve his issues and get him some confidence. Or the start of it, anyway. Then Baby C woke, but I nursed her back down a little and was able to plot out the wrap up of the book in one-liners for the coming scenes. I wrote a solid five pages of the manuscript then plotted the rest out!

Chipper from my productivity, I washed the dishes, loaded the dishwasher, handed the baby to grandma when she came home so that I could clean the kitchen. Then I promptly readied the stroller and leash and took baby and dog and me for a good refreshing walk. I saw cormorants and geese in the lake at my little bench, where I chugged my bottle of water and gave Baby C her juice. When she and Lucy started showing their signs of restlessness (such as dropping cup off side of stroller into goose poo), I hopped up and took off for home. I haven’t hopped up since well before I was pregnant! She was 10 months old as of Sunday, and I can now hop up, in spirit, in yard work, and in my writing. That’s why I love yard work. It feels good to accomplish something physically. It frees your mind and spring is on its way, so I get to garden again. And as long as I can garden, the writing and a whole lot else seem to come much easier.

Feb 6

2 Comments

Open House

Happy Friday, friends! Here’s a roundup of the latest interesting bits from Creative Construction community members.

  1. Kate Hopper is teaching an online version of her Mother Words writing class.
  2. Bethany Hiitola is capturing late-night creative inspiration on her cell phone.
  3. Alana Kirk Gillham is vaccuming under the couch instead of writing.
  4. Elizabeth Beck hung her mother and daughter art show.
  5. Emma-Jane Rosenberg drew and painted some beautiful tomatoes.
  6. Suzanne Kamata noted her publisher’s novel contest.
  7. Liz Hum is building new muscles. Really.

I hope all February Finish-a-thon participants have a rewarding weekend! (Well, and everyone else who reads this, too.) Any great ideas for managing to fit family time, household time, and creativity time all into the same weekend?

Feb 5

19 Comments

Kelly: Dodging Curve Balls

I’ve been having a couple of those weeks where everything comes at you at once. You know those kind of weeks? It’s been taking up so much space in my brain that I haven’t been able to think straight much less find time to sit down and create.

Two weeks ago I got a job offer out of the blue. I guess I can’t really say it was completely out of the blue because I did put in an application with the K-12 public school system, just not with this particular offer in mind. When I answered my cell, the voice on the other end said, “Kelly Warren…this is a voice from your past.” Suddenly, I felt like a Star Wars character. It was an old friend who was now the principal at one of the top magnet schools here in town, and he just so happened to have an immediate opening for a 7th grade English and language arts teacher. When I submitted my application, it was with the sole intention of seeking a position at my girls’ school, simplifying my life in that fashion being the only thing that would make the pay cut worth it. My old friend did a very hard sell on me by phone, we talked further in person the next day, and I asked him to let me interview with the committee just like any other candidate so I could do a little further investigation and soul searching. It really gave me pause, but ultimately after some long talks with DH and a few close advisors, I decided that even though it was a great opportunity, it was not the right opportunity for me right now.

Interestingly enough, the next day I was sitting in my college-wide Student Life Task Force meeting; we’re charged with determining what changes need to be made to our area as we move towards a four-year state college. We have two campus presidents on the committee. We were finalizing our recommendations for the college’s executive vice president when one of the campus presidents added, “And I think we need to put more teeth into the college-wide coordinator’s role, giving that position more authority.” Guess who that college-wide coordinator is? Needless to say, Dr. Russos (my college-wide supervisor) and I were very happy to hear that because we’ve been working on getting my position upgraded for two years to no avail. Now, we had a campus president wanting to formally add that recommendation to our request list. We finalized that list today, and the only recommendation that we didn’t make any changes to was my position upgrade…which would come with an $8,000 pay increase.

