Eric Maisel Creativity Central

London Calling - Filling the Well at their Wedding

2011-05-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

In the month of May, we've had so many public holidays here in London that the whole month seemed to run into one. For me it they were like a Godsend because the well of my creativity had grown desperately dry. I really welcomed the chance to see our great city full of visitors.

When visitors come here on holiday they bring mess, noise and inconvenience but they also bring fresh perspectives, laughter, excitement and weird questions like 'Can you tell me where Sherlock Holmes lived,' even though Sherlock Holmes was a fictional character invented by Arthur Conan Doyle.

The wedding of Prince William to Katherine Middleton was a thrilling occasion - but for me, the important thing was that I got out there. If I had stood in the pouring rain to watch the bride go by in her gold and glass coach, it would have been just as good for my writing as if the weather were glorious.

I love the way that creativity has a voice in good times and in bad, whether we are busy empathising with other poor souls, perhaps homeless after a cyclone or a flood, or whether today, our own worries and troubles threaten to overwhelm us. It makes no odds - craft a word, redraft a line, snip a sentence here and there. Suddenly nothing else matters.

Jennifer Pittam is a winner of Coast to Coast writing competition and is working on her second novel.

My new book is out SCREENWRITING THEY CAN'T RESIST

2011-04-02T08:20:00.000-07:00

SCREENWRITING THEY CAN'T RESIST. How To Create Screenplays of Originality and Cinematic Power. Explode the Rules
by Pauline Kiernan. Quaere Publishing.
AVAILABLE AT AMAZON and BARNES & NOBLE

If you want to create screenplays that are derivative, formulaic and forgettable. If you’re looking for another manual that paralyses your creative brain and shows you how to use a tent pole to write your script. If you want to experience the existential despair of trying to fit your story into a rigid structure designed to be universally applied to all scripts, this book isn’t for you.

But if, like the most distinctive and exciting screenwriters today, you want to write bold, innovative, outstanding screenplays which are full of emotional depth, disturb and challenge your audience, and have a real chance of getting develope this book will help you.

It offers a radically new and provocative approach for writers who want to discover how to create screenplays that are daring, inventive and wholly original.
Out go the ‘3-Act Structure’ and other rigid structural constraints that lead only to existential despair. Instead, the focus is on orchestrating all the elements of the script around the central imperative of all storytelling, which Kiernan calls Emotional Pull.

There are intensive, practical workouts and unorthodox ideas and inspirations as well as weblinks to movie clips and scripts and interviews, to show how the writer can develop for themselves the most imaginative and powerful ways to shape their unique creative vision and storytelling instincts to create screenplays of originality and solid market potential.
Screenwriting They Can’t Resist is for writers passionate about the wondrous potential of cinematic storytelling, who want their screenplays to challenge and disturb, excite and exhilarate an audience, and leave them emotionally and mentally stretched.

Screenwriter, script consultant and award-winning playwright Pauline Kiernan is also a distinguished Shakespeare scholar and a visiting screenwriting tutor at the University of Oxford.

A moment of insignificant silence.

2011-03-12T19:23:00.000-08:00

Watching the waves rush over the fields and streets and cars and houses and people and dogs and cats in Japan, I was shocked, saddened and scared. All those lives, just washed away and all I could do was watch.

I offer only my own moment of silence...small and insignificant... silence.

In honor of every life lost.

In honor of every struggle to live.

In honor of fear and determination and survival.

In honor of love.

Remembering reading about plate tectonics, subduction zones and continental plates as I edited my brother's college physics papers. As I corrected spelling and punctuation, I learned, not realizing, the lessons would be needed in my lifetime.

We may have dodged this tsunami bullet, here in the Pacific Northwest, but it was our Pacific plate that was involved in this earthquake. Not insignificant.

I take a breath and honor in silence the preciousness of life.

By Susan Gallacher-Turner
My website: www.susangt.com

Seeking A Convenient Distraction

2011-02-20T10:37:00.000-08:00

Seeking A Convenient Distraction
By Lisa A. Riley
Many of us have experienced this form of procrastination. Where we give into the rationalization that once these convenient distractions are completed and put to rest, we can create. When in reality, this is an indication of our own internal resistance to facing the act of producing something. Feelings of self-doubt, criticism and negative beliefs can produces anxiety around the creative process. Such discomfort may rise from our own demons emerging to remind us how mediocre we might be, how worthless our work is or worse of all how “uncreative” we really are. For that reason, we naturally look for diversions to keep us from facing this discomfort.

Cleansing: What was lost is found.

2011-02-11T17:57:00.000-08:00

By Susan Gallacher-Turner

“Cleansing,” was the word I heard when I leaned against the big cedar tree the other day. It wasn’t a surprise, because I’ve been cleaning out closets, drawers, cabinets and shelves for the last month. What was surprising was the tone; it had finality to it. A sense of closure. It felt reassuring, like when you’re packing your bags from a long trip for the journey home.

Home. I love my home. But the changes and events of the last 3 years have shaken my sense of home right down to the foundation. Why is it when you’re worried about having a home at all that you take the least care of it? Maybe, when you’re afraid of losing something you love as much as your home, you create distance with clutter and disorganization. Or maybe the fear of not having enough led me to hang onto everything around me like a little kid hangs onto the monkey bars with white knuckles or stashes Halloween candy under the bed.

It’s a new year, now. Life has changed again, this time for the better. Job gains have replaced job losses. We are adjusting to a new routine, a new normal.

One afternoon, I went looking for a crochet hook and next thing I knew I’d cleaned two shelves and rearranged the others. Lately, I’ve found myself cleaning out drawers and cabinets all around the house. I didn’t make a list. Or set it up as a task. It just started happening.

Another day, I opened up the pantry and the next thing I knew I was sorting, re-filing and throwing away recipes. Then, it was my studio shelves, desk and easel. I threw out old work and put out new work. Next, it was the master bathroom, utility room, main bath, kitchen drawers and cupboards and hall closet. In every place and space, there were things to be thrown out, cleaned up, repaired, rearranged and donated.

Questions ran through my mind like a non-stop bullet train: Was I avoiding the studio? Was I afraid of email? Was I running away from writing? Was I covering feelings of self doubt with dusting and scrubbing? Was I becoming my mother?

My train of thoughts sped on while my hands were busy scrubbing, tossing, repairing and discovering. As I worried whether I was lost, I found things I’d forgotten I had.

Boxes and boxes that held jewelry gifts, now empty. A container full of silk paint and tools. A book on writing and publishing, something I’ve always wanted to do, but haven’t done, yet. Old art books. Old car stereo cassette plug-in that my son wanted and I thought was long gone. Grandmother Gallacher’s shortbread recipe. Photos of my 8 year old cat, Terra, as a kitten. Five oil paintings that I’d done years ago and forgotten, literally, came out of the closet and tears came out of my eyes when I saw them again.

Answers were found as well: I am creating freshly washed, open space for new creative ideas. I am re-arranging my life, my priorities, and my thinking. I am finding a new way to enjoy my home, my home life, art, and writing.

Cleansing. Yes. I am cleansing my fear, pain and sadness. I am hearing deep thoughts and feelings that I thought were lost and finding my way back, not only to myself, but to my heart and soul as well. Like a blank canvas, fresh with white gesso, I am beginning again, at home, and moving outward to find my true joy.

If you'd like see my artwork work, please visit my Sculpture website and you can read more about my creative life on my blog Sculpting a Life.

The Fire of Intention

2011-01-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

The week before New Years, an artist friend was hard at work sculpting a huge altar to set on fire. Patrick Gracewood has been making and burning his work for over 30 years now. His intention is to provide closure to the old year and energy to the new.

The sculptures have taken on many diverse shapes and themes over the years, including griffins, peacocks, wizards and tigers. This year, the sculpture was an altar shape with a large white and green cake made of a tube iced with joint compound behind it was a green and gold stenciled 7th century Buddhist flame symbol for awareness. Patrick said, “It’s a wake up for this year.”

Arriving at his studio on Friday night, the mood was cozy and inviting. But soon, the mood changed as strips of paper were passed out. There were questions to answer: What did you want to let go of from the old year? What did you want to welcome into your life in the new year?

A silence surrounded the room as one by one, adults and children chose colored paper strips and wrote out messages, wishes and prayers. Then, each person pushed them through the holes drilled into the cake sculpture or tucked them into a large fireplace pinecone that was placed on top of the altar. A little before midnight, the sculpture was wheeled out the door of Patrick’s studio and onto the concrete patio/pathway.

Talking and laughing, we all followed from the warm lit room into the dark, cold night. Somehow, it seemed fitting, leaving the light of the old and known year and stepping into the dark of the unknown new year. Everyone waited excited and anxious to see the first sparks fly from the fireworks. There was a 10 second countdown to midnight. Cheers went up. Hands clapped.

And then, it grew quiet as we all stood, huddling closer to the warmth and light of the sculpture fire. Pieces fell into the flames creating dancing lights of orange, yellow, red and blue. Other pieces crumbled into black piles of ash. The bright pieces of paper with messages from the past and wishes for the future had become like smoke signals spiraling up into the night sky.

The excitement of the fire gave way to silence and in the end a deep sense of peace. As the flames died down, the guests left slowly, shaking hands, giving hugs, blessings and wishes for the New Year to new and old friends. I can’t think of a better intention for the New Year than that.

If you'd like to see more sculpture see my website, Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpture or Patrick Gracewood's website. If you'd like to read more about living a creative life, visit my blog Sculpting A Life.

Success, Digital Stress and Answering Life's Questions: An Interveiw with Jennifer Louden

2010-12-07T18:18:00.000-08:00

Contributed by: Susan Gallacher-Turner

I had a wonderful opportunity to interview Jennifer Louden when she visited Portland last month to teach a writing retreat, Walk into Fire, with Susan Piver and Patti Digh at the Kennedy School. Even after a long day inspiring writers, Jennifer still had energy to talk to me about her difficult start as a writer, her ultimate success and her newest challenge balancing the internet, her life, writing and a new venture.

Best selling author and Comfort Queen, Jennifer Louden, has written a series of self help books starting in 1992 with The Woman’s Comfort Book, The Couple’s Comfort Book, The Pregnant Women’s Comfort Book, and Comfort Secrets for Busy Women, followed by The Woman’s Retreat Book, The Life Organizer Book and companion CD. Even though she’d published successful books, Jennifer still has problems seeing herself as a real writer. That inner critic was saying to her, “Well yes, you wrote a book and it sold hundreds of thousands of copies, but it’s a ‘self help’ book. It’s not a ‘real’ book. It’s not literature.”

Every book was a ‘self-help’ book for Jennifer. By looking for the answers to questions in her own life; Jennifer helped herself and many other people, too.

“I think that’s why so many of us write anything or create anything because we have a question. And somehow we are directed or constructed, or both, in a way that we don’t just do it for ourselves, said Jennifer.” “There’s something about the conversation that is huge for me. That’s what I love about the internet, and my blog, creating products and doing teleconferences, retreat calls or both, there’s feedback back and forth. And that sparks more learning and questions for me and then I get interested in answering questions for other people, too. But it’s got to be that sweet spot between the two.”

Hear the entire interview with Jennifer Louden as she talks about how she answers the questions of balance, success, digital stress and saving the world in the podcast on Voices of Living Creatively website. Or you can read a text version on my blog at Sculpting A Life.

London Calling: A Gift of Hope From Norway

2010-12-05T11:24:00.000-08:00

Today, like many other Londoners, I gravitated towards Trafalgar Square, drawn by the annual magic of the Norway Spruce, a tree sent with love and gratitude from the people of Oslo to the people of London, every year. I first saw the the tree as a tot, with my Mother and Father. The consistency and persistence of this gift, sent every year since 1947, has a charm and magic I can't explain. It's the kind of persistency we need as writers. It says, 'We don't mind whether you're in fashion, or whether the world hates you. We don't mind that you're young, and beautiful, or that you grew old and your face is wrinkled, your hair hair silver. We just remember you because you're you. And if we're writers, we write it down.' Love You, Norway.

Student to artist to teacher to student again.

2010-11-23T18:36:00.001-08:00

Contributed by Susan Gallacher-Turner

Learning is a life long process that circles from learning to doing to teaching and for me, back to learning again. In my last blog I wrote about taking a writing workshop. I'm also taking clay classes. And even though I've taken clay classes, produced clay sculptural work, written professionally and taught classes, I love being a student again.

First lesson learned: I throw clay left handed. I write right handed. Yep. That's why all those years ago in ceramics class, I could never throw a pot, bowl, cup or anything straight. In fact, I was so bad, even the teacher suggested I should stay away from the wheel. Ok, to be fair, my clay had the habit of spinning off my wheel at a high speeds and hitting the wall. But, really, I was trying to do it the right way. Now, I know what was wrong, thanks to Jan, my new teacher who watched me and asked me, "Are you left handed?" "Sometimes," I replied. So, she stopped the wheel, flipped the toggle switch up instead of down and finally it felt right.

Second lesson learned: Potter's wheels turn counter clockwise for right handed people and clockwise for left handed people. Amazing. I never knew there was a choice. And to be fair, I wasn't given a choice. I was to be right handed, period. I've found as an adult, that I do somethings well right handed and somethings well left handed and sometimes I can just use whatever hand is handy.

Third lesson learned: I can throw a bowl. And it isn't horrible, a little wonky maybe, and I needed instruction on some of the steps. But I was able to get it centered and pulled up and pushed out all on my own. Left handed, of course.

Biggest lesson learned: Knowledge is not only powerful but empowering. It's never too late to learn and turn a failure into a success.

Now, I can't wait to learn more about glazes, slips, raku and oxides...oooh what fun!

You can see more of my sculptural work at Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculptures and read more about my creative journey on my other blog Sculpting A Life.

Television Musings - Rants and Raves of a Romance Writer

2010-11-23T00:10:00.000-08:00

Who will win the Mirror Ball trophy?

By Kathy Carpenter

Tonight was the finals on this seasons Dancing with the Stars. Who will win it all? Will it be Jennifer Grey and Derrick? Jennifer is the daughter of dancing legend Joel Grey and of course the dancing star from Dirty Dancing, the odds on favorite from the beginning.

. But she has had her trouble throughout the season. I personally think her turnaround came a couple weeks ago when she was in so much pain. I wanted to see her voted off because I thought it was too much for her physically. However, she was not voted out and her dancing took on a whole new demision.

The we have Britol Palen. I thought along with most people she should have gone out long ago. Then she turned it around. With the last two weeks really impressing me. So much so I actually wanted her to stay over Brandy. Tonight the judges were a little down on her. True she isn't the best technically that goes to Jennifer but i think she's America's sweetheart.

And then we have Kyle. He has been entertaining from the beginning. I have enjoyed some of his numbers the most. I say he is the Donny Osmond of the group. Of course Donny has a lot of fans, and I don't know if Kyle has that behind him. But his winning would not surprise me.

Usually I base who I personally want to win on the freestyle. And personally I think I liked Kyle's freestyle the best. But this has been the closest season yet and any of these celebrities could win.

Who did you vote for?

Dribbles and Scribbles

2010-10-28T13:29:00.000-07:00

By Susan Gallacher-Turner

Sometimes getting back into serious studio work requires serious play. Focus is great but all work and no play, not only makes me dull but my art as well. How do I know when that happens? Good question.

The biggest clue for me is SAS or Studio Avoidance Syndrome. Ok, silly, I know but I've noticed it's a pattern for me. When I push myself and my art to work harder and better and faster, I also find myself getting busy with too much busy work on the computer. That makes me very crabby.

Time for serious play. So, this week, after writing long hand with a pen in my journal, I decided to doodle. I got out this wonderful pastel paper that was given to me a year ago (it's very expensive, so, therefore, precious but I got it for free), and decide to make a mess of it.

I painted all over the paper with washes of acrylic paints in cerulean blue, cobalt blue, warm and cool reds. Then I added drips of pink ink.

After it dried, I got out my old pastels and scribbled. I haven't used any of these pastels in over a decade. I dabbed on light blue clouds. Then I scribbled all over that too. Smooshed over the scribbles and called it done. Fun.

Dribbling and scribbling, it's not great art. And that's the point, really. I finished with hands covered in pastel colors and a smile on my face. Just what I needed...not serious art but some serious fun!

To see more of my 'serious' art check out my website, Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpture. To read more about my creative journey, go to my other blog, Sculpting A Life. I also do interview with other creative people and you can read those and listen to podcasts at Voices of Living Creatively.

Television Musings - Rants and Raves of a Romance Writer

2010-10-05T23:40:00.000-07:00

Creativity
By Kathy Carpenter

I could not believe it had been since June since I had posted a blog. It is so hard it this busy everyday life to be creative. To have a creative thought. Enough thoughts to write a blog. An interesting one someone actually wants and looks forward to reading.Finding something fresh on television is always easy if looked for. I've stated before how we now have one television season after another. One series will end one week a new series starts the following one. With each new season of a show comes changes.

These changes need to keep viewers tuning in so they come up with fresh ideas. Something new, innovative, creative. New things are always out there if looked for.

This week I spotted one on Chuck. He had a pair of gloves he put on and all he ha to do was touch someones face and they would be knocked out. Now wouldn't that be fun to have at our disposel?

Send me the creative ideas you find.

Until next time.

Art and Liberation

2010-09-28T19:41:00.000-07:00

(photo courtesy of Lora R Fisher)
An interview with artist, Jan vonBergen

By Susan Gallacher-Turner

“You can feel really good everyday of your life when you do what you love, whether it’s read or do art or walk or dance or whatever you love to do. It makes you feel alive, that feeds you and gives you what you need everyday.”

In the last 3 years, Jan’s life and art has changed. Her life used to revolve around full-time teaching and family with her art making fitting in whatever space was left. It was a fulfilling puzzle with many pieces. Retirement was a mystery at first and a word Jan dislikes, “It sounds deadening. I would call it liberation.”

You can hear the rest of the interview with Jan where she talks more about art, life and liberation on the website Voices of Living Creatively.

Back to School - Pass the freshly sharpened pencils

2010-09-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

By Susan Gallacher-Turner
It's that time of year again, back to school ads with teary-eyed moms and excited little kids clamoring onto bright yellow school buses. Ah, it does bring back many, many memories, doesn't it? As the song says, "I've been on both sides now."

As a school girl, I wore a uniform to school. I got a new white blouse, new navy socks and new shoes. The new shoes were a really big deal, especially the year I got black velveteen saddle shoes. I know sounds weird, now, but then, I loved those shoes and couldn't wait to wear them to school. My other big thrill was new school supplies. New notebook, binder paper, dividers(at least these had colored tags), ruler, classic yellow pencils and crayola crayons.

As a mom, my budget was tight for back to school clothes and supplies. I shopped sales well before the 'big day', so my daughter and son could have as much as they needed and wanted. I loved the fact that they could wear 'regular' clothes. No uniforms for them! I let them pick out their new clothes and shoes within reason and budget, of course. Buying school supplies was fun, too, because their supply list included extras like colorful markers and watercolors.

