I heard the usual flock of finches earlier, and when I stepped out to empty the garbage there were a couple of sparrows sitting in my neighbor's tree. Today started off with rain, but is now just overcast. Glad to see the rain after the nearly endless fog we've had for most of the month. Change is good!
Well, this week the only thing I did consistently was write the Morning Pages - ofttimes in the afternoon or in the evening however, so perhaps not so consistently after all! After last week's post, I hit the gym - amazing how empty it was - oh, yeah, playoff weekend for the NFL! I did manage to get all the machines I like to use...so, go Packers! Then I did manage to hit my trainer on Monday and again yesterday. In between, life struck. Mother Nature reminded me this week that I am still a fertile female via the monthly cleansing (which nixes several yoga asanas, going to the gym, and even the trainer for at least two days!). I will be glad when that particular part of life is over. I decided long ago no more kids after I hit 30 - and now with two adorable grandchildren who are full of energy, I'm glad I stuck to that resolution!
This week, I am posting prompts on the CHPercolators Yahoo group. I get to do this every six to eight weeks or so through the year. It's fun to see what everyone comes up with as prompts and how they present them!
My Artist Date was a cleansing of a different sort - I cleaned out and reorganized three-fourths of my office. Sorted through magazines, kept the articles I wanted, tossed the rest. Have a pile to head to the break room at work to find use in someone else's hands. Have all my yoga routines in one spot for easy reference, and started my travel dream book, collecting info on all the places I'd like to go and things I'd like to do in the future. All cleaning I've been meaning to do, but haven't made the time to until yesterday. My office feels so much lighter, even though most of that stuff was in the closet, hidden from view! Amazing how the things that are out of sight or below the surface can still weigh us down.
I did finish Julia Cameron's book this week - The Sound of Paper, Starting from Scratch. She gave me lots to think about and several exercises to weave into my writing/retrospection on life, including the Morning Pages.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
23 Jan 11 - This Week In Life
Well, let's see...I now have a weekly goals whiteboard staring at me through the leaves of the African violet on my desk. It has my goals for exercise (gym/trainer/walks/yoga), writing (morning pages, project(s)), and events (Artist Dates, etc.) for the week.
I can tell you exercise is my dismal spot - 33% completion rate there - must do better! Writing and Events garnered 100% completion rate - yeay! Now to keep that up!
To date, I have done two weeks straight of the morning pages as recommended by Julia Cameron, and I find them to be helpful in centering me. I have rules for these pages - no personal angst (or not much anyway), to start with. Do them daily - even if I can't do them first thing in the morning. This gives commitment to my writing and, perhaps like exercise for other folks I've known in my life, I will get cranky and have to write the pages if I miss a day or so!
I believe I touched on attending a My Girlfriends Garden event in last week's post. I did attend the event, and it was great! I felt so at home with this group of gals. Just meeting them all and feeling accepted - wow! Robyn McCann, http://www.elephantsdance.org/, the speaker, was great! She shared how she was raised in a strict religious home yet always felt guided by animals in her life, even when she didn't realize that's what was happening. She opened herself to the experience and has led a wonderful life because of it. Another gal I met, Kari Hagensmith, has this really cool book - The Girlfriend Will. Her card says "I'm gone. You're here. Someone's got to clean up this mess." I know several women in my life that would get a kick out of this book! And I can't close this paragraph without telling you about Lisa Mann, owner of Fortezza Winery. She put up with my questions about her wine, and poured for all of us. She was just so nice and friendly - a definite keeper on the winery list (and good wines too!!)!
The other event I attended this weekend was a birdwalk at Heritage Oak Winery in Lodi, CA. David Yee, local bird enthusiast (among other things), leads monthly birdwalks on the property, which backs up to the Mokelumne River. We are so blessed that Tom Hoffman, the winery owner, allows us to use his property for these events. His family has maintained a balance between the vineyards and the riparian areas that yields magnificient habitat for many species of birds either stopping off for a rest and a bite to eat during migration or looking for a place to nest for the season.
All of the creative and accepting energy that I was blessed to be with this week led to me starting another writing project using the sentence for the current contest for the publication, The First Line. The sentence is: Sam was a loyal employee. How the story works out...well, if I manage to get it written/edited/submitted by 31 Jan 11 - I'll still have to wait until the periodical is published either way - that's the rules! I will tell you this though...it's another story set in the Character Realm!
Wow! That's a lot for a week's time...
I can tell you exercise is my dismal spot - 33% completion rate there - must do better! Writing and Events garnered 100% completion rate - yeay! Now to keep that up!
To date, I have done two weeks straight of the morning pages as recommended by Julia Cameron, and I find them to be helpful in centering me. I have rules for these pages - no personal angst (or not much anyway), to start with. Do them daily - even if I can't do them first thing in the morning. This gives commitment to my writing and, perhaps like exercise for other folks I've known in my life, I will get cranky and have to write the pages if I miss a day or so!