Now, as a little distraction, we’ve advertised a full-time English faculty position on my campus. I was a finalist for a full-time English faculty position at North Campus last summer, but that campus president ultimately decided she wanted someone with a doctorate and scrapped the search. The position still has not been filled. My campus president is open to someone without a doctorate and has encouraged me to apply. Those summers off sure are attractive…and come with a $12,000 pay cut. And I’ve applied. If I were to be offered the upgrade and the faculty position at the exact same moment, not sure exactly which way I’d go…but I’m leaning toward the faculty position.

And now the latest curve ball, totally unrelated to work. I’ve been blessed with the lovely experience of two mammograms in the last two weeks. The second one this past Friday brought me the news I didn’t want to hear. I have a suspicious cluster about the size of a dime in my right breast that requires a biopsy. I’m scheduled for 7am Thursday morning. I’m doing my best to remain positive and tell myself everything will be fine. Hopefully I’m just developing polka-dotted boobs. But I must admit this last bit of news has made me even more scattered-brained than I usually am. I could throw myself into a creative frenzy, but all I’ve really wanted to do is curl up on the couch with my babies. I’ve heard the old adage that the cemetery is full of people who didn’t have time to slow down and take a break. Maybe this is my cue.

Feb 4

4 Comments

2/04 Weekly creativity contest winner & new prompt

A quiet week on the creativity contest front. Perhaps the prompt “clock” didn’t set off many bells among Creative Construction readers — or perhaps some of you were hard at work in the February Finish-a-thon. Our winner is Kelly Warren, who sent in a stunning photo, with a lovely explanatory bit. Congratulations, Kelly! Your $10 amazon.com gift certificate is on its way.

Clock’s Tickin’

ford-ttv

Heading south out of Tallahassee on US 319/98 towards the coast, there’s a gathering of old trucks just off the side of the road. Being the intrepid traveler around Tallahassee and its environs, I’ve wondered about this “gathering” for years. They sit there as if on the starting line of some long ago race, all lined up waiting for some invisible spandex-clad starlet to throw down her scarf as the signal to go.

After some recent research, I found finally their origins. They’re are owned by Mr. Homer R. Harvey. He and his father Riley A. Harvey were in the timber, crosstie and turpentine business. They also farmed and raised some cattle and hogs, and the trucks were used in their business operations over the years. Riley died in 1957, and Homer carried the business on into the 1970s. The home on the curve near the trucks is where Homer raised his family. He and his wife Yvonne McLaughlin had four children: Pat, Mike, Dennis and Ouida. Pat now lives in the home on “Homer Harvey Curve.” A few years back Pat and Homer decided to move the old trucks out of the woods and place them closer to the road where they are now. Homer is now 92 and lives with his daughter Ouida just a few miles from the curve. Mike and Dennis both live close by.

The woman at the Wakulla County Chamber of Commerce who helped me with the research, Petra Shuff, told me that there’s a ’54 Ford amongst the gathering that was the first car she remembers steering, sitting in an uncle’s lap. Like Petra’s dream to drive, these old trucks are also a photographer’s dream. I took a series of pictures there recently and played around with a few to great effect, including that ’54 Ford. Clock’s tickin’, Ms. Petra. Been drivin’ lately?

 

From Jen Johnson, a photograph. Jen writes: “A very impromptu submission this week: a photo of our mantle, titled ‘Time and the River’ (yes that is the Wolfe title in the background).”

time-and-the-river

 

From Cathy Coley, a poem and photo pairing. Cathy says, “very silly, i was coming up empty.” Hey, your consistency is always impressive, Cathy!

Clocks

Always ticking
Never sticking
Slowly creeping
Suddenly speeding
Morning in
Evening out
What the heck
Is that all about?

clocks-006

 

From me (Miranda), a haiku:

Clock

The metronome of
life and all I know, music
of our nothingness

 

This week’s prompt: “Cookies”
Use the prompt however you like — literally, or a tangential theme. All media are welcome. Please e-mail your entries to creativereality@live.com by 10:00 p.m. eastern time (GMT -5) on Tuesday, February 10, 2009. The winning entry receives a $10 gift certificate to amazon.com. Writers should include their submission directly in the body text of their e-mail. Visual artists and photographers should attach an image of their work as a jpeg. Enter as often as you like; multiple submissions for a single prompt are welcome. There is no limit to how many times you can win the weekly contest, either. (You do not have to be a contributor to this blog in order to enter. All are invited to participate.) All submissions are acknowledged when received; if you do not receive e-mail confirmation of receipt within 24 hours, please post a comment here. Remember, the point here is to stimulate your output, not to create a masterpiece. Keep the bar low and see what happens. Dusting off work you created previously is OK too. For more info, read the original contest blog post.