Now that both my 'kids' have graduated from college, there's no back to school shopping for me to do. Ok, I miss it. I love that quote from the movie, 'You've Got Mail', when Tom Hanks(Joe Fox) says, "Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address."

So, now, I ask you blogger friends out there, what would you buy yourself for back to school? You trade your list, I'll trade mine.

Here's a start...

Back To School List (for not going back to school)
Freshly sharpened pencils in a rainbow of colors
New pens - Pilot G-2's and Micron 005 with .2 mm line width in black
Black or Natural sketch book unlined recycled paper.
Something colorful, like crayons but not crayons. (Maybe it's time to try encaustic?)

Outfit...Hmm, something comfy, cool, and creative...but what?

Do I have to buy only traditional school supplies? No. So, let's all think outside the traditional school pencil box. If you could buy yourself a new 'school supply' what would it be? What bus would you catch and where would it be going?

If you'd like to see some of my art work, my website is Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpture. And you can read more about my creative life on my blog, Sculpting A Life.

2010-09-03T19:03:00.000-07:00

In the last few days, the phrase "Be in the moment" has come up all around me.
I hear it from the beautiful, swaying birch tree in the woods. It whispers, "Be. Just live here, now."

I hear it from the internet, other blogs like Susan Tweit's Walking Nature Home. She even reviewed this wonderful new children's book, "What does it mean to be present?" by Rana Diorio and illustrated by Eliza Wheeler that's all about teaching children to be in the moment.

I hear it in the interview I did yesterday with artist friend, Jan VonBergen who talked to me about her art, new show and life changes. (By the way, I'll have more of Jan's wise words coming up next week in a new interview.) Her message that life is too short to miss those moments, she wants be here now, with her granddaughter, her family, her art and herself.

It's even in the new movie, Eat, Pray, Love based on Elisabeth Gilbert's wonderful true story about finding herself by being in the moment. Whether that meant pasta in Italy, meditation in India or opening her heart in Bali, her body, soul and heart were only to be found in the moment.

Here's a cute quote from the book, 'What Does It Mean To Be Present' by Rana Diorio, "Being present means living in the moment.
It means realizing that...
Tomorrow is a mystery
Yesterday is history
Today is a gift--that's why we call it the present!"

So maybe being in the moment isn't always easy, all that mucky mind stuff and busy, busy gets in the way. But I see the value and want to be in the moment, really I do or rather, be.

To see some of my art, you can visit my website Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpture. And to read more about my life, visit my other blog, Sculpting A Life.

Rest and Resistance.

2010-08-17T18:40:00.000-07:00

Visiting around other blogs, I'm reading a lot about loving kindness, self-care and the need for rest. Another blogger and well-known author, Jen Louden, has even gone on a month long, self-imposed internet sabbatical.

I want to sink into this idea like I sink my toes into soft, cool, sand.

All this internet input is wonderful, but can it become a burden, distraction, energy drain that saps away creativity? Can your head love the internet while your heart gets lost along the way? Is it procrastination to rest your mind, so your soul can speak and be heard? Why if rest, space, quiet is the way back to the heart of creation, do we resist it so strongly?

Many questions, here. I'd love to say I have the answers. I don't.

I do have glimmers, though. Those times when I do allow myself to rest in the valley of the unknown long enough to hear the whispers of longing and ideas. I see the faces in the clouds and trees. I feel the energy underfoot. I learn about stories that have yet to be told.

The clay calls to me. The metal shimmers with possibility and the shadows reveal scenes longing to be released.

Then, my mind resists the pull of my heart. Product gets pushed in front of process. Comparison and competition and fear shake me from my rest.

Don't you just hate that? I do.

Do you resist rest? How do you deal with it?

If you'd like to see my sculpture work, visit my website at Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpture or check out my other blog, Sculpting a Life.

Child's Play: Creation or Destruction?

2010-07-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

By Susan Gallacher-Turner

Yesterday, Jilly and I walked into our favorite part of the woods, the birch tree circle expecting to see the path, undisturbed as usual. What I saw stopped me on the spot.

There was a deep hole cut into the earth exposing tree roots and inside was trash. Candy wrappers and unopened taco sauce packages lay in a heap at the bottom of the hole. On the ground, next to it were tree branches and wood pieces stacked and held together with the dirt from the hole to create a make shift ramp. Obviously, some kids were at work, here, making a place to ride their bikes or skateboards in the woods.

I was mad at first at the destruction and littering. I was worried that some new birch tree had been uprooted for their ramp and trash bin. And I was tempted to take it all apart.

Instead, I stepped over it all and went to my place in the woods by the Birch Tree to do my morning exercises. After I’d cleared my head and stretched my body, I walked to the arch between the two birch trees. Feeling the energy, I reached out and asked the trees about the ramp, the hole and the destruction. Their answer was simple.

It’s child’s play. No one was hurt. In fact, the trees told me, it was important that I did not disturb it. The children needed to play there. How else would they get to know the trees and animals in the woods? Where else would they be able to create, to take the earth in their hands and form it, to collect sticks and stones and make something from it? Yes, there is some trash here, but not much more than there usually is, and it will get cleaned up in time.

What’s most important is that the children feel safe here. That feeling and the knowledge of the woods as their place will grow with them into a reverence for the trees and animals they share the world with. It's child’s play that will lead to adult understanding in a way no other experience can.

Then, I remembered. All those days biking through the woods on the edge of my suburban neighborhood, making little stick houses from fallen branches and mixing potions from the mud dug up by the creek. I watched my brothers and their friends climbing up the trunks, hauling up boards and making a tree house. One day, they hung a knotted rope from a large tree limb and swung across the creek. It was child’s play. Yes. But it taught me to love the woods, the trees and the birds. Sitting there by the creek digging in the gooey mud, I heard sounds I didn’t hear at home. I listened to the whisper of the leaves in the breeze, the chirp of the birds, crickets and squirrels. I watched with fascination as the tiny, swimming polliwogs turned into frogs. I learned to catch and hold snakes in all their smooth, slithering glory without fear.

I saw what the trees were trying to tell me. This was not destruction but creation. Not just creating a place for bikes to play, but a place for the children to be, to learn and grow under nature’s guidance. Here the woods nurtured the children's growing muscles, minds and imagination, teaching them skills that were new to this generation whose world now consisted of techno toys. It was child’s play. But here, the toys were real and the lessons learned would be carried into the real life and, hopefully, to yet another generation of children playing.

If you're interested, you can see my sculpture work at Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpture or visit my blog Sculpting A Life.

Art + Yoga + Writing + Dog + Sunshine = A real challenge

2010-06-26T17:18:00.000-07:00

By Susan Gallacher-Turner

Last week, I joined the 21 5 800 challenge. For 21 days, I do 5 days of yoga and write 800 words a day. Sounded wonderful to me at the time. But, where do I fit in sculpting, painting, delivering work, filling out show applications, facebook, email and walking my dog? See sad picture of her...on the rug...waiting.

Ok, so nobody said it would be easy. Right.

Last week's progress:
5 days of yoga - check.
800 words a day - check almost. Ok, some days it was only 600 words but are the others also working artists, too?
studio work - check.
wanting to go on a long, long holiday --double check.

So, today, this blog writing, writing artist emails, statements/forms for show applications and some personal journal writing make up my 800 words. I'm going to yoga class tonight. I'm done with the challenge for today, right?

Now, back into the studio to work on a lamp, more lilies and check my clay pieces.

But...but...but...it's sunny outside today! For the first time in weeks, months, years, there's sun shining on my garden, my clematis, lilies and poor rain soaked peonies. And my sweet Jilly dog wants to go outside and lay in the sunshine.

Ok, now guess what won...back into the studio or outside with Jilly?

Of course, you're right.

If you'd like to read more about my art journey or see my artwork, check out my blog Sculpting A Life and my website Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpture.

Television Musings - Rants and Raves of a Romance Writer

2010-06-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

Creativity
By Kathy Carpenter

It’s so hard to be creative these days. You may not even think there is any creativity in my blog. But whatever it is, I can’t even think of what to write. I know a lot of people call this writer’s block, but I didn’t think there was such a thing,Anyway, when I was young like many writers I used to like to make up stories. These were mostly verbal. Although I did write a book of Fairy Tales when I was in elementary school. Those stories were all about make believe. In the stuff you write today or I should say most people write, sure you make up the basic story but you are staying within reality or basically what people can wrap their minds around. Is that really being creative.

With Television shows, even reality shows, the try to switch things up, put a fresh spin on the show to keep it fresh. One or two little things so it’s familiar but different. Sometimes theses are for the better and sometimes they kill a show. Is what it is.

Let me know what you think.

'Listless' week produces surprising results.

2010-06-10T19:33:00.000-07:00

By Susan Gallacher-Turner

Last week, I gave myself a challenge: a week without 'To Do' lists. After a lifetime of making lists, I wondered if I'd get any studio or writing work done, forget to walk the dog, answer my email, and go to yoga class. Would I forget what I needed at the grocery store? Or would a week of 'listlessness' make me a happier camper?

Here's what I learned.

I still worked in the studio. I worked on three clay faces, painted mesh bird masks and bought needed supplies. I remembered to go to the enameling class I signed up for months ago. I experimented with additional paint glazes on the clay busts and the new cement bases I'd cast. I wrote on the blog just as I always do. I started writing a new series of essays. I remembered to check and answer my email, post on facebook and read other blogs, news and sites on the web. Yes, I walked the dog(I don't think she'd let me forget), went to yoga, made my appointments.

Somethings didn't change, but some things did.

I found myself spontaneously doing things and taking on projects that I really wanted done, but had put off. Shopping at Target, I picked up a new comforter set for my room that was over 1/2 off and a tablecloth purchased on impulse led to a whole range of home decor projects. I love to do home decor projects, but due to life changes and the economy, I haven't done anything in 3 years. I made new valances for the nook, took down curtains in the living room, put up different ones and sewed three new pillows for the couch from the rest of the Target tablecloth. The downstairs has needed painting for a few years. Suddenly, last week I was picking out paint colors, buying the paint and, yup, painting those dingy walls.

In the past, all projects had 'To Do' lists with all the details outlined. I always thought that making detailed outlines and supply lists was necessary to get the projects done. That I couldn't go shopping successfully without making a list.

What I learned this week: I don't need the lists to get the projects done. And, perhaps, being a little 'listless' actually helped me jump into projects with more energy and enthusiasm. I also found myself making good shopping decisions on the spot.

Will I go 'listless' forever? I don't know.

I do know, although it was scary at first, I felt lighter, more energetic and spontaneous. I even got my hair cut in a new short cut, on the spur of the moment. (In the past, I would have researched cuts and had a 'list' of looks to give my stylist.) Ok, I still made a list for grocery shopping, after forgetting the ketchup and shampoo. And I still love post-it notes, I think it's the colors.

But I'm thinking that a 'listlessness' might be a very good thing. What do you think would change for you if you tried a week of 'listlessness'? If you're game, try it and let me know how it works, or not, for you.

If you'd like to see some of my artwork, visit my website at Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpture. And if you'd like to read more about my creative journey, visit my other blog Sculpting A Life.

Creative Circle Recovery Minnesota USA

2010-06-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

10,000 lakes, 12 steps, 2 worlds

The Art and Grace of Summer
by Pamela Yates

There are many challenges in the world, my head is spinning despite the photograph of my smiling face. What are we to do in the face of these challenges? I think we must do what we always do, try to keep reaching for our enduring "can do" attitude while we are ever so gentle and patient with those around us. Perhaps my husband, my friend, my sister or my neighbor is feeling deep emotional trauma at this moment because of the troubling events in our nation and in the world -- the gravity of the oil spill, nations in conflict and at war. So, what can we ordinary Jane's and Joe's do? Here's my naive simple plan. For a start, we can try to give everyone a break; we can try to be extraordinarily patient with each other. We can try to keep critical and judgmental ideas to ourselves for a change. We can simply pray for the health and happiness of all people. We can try to listen more and talk less. We can look for ways to shed some kindness on those around us. We can aim for a dozen small acts or words of kindness a day. This is a perfect time to "pay it forward."

There I go again, being naive. Let's do just that! Let's be naive in our forgiveness and patience. Let's be resilient warriors for peace. Recovery in any sense of the word requires an enduring sense of acceptance that change takes time. Time is organic (that's my sense and belief) and as such it is ever-renewing and -recovering. If we maintain our focus in a good way, time will compost that good energy into health and happiness for the people. In my lifetime I may not see the outcomes I pray for and dream of for all our children but my recovery and healing as a woman and as a human being ensure that I am more likely to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. I'm grateful for that role and, just for today, it's enough.

Nurture your dreams.

Pamela

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Pamela Yates is a transplanted Australian painter and personal coach in the areas of creativity and meaning-making. She writes about the adventures of a creative person in recovery living in Minnesota USA. Her insights about creativity and life in recovery come from indigenous and western perspectives on healing our creative spirits: recovery and creativity seamlessly nurtured by tribal values. Her journey of healing includes 20-plus years as a sober contemporary artist and recovery from alcoholism, PTSD, anxiety and sexual trauma. Her storytelling has roots in the 12-step program, the Red Road and teachings from the indigenous Circle process and the support of multi-cultural extended family, elders and friends. Her coaching clients and her paintings can be found in communities in the USA and abroad. To learn more about meaning-making, recovery and creativity visit Pamela's web site at http://www.circlepathways.com and her online portfolio at http://www.pamelayatesfineart.com or contact her via email at pamela@pamelayates.com.

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'To Do' or 'Not to Do' - Answers

2010-06-01T18:19:00.000-07:00

By Susan Gallacher-Turner

Last time, I wrote about my habit of list making and whether 'To Do' or 'Not to Do' helps or hinders my creativity. I wondered how other people manage their lives and creative projects. Did they have long lists, too? Or no lists at all?

I worried that a life without lists, might become too listless, that I would dabble here and there never getting anything done ever again. But was having so many lists about everything becoming a burden rather than giving me freedom from fear? I wondered if there was a better way to manage all the projects I need to get done without hyper-managing myself with lists.

So I asked for help. And thank you all for sharing your thoughts on lists and your own list making strategies. Here are your comments and ideas.

Kim Switzer said:
I do make lists, but they don't help me get everything done. I've stopped making highly detailed lists, though. I make a list for a period of 2-3 days rather than a daily list, and I only put on it the big things that need my time and attention. That way, I don't get caught up in the small busy-nesses of life and forget to focus on what really needs me. I've been doing this since the end of last year, and it seems to help me get things done without leaving me overwhelmed by a too huge "to do" list.

Stacy(aka goldenbird) comments:
I have slowly stopped making lists almost without realizing it. I used to make them on the weekends because I felt overwhelmed with stuff I needed to do, but then I would get bummed out because I didn't want to spend the weekend checking off a to-do list. At my day job I have a to do list of my big projects, but I don't make lists of the little tasks anymore. Everything somehow gets done.

Caelista said:
Like goldenbird, I used to start the weekend with a big list but it was depressing to have so many tasks ahead of me, and then the lists kept getting longer as I remembered more things I needed to do. I never seemed to get through them.

Lois J. de Vries writes:
I keep a Master List by category that I add to whenever something occurs to me. From that list, I choose three to four priorities (in various categories) for each month.
On Mondays, I make a weekly list of everything I would like to get done that week and have gotten over the idea that the list is way too long. That isn't its purpose.
Whatever doesn't get done on Monday is carried to Tuesday. What's left on Tuesday's list gets carried to Wednesday, etc. Yes, sometimes things come up that have to be added. On the weekends, the list may change completely, to address just weekend things. On Monday, I carry forward whatever is left over from the previous Friday and add more things.Over time, the irritation of seeing the same item on the list every day for two months or more acts as an incentive to finally get it off the list. I either decide not to do it, or do it. I view lists as organizational tools that free up brain cells that would otherwise be used for repetitive tasks of remembering. Past a certain age, it's the only way you can remember anything.
These days I try to focus on one main thing I need to get done each day, or at least no more than three main things. That seems to work a lot better because I can actually finish them!

Thanks to you all again!

I can see that there are many ways to look at lists and the more creative you are, the more creative you can be with your lists. Using them as an organizational tool and a memory jogger, a way to get big projects and goals done, or keeping them small and doable. Hearing that things can get done without lists made me curious. What would happen if I tried going listless for a week? Would I become a non-productive drone or would I still get work done?

I've decided to take your advice to heart this week and try a week without a list. So, I threw out my lists, took down my post-it notes and closed my notebook next to my computer. Will I get work done? Or will I wind up in front of the TV staring into space? I'll keep you posted...now I could make a list about that...but :)

If you want to see some of my sculpture, check out my website at Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpture and you can read more about my creative journey on my blog Sculpting A Life

The Artful Life – A Holistic Approach

2010-05-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

Creative Intensity or Madness
By Lisa A. Riley, LMFT

“If a man comes to the door of poetry untouched by the madness of the Muses, believing that technique alone will make him a good poet, he and his sane compositions never reach perfection, but are utterly eclipsed by the performances of the inspired madman.” – Socrates

Many creative individuals have experienced sudden surges, flooded with creative intensity as if an arrow laced with their muse struck them. The cycle accelerates productivity with their art lasting for days, even weeks at a time. Engrossed in the moment saturated with ideas, some will work viciously, with little sleep or food. It’s as if creative energy is what fuels them during this interlude producing a temporary state of immortality. Commonly following such a ride is a retreat back into their cave, often in seclusion, as if to recover and hibernate. However, during this down time the creative process is not completely dormant. Instead the artist is regrouping, reorganizing and ideas are incubating for the next eruption.

Artists have been notoriously criticized for their shifting bouts of creativity, often misinterpreted as erratic moods swings. Throughout history many artists, unable to manage the power of their own muse were sucked under by the undertow, hence why the words “madness” and “artist” went hand in hand.

In the mental health spectrum such cycles are diagnosis as Bipolar Disorder. Although, many creative individuals do suffer from Manic-Depression and require medication to manage the disorder, how about those who don’t fit the criteria? Those who are able to keep one foot anchored during the ebb and flow of their own creative intensity with little disruption to their lives.

Not all artists lose sense of reality, but are very aware of their own artistic temperament. They are able to prepare and brace themselves for the storm ahead. They ride it out while utilizing its energy to fuel their art. Artists look forward to such cycles, which gave birth to some of their most innovative ideas and embrace the journey.

When the artist is able to know him or her self well enough to accept these cycles without judgment and learn the skills to create a healthy environment that will tame what is tempestuous, it becomes an ally in the creative process. The artist transforms what was once perceived as madness and into a powerful force that can help them reach levels in their creativity they never predicted.