I believe I touched on attending a My Girlfriends Garden event in last week's post. I did attend the event, and it was great! I felt so at home with this group of gals. Just meeting them all and feeling accepted - wow! Robyn McCann, http://www.elephantsdance.org/, the speaker, was great! She shared how she was raised in a strict religious home yet always felt guided by animals in her life, even when she didn't realize that's what was happening. She opened herself to the experience and has led a wonderful life because of it. Another gal I met, Kari Hagensmith, has this really cool book - The Girlfriend Will. Her card says "I'm gone. You're here. Someone's got to clean up this mess." I know several women in my life that would get a kick out of this book! And I can't close this paragraph without telling you about Lisa Mann, owner of Fortezza Winery. She put up with my questions about her wine, and poured for all of us. She was just so nice and friendly - a definite keeper on the winery list (and good wines too!!)!
The other event I attended this weekend was a birdwalk at Heritage Oak Winery in Lodi, CA. David Yee, local bird enthusiast (among other things), leads monthly birdwalks on the property, which backs up to the Mokelumne River. We are so blessed that Tom Hoffman, the winery owner, allows us to use his property for these events. His family has maintained a balance between the vineyards and the riparian areas that yields magnificient habitat for many species of birds either stopping off for a rest and a bite to eat during migration or looking for a place to nest for the season.
All of the creative and accepting energy that I was blessed to be with this week led to me starting another writing project using the sentence for the current contest for the publication, The First Line. The sentence is: Sam was a loyal employee. How the story works out...well, if I manage to get it written/edited/submitted by 31 Jan 11 - I'll still have to wait until the periodical is published either way - that's the rules! I will tell you this though...it's another story set in the Character Realm!
Wow! That's a lot for a week's time...
Monday, January 17, 2011
First Post of 2011
Well, again, it's been over a month since my last post. As a writer and publisher, I really should do better. And of course, this year, I once again resolve to do just that! My goal is to post to this blog weekly. We'll see how I do...
I'm currently reading Julia Cameron's The Sound of Paper, subtitled Starting from Scratch. Since the 9th of this month, I have taken the morning pages to heart (although they may not always be in the morning, depending on what life is throwing at me that day), and done that daily since - 9 days and counting!
My artist date last week was a humble one. I picked up the latest copy of the Sacramento News and Review to read on my way back to the office from Starbucks. This week's artist date is attending the monthly My Girlfriends Garden event at Villa Fiorente - a winery in Auburn - on Thursday evening. This month, Robynn McCann (The Opal Within Us, Understanding Animal Voices) is speaking on the topic of Finding Our Journey. Last month, Persia Woolley - the Guinevere trilogy - spoke. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend that event.
Ms. Cameron also recommends walks for inspiration, which I am re-incorporating as part of getting back into my fitness routine. We are blessed to have a small nature area with a walking/biking trail near the house, so I walk there and see many species of birds come through, as well as other critters. Last week, there was this adorable Siamese-like cat with the prettiest blue eyes! Many times I'll see a white egret pausing in the large clearing by the road and always there are the smaller birds that dwell in the area as well.
There is a story calling to me in the Belkher Chronicles series, based on happenings along the Wise Canal in Auburn. Six men have drowned in that canal since January of 2009, many of them inebriated transients - but not all. Very much like the story line I was taking in a work tentatively titled Watery Death. Papacita started that way as well - a newspaper story caught my eye and sparked my imagination and off we went!
I have gotten as far as typing up How the Elephant Got Its Trunk from Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories series as well. Now I need to sketch the animals involved, get the layout done and get 'er published! I'm aiming to have that done by my grandson's birthday in late March.
Well, that's all the news that is news at this time - will do my best to see you again next week!
I'm currently reading Julia Cameron's The Sound of Paper, subtitled Starting from Scratch. Since the 9th of this month, I have taken the morning pages to heart (although they may not always be in the morning, depending on what life is throwing at me that day), and done that daily since - 9 days and counting!
My artist date last week was a humble one. I picked up the latest copy of the Sacramento News and Review to read on my way back to the office from Starbucks. This week's artist date is attending the monthly My Girlfriends Garden event at Villa Fiorente - a winery in Auburn - on Thursday evening. This month, Robynn McCann (The Opal Within Us, Understanding Animal Voices) is speaking on the topic of Finding Our Journey. Last month, Persia Woolley - the Guinevere trilogy - spoke. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend that event.
Ms. Cameron also recommends walks for inspiration, which I am re-incorporating as part of getting back into my fitness routine. We are blessed to have a small nature area with a walking/biking trail near the house, so I walk there and see many species of birds come through, as well as other critters. Last week, there was this adorable Siamese-like cat with the prettiest blue eyes! Many times I'll see a white egret pausing in the large clearing by the road and always there are the smaller birds that dwell in the area as well.
There is a story calling to me in the Belkher Chronicles series, based on happenings along the Wise Canal in Auburn. Six men have drowned in that canal since January of 2009, many of them inebriated transients - but not all. Very much like the story line I was taking in a work tentatively titled Watery Death. Papacita started that way as well - a newspaper story caught my eye and sparked my imagination and off we went!
I have gotten as far as typing up How the Elephant Got Its Trunk from Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories series as well. Now I need to sketch the animals involved, get the layout done and get 'er published! I'm aiming to have that done by my grandson's birthday in late March.
Well, that's all the news that is news at this time - will do my best to see you again next week!
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