Feb 3

Reminder: The clock is ticking on weekly contest deadline!

There’s still time for an entry in this week’s creativity contest. The prompt is “clock.” Grab a minute or two and wind something up! (Gee, so many weak “clock” clichés, and so little time…)

Feb 3

10 Comments

Cathy: 100 Happies

I have been seeing or participating in a lot of these 16 random things about, 25 random things about, or 48 questions about me lists that are rattling around on Facebook. Well, now that it’s officially February and the start of the Finish-a-thon, I am foregoing participation in another of those lists. But it got me thinking again about Elizabeth Beck’s list of 100 things that make her happy. I thought it was about time I started my own. Granted, I’m sure I could make it a thousand easy, and that that list can change minute by minute, because that’s just the varietal kind of person I am, but here it goes:

  1. my husband acting goofy whenever I take his picture.
  2. the way my son s can make me laugh like no one else in the world.
  3. baby c’s deliberate pursuit of whatever she’s doing.
  4. writing poetry
  5. writing a good chunk in a longer project
  6. my son k’s smarts and good looks, both of which I lay claim as the genetic source
  7. taking photos of the kids when they don’t know the camera is on them
  8. chocolate, wait that’s too easy
  9. daaaaark chocolate
  10. creamy things with nuts
  11. wait that sounds gross, creamy sweet goodness with walnuts or pecans or crème brulee
  12. ice cream, and then,
  13. potato chips
  14. and then making dinner while full on ice cream and potato chips
  15. coffee in the morning as I pour it into the cup and the aroma wafts up while it makes that particular pouring sound, and then adding a bit of milk so its all swirly, and then
  16. the first sip of the morning.
  17. a hot shower.
  18. lavender soap.
  19. a tall glass of water on a hot day
  20. a big mug of herbal tea on a cold day
  21. or cocoa, my version, no packets in my house!  with four big marshmallows floating in it
  22. baking cookies
  23. baking cake
  24. cookie dough and cake batter
  25. pasta with red sauce.  I could eat this everyday for the rest of my life and never tire of it.
  26. apparently food
  27. fresh veggies from my garden
  28. growing fresh veggies
  29. gardening
  30. even flowers and trees
  31. yardwork
  32. the beach
  33. anything about the beach
  34. except maybe jellyfish stings
  35. jellyfish in the water is so pretty though
  36. walking
  37. yoga
  38. sunshine
  39. rain
  40. the moon
  41. sky gazing
  42. stars
  43. sunsets
  44. sunrises
  45. the smell of my kid’s heads when they are sleeping.
  46. baby c’s wild curls
  47. babies
  48. dogs
  49. cats
  50. horses
  51. the smell of hay in a barn
  52. the smell of the sea
  53. the smell of hay when the sun is shining on it.
  54. wet grass
  55. dancing in the rain
  56. snow
  57. snowball fights with the kids
  58. building something out of snow
  59. crisp air with snow
  60. snow, snow, snow, snow, snow.
  61. swimming
  62. making snow angels
  63. watching my kids make snow angels
  64. getting up out of making a snow angel and not leaving footprints in it
  65. lying on my back on the sand, on the grass, in the snow, on a boat, on a rock, and watching the sky.
  66. rock climbing
  67. listening to friend’s woes, and realizing hey, they’re just like me!
  68. listening to someone’s tale of woe and feeling blessed that it’s not me.
  69. helping a friend find a way past woe
  70. saying Whoa!
  71. when my dog looks at me with the look of love
  72. when my cat looks at me to say something besides feed me which amounts to, yeah, you’re alright, lady.
  73. when she purrs.
  74. bread
  75. making bread
  76. sledding
  77. driving
  78. adventures
  79. knowing that life is an adventure
  80. and all you have to do is liiiiive it
  81. reading
  82. when my husband pinches my butt just because we’re in the vicinity
  83. when I pinch his for the same reason
  84. a really good laugh
  85. jumping in my husband’s arms, even though it’s not so easy to do anymore, but we’re both in the kitchen, and it’s kitchen affection
  86. bubbles, on the stove or in the air
  87. a good movie cry
  88. a good book cry
  89. Christmas trees
  90. Halloween
  91. knowing that how much I love my family only ever gets bigger and better
  92. when I can think of a new way of approaching a bad situation that makes it better.
  93. caramel
  94. snowcones, preferably at the beach
  95. French fries
  96. morning quiet, so rare these days
  97. love
  98. friends
  99. family
  100. random tap dancing