“Men have called me mad but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence–whether much that is glorious–whether all that is profound–does not spring from disease of thought–from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect.”— Edgar Allan Poe

Lisa is a psychotherapist, painter and writer. She has spent the last 25 years integrating various forms of self-expression as a way of life and an avenue towards healing. Because of her background in the arts she understands the unique challenges of the artistic personality and has spent the last 8 years working with artists, writers, actors and musicians in helping them gain self-awareness and a deeper understanding of themselves as artists. Lisa has her own private practice in Southern California. For more information visit TheArtofMind.com

To Do or Not To Do - A Question

2010-05-26T19:29:00.000-07:00

By Susan Gallacher-Turner

Do you make a 'to do' list? I do. But I've been wondering lately whether my 'to do' lists really help my work get done. Or whether it's just another thing 'to do'.

Thanks to Sister Mary Catherine, I've been making lists since the first grade. After many nights of bedtime panic because I'd forgotten to do my homework, Sister gave me a small notebook and told me to make a list of all my assignments. I took that book everywhere and wrote down every assignment from that day on. I didn't go to bed in a panic anymore as long as I had my notebook by my bed.

I am a very organized person. Lists have proved to be a very helpful tool. I'm not blaming Sister Mary Catherine, she was trying to help a struggling, fearful little girl. I've even taught my own children to use 'to do' lists.

But now, after many decades of using this tool, is this tool using me?

It started out as a way to be less fearful. But did it really make me less fearful? When I have project, a weekend off or vacation, I worry that I'm going to forget something so I make another list. Post a notes are everywhere in my house. Making a list has been the first thing I did every week and checking it off gave me a feeling of accomplishment.

Now, there's a part of me that wants to be free 'to do' whatever comes to mind. To create without an agenda, a schedule, a list of projects with sublists. After a few years filled with fear, loss and change, I want to be open to enjoying my life as it's happening with more ease and flow and grace.

So what did I do to help myself move into this new space?

Yup. I made a list. I didn't realize it at first. I just saw the post-its as colorful little flags, a way to make my intentions more concrete. But now I see that in an effort to get out from under my old fear-based behavior of making lists, I just made another series of lists.

Do you make lists? Does it help you get everything in your life done? Or is it a ball and chain that slows down your life and saps your creative energy? If you don't make lists, how do you remember to get everything done?

So the question...To Do or Not To Do? Can I live my life and get my work done without a list? What do you suggest? Let me know and I'll keep you all posted.
Send your comments to my other blog, Sculpting A Life. And if you'd like to see some of my sculpture stop by my website Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpture.

By the way, you're on my list. :)

Lazy Gardening Leads to Success

2010-05-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

Sometimes. With Papyrus. I keep my Papyrus in a plastic pot that I can bring indoors and snug into a copper cachepot to carry it over the winter (see http://loisdevries.blogspot.com/2007/12/papyrus-prolonged.html and http://loisdevries.blogspot.com/2008/07/papyrus-daydream.html). By the end of last year's unusually rainy summer, the roots extended six inches beyond the rim of the pot, so I had to cut them back a second time, in order to be able to bring the plant back into the house. Papyrus was not a happy camper and sulked all winter. The one remaining stalk died off in early January.

New growth usually starts in February, when the sun shines hot and fierce through the long narrow window where the Papyrus stands. This year, nothing. March. Nothing. April. Nothing. I knew my dead plant needed to go out on the compost heap, but fortunately for us both, the spring rush had overtaken me (http://loisdevries.blogspot.com/2010/04/spring-gardening-rush.html) and I just didn't get around to it.

One morning in early May, I was astonished to see a new, two-foot tall sprout. Since then, two more have appeared. With nighttime temperatures predicted to remain above 50ºF, I finally put it outdoors. It's not a horticultural practice I normally recommend, but sometimes neglect can be a good thing.

Lois de Vries' thoughts on gardening and environmental issues run the gamut from gardening in her own back yard to promoting land management practices that reconnect people to the Earth. To discover how to express more of your personality and creativity through your garden, or how body/mind/spirit can play itself out in your gardening activities, visit: http://cultivatingtheinnergardener.blogspot.com or contact me at loisj7@gmail.com.

Garden Views: Gardening With Beginner's Mind

2010-05-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki popularized the term "Beginner's Mind" in America. He tells us: "In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few." This is also true in gardening, as I learned just the other day. Dan had joined me in my evening garden rounds, during which I point out what has bloomed since last time (usually yesterday), and what difficult weed (this week it's curly dock) is beyond my capability to pull out and requires his attention.

This year, the Tiarella (Foam flower, left) are particularly robust and covered with magnificent blooms. As Dan admired these, he pointed toward Heuchera Venus (Coral Bells, right) and wondered why its flowers were so much taller and so much farther behind "those other ones."

I'm sure I must have rolled my eyes as I explained that they were two entirely different plants. "Look, the Tiarella leaves are all sharp and pointy – the Heuchera leaves are way more rounded," I said, wondering how he could overlook such dramatic differences in leaf shape and inflorescence. "Looks the same to me," he said. "They don't look anything alike," I thought.

Next day, this discussion was still smoldering in the back of my mind. All day. I was thinking about how I would make him look at the Saxifrage in the hanging basket above my desk so that I could permanently imprint on his mind what "rounded, lobed leaves" look like. Then all of a sudden the light went on – in my head. While these are all different plants at the Genus level of plant classification, they also all belong to the same Family, Saxifragaceae. So we were both right, but I got a lesson in humility.

Learn to garden with beginner's mind. You never know what new things you may discover.

Wake Up Caw

2010-05-04T18:39:00.000-07:00

By Susan Gallacher-Turner

I walk along today on autopilot. With Jilly at my side, we pass the trash cans on the sidewalks, the piles of pink petals fallen from the cherry trees in the street and the remains of tulips in the neighbors flower beds.

As we enter the park, I notice the creek as I always do, and let Jilly off heel to sniff her way along the grass. My feet may be on the path, but my mind is elsewhere. It's on its own path, the one that twists and turns and circles endlessly. There are the thoughts that come from behind me, from the past of many years ago to yesterday. All those 'shoulda's' sneak up behind me and bonk me on the head and sadden my heart. Then there are those thoughts that spiral ahead of me, into the future years from now and tomorrow. All those 'could be' problems rise up for me to solve and make me shiver in spite of the sun's warmth.

I keep walking and soon find myself leaning up against the big fir tree as I do everyday. I try to focus on the energy there, but my mind races on, until suddenly a loud 'caw' of a crow sounds from somewhere above me. In that moment, my mind shuts up. I sigh with relief. Then, before I know it, I'm lost in my mind maze again, when I hear the loud caw, caw again. I look up trying to spy the crow but don't see it anywhere.

As Jilly and I walk to the cedar grove where I stand with my hand on the 'mother' tree, my mind is back to its twisting and turning. Once again, the loud 'caw, caw, caw' comes and this time I hear the message...right now, be here, right now. Every time the crow caws, the words repeat in my mind. I sigh again, this time deeply and gratefully.

I have received a potent wake up call(caw) and I'm thankful for this beautiful, feathered spiritual teacher.

To see some of my sculpture inspired by nature, visit my website at Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpture and visit my other blog, Sculpting A Life.

Sculpting a life

2010-04-29T20:01:00.000-07:00

By Susan Gallacher-Turner
Today, reading Jennifer Louden's blog about living a hand-crafted life got me thinking. What would that be? What would it look like and feel like? Would I have to move to the country and live without electricity and a toilet? Eat bugs and boil leaves for my veggies? Ok, I'm being a bit silly here, I know.

But Walt Whitman, I'm not. I like to be warm, eat my own home cooked meatballs and pasta, watch TV, crochet, read magazines and yes, sometimes, shop. Ok, that's out of the bag, then...but it occurs to me, that maybe I live a more hand-crafted life than I think.

I do grow some of my own veggies, tomatoes, zucchini, chard, lettuce, beets(if they actually grow this year) and peppers. I grow basil and make my own pesto which I freeze in little cubes so I can use it throughout the year. I even, yes by god I do, grow my own catnip and lemon verbena which I make into a soothing nighttime tea. Believe me, it's wonderful on restless nights.

And, since I am an artist working with my hands in clay and metal and paint, and a writer working with my hands on the keys, I guess I am living a hand-crafted life.

But I know that I forget that almost every day, as I answer emails and worry about class sign ups, marketing and gallery shows. What I see instead are the never ending post-a-notes and to-do lists.

Yesterday, I was in that mindset, again and feeling frustrated. I decided to close my computer and clean my house. Can cleaning a toilet with my own hands, be hand-crafting a life? Yes. Two hours later, not only did I have clean towels, I had a clean mind. It was then, I found my hands back to crafting in clay. Funny, it wasn’t on my to-do list, but yet, it got done.

Maybe that's the key to a hand-crafted life, doing what needs to be done-yes-but also doing what calls to be done. Doing it with care, with precision, with knowledge, with determination and with heart and soul. And taking the time you need to get it done, and at the same time, spend time being alive in the world. Smelling the lilacs. Admiring the tulips. Walking my dog. Leaning on my tree and soaking up the sun. And listening to the whispers of desire that call to me.

Jennifer asked this question: "How about you? What tulips will you stare at? What hunger, what hand-crafted stirring, is beckoning to you?"

This is my answer. What's yours? I'd love to hear your comments, visit my other blog, Sculpting A Life. And if you're interested in my other sculpture work, you can visit my website at Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpture.

Gardeners Are Returning to Local Nurseries

2010-04-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

A significant number of gardeners are returning to their local garden centers to purchase their plants after having deserted them in favor of the mass merchandise home stores, according to the Garden Writers of America early spring survey completed in March. Apparently the honeymoon is over. Garden centers’ and local retail stores’ market share rebounded from a low of 39% in 2006 to a predicted 54% in 2010. The statistics for home stores are a mirror image, dropping to 37% in 2010 from a high of 52% in 2006.

Unfortunately the temporary desertion, coupled with the national economic meltdown, was just too much for some of the best growers and retailers with the most intriguing selection of plants. To add insult to injury, last year many consumer gardens were infected by late blight, spread far and wide by a wholesaler who knowingly shipped affected tomato plants to the big box stores.

There is enough material here for decades of discussion on economic and market theories, survival of the fittest, etc., but it is we the gardeners who are the losers in the battle. When specialty growers bite the dust, the single remaining source of a particular plant can disappear overnight. I enjoy the new introductions as much as anyone and I appreciate the efforts that commercial growers make to increase color selection, disease resistance, etc. But I also enjoy being able to find the old-fashioned favorites from my childhood, as well as native plants.

Our local garden center is in a state of transition and, in the interim, I ran over to one of the home stores to try to find some white pansies. While I loitered in the garden area waiting for Dan to emerge from the hardware section, I did a little experiment. I stood around among the plants, not doing anything in particular. I soon had shoppers asking me for gardening advice, hardiness information, and the location of various plants.

Answers to your gardening questions are what you get at a local garden center that you don’t get in the big box store. Frankly, I think that’s worth a few pennies more.

Television Musings - Rants and Raves of a Romance Writer

2010-04-15T22:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Hour Seasonette

By Kathy Carpenter

You’re probably asking yourself what the heck is a seasonette? I’m using this to mean an entire season that spans the whole season to complete a single story..
Last year they did Harper’s Island a take on Ten Little Indians. Where each week different characters were killed off and another part of the mystery unfolded. At the end of eight or ten weeks the story was finished.

I guess that worked out well because we are about to embark on a new seasonette. Happy Hour. Another mystery type story. If you enjoyed Harper’s Island you will probably enjoy Happy Hour.

I kind of like this new format. Let me know what you think. How do feel about seasonettes? Can you think of something better to call them?

Sculpting A Life - Making Masks

2010-04-12T18:53:00.000-07:00

By Susan Gallacher-Turner

I love to make masks. I don't know why, I just do. And in spite of some of my art teachers who told me that making masks was 'craft' and not 'fine art', I've followed my own heart in my art and I keep making them. I've made masks out of paper, clay, copper, plaster, and aluminum mesh. I've made masks for costumes, indoor art and garden art. I've even made a mask for a centerpiece in a copper oak leaf wreath. I’ve worked with adults, elementary, middle school students and teachers making masks for plays and as art pieces. I’ve seen the transformative power of masks for the maker and wearer alike.

Masks are magic. Making them, becomes a journey for me into the world of story and myth. I've researched the symbolism of animals in different cultures, mythical beasts, cultural folktales. I've learned that masks have been created and used by people from all over the world for almost as long as man has been on the earth. They've been used for healing, spiritual ceremonies, story telling, dramatic performances, entertainment and holidays.

The Latin word for ‘mask’ is ‘persona’. And, indeed, wearing a mask does change our person in many ways. It changes the shape of our face, concealing us. It changes our attitude or emotions. It changes our character or role. Wearing a mask, you can become a different ‘persona’. You can become a playful pup, fierce lioness, mythical dragon or powerful thunderbird. You can become anything you desire or detest. You can conquer your fears. Touch wonder. Feel your wisdom. And embrace your freedom.

To me masks are powerful and life changing pieces of art. And no matter what happens in my life, I am going to continue to follow my heart and make them. For the month of April, I get to share my love of mask making with other mask makers and mask art lovers atDoll Gardner Gallery. This group show features some of my favorite mask makers.

If you'd like to see more of my masks and sculpture, please visit my website at Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpture and to read about my creative process you can visit my blog Sculpting a Life.

Sculpting a Life: A mudlucious walk in the park.

2010-04-06T19:44:00.000-07:00

By Susan Gallacher-Turner

Squish. Slurp. The ground is seeping with water, the earth is thick and rich and sticky. On my path today through the mudlucious woods, I walk carefully. Even the little ups and downs on the path are tricky. I slip and slide.

After a few days of sunshine and warm temperatures, it's back to our normal spring in the Pacific Northwest...rain, wind and more rain. The lake is filled to the brim and even the geese and ducks are trying to dry out on the grassy banks. The paved pathways are covered with worms swimming from one puddle to the next. It's a robin's feast day.

Crossing the bridges over the lake, I look over the railing and watch the water rushing underneath me. I'm glad to be safely above it. I notice that the ducks and geese that normally hang out on this end of the lake, are also safely perched on the island today.

The puddles are everywhere. Jilly walks calmly through them, while I do my little hop, skip and jump as I try to puddle jump and keep my feet dry. Why? I can always dry off at home and, happily, I realize that it's only a few minutes walk away. So instead of avoiding the puddles, I start to really look at them. The shapes, the colors of the water and mud. But I see more than that, as I look down at the puddle, I see trees, new leaves and the sky. I wonder, at this new view, like a special rainy day portal. As I look down, I see what's above me. I wonder, then, about all the time I spend looking down at my feet and how much I must miss in the rest of the time and space above me.

As an artist and writer, I work at sculpting a life filled with passion, joy and creativity. If you'd like to see some of my sculptures, visit my website at www.susangt.com and you can read more about my creative life at my blog, Sculpting A Life at http://sculptingalife.blogspot.com

Garden Views: Gardening as Therapy

2010-04-03T13:46:00.000-07:00

Restorative gardens, such as the one at NYU Medical Center may be soothing or stimulating, energizing, engaging, and produce a sense of peace, tranquility, or solace, all qualities that can help heal the spirit, as well as the bodies of hospital patients.

In the 1980s, Dr. Roger Ulrich a Professor of Architecture at Texas A&M University and a faculty fellow of the Center for Health Systems & Design published his findings on the effects of hospital window views on recovery from surgery. Among other achievements, his research was the first to scientifically document the stress reducing and health–related benefits for hospital patients of viewing nature.

According to the American Horticultural Therapy Association, a restorative garden “employs the restorative value of nature to provide an environment conducive to mental repose, stress-reduction, emotional recovery, and the enhancement of mental and physical energy. The design of a restorative garden focuses on the psychological, physical, and social needs of the users.”

Isn’t that what we want for our own garden spaces? As you move outdoors to work in the garden this spring, start thinking beyond the typical design issues and begin to focus on how you can integrate some horticultural therapy techniques to create your own restorative garden. Is it the use of fragrant herbs such as lavender, mint, or lemon verbena to change your mood? Or do you prefer building wildlife habitat in order to reconnect with the natural environment? Do you crave a visually calm enclosed space to meditate and practice yoga? Or would you rather experience the visual stimulation of colorful flowers and garden art?

To read the AHTA’s Position Paper, which describes the various types of therapeutic gardens, the history of horticultural therapy, physical, psychological, and social benefits, and an extensive reference list, click this link: http://www.ahta.org/documents/Final_HT_Position_Paper_updated_409.pdf

Lois de Vries' thoughts on gardening and environmental issues run the gamut from gardening in her own back yard to promoting land management practices that reconnect people to the Earth. To discover how to express more of your personality and creativity through your garden, or how body/mind/spirit can play itself out in your gardening activities, visit: http://cultivatingtheinnergardener.blogspot.com or contact me at loisj7@gmail.com.

Sculpting a Life: Patterns in the studio.

2010-03-27T13:25:00.000-07:00

In the last few days in the studio, I’ve been swirling, twirling and spiraling around and around. I’m not dancing, although I am listening to music from jazz to celtic dance to Jimmy Buffet. I am working on my sculpture.

I’m working on masks in copper and aluminum screening. Both have been keeping me busy creating patterns of swirls, spirals and lines. And I love patterns. I love the rhythm, the repetition, the roundness. When I get the pattern that works, it just feels right.

Here are a few pictures of the patterns I’ve been creating on both of the masks I’m working on right now. One is a dragon mask done in copper using a repousse’ technique, the other mask is an aluminum mesh material and the pattern is created with acrylic paints.

Swirling and twirling…I just love patterns!

If you'd like to see more of my work in the studio, check out my website at Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpture www.susangt.com You can also keep up with more of creative activities on my new blog Sculpting A Life at http://sculptingalife.blogspot.com

Sculpting a Life.

2010-03-19T13:41:00.000-07:00

By Susan Gallacher-Turner

Bright sunshine, frost on the grass and daffodils waving in the wind are what I see on my way to the park this morning. But it's what I don't see at the park that makes today different. And it's not until I cross the bridge over the lake that I get it.

Here's what I don't see...waves, ripples or birds bobbing for fish. What I do see is the blue sky, puffy white clouds and trees that surround the lake mirrored in its surface.

I see reflection and stillness. I think about that word...reflection. What does it really mean? The dictionary definition of reflection is to bend or throw back light, sound or heat; to give back an image, mirror or reproduce; the fixing of the mind on a subject, serious thought contemplation; the result of such thought in words; blame or discredit.

I see that the word works to describe my physical and mental experience walking around the lake today. The still surface of the lake is indeed reflecting, throwing back sunlight and images of the clouds, trees like a mirror, I see that with my eyes. And I am reflecting on it...fixing my mind on the idea of reflection, with serious thought as I walk around watching the clouds and sky on its surface.