That was fun and kind of cleared my head before I launch into the February Finish-a-thon. I recommend both highly: making a list of what makes you happy and joining us in the February Finish-a-thon! Good luck!

Feb 2

7 Comments

Carmen: Taking the Plunge

PhotobucketIn October, I received an email from Miranda requesting a  “Breakfast with Carmen” interview and I was super excited. I had never had anyone request an interview with me before. I think I was giddy all day at the thought of someone being genuinely interested in learning more about me. What I didn’t know, was that the Universe was trying to tell me something. This interview was my first hint. Sometimes I need to be smacked over the head and handed a sign in order to see things for how they really are.

About a month after the interview, the night before my 32nd birthday, I sat down and wrote my intentions for the coming year. One of my intentions is to write more. I journal a great deal, but I’m not always brave enough to actually share my innermost thoughts, hopes and dreams.

Putting my raw emotions out there always makes me feel extremely vulnerable and for the few seconds before I sit the “submit” button, the butterflies start going berserk and the fear sets in and my thoughts shift to questions of…  What if they make fun of me? What if that sounds crazy? What if I’m the only one that feels that way? and when I’m strong enough, I take a deep breath and surrender. I let go of the fear for that split second to click submit. Then comes relief and then doubt follows.

On the rare occasion that I open myself up and share, I always get the most amazing feedback and encouragement from other bloggers and I feel validated somehow. I’m learning to embrace this vulnerability and sit with it. Each time I go through this process, I grow and I feel the Universe winking at me, like she knew all along that I had it in me.

It occurred to me about a month ago that this community is the perfect place to begin my writing and so I got in touch with Miranda and within minutes, I was all set as a contributor. Then I froze. Fear set in. The questions came… What if they make fun of me? What if that sounds crazy? What if I’m the only one that feels that way? and eventually it all come down to shame and the dreaded question… What if I’m not good enough?

I think that I was onto something in one of my brave moments when I wrote, “I suppose the only way to find out is to “do” while continuing to dream. I suppose I don’t have to know how, I just have to start.”

So this is my beginning at Creative Construction. I could have started this journey sooner, when the Universal hints started coming my way, but I won’t “should” on myself. For all I know the timing could be absolutely perfect! I will be back soon writing from my heart.

Go easy on me and I will attempt to go easy on myself in the process.

Namasté,

Carmen

Jan 30

13 Comments

Breakfast with Jacqui

It’s Breakfast time! Enjoy the latest in our bi-weekly visits with creative mothers from the blogosphere: Meet Jacqui Robbins, children’s author, blogger, and mother of two. Jacqui is funny and down-to-Earth — just what you need in order to start your day with a smile and a dollop of inspiration. Sunny-side up, please!

jrCC: Please give us an intro to who you are, what you do, and your family headcount.
JR: My name is Jacqui Robbins. I’m a children’s author, sometime teacher, and parent to Tinkerbell, age 6, and Captain Destructo, who is 2 in every way. I live in Michigan with my kids and husband and two cats, a fish, and, lately, two families of attic squirrels against whom I battle daily. I am a 37-year-old who feels 25 or 98, depending on the day.

CC: Tell us about your children’s books and other creative endeavors.
JR: My first book, The New Girl…And Me, illustrated by Matt Phelan, came out in 2006 and Two of a Kind (also illustrated by Matt) comes out this summer. I was a first grade teacher for many years and my books all reflect how hard social drama can be when you’re six. In The New Girl…and Me, it’s Shakeeta’s first day at school. Mia would like to show Shakeeta around, or to learn more about her pet iguana, but how do you start talking to someone who might punch you in the head?

Two of a Kind is about mean girls. You know those two girls in your class who won’t let anyone play with them and are somehow still the most popular? Yeah, them. What if they finally let you play but then they made fun of your best friend?

Right now I am working on a chapter book. It’s a mystery/adventure story with a hint of romance but not too much. I’m in the first draft stage, so I’m still in love with it.

I’m also writing a non-fiction book with my sister called Egghead and Monkey Girl Kick It Old School, in which two sisters (us) raised in the heart of feminism realize they never learned to do any traditional women’s work and can barely feed themselves, and set out to learn everything they need to be domestic goddesses, and to teach it to other domestically challenged souls, while maintaining their fundamentally feminist attitudes.

CC: What prompted you to start a blog? What keeps you going?
JR: I always blogged. I used to write regular group letters, then e-mails and send them to all my friends and family. But I was insecure. I thought you had to be, I don’t know, famous or INVITED to blog, so I came late to the game. Also, it took me a while to find the voice of Jacqui’s Room. I’m a picture book author, but I’m also a novel lover and kind of snide. I wanted to talk seriously and hopefully helpfully about writing, but also be goofy about the classics and pretend to interview Salman Rushdie. When I realized I wanted the blog to be like the meeting rug in my classroom, a place where I hold forth, but everyone can comment and be welcome, it flowed from there. Now I keep going because people are (gasp!) reading it. Also, I am addicted to the internet.

twoofakindcoverCC: What goals do you have for your writing? How would you define your “life’s work”?
JR: Wow. That second question is hard for me because I always thought teaching was my life’s work and I’m not sure it still isn’t. I guess I hope my books tell kids, “Yeah, I know it’s hard. But you’re not alone and you know what? It’s gonna be okay.” And I want to make people laugh those laughs where you smile for a while afterwards. That’s the most important thing.

CC: How has motherhood changed you creatively?
JR: I’m more scatterbrained. I’m also more efficient. That’s a paradox I think only a parent can understand. My books are shorter, because I read to my own kids and I know bedtime is long enough already. I have a broader understanding of human emotions, which is very good for writing. But I’m also exhausted and frazzled and that’s bad. In the morning, I wrestle two kids into snowpants, hats, gloves, boots, coats and carseats, grab two lunches, homework, break up three arguments, find the library book, scream, “Whatareyoudoingupthereyou’resupposedtobebrushingyourteeth?!” and “Noyoucan’twearyourfairywingstoschoolputdownyourbrother’sorangejuice!” and get everyone off to where they need to be and then, heart racing, face frozen in a scowl, and every muscle tense, I sit down and tell myself, “WRITE! BE CREATIVE! You have ten minutes. GO! AAAH!”

officeCC: Where do you do your creative work?
JR: Hee hee. Here is a photo of my office from the summer. It’s even worse now, but I’m working on it, I swear. Meanwhile, I write on the sofa and at my local coffee shop a lot.

CC: Do you have a schedule for writing? Did the pressure of writing under a book contract change your time management strategies?
JR: I DO have a schedule for my writing. I make schedules for my writing all the time. Then I lose them or blow them off or one of the kids barfs and, well, you know. Sigh. Lately, I have been trying a timer: I sit down and write until it goes off. It works for me, this forced discipline. I’m a fast writer, if I’m focused, which helps. My books were all contracted as finished manuscripts, so I haven’t had contract deadline pressure. In fact, having the first book contract was very freeing for me in terms of feeling like “Hey! I’m a writer. I deserve time to write.” So even though I don’t keep a schedule, I respect my need to write and my need for time to do so.