My reflective contemplation leads me to a 'resulting thought' - that stillness is possible in nature and in life. All I have to do is see it.

I'm an artist working in copper, clay and metal mesh, you can see my sculpture on my website Susan Gallacher-Turner and read about my travels in the world of creativity on my new blog, Sculpting A Life.

Garden Views: Free Newsletter - Join Thoughtful Gardeners in Reading Cultivating the Inner Gardener

2010-03-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

The gardening season unofficially launched in the Northeast this week, with temps predicted to swell to near 70º on Saturday. The (really hot) sunshine has brought out the best of my very early bloomers: Snowdrops, purple hybrid and yellow species crocus, Winter Aconite, Christmas Rose, and Lenten Rose. I was surprised to also see some of the Hydrangea leaf buds bursting out of their brown, scaly shells, as well as early growth from Wood Hyacinth. Before we know it, our spring gardens will be three steps ahead of us as usual.

With cabin fever behind us and spring fever before us, you may want to take a few moments to think about what internal fulfillment your garden can give back to you this growing season, beyond the mere enjoyment of the garden’s physical beauty.

I’ve written about how to approach this before at http://loisdevries.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Transformational%20Power%20of%20Gardening and http://cultivatingtheinnergardener.blogspot.com .

At the end of this month, I’ll be instituting a monthly newsletter, Cultivating the Inner Gardener, for gardening enthusiasts who want to learn how to garden from the inside out and experience the transformational power of gardening. I’d love for you to subscribe and join me in turning this new adventure into a global movement to reconnect people to the Earth through gardening.

To sign up, just look for the “Join Yahoo Groups” icon in the sidebar of http://cultivatingtheinnergardener.blogspot.com ,
fill in your e-mail address, and click “Join Now.” This is a double opt-in subscription that ensures that only those people who want the newsletter will get it.

Lois de Vries' thoughts on gardening and environmental issues run the gamut from gardening in her own back yard to promoting land management practices that reconnect people to the Earth. To discover how to express more of your personality and creativity through your garden, or how body/mind/spirit can play itself out in your gardening activities, visit: http://cultivatingtheinnergardener.blogspot.com or contact me at loisj7@gmail.com.

Television Musings- Rants and Raves of a Romance Writer

2010-03-09T23:27:00.000-08:00

Academy Awards 2010
By Kathy Carpenter

I would be remiss if I did not comment on the Academy Awards. I mean one of the most watched Television shows of the year.

A first this year best director Kathrine Bigelow. Director of “The Hurt Locker.” Also best picture. A great picture I would not know. I hate all war movies except Civil war. Although war stories tend to do well with the Academy. And at least “Avitar” did not win. Just because it’s the biggest grossing movie of all time. And no I did not go to “Avitar” either. Nothing about the movie appealed to me. I did see one nomination. “Up in the air” and though I liked the movie okay. Did not care for the ending. I did not think it was Oscar worthy either. I mean Cloony played himself or the guy we believe him to be is that acting?

Oh well, and I do see a lot of movies me and Oscar rarely agree. But there’s always next year. And the red carpet never gets old.

Sculpting A Life.

2010-03-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

By Susan Gallacher-Turner

Tree of Life-Completed!

About 4 months ago, I met with Brenda and Lisa about doing a copper project for their school auction at Valley Catholic School. We talked through many different ideas. One thing they were sure about, the project had to use copper and it needed to include elements made by the children in the third grade class.

That's how the tree sprang to life. The idea was to have each child choose a word that inspired them. I would visit the class and work with the children to do the repousse work on the cut out copper birch leaves. After I did the patina on the leaves, they would be attached to the branches on the copper Tree of Life.

Back in my studio, I went to work making the trunk and branches of the tree. I wanted the trunk to be sturdy and beautiful. As I twisted and turned the copper, I realized that the trunk I was making for the Tree of Life was, well, a lot like life. Life spirals up and out in many different and unexpected directions. It branches out growing stronger as time goes on, yet even the oldest and strongest branches can sprout new tender shoots and leaves at any time. The three spiral roots link together, just as our bodies, hearts and souls entwine in our lives.

The Tree of Life is an age-old symbol that appears throughout history in many cultures around the world. Different cultures use different types of trees ash, yew, oak trees to magical trees made from dragons. It symbolizes birth, death and knowledge. In some cultures it represents a variety of pagan gods. In Christianity, it is used to represent Jesus Christ.

This Tree of Life has birch shaped leaves, and in some cultures, the birch tree is a symbol of rebirth and new life. I couldn't think of a better symbol for young children and even some of us who aren't so young anymore. That no matter what your age, you are always able to grow in any direction you choose.

To see more of my sculpture and writing, check out my website Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpture and my other blog Susan's Art & Words.

Get the Most From Flower Shows

2010-03-07T04:32:00.000-08:00

I’ll be speaking on Cultivating the Inner Gardener: Gardening for Personal Growth (http://cultivatingtheinnergardener.blogspot.com ) on March 12, 2010 at 3:30pm, at this year’s Springfest Flower and Garden Show in Augusta, NJ at the Sussex County Fairgrounds (http://bit.ly/a6W29O). Come by and say “hello” if you’re in the area.

Flower and garden shows promise garden enthusiasts and other folks who need a break from cabin fever the chance to recharge their creative batteries. To get the most from your visit, plan ahead.

1. Comfortably cushioned flat shoes are a must, since most shows take place in structures that have concrete floors, which quickly take their toll. Some demonstration gardens will have flagstone or boardwalk-style paths that make for uneven walking, or may catch narrow heels.

2. Think about your main reason for going to the show and do that first. I used to go to one show just to purchase ornaments from a particular vendor. I’d put my treasures in her “holding” area and feel free to cruise the rest of the show without being rushed, because I was sure I wasn’t missing anything important. Look at the layout map to see what gardens or vendors interest you the most, decide which talks are an absolute must-hear, and locate an area, such as the café, where you can rest up for round two.

3. Dress appropriately. This means different things to different people in different locales, but wear something you won’t mind having soil from a tumbling flowerpot spill on, or an overactive fountain splash with water.

4. Take the minimum necessary and make it easy to carry. Even a relatively light bag will begin to feel heavy after two hours. Pack a fold-up tote in a backpack and you should have plenty of room to store your purchases.

5. Be courteous and mindful of other attendees. You will be sharing this space with thousands of other people. Don’t step in front of someone’s camera when they’re set for the perfect shot and, if you’re the photographer, wait until the crowd thins a bit. Don’t stand in front of a garden, or stop on a narrow path and chat with your friend while hundreds of others are waiting their turn. It’s often tough to hear in these cavernous spaces that act as echo chambers, so don’t make it worse by shouting.

6. Respect the hard work that’s gone into the show. Avoid stepping on plants and keep to the indicated walkways. Think twice about bringing carts or other bulky items and how you will maneuver them in a narrow, crowded space. Don’t touch plants, or pick flowers.

7. Consider the maturity of your children before bringing them along. Are they likely to take a fistful of mulch or gravel and hurl it into someone’s face? Will they pick all the daisies to make a bouquet for you? Do you really want to push a stroller up and down flagstone steps or across a curved wooden bridge?

8. Assess your limitations. People who need mobility assistance may get around more easily in the “off” hours, which tend to be weekday afternoons. If you are afflicted with allergies or other medical difficulties, be sure to bring along necessary medications and carry information about your problem in the event that medical assistance becomes necessary. You may also want to think about limiting your time at the show, or making two shorter visits instead of one long one.

9. Slow down, take a deep breath, and take time to smell the roses. The real spring is just around the corner!

10. Have a great time.

By the way, these tips apply to visiting museums and roaming the stalls at antique shows, as well. Creative work takes a lot out of us. Viewing other creatives’ beautiful things, whether plants, pottery, or paintings, is a good way to replenish ourselves. Indulge on a regular basis.

Television Musings Rants and Raves of a Romance Writer

2010-02-25T01:00:00.000-08:00

Miss USA

By Kathy Carpenter

First off when selecting the top fifteen of whatever it was the judges selected eleven, the television audience selected three, and finally the contestants selected one. To me this did work. I mean if the judges had not selected you in the first place what chance do you have with them?

Another new element was every time the did something say like talent, the girls did not even know if they would perform. They selected at random and if you were one of the two they did not call you were out. This method was used several times.

One thing I did like was they took the questions for the contestants from people on the street instead of the same old questions from the judges. Perhaps this came about from the big scandal with last year’s judge.

And finally, at the end they usually have the top five who all place one way or another. This year they had seven and two did not place at all. So we had three left and two did not place. Hen before you were down to two. One would win and one would be first runner up. Not sure how this went over with the contestants/

Any opinions on how you liked or not the new format please comment.

Garden Views: Cultivating the Inner Gardener at Springfest

2010-02-19T07:59:00.000-08:00

Save the date. I’m scheduled to present an overview of Cultivating the Inner Gardener: Gardening for Personal Growth (http://cultivatingtheinnergardener.blogspot.com )on March 12, 2010 at 3:30pm, at this year’s Springfest Flower and Garden Show in Augusta, NJ at the Sussex County Fairgrounds (http://bit.ly/a6W29O ). Come by and say “hello” if you’re in the area.

Springfest started out as a small local show and has grown to host more than 8,000 visitors annually. This year, there will be a special dedication and grand opening of the new 5,000 sq. ft. conservatory, the generous gift of Bev and Bruce Gordon. Topiaries from Duke Gardens, donated by the Doris Duke Foundation, will decorate the conservatory. Shops, a café, kid’s activities a full lecture schedule, and a dozen gardens make for a great break from cabin fever.

See you there.

Lois de Vries' thoughts on gardening and environmental issues run the gamut from gardening in her own back yard to promoting land management practices that reconnect people to the Earth. To discover how to express more of your personality and creativity through your garden, or how body/mind/spirit can play itself out in your gardening activities, visit: http://cultivatingtheinnergardener.blogspot.com or contact me at loisj7@gmail.com.

Sculpting a Life.

2010-02-15T20:46:00.000-08:00

By Susan Gallacher-Turner

Celebrating Love before and after Valentine's Day.

I'm lucky to do what I love...art and writing and teaching. But it's not always easy. It's very easy to get side tracked, blind sided and disappointed by things that happen in life. So I don't take it for granted when life delivers me a weekend of what I love and sharing in what the people in my life love as well.

I went to congratulate friends on their new gallery shows. My husband did what he loves to do as well. The next day, we had time together walking, napping and watching the Olympics. Then later, we both got to share our daughter's performance doing what she loves to do, singing. And we enjoyed a delicious meal of salmon, salad and bread.

Sunday was restful and relaxing as we took turns cooking up a storm in the kitchen. We both love to cook and cooking together in the kitchen is always a labor of love and a way to connect and create. It was harder when the kids were little, but we still made time to make these heart shaped cookies(in the picture above) that the 'Valentine Fairy' magically hung on their bedroom doors just in time for Valentine's Day.

This weekend, we were childless...something new to us. Caitlin has a home of her own now and Kyle was out of town snowboarding with his friends.

Alone in the house, Michael and I made a puff pancake for breakfast, spinach Parmesan omelet for lunch but we saved the big adventure for dinner. We cooked a live lobster! It isn't as hard as you might think, you just steam that lobster in a big pot for about 20 minutes, crack it open, clean it out and serve. It was delicious with the fresh asparagus and hollandase sauce. We shared one of our heart shaped cookies for dessert.

Love comes in many ways in life and I'm very grateful that this weekend, I got the chance to cook up ways to connect and share it.

To see some of my sculpture check out my website at www.susangt.com or my other blog, Susan's Art & Words at http://sculpturepdx.blogspot.com

THE ARTFUL LIFE - A HOLISTIC APPROACH

2010-02-14T10:17:00.000-08:00

A Day to Fall In Love with Your Art All Over Again

by Lisa Riley, LMFT

It’s as if Valentines Day is treated like the Sabbath. Using that day out of the year to make good with our loved one. It’s an attempt to make up for those weeks or months when we weren’t so attentive or fell short of expectations. It’s the one day we have permission to find ways to reconcile. So we grasp at the bouquet of roses with the cellophane heart shape balloons and fight for the reservation at the hot restaurant in town. All in hopes of reconnecting with our partner and just maybe fall in love all over again.

Then this morning I thought of a different perspective around this holiday. What a perfect day to reconnect with ourselves and most importantly reconnect with our most beloved art. Maybe it’s been months since you’ve picked up the paintbrush or revisited the unfinished poem or half done sculpture. It’s a day to spend reflecting on the reasons you fell in love with that particular art to begin with, similar to reminiscing about a first date. Carving out some time to do what you love allows the exchange of giving and receiving. It nurtures the heart of your soul. To express one self creatively is expressing a love and appreciation to your true gifts. So spend some time on this day to honor your original love by honoring the essence of your creative soul.

Plot, Character and Emotional Arc

2010-02-10T03:13:00.000-08:00

Working on my Character Workout mini-ebook for subscribers to my creative writing site (as well as trying to meet the deadline on my current screenplay). Of all the aspects of the manuscripts and film scripts I get to assess, Character is something writers get stuck on. But any guidance on Character has to include flagging up the need to approach the work with all the elements in mind because everything in a story has to be completely interrelated.

That's why so many How To Books can mislead. Focusing on the elements of writing as if each is a separate entity not only fatally dooms the success of the work, it almost always smothers the creative source of your unique vision.

And that's why I don't like the word 'Plot'. I use the term 'Emotional Plot', because this phrase implies simultaneous human feeling-and-action. The origin of the word 'drama' applies as much to novels as plays and screenplays. It comes from the Greek word meaning 'something done', and the ancient Greek playwrights thought of their stories as 'people doing things'.

The emotional plot is what drives the story - it makes characters 'do things'. So, focusing on the outward action or plot isn't going to get a writer very far in creating a compelling story. Instead of making the first question: What is my story about? A better question is Who is my story about? If you're not asking: 'Why are my character's emotional needs not being meet?' you get stuck. This question alone should be enough to start to generate the story. Creating character will lead automatically to dialogue, setting, structure, pace - every element of story-telling.

Approaching a novel or script through thinking about the emotional arc of the character is, for me, the most fruitful way to write stories.
www.creativewritingconsultancy.com

Garden Views: The Genius of Place

2010-02-06T09:07:00.000-08:00

Eighteenth-century gardener, poet, and acerbic critic Alexander Pope’s phrase “the genius of the place” is often quoted by garden writers, landscape architects, and environmental advocates to urge us to respect what Nature herself provides.

But, it’s important to understand Pope’s phrase in context: The context of the times, the context of Pope’s rebellion against the excesses of the wealthy, and even within the context of the larger poem. Those who’d like to read the whole, Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle IV To Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington, can find an annotated version at Representative Poetry Online, http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1632.html .

I’ve reproduced the 18 relevant lines here:

            To build, to plant, whatever you intend,
            To rear the column, or the arch to bend,
            To swell the terrace, or to sink the grot;
            In all, let Nature never be forgot.
            But treat the goddess like a modest fair,
            Nor overdress, nor leave her wholly bare;
            Let not each beauty ev'rywhere be spied,
            Where half the skill is decently to hide.
            He gains all points, who pleasingly confounds,
            Surprises, varies, and conceals the bounds.

            Consult the genius of the place in all;
            That tells the waters or to rise, or fall;
            Or helps th' ambitious hill the heav'ns to scale,
            Or scoops in circling theatres the vale;
            Calls in the country, catches opening glades,
            Joins willing woods, and varies shades from shades,
            Now breaks, or now directs, th' intending lines;
            Paints as you plant, and, as you work, designs.

Pope's own summary of the Epistle makes clear his intention:

"The chief proof of it is to follow Nature, even in works of mere luxury and elegance. Instanced in architecture and gardening, where all must be adapted to the genius and use of the place, and the beauties not forced into it, but resulting from it.”

He also said: "All the rules of gardening are reducible to three heads:-- the contrasts, the management of surprises, and the concealment of bounds ... I have expressed them all in two verses;..."

Lois de Vries' thoughts on gardening and environmental issues run the gamut from gardening in her own back yard to promoting land management practices that reconnect people to the Earth. To discover how to express more of your personality and creativity through your garden, or how body/mind/spirit can play itself out in your gardening activities, visit: http://cultivatingtheinnergardener.blogspot.com or contact me at loisj7@gmail.com.

Question: Why do I do what I do? Answer: Love.

2010-01-29T20:13:00.000-08:00

(Wolf and Bear Masks enjoyed by their new owners)

Sculpting a Life
By Susan Gallacher-Turner

I make masks out of window screening and copper. I’ve made all kinds of animals and mythical creatures in metal…cats and dogs, lions, bears and birds including a frog, donkey, tarantula, cheetah, macaw, owl, phoenix, dragon and a thunderbird just to name a few. I’ve made a series of fairies faces and masks that look like leaves.

A decade or so ago, I’d have thought I’d be done with all these masks by now, but I just keep on making them. Not only that, I keep coming up with ideas and creatures that I just need to make.

So there’s that question again…why? And the answer, so simple and clear…love.

I love imagining the animals and mythical creatures. I love shaping them out of aluminum and copper. I love painting them even though the process requires many, many, many patient layers of paint plus carefully detailed painting and repousse’ to get the richly detailed feathers, fur and scales. I love the fact that the depth of color defies the lightness and transparency of the completed mask.

Most of all, I love that people are so thrilled when they see them, feel them and put them on. They are transformed from boy or girl, woman or man into a wolf, bear, frog, lion, dragon or phoenix. I love to see the wonder on their faces when they look in the mirror and see their new masked persona. I love it when they realize that I can’t see them as they were but only as they are with the mask on.

I love that no matter what the person’s age or stage, the mask brings out the clear, true spirit of imagination that we usually only see in very small children. I love being part of that link and transformation.

Yes, it takes a lot of time, effort and skill to make each and every mask but when I’m working on the masks, my life becomes timeless.

Why do I do what I do? Love. Pure and simple.

If you’d like to see more of my masks, check out my website at www.susangt.com and read my other blog Susan’s Art & Words at http://sculpturepdx.blogspot.com

Gardener's Psychiatric Hotline

2010-01-23T09:09:00.000-08:00

The Gardener’s Psychiatric Hotline has been a perennial favorite for garden humor, which those of us in the Northeast could use a little of right now. Thanks to Ron Vanderhoff of Roger’s Gardens for his version:

“Many who read this column will soon retreat to their gardens for long periods of time. Once there, may will find peace, harmony, and beauty. But a few, some of whom I’ve met, will discover other, darker, qualities of the season.

At this season, I worry about many of my dear gardening friends. When talking to them, I see some of the early signs; the soft mumblings, the subtle mood swings, the small nervous tics. I suspect some of these garden comrades are only a dandelion or two away from serious floral psychosis. The annual anticipation of spring, mingled and juxtaposed with delirious expectations of plant perfection and the uncertainties of nature, drive some of my fragile friends to the brink.