CC: What do you struggle with most?
JR: Balance, or more specifically, my neurosis over the lack of it. Because there IS no balance, I think. My work is clearly much better when I am 100% focused on it and my family is palpably happier when I take a week off writing. So I struggle with the constant feeling of not giving things/people that are important to me everything they deserve.

CC: Where do you find inspiration?
JR: People assume I’m inspired by my own children, but really it’s my students. This is good, because at some point, my daughter is not going to think it’s so cool that her mom writes all these books about little girls who can’t make friends. I’m inspired by the difficulties my students have socially. Also, coffee helps.

CC: What are your top 5 favorite blogs?
JR: Ack. This is hard. I read a lot of writer blogs, but I also like to read blogs by people whose lives are totally different from mine. I’m going to go with the top five that make me smile and spend the rest of the week worrying I hurt someone’s feelings.

  1. Yield and Overcome has musings, poetry, and laughs from a writer, father of four, and recently rediscovered good friend.
  2. Bookie Woogie is new to me. It’s a father and his children reviewing books and they are funny and honest and charming.
  3. Bossy cracks me up.
  4. Elise Murphy (who’s in my writer support group Rock Sugar Beets) blogs about writing and life on the farm. Math for Writers is my favorite post of Elise’s.
  5. Picture books get little respect in the writing world, but Boni Ashburn writes all about them at Life on the Bookshelf. Her own book, Hush Little Dragon, is fabulous.

new_girl_jacketCC: What is your greatest indulgence?
JR: Books. I love them. Our shelves are overflowing and sagging and I love running my fingers across the titles and sighing happily. My friend, Erika Mijlin, wrote Feldman and the Infinite, a play about a guy who stole 15,000 books from the New York public library. He had books in the bathtub. I’m not there yet, but it doesn’t sound so bad.

Also, I never drank caffeine until my son was born. Now I am addicted to overpriced foamy coffee and soy milk drinks in big ceramic mugs.

CC: What are you reading right now?
JR: I just started City of Thieves, by David Benioff. I’m also in the middle of Shadow Country, by Peter Matthiesson, which is lovely, but as dense and murky as its Florida Everglades setting, so I take little breaks from it to read Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which I recommend to everyone ages 9 to 100.

CC: What advice would you offer to other mothers struggling to find the time and means to be more creative?
JR: Two thoughts, one internal, one practical. First, make sure you are not the one sabotaging yourself. Make sure that if something is important to you, it’s not last on your to do list. Put it first, and then believe that you deserve that time and that your family/your day job/the world will keep spinning if you disappear for 30 minutes.

Secondly, one of my new year’s resolutions this year was to do something every day to make the next day easier on myself. It’s worked out really well; before I relax for the night, I do one thing on my to do list for the next day. Then, the next day, I’m all, “Hey! I already did that! Look at all this extra time I have!”

CC: Wonderful, Jacqui — thank you!

Jan 29

123 Comments

Open Call to Creative Action: February Finish-a-thon!

Need a little kick in the pants in order to move your creative project a few notches higher on the to-do list?

Cathy Coley writes: “In my blog post of Tuesday, January 27, 2009, a challenge was proffered by Liz Hum, a Creative Construction contributor. So much for whining about deadlock, writer’s block, not being able to finish, or even getting a project off the ground. The writers here have challenged each other to a project duel of sorts for the month of February. We are two days from the beginning of the shortest month of the year, so let’s get busy! This is hopefully a variation of nanowhatchacallit for November.”

Fabulous idea, ladies. And everyone can participate, not just writers. If you would like to join us, please post a comment to this blog post. Tell us what you’re going to finish in February. Maybe it’s your novel, or maybe it’s a short story, 10 poems, 5 prints in the dark room, 8 canvases, 48 pinch pots, 15 pairs of earrings, or whatever you’d like to quantify. You might also identify what your primary work opportunities will be: daytime while kids are at school; during baby’s naptime; at night when everyone is in bed; early in the morning when everyone is in bed; your lunch hour at the office; three hours at the coffee shop on Sunday afternoons; etc.