These people need skilled help, carefully administered by trained professionals. Perhaps you know one of these people. Worse perhaps you are one of these people. Maybe you yourself are showing some early symptoms and haven’t noticed them yet. Self-diagnosis is difficult. Yet, these people hold pruning shears, shovels, and hedge clippers in their gloved hands. It is a dangerous time. But there is help.

Ring, ring...Hello! and welcome to the Gardener's Psychiatric Hotline.

If you are buying plants, yet have no space or time to plant them, you are obsessive-compulsive. Please press 1 repeatedly.

If you want someone else to do the digging, you are co-dependent. Please ask someone to press 2.

If you will plant anything and everything, you have multiple personalities. Please press 3, 4, and 5.

If you are sure the sun, rain, bugs, and plant diseases are out to get you, you are paranoid delusional. We know who you are and what you want….just stay on the line so we can trace the call.

If you are sure the flowers are talking to you, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which button to press.

If you can't throw away a plant, even if it is dying, you are manic-depressive and it doesn't matter which button you press.

If you think your garden is being attacked by evil spirits, press 6-6-6.

If you continue to plant only flowers with fragrance, you are nasally fixated. Please press the scratch-and-sniff button.

If you occasionally hallucinate and know that this year your garden is going to look as good or better than Martha Stewart's please be aware that the thing you are now holding to the side of your head is alive and is about to bite your ear.

If you refuse to believe the plant you are growing is a weed, you are in denial. Thanks for pressing the right button already!

If you are a senile gardener, after listening to all of the selections, continue to stare blankly at the phone for the next ten minutes while trying to remember why you called in the first place.”

Television Musings - Rants and Raves from a Romance Writer

2010-01-20T20:32:00.000-08:00

By Kathy Carpenter

Welcome 2010!

I know it’s been awhile but I’m back. I’ve been in computer hell. And when I logged on to write this. I noticed my blog form a couple back didn’t even post. I went back and posted the blog from October 19th but in the scheme of things don’t know where it published. Where it was originally supposed to or on today’s date. Moving forward. I hope to be back to once a week. This week I want to talk about Chuck. Chuck was a relatively creative idea for a television show. The contents from a government agency computer downloaded into a human, then was destroyed. The only way the real spies could access the information was through Chuck. Who works at a warehouse store on the geek squad.

That lasted for two seasons. Of course the government was working on a way to get the information back and free Chuck, but at what price. The storyline ran it’s course, But they came up with a new creative outlet. After getting free of the info Chuck downloaded the new version into himself. Not quite sure how. But now if he flashes on an activity he does not know, for instance talking French, instantly he is enabled to the task. To me this is creative but alas how far can it go?

Sculpting a Life

2010-01-16T19:55:00.000-08:00

By Susan Gallacher-Turner

Share your creativity rituals and help light the way for others in the new year.

For years alone in the studio, I began my day with a ritual I called ‘CM’ or creative meditation time. I poured myself a fresh cup of coffee, turned on my favorite music, lit a scented candle and sat down in my chair. Closing my eyes, I attempted to bring my thoughts from the world of everyday activity to the world of creativity.

Doesn’t this sound restful and wonderful? Then why does it take so much work to get my butt in that chair? Why do I find myself at the computer, answering email or dust mopping my floors instead of sitting, focusing and creating in my studio?

I can say I’m too busy but after a few weeks, I get tired, cranky and resentful. Yes, it’s easy to put the needs of others before mine. Yes, it’s easy to find other jobs more productive. And again, yes, it’s easy to blame myself or others for my lack of ‘CM’ time.

The other day, I met an artist friend for coffee. After talking to her for a while, I realized that although I feel all alone in my struggles, I’m not. Almost every creative person finds themselves fighting the foes of fear, procrastination and time.

It’s a new year. And this year, instead of guilt and fear, I want to embrace the feelings of freedom, lightness and joy. I know that getting back to my ‘CM’ time is a big step in the right direction.

But maybe in the New Year, my old ‘CM’ ritual needs some renewal, too.

So I’m asking for your suggestions. What steps do you want to take this New Year? Do you have a ritual that gets your creativity going everyday?

Share it here. I’d love to hear some new ideas. What sparks your creativity can light the way for all of us.

If you'd like to see some of my sculpture work visit my website at www.susangt.com or check out my writing and podcasts about other creative people at http://voicesoflivingcreatively.com

Sculpting a Life: Susan Gallacher-Turner's Turn in the Pacific Northwest

2010-01-10T21:12:00.000-08:00

Decking the halls for the New Year.

It all started the year my daughter cried when we took down the Christmas tree. I had to admit, taking down all those colorful, shiny decorations, festive plants and wreaths always felt sad to me, too. So, I told her that I wasn’t taking down the decorations for an entire year, I was ‘redecking’ the halls for the New Year.

Since then, as the Christmas holiday décor comes down, the New Year décor goes up. A white, gold and silver theme replaces the reds and greens. On the table, I put a white tablecloth with metallic threads, a gold metallic runner and a centerpiece with a hurricane, white pillar candle and festive beads complete with brass bells to ‘ring’ in the New Year. The mantle gets a snowy theme with little flocked trees and lighted white wreath. The hutch which holds the Christmas china gets redone with crystal champagne glasses and a silver champagne bucket. One year, I made a New Year’s wreath. You can see it pictured above…I cut oak leaves out of aluminum sheeting adding veins and details in repousse’.

It doesn’t take long to add these festive touches but it goes a long way to brighten up everyone’s mood after Christmas is over. My daughter has carried the ‘tradition’ to her own apartment this year as she ‘redecked’ her halls for the New Year, too.

I think what I love the most is the process itself. I renew my home for the New Year. I honor the past year’s good times with the gold touches. I welcome the abundance for the new year with the silver oak leaves. And I open up to new beginnings with all of the white touches; the candles, flowers, table cloth, trees and lights.

What started as a way to make my daughter happy has become a tradition that makes us all happier in the New Year.

Where Do You Go For Inspiration?

2010-01-08T13:50:00.000-08:00

For the past few years, I’ve gone to The Land Ethics Symposium, sponsored by Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve (New Hope, PA). As the line that separates gardening and sustainability becomes more blurred, gardeners and garden-related professionals, environmental consultants, and government officials are increasingly finding themselves at the same events and trade shows.

This year, the symposium focuses on ways to create economical and ecologically balanced landscapes using native plants and restoration techniques. Attendees will learn how such landscapes can solve site problems while being sustainable, practical and attractive.

In years past, the Land Ethics Symposium has hosted such inspirational speakers as sustainable living gurus Marcus de la Fleur http://loisdevries.blogspot.com/2008/03/recycling-water-one-drop-at-time.html and John Peter Thompson http://loisdevries.blogspot.com/2008/02/gardening-heresy-good-for-environment.html , Puget Sound ecological expert and poet Grant Jones , and Morris Arboretum master arborist Jason Lubar http://loisdevries.blogspot.com/2009/02/go-play-outside.html .

There’s always at least one speaker who sweeps you back in time and reminds you in a very visceral sense of why you chose a vocation or avocation that connects you to the natural world. I always come back with more ideas than I can possibly implement, recharged and ready to go. We all need this type of re-energizing from time to time. What do you do for creative inspiration?

Last day to register for The Land Ethics Symposium is February 8, 2010. For more information, contact Bowman’s Hill at www.bhwp.org .

Lois de Vries' thoughts on gardening and environmental issues run the gamut from gardening in her own back yard to promoting land management practices that reconnect people to the Earth. To discover how to express more of your personality and creativity through your garden, or how body/mind/spirit can play itself out in your gardening activities, visit: http://cultivatingtheinnergardener.blogspot.com or contact me at loisj7@gmail.com.

The Emotional Plot as The Engine of The Story

2010-01-04T10:58:00.000-08:00

Long time, no post! Have been working on my Character Workout mini-ebook for subscribers to my creative writing site (as well as trying to meet the deadline on my current screenplay). Of all the aspects of the manuscripts and film scripts I get to assess, Character is always something that the writer would benefit from learning more about. But any guidance on Character has to include flagging up the need to approach the work with all the elements in mind because everything in a story has to be completely interrelated.

That's why so many How To Books can mislead. Focusing on the elements of writing as if each is a separate entity not only fatally dooms the success of the work, it almost always smothers the creative source of your unique vision.

And that's why I don't like the word 'Plot'. I use the term 'Emotional Plot', because this phrase implies simultaneous human feeling-and-action. The origin of the word 'drama' applies as much to novels as plays and screenplays. It comes from the Greek word meaning 'something done', and the ancient Greek playwrights thought of their stories as 'people doing things'.

The emotional plot is what drives the story - it makes characters 'do things'. So, focusing on the outward action or plot isn't going to get a writer very far in creating a compelling work unless the focus is at the same time, on the emotional needs of the character. Instead of making the first question: What is my story about? A better question is Who is my story about? Then: What are my character's emotional needs? This question alone should be enough to start to generate the story. Creating character will lead automatically to dialogue, setting, structure, pace - every element of story-telling.

This emphasis on approaching a novel or script through thinking about the emotional situation of the character is what I'm trying to get across in all my teaching and consultancy work. That's why I decided to write the free ebook on Character for subscribers on my new site.

There are so many ways to fire up the imagination when creating characters, and a good many of them are not the usual ones you find in the writing guides.

London Calling

2009-12-20T03:47:00.000-08:00

I've got to admit, I love to work through a self-development book. Maybe it's the Virgo in me, but writers like Julia Cameron and Eric Maisel have been my creative friends, available at the flick of a page, ever since I realised that I wanted to write. So, today, Eric Maisel says 'Craft One Ceremony'. A creative soul needs a moment's safety at the dawn and the close of the day; just reflecting, just being. So anyway I went to Neal's Yard in London's West End, in search of an exotic tea, Japanese perhaps, to drink for my tea ceremony each morning. My journey past the docks took me past the Port of London, once the busiest in the world for tea clippers. I thought of the hundreds of masts and spars that would have been there, barely less than a few generations past. 'Who needs anything different,' I thought. Back home as I pour my very British cuppa, I think of my hero and his struggle to make a living in the docks, like his ancestors and mine. I raise my mug to their tenacity, their laughter, their courage in times of war and peace. That's ceremony enough.

Jennifer Pittam is a winner of 'Coast to Coast' Writing Competition and is working on a historical novel.

Sculpting a Life: Ice Lessons.

2009-12-14T19:53:00.000-08:00

By Susan Gallacher-Turner

This week taking a walk in the park is freezing, literally. Early morning temperatures are in the teens and the ‘highs’ for the day are in the 20’s.

As I walk by the lake every morning, I see a new layer of ice. The ducks are crowded into smaller and smaller ponds where the ice isn’t frozen until finally, the top of the lake is completely covered in ice. While the ducks huddle as best they can, the heron stands in solitary splendor on the ice.

When I usually spot the blue heron, I find her camouflaged by tall grasses beside the lake or perched on a grey branch near the shoreline waiting to catch the fish swimming by. This week is different. The heron stands on the ice in the middle of the lake waiting and watching. I wonder, why would she even bother? She can’t catch the fish through the ice.

Perhaps there’s a lesson here on the ice for me.

When I look out onto the icy lake, I see a barrier, like a solid floor, closed door or glass wall. I see what’s on top, the ice. I don’t see what’s underneath hidden from my view.

But maybe the heron does. And that’s why she’s standing in the middle of the lake on the ice. She sees what’s underneath the ice. She sees fish, food, possibilities and life.

Suddenly, I see it too.

I see that although the top layer of the lake is frozen. Nothing is moving. Nothing is growing. The trees are bare and appear lifeless. That’s just the surface. Below the fish are swimming. The algae are growing. The trees are very much alive even without their leaves.

At this time of year, when the sun comes out only briefly and darkness covers more of our days, it’s easy to get stuck in an icy frame of mind. Feeling cold, gray and seeing the world around me as frozen and unmoving.

But the heron showed me that below the icy, grey surface, the world is teaming with life. The world is moving and thriving. Just because I don’t see it or hear it, doesn’t mean that the things aren’t happening all around me. Things that, like the heron knows, take time to come to the surface.

What do I do in the meantime? Take my cue from the heron, walk out into the world, then wait and be ready to catch those fish when the ice melts.

If you’d like to see my art, check out my website at www.susangt.com or read my other blog, Susan’s Art & Words at http://sculpturepdx.blogspot.com

London Calling

2009-12-13T15:00:00.000-08:00

'I'd like you to write a 2,500 word autobiography,' says Eric Maisel in 'The Creativity Book'. The wind howls outside and the rain lashes down. 'I can't,' I think. 'I won't,' my mind shouts. I can't penetrate that whirling bundle of protective noise - the one that every artist uses to hide the creative centre of the soul. Tentatively, I put down a note about my first creative experiences, with my wax crayons in the back garden at Woodford Green. I remember a picture on the wall of our little Victorian School, and my astonishment when I noticed it was mine. I remember a week in the Scottish Highlands, painting for dear life. I remember sadness, the years when my art seemed like a love lost forever. I remember when I caught a glimpse of it again, a brief flash in the graveyard. I stand in the graveyard. It's not so scary. People picnic here in the summer. They bring their babies, their weddings and their loved ones at the last.The rain has stopped, the wind pauses. I beckon to Lost Art. I have plenty of time.

Wild Woman of Queens: Notes on Urban Creativity from Across the East River

2009-12-12T11:31:00.000-08:00

Sunrise by Sandra Lee Schubert

Inspiration

We had a guest speaker at the Wild Angels group. David Johnston is a playwright that I have know for years. He is not tabloid famous, but, his plays have been produced internationally. He has a nice body of work that he could point to as he offered us his advice. One of his biggest tips came not as part of the presentation but in the Q and A. Someone asked how often he wrote and he said that he wrote at least two hours every morning. Two hours! He also mentioned inspiration and how we wait for inspiration when we should coax it out.

David gave us something important. We have come to treasure inspiration.It becomes this thing we long for as if it will save us.Truly when inspiration strikes words flow from an underground aquifer.It is blissful to be in the flow. Inspiration is lovely- treasure the moment it comes unheeded. But we can't wait for it. We must tap it ourselves. Like David we should go to the well each day.

Sandra's e-course leads people to be their creative best through telling their stories and talking to interesting people on her online radio show-
Wild Woman Network: Radio for Creative Vagabonds, Thinkers and Innovators..
She is a creative vagabond, a poet, and a writer who co-facilitates the Wild Angels Poets and Writers Group at the historic Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine.
Writing for Life: Creating a Story of Your Own Visit her blog.
Email her> Sandraleeschubert(at)gmail.com or @writing4life via twitter.

Who Are My Clients?

2009-12-06T09:37:00.000-08:00

You probably carry around a mental picture of a typical creativity coaching client or a typical meaning coaching client: maybe a mental picture of a forty-year-old writer, painter or musician stalled in his or her career. You might not picture someone like Ellen McGowan, one of the South’s best-known sculptors—and 85 years old.

As part of a promotion that one of my publishers ran, Ellen won some coaching sessions with me. We had a lovely and productive time together. Ellen was kind enough to recently write to me and say, “Those few hours helped me more than you know!!” She also told me a bit about her current creative life:

“At 85 years old I feel enormously fortunate to be in such good health and in such good spirits. I still work every day in my studio near Memphis. My work is in the collections of such notables as Bette Midler, Lee Trevino, and the late Alex Haley, author of Roots. Recently, Christian Brothers University in Memphis established the Ellen Fossey McGowan Collection, a permanent repository of my work. I am very much honored.

“My days are full. The studio is where I go to restore my acquaintance with self and to put into my figural clay work all of the infinitely variable features of the people, those close to me and total strangers as well, whom I observe living their lives in this fascinating and mysterious world. The artist's life is rewarding in unique ways, but it can also be fraught with bouts of self-doubt. That’s why your books—I believe I own all of them—have been so integral to my creative wellbeing. I turn to Affirmations for Artists almost every day for comfort and inspiration. I cherish my creative life and I look forward to many more years of work.”

If we start living to be 130, at the age of 129 we will still have to meet our meaning needs and our creative needs. We will still be obliged to face the challenges that thoughtful, mortal beings will always face. Those 129 years of living wisdom will not prevent us from having to deal with new creative challenges and new meaning crises as they arise.

Inhabitants of some parallel universe may achieve something like a permanent retirement from challenge, maybe by virtue of the lobotomy they receive as part of their retirement ceremony. In this universe, where we are obliged to think and to feel until we pass along, there can be no retirement from the demands of making meaning. I think I’d rather live here.

**

More about Ellen at her website:

http://www.ellenmcgowan.com/

And here’s a nice write-up of Ellen at one of the galleries representing her:

http://www.james-ben.com/news_mcgowan.htm

**

P.S. I am getting lots of nice feedback on my Overcoming Creative Anxiety class available at dailyom.com. To refresh your memory, you can start it at any time and pay whatever you want. Take a look:

http://www.dailyom.com/cgi-bin/courses/courseoverview.cgi?cid=48

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it.

London Calling

2009-11-28T12:47:00.001-08:00

Today I took class with Anne Aylor www.anneaylor.co.uk in the Lucas Arms, an old pub not far from Kings Cross Station. The class was a precious 'time in' with the artist soul. We worked upstairs, lulled by the creaking pub sign and the smell of burning sage. Anne, a gifted novelist, has a talent for nurturing the embryo writer in others. For a precious day I found myself once more with Thomas Tarling, his charming and courageous woman Mary and the enigmatic leader of the fair, Zackariah Scarrott. 'One's religion,' said J.M. Barrie, is 'whatever one is most interested in'. Today, the religion of the practising writer was extended by a few more hours, in a London pub with the rain beating down on the streets outside.

Jennifer Pittam is a winner of 'Coast to Coast' Writing Competition and is working on her first novel.

Sculpting a Life.

2009-11-21T19:18:00.000-08:00

Losing Control.
By Susan Gallacher-Turner

For the past month, I’ve taught 3 different project classes in 3 different places, gone to meetings upon meetings, done interviews, and managed to squeeze a few hours in the studio. Ok, I’ve been busy. The point is: how much of these creative projects and time are within my control?

As a self-employed artist, teacher and writer, you might think all of it. I used to think that, too. Not anymore.

I’ve always been a self-motivated creative person. If I wanted to make something, I made it. If I didn’t know how, I figured it out. That might mean reading a book, taking a class or just doing it. Whatever I needed to do, I did it. Myself. I had creative control of my project.

That was an illusion. I wasn’t in control of my creativity then and I’m not now.

I may want creative control, but I don’t have it. It doesn’t matter whether I’m working alone in the studio, on a group project, or in a class with students. Students show up or not. Some people are easy to work with, others not. Ideas that seem good, go bad. Supplies get discontinued.

What I really want is a good ending. That’s why I think I need to creative control. What I need to do is lose control and follow the creative road. Trusting the bends, bumps and detours are all important parts of the journey. And that the end result I’m trying to control isn’t the end at all, it’s just a stop along the way. Sometimes the stops are good. I make a beautiful piece with clay, metal or words. Sometimes, it’s bad. I recycle the pieces and learn something new.

Maybe, creative control isn’t something I really need and don’t really even want. It’s just my fear wanting to drive my life, so maybe it’s time to shift into a different gear. Lose the control and maybe I'll enjoy the ride more.

If you'd like to see some of my sculpture, visit my website Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpture. And you can read my interviews with people living a creative life on my other blog, Voices of Living Creatively or listen to the podcasts at Voices of Living Creatively website.

Wild Woman of Queens: Notes on Urban Creativity from Across the East River

2009-11-14T14:35:00.000-08:00

The Bridge by Sandra Lee Schubert @2009

Last week I wrote two poems while a friend was visiting his doctor. I heard someone say I am getting banana pudding for fat boy. That one statement started a poem and another began after reading about someone who was learning about trick or treating. Now this is not a piece about writing poetry but about explaining it.

Do poets need to explain their poems? My friend writes the most complicated poems. Each poem requires a visit to Google, a dictionary, possibly Wikipedia and skills in translating foreign languages. Even after all that work you still may not know what he has said. People expect not to understand his poetry.

But what if you write a fairly simple piece and people ask, "what does it mean?" Are you obligated to give them an answer? Poems have layers. The layer the poet writes, what it means and what it means to others. When I write a piece there is a clear meaning in mind. But I can be surprised when something I've written does not have the clear meaning I intended. A poem can have meaning the poet didn't even know about until someone else reads it. That is when feedback becomes valuable.

Again the dilemma is when to explain. My thought is to allow the poem to be opened up to interpretation. You can't be in everyone's home explaining a piece. At some point you have to make sure you a well-written piece and then let it fly.

Garden Views: Cultivating the Inner Gardener

2009-11-13T15:24:00.000-08:00

If you’ve ever been to someone else’s garden that had a magical quality about it, haven’t you come home wanting to create a similar mood in your own space? How do you replicate that inexplicable, but tangible, x-factor?

I’ve spent the last three years interviewing gardeners who have this special touch and analyzing what they’ve done. But only after training with Eric Maisel as a meaning coach was I able to design a process to help other gardeners do it themselves. My coaching practice, Cultivating the Inner Gardener, teaches gardeners how to put themselves in a mental space that allows them to develop an intimate, holistic relationship with their gardens.

Cultivating the Inner Gardener can multiply the pleasure you derive from your gardening experience many times over because you’ll start to make better choices that result in a personal space that’s not only beautiful and healthy, but also provides a sanctuary from the world that speaks to your soul.

Through a series of assignments and exercises you’ll learn how to rediscover and focus on the things that really matter to you about your garden, restore meaning to your gardening efforts, and revitalize a cherished pastime.

If you want to discover how to express more of your personality and creativity through your garden, how body/mind/spirit can play itself out in your gardening activities, and how you can take more pleasure in the journey, visit: http://cultivatingtheinnergardener.blogspot.com or contact me at loisj7@gmail.com.

Lois de Vries' thoughts on gardening and environmental issues run the gamut from gardening in her own back yard to promoting land management practices that reconnect people to the Earth. Lois is seeking a publisher for her book, The Transformational Power of Gardening. Visit her blog at http://loisdevries.blogspot.com

BRAINSTORM cover

2009-11-07T16:19:00.000-08:00

2009-11-04T13:20:00.000-08:00

I'm very excited to be heading to DC this week for the opening of "Portrait Of Maquoketa" at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. Artist Rose Frantzen painted 180 portraits of her local townspeople in Maquoketa, Iowa, that will be on display through early July.

I met Rose and her artist husband Charles Morris about a year ago and had the pleasure of working with them over the spring and summer on their book, Portrait of Maquoketa, which is being sold online and will be sold at the Smithsonian gift shop while the exhibit runs in DC.

After I conducted a number of interviews with Rose last spring, I wrote an introductory essay for the book and helped her write and edit short reflections about the people, their portraits and her artistic process.

Later in the summer, I listened to Chuck read his essay aloud, which relates biographical information about Rose, discusses some of her other works besides Portrait of Maquoketa, and periodically reveals snapshots of what it must be like to be part of such an amazing marriage of two talented artists. Chuck not only wrote this marvelous essay that ends the book; he also labored on the layout design book all summer long. Then, together with Rose in the late summer and early fall, he saw the book through the many steps involved in the printing process.

The opportunity to work with these remarkable people was handed to me out of the blue from the Freelancing Gods via friend Al T., who thought my husband Chuck would enjoy meeting Rose and Chuck and arranged for us all to have dinner in Davenport one cold winter evening. That's how freelancing can work sometimes -- opportunities sometimes just seem to fall from the sky.

So I'm feeling very lucky today as we prepare to head to DC tomorrow to see the exhibit at the Smithsonian, honor Rose, and celebrate the 180 Maquoketans whose faces will grace the halls of the National Portrait Gallery for the next 7.5 months.

Wellness & Writing Connections Conference

2009-11-03T12:14:00.001-08:00

On Saturday October 24th, on a beautiful fall day in Atlanta, Georgia more than sixty writing enthusiasts met to share, learn and talk together about the connection between writing and wellness.

The vision of John Evans, convener and founder of the conference brought us together for the third annual Wellness & Writing Connections Conference.

What makes this conference unique is the variety of professions represented. Writers, poets, physicians, nurses, psychotherapists and teachers of writing convene together. What we share is a passion for writing and the connection between writing and wellness.

Check out the website and plan to meet us in Atlanta next year!

Wishing you happy and healthy writing,

Susan Borkin

Susan Borkin, M.A. is a licensed psychotherapist, author and speaker. In her practice she provides psychotherapy, coaching and training for people who are interested in using writing as part of their healing, growth or transformation. Read more!

Sculpting a life and a living. Writing. Showing. Teaching. Making.

2009-10-26T16:26:00.000-07:00

'Reflection', copper repousse'

By Susan Gallacher-Turner

Looking at this month, I’ve been blessed to be able to do everything I love to do.

As an artist, I sculpt out of metal and clay. I’ve made jewelry and garden art and started new masks out of mesh and copper.

For two weekends, I was part of the Portland Open Studios Tour and opened my studio to men, women and children interested in finding out what I do and how I do it. It’s always a little hectic getting ready for the event. I clean out my studio, set out demonstration materials, put out some of my pieces for display. It’s a lot of work. But what makes it all worthwhile are the looks of wonder, the words of appreciation and the people who come back every year to see what’s new.

Right after my open studio event, I delivered a large copper repousse’ piece to a juried exhibit downtown. My piece, “Reflection” will hang in the First Presbyterian Church as part of the Works of Faith exhibit until January 2010. It was wonderful to meet my fellow artists and the people from the art committee on Sunday.

Later in the week, I started an artist in residence at a local elementary school. The project is based on my ‘Ethnic Portrait’ series and involves the students in art and writing, two of my favorite activities. I met with the teachers, went over the supplies and the time lines. Then I went back to my studio, made an example of the project and prepared some supplies. At the school, I set up, presented the project and taught the classes with the help of the wonderful teachers and students. It was a great experience!

Today, I’m setting up interviews for articles I write on my blog and others. Writing advertising copy. Making a list of the supplies needed for the second week at the school. Getting work together for a photo shoot tomorrow. Putting some paint on one of my mesh masks. Taking my dog for a walk in between rain storms and making dinner.

Sometimes I worry whether it will all get done, but it does. Somehow, in spite of the bumps, I am able to sculpt a life and a living doing what I love to do. I’m grateful.

You can see more of my sculpture work on my website, Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpture and my blog, Susan's Art & Words. And listen to podcasts or read my interviews with other creative people living a creative life at Voices of Living Creatively website, www.voicesoflivingcreatively.com and http://voicesoflivingcreatively.blogspot.com

Wild Woman of Queens: Notes on Urban Creativity from Across the East River

2009-10-24T15:01:00.000-07:00

Glittery Man by Sandra Lee Schubert @2009

Glittery Man

Are you holding on to an old and outdated vision of who you are?

I had several disappointments this week. The person who has been my creative muse for years disappointed me in an unexpected way. I was surprised. She inspired to take on a creative persona that has framed how I have lived my life. The disappointment became the catalyst to question whether the creative persona I had inhabited was still valid. The next day someone questioned the very same persona. He said there was a cognitive dissonance - my words and images were not in sync. Was the universe trying to get my attention or what?

We want to be authentic and we want to put forth that which has the most meaning for us. But what if you have taken on a image that does not represent who you are?

I went to two business expos at the Jacob Javits Center in NYC. One was a small business expo and the other was for event planning and design. The small business expo was fine. There were good seminars and the exhibits were interesting. The information was good and solid for the small business owner.

But the event planning and design expo was very exciting. Besides floor to ceiling silvery dangles the glittery man greeted the attendees with his body flashing light all over the entrance. There were full out party rooms done in all gold, crystal and white. A Tiki bar was on hand and a drag Queen wore a table full of chocolate. The music was infectious and loud. There were beauiuful exhibts and beatuful people throughout the hall. I was immediately sold. I wanted to host an event somewhere, anywhere. If I wanted a real life example of a brand living up to expectations this was it.

The event planning expo was the frame I have carried, but I have been living like the Business expo. One is solid, but has little energy, the other married excitement and business. I have tons of information. I have a billion ideas. I can be very creative but I live in a box. At the end of the day I am not that exciting.

Creativity asks us to live differently. We can't do the same thing as everyone else and expect a different result. We may have to shake things up and throw out the very way we have been living. I was all shook up this week. Two people I admired made me question what I have been doing. It sucks. But, I think it is a good thing. My creative life has been ho-hum. My business has stalled big time. It took a glittery man and some friends to point out I have not been living up to my potential. Do I know what is next? No. But I am willing to leave the old persona behind and craft a better one. Is your persona in need of a makeover?

Sandra's e-course leads people to be their creative best through telling their stories and talking to interesting people on her online radio show-
Wild Woman Network: Radio for Creative Vagabonds, Thinkers and Innovators..
She is a creative vagabond, a poet, and a writer who co-facilitates the Wild Angels Poets and Writers Group at the historic Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine.
Writing for Life: Creating a Story of Your Own Visit her blog. Email her Sandraleeschubert(at)gmail.com or @writing4life via twitter.

Television Musings - Rants and Raves of a Romance Writer

2009-10-21T17:36:00.000-07:00

Desperate, Shark and Glee

By Kathy Carpenter

Desperate Housewives continues to try new things. In a recent episode they showed the same scene from five points of view. They did this by playing the scene then going to a different family four different times to show what the other family was doing during a specific event. Sort of a rewind effect. Worked out nicely, I thought. Television continues to become more creative trying to give us the same emotions we get from a book.

Shark Tank- What I love about this show is the Sharks. Is not the fact someone has the opportunity of a lifetime to take their company to another level. But The way they compete against each other to get the deal they want. Or work together or even try to save another Shark from a deal they feel would be bad.

Glee - A show from the previews did not seem like my type. It looked like another Friday Night Lights from last season. To my surprise I like it a lot. It has a Soap Opera feel, one of my favorites. With secrets, people going after people , with great music and dance. I’m hoping they can come with enough to keep it going after the initial story play through. Often a problem with new shows. Only time will tell.

Television Musings - Rants and Raves of a Romance Writer

2009-10-19T22:42:00.000-07:00

Desperate, Shark and Glee
By Kathy Carpenter

Desperate Housewives continues to try new things. In a recent episode they showed the same scene from five points of view. They did this by playing the scene then going to a different family four different times to show what the other family was doing during a specific event. Sort of a rewind effect. Worked out nicely, I thought. Television continues to become more creative trying to give us the same emotions we get from a book.

.

MAD HOT JOURNALING!

2009-10-19T06:57:00.000-07:00

There is indeed something hot in the Journaling World!

Ruth Folit, founder of LifeJournal software has recently announced the creation of the International Association for Journal Writers.

If you are a regular journal keeper or want to become one, this is the place to be--- Articles, tips, audio and upcoming classes focused on journaling. Two dozen journaling experts from around the world (including yours truly) will keep you informed, learning, "juiced" and most importantly, writing.

You'll want to check out the IAJW today and join us! Visit here.

So, how is your own journaling going this fall? If you are feeling sluggish or haven't written in awhile, there's a simple solution. Walk outside and grab your journal or a notebook and pen. Take a walk, even for ten minutes.

Try this. Think of an issue or concern that has been nagging at you. No need to dwell on it; once you have the thought, write it down and then just let it drift off. Walk slowly, noticing the details around you. What color is the ground? What do you notice about the trees, leaves, branches, plants, insects? Walk slowly, look closely.

Take a deep breath. Continue on your short journey for a few minutes more. Stop and look at anything that grabs your attention. Study it. Stay with it, let is speak to you.

When you are done with your walk, open your journal and look again at the issue or concern you noted before. Now do some writing and see if the issue seems different or has changed in any way.

Let me know what happens! Visit me at www.susanborkin.com or write with your comments and thoughts to susan@susanborkin.com.

Susan Borkin, M.A. is a licensed psychotherapist, author and speaker. In her practice she provides psychotherapy, coaching and training for people who are interested in using writing as part of their healing, growth or transformation.

Wild Woman of Queens: Notes on Urban Creativity from Across the East River

2009-10-17T13:58:00.000-07:00

Book Signing by Sandra Lee Schubert @2009

Book Signing

This past week I went to a book signing and reception for Gary Vaynerchuk, author of the new book, Crush It. I've been to a few signings for friends, but this was the first promoted via social media and with lots of buzz. It was at Borders Books in NYC in the Time Warner building at Columbus Cirlce. The location itself added to the excitement of the event.

The author has a following of enthusiastic true fans who happily packed the event space. He entered the space like a rock star. Truthfully, he is a rock star. Here was someone who knew he had to create his own stardom. What did I learn?

First, to get any where you have to want it badly. I see this over and over again in successful people. There is an energy that propels a person forward. We have all heard about having a fire in the belly. I saw this played out at the book signing. Gary is up late working and then jumps out of bed early in the morning. Second, you have to take charge of your own stardom. Even if you are just a little twinkle in a mass of sun like stars you still have to make yourself shine brightly. Third, you don't do it alone. Creating doesn't happen in a vacuum at some point you must take your work out and share it with the community.

I've watched Gary interact online for a year. He makes friends. He is also someone who remembers you even if he has met you once in a crowd of other people. Here is a guy who knows how to use everything at his disposal. He also has a ten book deal with his publisher. I have no deal like that, do you?

Maybe you or I don't have his big kind of personality. Or, we forget who we just met the second we turned around. But we can still learn how to transform our passion into something big. Can we meet each day with the kind of excitement that makes the heart race?

Take time and read about your favorite successful artist/writer/actor/business person. What makes them tick? What kept them going in the face of adversity? Look for the traits that are similar to you. Figure out which traits you have that are comparable and what ones you need to cultivate to success. Find and exploit your passion. Discover your inner rock star and let her out in a big way.

Sandra's e-course leads people to be their creative best through telling their stories and talking to interesting people on her online radio show-
Wild Woman Network: Radio for Creative Vagabonds, Thinkers and Innovators..
She is a creative vagabond, a poet, and a writer who co-facilitates the Wild Angels Poets and Writers Group at the historic Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine.
Writing for Life: Creating a Story of Your Own Visit her blog. Email her Sandraleeschubert(at)gmail.com or @writing4life via twitter.

Sculpting a Life: Susan Gallacher-Turner's turn in the Pacific Northwest

2009-10-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

Portland Open Studios:
Opening my studio and my creative process to my neighborhood.

I do sculpture work in aluminum screening, copper sheeting and clay. I love faces and animals and the concept of shapeshifting. I see faces and figures in the landscape around me, the leaves on the trees, the clouds in the sky, the rocks and even the marks on the ceiling. My source of inspiration and materials seem right to me, that’s why I do it.

But to others, I realize it may seem a bit odd. Since I work on my own, in my studio, this isn’t a problem, really. I can do what I do and no one knows the difference. Until now.

As part of the Portland Open Studios Tour, I invite people to come into my studio and watch me work. They get to see me push a bear shape out of aluminum screening, press dragon scales into copper sheeting and read some of my stories. I explain how I do what I do. I show them the materials and the process. I answer their questions.

I have some of my finished pieces on display, so they can see the finished product as well as the process. I hope it helps them to understand what I do and why. I hope it helps them learn more about art, the creative process as well as inspiring them to honor their own creativity.

Every year, I feel a little like the curtain is drawn back on my creative process and there I stand, alone and revealed to the world. It’s a little scary. But every year, I find out just how wonderful and generous and eager people are to share in the creative process.

If you’re ever in Portland the first two weeks of October, get a tour guide and come and visit my studio! This year, I was interviewed by a fellow artist and you can read the interview on the Portland Open Studios Tour blog at http://portlandopenstudios.wordpress.com

To see more of my sculpture visit my website at Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpturewww.susangt.com or read my other blogs, Susan's Art & Words or Voices of Living Creatively.

Writing and Art Matter!

2009-10-15T17:20:00.000-07:00

At my writing group last night, one member – I’ll call her Julia – said she was recovering from the flu. Possibly the dreaded H1N1, we decided after hearing about her symptoms. On one day, when she became dehydrated and nearly delirious, she said she kept torturing herself with the thought that her writing was worthless, that she should be spending her time doing something to “help people” instead. “I still am feeling that way a little bit,” she confessed. “It won’t quite go away.”

I know so well this tricky turn of mind, this saboteur, this ambivalence toward creating art that arrives with sickness or other vulnerabilities – an uncertain income, a move to a new city. The rest of us rallied for her, trying to dispel her grey sky that wouldn’t clear. “It helps people to write something that is cathartic for them to read.” “When we’re creating, we’re more alive, and when we’re more alive, we’re more useful to the world.” “Besides, we don’t choose our art; it chooses us. We create because we must.”

Someone asked Julia, “Is the act of writing important to you?” Suddenly our friend’s face shifted from worried to peaceful, residually sick to the picture of health, dark cloud to beaming light. “Of course,” she said, smiling.

When I took Eric Maisel’s class on creativity coaching, he asked us to begin each day by writing “I matter and my writing matters.”

Art does matter. Writing does matter. Of course.

Wild Woman of Queens: Notes on Urban Creativity from Across the East River

2009-10-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

Transfiguration by Sandra Lee Schubert 2002

Creating Your Poetry

The word iconographer means "image writer", and comes from the Greek εικον (image) and γραφειν (to write). I have created three icons; two are small pieces done in the traditional method. The other icon follows the same concept of writing with an image, instead of traditional methods I used collage to create a visual poem in three pieces. The poem is represented as a triptych, each stanza is a panel.