Before submitting your comment, check off the box below the comment field, which reads “Notify me of follow-up comments via email.” That way you’ll stay in the loop on everyone’s progress and we can keep in touch as the month progresses.

Firing gun goes off on February 1, 2009! Get ready, get set…..

Jan 29

5 Comments

Georgia: I am Mother and writer…hear me roar

When my four-and-a-half-year-old son was a newborn, I remember my best friend asking me how I felt being a new mom. She asked if I thought it would interfere in my career. I think she was trying to find out if I was having postpartum depression.

I told her that having my beautiful son made me want to be the best person I could be and I had to pursue my dreams so he would learn to pursue his. I spoke the truth and I feel the same way now. But the difficulty often lies between the theoretical and the practical.

I have wanted to be a writer since I was in junior high. For my seventh grade English class, I wrote a dramatic tale about two lost children trying to find their way home. They meet many different people and animals along the way. My teacher even said I should try to get it published. I never did send it out but I knew then that writing was my passion.

In college I studied sociology and child development instead of English or journalism. I still wrote, filling up many tattered notebooks. But I just didn’t have the confidence to show other people my stories. Writing was the one thing I wanted to do and if I failed at that where would I be? So I just wouldn’t try…great logic I know.

By lucky circumstance, I got a job at a daily newspaper as a news assistant. I thought that I would just be writing calendar listings and sorting mail. One day the religion reporter said, “Georgia, will you cover this story for me.” And that was it. Soon I was writing almost 100% of the time. I started to pitch my own stories, even series of stories. I wrote a weekly entertainment column. I was a writer. I may not have been getting paid much and my title wasn’t “reporter.” But I was really a writer.

After working at the paper for a year I moved to Colorado with my then fiancé. Within a year I was married and pregnant. I got an office job at the local hospital. My own lack of self-confidence kept me from looking for a writing job. I guess that is why my friend asked me those questions.

I now live in a suburb of Chicago and I have found my way back to writing. I was a staff writer for a weekly newspaper based in the South Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park, where President Obama lived before moving to Washington. I have even co-authored a book, it happens to only be printed in Japan…but hey it is a book. I decided to quit the newspaper job because it required being away from home many nights and weekends. I’m now trying to make a go of freelance writing.

Motherhood, I guess it’s about trying to be that “best person” while still having time to pick your son up after a fall, or taking time to play in the snow or watch another episode of Spiderman. The dirty laundry often trumps sending out brilliantly worded query letters, and it is near impossible to fit in that workout at the gym.

But hey, at least I can say with confidence now I’m a writer.

Jan 28

6 Comments

Weekly Contest Addendum

Huge apologies to Karen Winters — I filed her contest entry in the wrong folder, and neglected to post it with the rest of this week’s entries. This also means that Karen wasn’t even “in the running” (though I had acknowledged receipt). I’m so sorry, Karen! This is a casualty of the bird-brain induced by my current circumstances — hopefully not to be repeated.

Karen’s submissions (both are oil on canvas): “This painting was created specifically to represent the idea of hope, using a landscape as a metaphor. The title ‘Blue Skies Ahead’ refers to the song of the Depression Era, ‘Blue Skies,’ which helped lift people’s spirits in the midst of a time of financial disaster. I believe that art, like music, can be restorative and healing, and that it can communicate themes that will soothe the soul.”

bishop-california-clouds-b

“‘Blue Skies Ahead’ is a new painting, done just a few months ago after our November trip to the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains in California, at a time when the financial markets were mid-descent. For me, clearing skies, sunsets and sunrises represent optimism, resilience and a positive approach to life. And now, my hope is that someone will add this to their collection as some did the painting below, named ‘Brighter Tomorrows.'”
brighter-tomorrows-dp
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