The poem was in response to a class assignment on visual poetry and the tragedy of September 11, 2001.Thinking about what to do, I was reminded of the loss of icons on that terrible day. The images were of the World Trade Towers, the loss of our idea of power, America as a safe haven. I looked for photos and words that represented these iconic images in the newspapers and magazines. In creating the poem I wanted to rise above the tragedy and look for some of the bright spots.

The first panel has images from September 11, as well as, other images of tragedy from around the world. The middle panel is filled with iconic images, and the third panel offers hope.

The words of the poem contrast against the images. The first panel full of tragic images has LOVE as it foundation. The second panel of iconic images has the title of the poem and the word HEALS as it foundation. The second panel is the center and the transforming bridge between the first and third panels. The third panel has hopeful images and has the word HATE as its foundation. The word hate here is redemptive but reminds us of what needs to be transformed.

The poem is simple.

Transfiguration

Love Heals Hate

The collage uses images to flesh out the power of the words. Making the poem and icon reminded me of icons being written as prayers. The creating of an icon is a sacred act and the creating of the poem was a sacred and healing act for me.

Using images to create poetry is another way of using words in a creative way. If you are a visual person like I am linking words to images is something you naturally want to do.

Combining images as writing may not be something you would immediately think about. My journal is a combination of just straight journal writing and images that I collect and paste into my journal. Sometimes words are not sufficient and the images help to tease out the emotions or thoughts.

You can use images as storyboards for poetry, fiction pieces, or plays. The time looking for photos and arranging them into a visual display can be meditative. Use the process to reveal and express yourself in a new way.

I treasure my icon poem, it represents an emotion that was too powerful for me to express successfully in words.

Sandra's e-course leads people to be their creative best through telling their stories and talking to interesting people on her online radio show- Wild Woman Network: Radio for Creative Vagabonds, Thinkers and Innovators.
She is a creative vagabond, a poet, and a writer who co-facilitates the Wild Angels Poets and Writers Group at the historic Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine.Writing for Life: Creating a Story of Your Own. Visit her blog: Email her sandraleeschubert(at)gmail.com or
@writing4life via twitter.

Take a Break!

2009-10-04T14:46:00.000-07:00

“In the relentless busyness of modern life,” Wayne Muller writes in Sabbath: Finding Rest and Renewal in Our Daily Lives (Bantam, 2000), “we have lost the rhythm between work and rest.” He explores the concept of “Sabbath” and its rituals and references in Judaism, Christianity, and Buddhism. Muller says the Sabbath is celebrated in various forms because it is in our nature to need a day a week to rest, celebrate, delight in, and savor our lives. During the rest of the week we may be driven by work, tasks, and worries, but once a week we’re supposed to chill out.

A true Sabbath, he argues, is a day of reflection and a day of no activities done out of obligation. Whether your Sabbath is spent alone or with friends or family or the larger community, the only goal should be rest and renewal.

Which is why when my friend Sheri prefers to stay home from church on Sunday mornings to garden, I think she is taking a particularly special form of the Sabbath. And why this morning when I hiked along the Coralville Reservoir, thinking about John Muir’s enthusiasm for nature as the greatest of all temples, I too was “obeying” the Sabbath…as I was later this afternoon while working on my novel, feeling the warm sun coming in my office window, enjoying the rush of a scene coming alive on the page.

If you’re a creator – an artist, writer, gardener, musician – and if you’re looking for an excuse to work on that creative project you’ve shelved for awhile, just remember that you owe yourself – and life itself – a Sabbath at least once a week. If on that day you are creating with joy and peace and delight, you’re honoring the Sabbath.

On the other hand, sometimes we need a break from everything. Doing nothing is an option, too.

Television Musings - Rants and Raves of a Romance Writer

2009-09-22T22:21:00.000-07:00

By KATHY CARPENTER

New Season Survivor

I’m back. Had to take some time to move and even though we only moved a mile that’s a major event for us. The actual move took a month and we may have all the boxes in the house emptied by Christmas. We are getting there. Did you catch the new Survivor? I mean that Russell and if you saw the show you know who I’m talking about. (They do have two Russell’s this year.) But this guy has got to be the biggest jerk yet, and they’ve had some doozies. But who picks on there own team from the start, dumping there canteens and burning their socks?

Unfortunately the team will need his strength. Thus America will be forced to endure him for weeks. Great for the show gives people something to talk about.

This week we also saw the new season of Dancing with the Stars. Favorite guy, Donny Osmond of course I’ve been a Donny fan since “Go Away Little Girl.” Favorite gal, Kelly Osburn kind of won my heart. Both of these held there own this week but it’s a long season. I love all that dancing.

Which is a good thing because So You Think you can Dance is coming back with another season, which is in auditions this week but next week we can watch dance four nights a week. Yipee!

2009-09-19T16:12:00.000-07:00

Sculpting a Life: Susan Gallacher-Turner's turn in the Pacific Northwest.

Living, loving, creating and Maui

Last week, I was on Maui. The beautiful, lush, tropical island with soft, sandy beaches and warm surf is a fantasy land. And fantasy is just what I needed to recharge my depleted physical, emotional and creative batteries.

My life over the last 19 months has been a bumpy, sad, scary and difficult road with no end in sight. Yet. My husband’s been laid off, worked part time, laid off again. Three people we’ve known, worked with and raised children with have died. My daughter moved away from home. The life we had, that we thought was stable is gone. And we’re both searching for ways to use our talents, live our lives creatively and make a living.

Seeing people we know die too young was shocking. But it also helped us see life as a gift that doesn’t come with guarantees. What it does come with is choices, and the biggest one is to live in fear or live in love.

I spent many months in the fear zone. I wasn’t sleeping or eating very well. I lost weight. I cried a lot. I tried to get out of it by looking for reasons and causes of the difficulties, trying to figure it all out. So I could fix it all and everything would be back to normal again. It didn’t work. I had to realize that there are many things in this life, my life that I can’t control: cancer, economic recessions, industry changes and children growing up.

One day, tears streaming down my cheeks, again, I asked a friend what I could do. She said, “Let go and let God”. Now, she knows I’m not a religious person and I don’t like the word, God. But in that moment, I realized that she was right. And that God didn’t have to be the male, power figure that I grew up with but a name for the essential energy force that is in and around all of us.

Something shifted that day. I had been telling my self to let go. But I was like a child on the monkey bars, who weary of hanging on was still too afraid to let go and trust that I would land on my feet.

Maui. The trip to Hawaii was an act of trust, of letting go and loving my life instead of fearing for it. It seemed crazy at first to my ‘control’ mind to book a 5 day trip to Maui when so much is still up in the air. And yet, it felt completely right. Right after we booked the trip, I felt this incredible sense of relief. I didn’t know what the feeling was at first, then it hit me. That’s what ‘letting go’ feels like.

And I like the feeling. Oh, I still had my scary moments getting ready for the trip and getting on the plane. Even though my mind was having a hissy fit, there was a place inside me that was calm, clear and rock solid.

On Maui, I rose at dawn everyday. Watching the sunrise, hearing the birds call back and forth to each other, seeing the colors change on the distant island and the sea, I felt calmly present. My mind was silent. My body tired at first, began to rest even as I walked the beaches and floated on the waves. I picked up sweet scented flowers on the path and filled bowls with them. My creative vision became clear once again and I saw the ‘masks’ in the palm trees and the figurative forms in the tree trunks. I longed to paint the warm reds, oranges and pinks of the sunsets and the luscious greens of the distant sugar cane fields. The deep blue green waves and the light peach clouds made me want to take out my pastels and draw in a way I haven’t allowed myself to do in many years.

I wrote in my journal inspired by articles I read that told of other women’s life changes. I realized that my life isn’t bad, wrong or odd, just changed. And many of the changes, as my friends have pointed out, are good changes for me, my husband and grown-up children. But the lives that ended, have shown me the importance of living. Really living.

What does that mean for you or me? Everyone has their own ideas. Mine is to live a creative life that sustains me in physical, emotional and spiritual ways as well as inspiring and helping the world and the people around me. How can I do that? I don’t have the complete answer. Yet. Maybe I never will. But surrounded by the beauty on Maui, I opened up to life and love. I know that my choice is to live in love instead of fear, and finding ways I can share that through my life, art and writing is creating a life worth living.

Wild Woman of Queens: Notes on Urban Creativity from across the East River.

2009-09-19T09:13:00.000-07:00

Taste and See by Sandra Lee Schubert 2009

End of Summer Prompts

Not the senses I have but what I do with them is my kingdom. Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)

BONUS- TAKE ACTION PROMPT:

1. The Box - Fill a box with different small items that have different textures and weight to them. As example you can include a couple pieces of fabric such as burlap, silk or velvet. Put shells, rocks, marbles, keys, etc into the box. Explore it with eyes closed. Are you afraid of what you are touching? How do things feel with your eyes closed? Bring them to your face; sniff them. See if you can identify the items without looking at them.

2. Taste exercise - You can choose to do this with eyes closed or opened. Take some different fruit or food items preferably items that have different textures. Some examples would be an orange, avocado and piece of bread. Spend time looking at the items as if seeing them for the first time. Notice the shape of the avocado. Feel the texture of the orange. Sniff the bread. Take time with each one tasting, exploring and learning about these new things you have discovered.

3. Create some of your own sensory explorations. Listen to new music. Walk barefoot. Run one block really fast.

4. Write about the above as if you were an alien. What did you discover? How would you describe this new planet? How do you feel about the people you have met? How did if feel to be blindfolded in a new planet?

She is a creative vagabond, a poet, and a writer who co-facilitates the Wild Angels Poets and Writers Group at the historic Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine.Writing for Life: Creating a Story of Your Own. Visit her blog: Email her sandraleeschubert(at)gmail.com or @writing4life via twitter.

Wild Woman of Queens: Notes on Urban Creativity from across the East River.

2009-09-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

Watch People by Sandra Lee Schubert 2009

End of Summer Prompts

Art is born of the observation and investigation of nature. Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)

WEEK FOUR- TAKE ACTION PROMPT:

Observe: Become a people watcher. Look at how people move. Notice the color of their hair. Imagine them as children. Do you think they were happy? Do they look sad now? Pay attention to how people interact with each other. Look for the small movements. The way a man touches a woman's face. How children talk to each other. Do they snuggle against each other? Are they competitive or shy? In your daily routine, notice one new thing. Maybe it is the color of the marble in your building lobby, or the way a street curves.

Listen: Eavesdrop on some conversations. Write down a sentence or two that appeals to you. Take copious notes. Write down all the sounds and smells you encounter. Make up new names for all the colors. Take in your environment in a new way. Sit down and begin to write based on your notes or discoveries. Make some simple observation or create a full-blown story. Try one page and then two. Discover one new thing each day.

Wild Woman of Queens: Notes on Urban Creativity from across the East River.

2009-09-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

Hildegarde by Sandra Lee Schubert

End of Summer Prompts

You know criticism when you get into this business. You accept the bad with the good, the tabloids and the positive side of it. Carmen Electra (1972 - )

WEEK THREE- TAKE ACTION PROMPT:

In her essay Bad Writing, Julia Cameron gives us writers the task of going out and buying the tabloids we usually read secretively on the supermarket line. Julia suggests looking over some of favorite titles and creating your own "tabloid" story. "Alien baby is my love child", "8,000 year old man found buried alive in desert", "Writer's fear stepping out of the ordinary", you get the idea. Have fun with it. Create outrageous tales. If you do it with abandon and a sense of fun you should find you are energized and want to return to your work.

Look for ways to expand how you create. If you paint, try coloring with regular crayons or making collages out of found pictures. Create poetry by cutting words out of magazines. Create poetry with found pictures. Creating should be deep, fun, joyous, exciting, and enlivening. Create with your arms wide open and allow inspiration to meet you in all places.

Sandra's e-course leads people to be their creative best through telling their stories and talking to interesting people on her online radio show-Wild Woman Network: Radio for Creative Vagabonds, Thinkers and Innovators.

Don't Quit Your Day Job

2009-08-30T21:17:00.001-07:00

Creating and Creating a Schedule

Well now that both of my kids are back to school, my writing time will severely dwindle down.

I didn’t reach my writing goals over the summer, but once again, I can say I wrote more than I ever had before. For awhile now, I’ve decided that increasing my writing input should be my only goal. It’s easy to get in a rut and as long as I can say I’m increasing my input, I can stay motivated.

However, the more I entrench myself in my writing, the more I see that constant production is vital. I’m writing for three blogs right now and in the world of blogging, constant and timely content are crucial. As much as I hate to admit it, I think I need a schedule. I’ve tried to stay away from scheduling my writing time. As the mother of two teenagers, and working a full-time office job, I have enough my time scheduled for me. Writing is joy for me and I certainly don’t want it to feel like a chore. Still, if I’m going to take my writing seriously, it’s probably time to start treating it more like a part-time job.

In the past, my efforts to schedule my writing time have fallen flat. So many other commitments constantly come into play. One of the tips I read in all the writing books is to stick to the time you set aside like any other appointment you may have. This is easier said than done.

If you already work full-time, the rest of your day is somewhat limited. It can also be difficult to know from day to day what’s going to completely come out of left field and suck up your whole evening. Sometimes my son doesn’t need any help with his homework, other times we’re up way past everyone’s bedtime trying to get it done. The mail could yield an incorrect or confusing bill that causes me to be on the phone with a customer service rep for hours, (this actually happens to me quite often) or I’m a taxi service for my children for the evening.

As much as I would like to say my writing time is sacred, truth be told, I can’t take care of my personal affairs at the job they pay me to do, so it does have to come off my writing time, like it or not.

So I will have to ponder this one in the coming weeks. I’m going to closely observe my non work hours and see what I can reasonably expect of myself. I’m open to any tips or suggestions!

Sculpting a Life: Susan Gallacher-Turner's Turn in the Pacific Northwest

2009-08-29T18:54:00.000-07:00

('The Red Fairy' Mask)

Masks: Why do I love them?

I love making masks. I’ve made masks out of paper, plaster, felt, clay, copper, brass, aluminum and screening. I’ve made masks of cats, dogs and frogs, wolves and polar bears, birds and bugs. The sun and the moon. A dragon, phoenix, and thunderbird. It doesn’t matter to me what kind of mask I make, it’s always a fascinating process.

Why do I love masks? I’m not sure. All I know is that making a mask is like searching for an answer to a question I don’t even know I have. It’s relaxing. It’s playful and joyful, mysterious and magical. Its peaceful solitude and energizing connection all at the same time.

Maybe I don’t have to know why. I can just love making masks. Period.

You can see my other masks on my website at www.susangt.com and visit my other blog, Susan's Art & Words at http://sculpturepdx.blogspot.com

Wild Woman of Queens: Notes on Urban Creativity from across the East River.

2009-08-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

Heart by Sandra Lee Schubert 2009

End of Summer Prompts

I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork. Peter De Vrie

WEEK TWO- TAKE ACTION PROMPT:

Remember the first person or thing you loved. Was it a parent, toy, character, pizza? Take five minutes and write about that first love.

Take five minutes and write about the love that got away.

List 25 things you associate with the word heart. As an example - Valentine's Day, weddings, surgery, chocolate, babies, exercise. Looking over the list choose a couple to explore. Write the word on the top of the page and begin to free associate. Let the words flow without editing for at least 15 minutes. Look over what you wrote. Were you surprised by what you wrote? Disappointed? See if you can expand on it or pull a line or paragraph and create something entirely different. Try this with several of the words on your list. You may find new thoughts and ideas emerge from your list.

Wild Woman of Queens: Notes on Urban Creativity from across the East River.

2009-08-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

Sandra Lee Schubert

End of Summer Prompts

You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair “the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page.

Stephen King (1947 - ), On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, 2000

WEEK ONE- TAKE ACTION PROMPT:

Write. Write again. Write one more time. Each day write 50 words. Pick a topic or not. Observe - what do you see? Touch - what are the sensations? Listen - hear a piece of conversation and then write a story about it. You can write more but not less. Write with a friend. Go to the park and write for ten minutes and then go play. Write waiting on line. Just write. Don't think about it too much and don't worry about editing it. This is not your great novel. You are laying tracks, building the foundation, and developing the sense that writing is something you can do.

Read books like King's; pick up Ray Bradbury's book, Zen in the Art of Writing, or One Writer's Beginnings, by Eudora Welty. These books are great sources for observing how a writer takes from life and recreates stories.

Wherever you are in life; honor your journey. Create your environment to support your creative self. Surround yourself with people and things that feed your muse. Share your work with others and you may find that you are a happier and more satisfied person. Discover the brilliant, talented and wonderful person you are.

Don't Quit Your Day Job

2009-08-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

Creating and Gearing Up

Well that’s it. My daughter goes back to school mid-week and then my son officially starts next week. I can’t believe summer is over. In a lot of ways I feel like I was just starting to get into a groove and hone down a writing schedule.

One of my biggest hurdles is that I’m not a morning person. I’m dreading the fact that I’ll have to wake up an hour earlier each morning. Also, having a more hectic morning and commute isn’t too appealing either. I have two children that are also not morning people, so they are very difficult to wake up. We’re always rushing out the door and dropping off at two schools, by the time I get to my job, I’m often exhausted and frustrated.

It’s already a challenge to write while having a full-time job, but once school starts, I fear that my computer will sit here collecting dust. Even over the summer, I didn’t accomplish nearly as much writing as I had planned. I didn’t work on my novel at all, but I did manage to maintain my other two blogs and work towards creating an on-line presence.

We all know how tough the writing world is today. It’s not just about writing. We have to Twitter and Facebook. I’m constantly trying to figure out how to best utilize Google Blogger and I’m trying to promote my blogs, so that I may eventually get an audience.
Sometimes, I wonder how I’m supposed to do all this and have a job too, but since my writing is currently paying zero, I have to figure out a way to do both.

Each school year I hope my kids will pick up the slack and handle their own work load and schedules. For the most part my daughter, beginning her junior year of high school, takes care of her own work and projects with minimal help. My son, who’s starting the 7th grade, often needs continuous follow-up and checking in to make sure he stays on task. This can be very difficult to keep up with. Trying to keep up with my own responsibilities and his, really wipes me out. Each school year, I hope this is the one where he’ll take the ball and run with it.

So today will be spent running around town to get school supplies, clothes and shoes. This is my last week to clean and get the house organized. I guess this is also my last week to reassess what work for me with my writing this season. What can I incorporate into my day and what we’re my pitfalls that still need work? It’s a continuous process and challenge. I know that even if I quit my job and suddenly had my whole day laid out before me, it would still take skill and planning to find a writing schedule that keeps me challenged and productive.

I’ll try to go into this with a positive attitude. I continue to work hard and seek out solutions to my time-challenged dilemma. Since I keep working at it, this school year has to be better than last year, right?

Wild Woman of Queens: Notes on Urban Creativity from across the East River.

2009-08-15T10:06:00.000-07:00

Election Day c 2008 Sandra Lee Schubert

Big, Bigger, Biggest

The summer is almost over. I suck at summer. One step out into the heat and humidity of a New York City summer and I'm back in the house faster then you can say air conditioning. There is so much to do here in NYC and I am absolutely stopped in my tracks by its heat.

My resistance can be epic. The tortured artist model has nothing on me. The personal development books have picked my pockets, stuffed my bookcases and my brain, but have done nothing for my life. Is it their fault or the fault of my own psyche? I'm thinking the only one at fault here is me. Let me tell you what I learned this week.

My biggest advantage, and greatest pleasure, is interviewing wonderful guests each week on my radio show. I get to speak to interesting people doing great things. This past week I spoke to Greg S. Reid who was recruited by the Napoleon Hill Foundation to recreate the original concept of Hill's great book, Think and Grow Rich.

Greg took this on as an incredible adventure; selling his home and car to fund the project. He was talking about hanging out with the people who are doing big things. When he wanted to learn how to write a best selling book he spoke to the people who had best sellers. Greg did not play small- he went for it a large way. At some point I revealed my own limiting belief system when I revealed it on my show to him. My thought was to make the idea of dumping all your dead ending friends in one swoop more palatable was to work your way up the success ladder by a slow dump along the way. You could add a friend who was slightly ahead of you and comfortably build your path to success. Oh, boy don't ever play small with someone who plays big. Greg told the audience he would not support my limited thinking. Thank goodness you can't see a red face on radio.

The thing is I got the message to play big several times in the past week. The universe was knocking my brain really hard. And the truth is I have been playing/living/acting in a small way. I act like I am in learning mode all the time. Of course I am always learning but there comes a time to break from the comfort of it and apply it in the world. We all have to let the world see what we are doing. The big reveal comes with the possibility that what you have learned and done just plain sucks. So you work on it more. I work on it more.

My lesson(s) for the week: Playing it small will keep you small. Hang out with people doing great things. Be brave, be bold and step out into the world.

She is a creative vagabond, a poet, and a writer who co-facilitates the Wild Angels Poets and Writers Group at the historic Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine.
Writing for Life: Creating a Story of Your Own. Visit her blog: Email her sandraleeschubert(at)gmail.com or @writing4life via twitter.

Sculpting a Life: Susan Gallacher-Turner's turn in the Pacific Northwest

2009-08-07T13:45:00.000-07:00

Making art: Where does it come from?

Sometimes I don’t have a clue. Strike that…many times I now realize, I don’t have a clue. I pull out the clay or copper or aluminum mesh. I push. I pull. I paint. I write. Then it goes out into the world in some form or another, a gallery show, a commission, or a play. Sometimes it sells and sometimes it might be displayed in my home or stored in a closet.

One piece I created about 9 years ago features a copper mask/face on the front layered with oil paint mounted in a black wooden box. The box opens to reveal a copper repoussé of a woman in a cloak, her arms raised with a sun on her right and a moon on her left, waves indicating water are below her and the tree of life forms a border around her. On the left side of the box is a copper piece inscribed with the words, “From fire to water to life.”

I was compelled to create this piece, but always had a deep discomfort with it. The mask/face on the front scared me, but I loved the goddess repoussé on the inside. The kite shaped black wooden box, made by my husband, was beautiful. But after I showed it, I was happy to put it in the closet. There it stayed for many years.

Last year, as I was setting up for Portland Open Studios, my husband pulled it out of the closet. I didn’t really want to put it out but he insisted. So I reluctantly hung it up on a wall for display intending to take it down when the tour was over. But something funny happened along the way, I realized what this piece was all about and made my peace with it. This piece is about my Dad.

My Dad had glaucoma and was forced to retire, when the large automobile corporation discovered his disability. His anger and grief led him in a downward health spiral. After he died, I created this piece. The ‘kite’ shape is actually a coffin, it even opens up like a coffin with hinges on the side and inside, the poem I wrote and the repoussé are all about freeing him from his pain and letting go.

Seems obvious, doesn’t it? But I didn’t get it. And if my husband hadn’t insisted that I take it out of the closet and hang it up where I had to look at it for two weeks, I’d never have figured it out. As artists, writers, musicians or anyone who creates, the why is always a big question. Sometimes, we know. Sometimes, we don’t.

For the past year, I’ve been doing interviews and podcasts with artists and writers. What I’ve learned is that the drive to create is fueled in many different ways and that some artists do know where that fuel comes from, and some don’t. But sometimes, if we’re lucky, like I was, you get to figure it out. Patrick carves wooden sculptures based on his desire for stillness. Kelly paints her memories of landscapes. Nicky sculpts and welds her way back from cancer to health.

You can hear these podcasts at www.voicesoflivngcreatively.com or read the articles on my other blog at http://voicesoflivingcreatively.blogspot.com

These podcasts will give you the opportunity to hear these artists personally explain their work. Their stories are unique and inspiring and these interviews give you chance to understand where their art comes from.

Television Musings - Rants and Raves from a Romance Writer

2009-07-28T19:43:00.000-07:00

New Stuff
By Kathy Carpenter

Just back from the National Romance Writers of America conference a week ago. Talk about motivation. If you write fiction of any kind and need help try checking into joining a local RWA chapter. The will lend you support, teach you to write, show you the market, and be ther for you in general.

New shows - Let’s see we have The Listener kind of a toss up of Medium and Ghost Whisperer both of which I watch and love. However, The Listener, although I can go with him seeing events and not telling anyone. I could not get into his profession. The stories involved too much medical stuff for my taste,

The Great American Roadtrip - I could get into another reality show. This one had several families competing against each other as they travel across country, Although I feel the experience they have traveling together and bonding together with other families from across America, it’s a little more touching with the kids involved to compete and lose and to know they are going home. Heartwarming.

Dating in the Dark - Interesting. Three guys and three gals live on different sides of a house, The meet in the middle in a special dark room for dates. The first time they meet all together, Then they chose someone they connected with. The third date is who they have been matched up with. Then they have a final date. After that they each see each other and can either chose to meet up with the person or walk away. Two of the three met up. One guy wanted to meet but the gal walked away. The show also had a couple other ways of allowing them to getting to know the other people without seeing each other. Interesting.

One more note - you may notice my new picture - this was taken at the conference to be my book jacket picture - What do you think does this picture work for a book cover?

Monday Morning Motivators to Slay Your Writing Dragons

2009-07-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

The ABC’s of Writing from CJ:

People will often ask me if I’m a seat of the pants writer or if I outline or plot ahead of time. They want to know everything about how I write–do I have a schedule, a certain daily page count, do I write everyday…..

It’s always interesting to hear how someone else accomplishes their goals–and after all, we have the same goal, finishing a book, just different paths. But I worry that others will take what works for me (which varies from day to day as much as the weather) and think that’s the Only way or even worse, the Right Way.

There’s only one way I know to accomplish your writing goals. I call it the ABC method of writing. Want in on the secret?

Apply Butt to Chair and write the damn book.

Just that simple and just that hard.

When I’m struggling, procrastinating (trying to tell myself that watching TV is really research–yeah, right!), or avoiding, I remember the ABC’s of writing. I sit back down and write.

Maybe only fifty words, maybe only ten–maybe more but it’s total crap. Doesn’t matter, in the long run it all adds up to a finished book, one baby step at a time. But funny thing. When I’m honest with myself in facing that for some reason I’m avoiding writing, when I do Apply my Butt to the Chair and just write the damn book, an amazing thing often happens.

That damn book gets written.

So there you go, my one and only writing secret revealed! Try it!

Thanks for reading,
CJ
As a pediatric ER doctor, CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge suspense novels. Her debut, LIFELINES (Berkley, March 2008), became a national bestseller and Publishers Weekly proclaimed it a "breathtakingly fast-paced medical thriller." The second in the series, WARNING SIGNS, is due out January, 2009. Contact her at http://www.cjlyons.net

Margie Lawson -- presenter, psychotherapist, writer -- lives at the top of a Colorado mountain west of Denver. Margie merged her two worlds, psychology and writing, to develop psychologically anchored editing systems and techniques that teach writers how to write page turners. A former college professor, Margie works as a psychotherapist, writes fiction and nonfiction, and presents full day master classes for writers internationally. Go to http://www.margielawson.com for more information.

Wild Woman of Queens: Notes on Urban Creativity from across the East River.

2009-07-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

At the beach @Sandra Lee Schubert

Is This Summer?

You spend all day writing. The writing can be all consuming. A day turns into a week and then you pick up your head and realize the summer is gone. About now you may be wondering if all this work is worth it. I don't know. The creative life offers no guarantee of success, fame or fortune. You can't be sure you will enjoy the process. A pot of gold may not exist at the end of the rainbow. Who knows if anyone will read your work or if there will be any money to be made.

Even though you can hear the kids playing outside on a fabulous gorgeous day you are still inside reworking the dialogue to your story. Life cannot be enjoyed until that line is perfect. Your family knows it. Your friends know the distracted look in your eyes. They are drinking beer and you are mulling over what the protagonist said in the last scene.

Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, keeps to a rigorous schedule. He is fully engaged. Then he is done. That is not to say he doesn't think about his work after the fact. He knows when to work and when to play. That is the big difference.

Each of us decides the value placed on our lives. You must decide what is important and how to achieve the life you want. The trick is that you must live this life with no assurances it will turn out the way you planned. There is no magic mirror to let you know.

Keep writing. Take time to play. Give it the best you got.

Sandra's e-course leads people to be their creative best through telling their stories and talking to interesting people on her online radio show- Wild Woman Network: Radio for Creative Vagabonds, Thinkers and Innovators.. She is a creative vagabond, a poet, and a writer who co-facilitates the Wild Angels Poets and Writers Group at the historic Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine.Writing for Life: Creating a Story of Your Own. Visit her blog: Email her sandraleeschubert(at)gmail.com or @writing4life via twitter.

2009-07-21T15:26:00.000-07:00

Sculpting a Life:
Susan Gallacher-Turner’s turn in the Pacific Northwest.

Sometimes, art is about making an impression. Even if the piece comes deeply from your heart, your art still has to get out there and be seen. Getting it out there, takes determination, perseverance and patience as well as having a grasp on good marketing skills. I’ve been lucky to have a background in communications and that’s helped me tremendously to put together my resume, artist statement, as well as a portfolio of professional photographs.

Not all artists and soul-centered business people have those skills but luckily there are people out there who can help. This last week, I interviewed Erin Donley about her business, Marketing Your Truth. Her passion is helping others make their messages clear, effective and tailored to their specific clients.

Her marketing approach comes from her heart just as my new blog and website, Voices of Living Creatively comes from mine. My quest is to find and tell the stories of people who are bravely living sustainable and creative lives everyday. I want to pass on the stories of people like Erin Donley, so we can all be inspired to live the life we want by hearing these voices of living creatively.

You can listen to Erin Donley’s podcast interview at Voices of Living Creatively website and read an article on her on my new blog Voices of Living Creatively.

And you can read more about my sculpture at Susan’s Art & Words and my website Susan Gallacher-Turner Sculpture.

Don't Quit Your Day Job

2009-07-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

Creating and the Quiet Weekend

So here I am, it’s Sunday and I’m plugging away. My husband is away on business and the kids are on summer break, so there’s not much action at my house right now. I want to take advantage and get a lot of writing done. I’m doing okay. I can never do as much as I want to. Why are my expectations always so unrealistic? If I was to get done as much writing as I plan, I would have to skip sleeping! Sundays are always difficult for me. By Sunday, I feel like I’m finally in a groove. Then SMACK, it’s back to the office grind. As much as I hate to admit it, if I didn’t have my office gig anymore, would I really get more writing done? I like to use my job as a crutch and working forty hours a week does consume quite a bit of time. However, I’ve noticed when I have a day off; the hours seem to fly by. Before I know it, it’s early evening and I have only begun to scratch the surface of my intentions.

I guess I really need to keep working on writing within the current confines of life and situation. Writing has definitely come to the forefront for me over the last few years. I do write more than I talk about writing, that’s a step in the right direction.

Still, I can’t stop dreaming of days when I can write full-time. We all know there’s so much more than just writing. Often, I can’t write as much as I like because I’m researching or I’m trying to learn some technical aspect of posting on the internet. I have to read up on promoting my blog. Then of course I have to read, watch TV and movies in order to have material to review on my blog. If I’m lucky enough to complete an essay, I have to decide where to send it and write inquiries and follow-ups. Don’t even get me started on the amount of hours I’d have to spend if I ever did finish my book. Proposals, platforms, it makes me dizzy thinking about it! Sometimes, it seems impossible that there’s hours left to actually write!

There’s not much I can do to change my circumstances. I can’t waste a quiet weekend like this one. Once this posts is finished, I can cross it off my weekend ‘to do” list. After that all I can do is keep chipping at the boulder. I will try to spend a moment to reflect on what I did accomplish instead of what’s still waiting in the wings. It’s tough to pat yourself on the back when there’s so much more to do. Deep breath. It’s a process, I know.

Wild Woman of Queens: Notes on Urban Creativity from across the East River.

2009-07-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

Sun. By Sandra Lee Schubert @2009

Independence

This is a short post. I have been thinking about independence. Creative independence. Artistic freedom. Operating off the grid of the traditional and paving your own way. I what ways are you independent? What do you need to do to free yourself from artistic bondage?

Take a look at your creative life. Explore what works, what has become stale and how can you break out of your box and do something new.

Over the summer try some new things. View new art. Write new books. Take a dance class. Stir it up a bit. See what you can come up with that is different, fun and adventurous in your creative life.

Don't Quit Your Day Job

2009-06-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

Creating and the Full Plate

For months I’ve been dreaming about summer vacation. Once my children are out of school, I have a lot more time to myself. I only have myself to wake up each morning. There are no drop-offs on the way into the office and it’s a straight drive home. No homework, no school volunteer hours, no meetings and game days. It’s like a solider on leave. I may not be basking on a sun-drenched beach, but for me, the next two and half months are paradise!Now being an aspiring writer, my paradise is more time to write. However, I’ve been faced with many challenges lately that have kept me from my summer writing goals. Some of these are out of my control. Personal issues have arisen that need to dealt with, but some are of my own choosing.

My promise was to write one hour before work each morning, yet I’ve enjoyed sleeping in instead of keeping to my commitment. It’s so easy to break the promises we make to ourselves. I would never dream of letting down my family or co-workers, (on the contrary, I brought home three hours of office work this weekend) or my friends. Why is it then, that we can be so flaky when it comes to ourselves?

The advice I always hear is to make an appointment with yourself and stick to it. This is great advice, but hard to execute. No one is looking over your shoulder and you’re not in trouble if you bail. I keeping trying this one, but more often than not, I fail to make that appointment and then I feel bad about myself.

This week I decided to “pretend” I’m a high energy person. I get wiped out fairly easily. I’m the type that goes gangbusters one day and then the next day, I’m lying around trying to recover. I always envy people that seem to always be doing something and they appear to accomplish so much. “Why can’t I be like that?” Yesterday, I tried to talk myself out of several tasks. I thought, “You’re a person who keeps going,” and although I still didn’t finish everything, I got a lot more done than usual.

I’ve been using this technique in social situations too. I’m not a shy person, but when I have to go to a class, meeting or gathering I tend to clam up when there’s a room full of strangers. Lately, I’ve told myself that I’m not nervous about talking to new people and when I do I have a good time. This has really helped me relax and network.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to trick myself into thinking I can reach all of my summer goals. I still didn’t make my one hour mark this morning but I got in a good 30 minutes. I’m getting there!

Monday Morning Motivators to Slay Your Creative Dragons

2009-06-29T04:39:00.000-07:00

By CJ Lyons and Margie Lawson

Double Negatives from CJ:

Ever have one of those days?

You know what I mean, the ones where the computer acts all fritzy, the light bulb in your favorite reading lamp dies and you don’t have one the right size, the cat barfs on your manuscript pages, your editor loses your cover copy and needs you to re-write, your best-friend (or worse, your mother!) calls to chat, because she knows you don’t have a “real” job and have plenty of time….and, to top everything off, you are totally out of chocolate!!!

Just like opportunity seems to come knocking, so does negativity. I’ve learned not to fight it. Instead, I embrace it–so what if everything goes wrong today? I’ll take today off, make a holiday of it. Instead of fretting about the time I spend on any of the above, I consider it all “free” time. An unscheduled vacation.

Funny thing is, once I readjust my attitude, I suddenly find myself enjoying my day again and becoming even more productive that evening or the next day when I get back to work.

Give it a try–just think of it as yoga for your mind, learning to become more flexible and stretch yourself!

Thanks for reading,
CJ

About CJ:
As a pediatric ER doctor, CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge suspense novels. Her debut, LIFELINES (Berkley, March 2008), became a National Bestseller and Publishers Weekly proclaimed it a "breathtakingly fast-paced medical thriller."

The second in the series, WARNING SIGNS, was released January, 2009 and the third, URGENT CARE, is due out October, 2009. Contact her at http://www.cjlyons.net

2009-06-27T16:42:00.000-07:00

Sculpting a Life:
Susan Gallacher-Turner’s turn in the Pacific Northwest.

Sculpting a living in spite of fear.

(Concrete garden sculpture by Patrick Gracewood)

A few weeks ago, I wrote about fear and creating. I asked you to share your stories about how you deal with fear. I’m going to collect the comments and stories in another blog, so keep those comments coming. I know I learn so much by talking with other creative people out there.

This week, I’d like to share what I learned talking with Portland, Oregon sculptor, Patrick Gracewood for a podcast on Voices of Living Creatively. One thing I learned is that fear goes with the territory in a creative life and it doesn’t mean you stop or give up. “Art has saved my life many times; I give my life to art,” says Patrick. “It takes a big commitment.”

This dedication comes from a simple philosophy: if it’s sculpture, he’ll do it.

Patrick is living a creative life and making a living combining his own studio work with commercial sculpture work. His studio work ranges from large concrete garden sculptures to small, hand-carved wooden figures. The commercial sculpture work has included working for such diverse businesses as a mannequin company, a wax works, landscape and architectural design firms, and film companies. He’s worked on fountains, facades and column capitals for casinos, a portrait of guitarist, Jimmy Hendrix for a Seattle high school and an enormous dragon for Wynn Casino in China.

As with all kinds of freelance work, the jobs come and go. Patrick agrees that’s scary but he’s found a way to deal with the fear and keep creating. You can hear more by listening to the podcast at http://www.voicesoflivingcreatively.com/

Listen and let us all know how your art saves your life in spite of your fears. If you or anyone you know is living a creative life, let your voice be heard. Set up an interview and podcast for your website or blog by contacting me through the http://www.voicesoflivingcreatively.com/ website.

If you’re interested in seeing my sculpture work, visit my website at www.susangt.com