Chances

I was browsing through the bookstore one day (something I often do for inspiration) and noticed an artist had displayed his paintings inside the store. I was thinking that this was a bold move on the artist's part because there must have been some inner dialogue going on about what others might say, etc. This man probably had an expectation of people hating or loving his work. But, to him, it was important that he took the chance and let others see it.

Of course, this applies to writing as well. How many times have I been afraid to send out work because of what others might think? It's all subjective, isn't it? What one person doesn't like, another one will.

I guess this all goes back to taking a chance and getting past that fear. No, not everyone will like my work. But how can I reach those people who might like it if I don't give it a shot? At least I should try.

Creativity Stopped by for a Visit

I am currently working on a project (for someone else) that is consuming all of my time. Of course, this is when my creativity decides to stop by for a visit. And, of course, this is when I have no time to do anything about it.

But isn't that always the case? You have nothing do and your work is languishing somewhere on your desk. In some cases, you may not even know where it is or where you saved it on your computer. Then, all of sudden, there's a flurry of activity and inspiration hits.

Perhaps this is one key to creativity....just writing, no matter what it is. It could be writing a grocery list, a Christmas card or a brochure for a home builder.

I just hope that when this project is done, creativity decides to stick around for awhile longer.

It's Only Fear

It's been awhile and it's been a bit crazy. My computer had a slight malfunction and I was pretty much lost for a few days. But, I'm back. Last weekend, I went on a workshop that got me thinking and changing. I discovered that issues from childhood (that I thought I had dealt with) were suddenly front and centre. I was angry....very angry. Absolutely furious. I never realized how mad I was until this weekend. And, it was a breakthrough! For many of us, past beliefs hold us back from doing what we want to do because we feel we will be rejected or we aren't good enough or worthy enough. But who is the one that deems us worthy? We do. Our fears, beliefs, etc can hold us back from doing what we really want to do. During this workshop, we all had to take turns walking into an arrow and breaking it...just with our throats. Of course the fear was prevalent. Thoughts raced through my head: "What if I'm the only one that can't break the arrow?" "What if I injure myself?" "What if I die?" My brain was taking me out of the game before I had all of the facts. But I did it. I walked through the arrow, breaking it. I broke through my fear. Now, if I can do that, I can do anything. It's only fear that holds us back. Nothing else.

Observation

I recently volunteered for two hours at my son's preschool and observed something quite shocking while I was there.

The kids were making clowns (this isn't the shocking part): pasting heads, bodies, hats, etc to a piece of paper. The teacher told me she didn't care where the hat went, as long as the body parts were together. As I was helping one child paste his clown together, the teacher noticed that his head was squished close between his hat and body; she asked the child if that was where he wanted the clown's head or did he want it up higher? The child said he liked it the way it was. I was left thinking: "Does it really matter where the head goes?" I think kids have an idea of what order the body goes in. So, who cares if the head is further down the body or the shoes are off to the side rather than below the knees? Let the kid create the way he wants to.

I believe this is where it all begins--being forced to adhere to a certain way of doing things.

Later on, the kids were running around playing and one girl told a boy that he wasn't putting the (fake) muffins in the tin properly. (There were 3 chocolate and 3 vanilla). She felt that they should look orderly while he didn't really care. I told her that he could play with the muffins however he wanted and that's how we express our creativity.

The conclusion: the stifling of creativity starts in preschool. If you have kids, try to get them to hold onto their creativity as much as possible. This is what the world is lacking.

Finding Inspiration in a Couch

I'm going to try really hard to set aside some time once per week to update this blog. I know it's been slightly inconsistent, but I'm coming up with a time management plan (something I'm not that great at). Now, regarding the 'Couch' (or sofa for those people not familiar with the term 'couch'. I'll use it interchangeably throughout the blog)...awhile ago, a local lifestyle magazine wanted me to write an article on a particular couch that a certain furniture store was selling. I don't know how I got picked for this article--I must have pulled the short straw without knowing it. They wanted 300 words on a damn sofa. How can I make a sofa sound absolutely great without using the words "comfy, green, and cushy" too many times? I knew I had to think beyond the couch and what the couch does. I had to look past the whole issue that this is just something you sit on while watching TV and eating popcorn. (Usually the popcorn falls beneath the cushions and eventually you find it months later and vacuum it up. There also might be cash under there or dog hair or your watch and ring that your child hid there for fun.) The reality was I had to look past the sofa and into its roots. Amazingly, sofas have roots. They go back hundreds of years when only royalty could sit on them. Once I discovered how far back the couch went, the writing was easy. I put a little twist into the article by providing a little interesting background on the whole sofa thing. The article was no longer boring--it actually had substance. When writing, look past what you already see. Open your eyes to something you never really noticed before.

Smell

I want to start this installment by thanking everyone for their kind words and thoughts during my family tragedy. They definitely have helped me to move on...well, not completely move on , but you get what I mean. I thought I would use this time to talk about smell. Kind of strange in a way, but it's something we really don't think about when we are creating stories. Sure, we write about emotions and how we feel, but do we write about how things smell? I don't know about you, but I'm constantly smelling-- as I write this, I can smell my large German Shepherd as he sleeps at my feet. He's stinky and his breath is bad and sometimes he farts. He is almost 7 years old, so he doesn't have puppy breath anymore. But his smell is so distinct, I miss it when I go away. Okay, maybe this is a bit weird for some people. Let's try some other memory. There is a perfume I used to wear back in my mid-twenties. It was a mango smell that The Body Shoppe still sells. Whenever I smell that mango perfume, it takes me back to a time when I was in university and was partying waaayyyyyy too much. I'm transported to that time and place, and those feelings return once again:a mixture of sadness, loss and being lost, but also a moment of finding myself. Whether you are journaling or establishing characters in your story, smell can dig a little deeper into what is really going on inside.

Sorrow

In times of tragedy, it can be difficult to find the energy to write anything down. Even a phone message seems like a big task: finding a piece of paper and a pen is tiring. This last week has been like that as I was dealing with my own tragedy and sorrow of my father-in-law unexpectedly passing away. Stress and emotions can rob us all of inspiration and creation. At one point, you just don't feel like thinking anymore. As life slowly returns to normal, I now feel the need to write. And, as I do, I realize that even in times of sadness, inspiration still remains. Over 700 people attended my father-in-law's funeral, demonstrating the impact he had on so many people's lives. It's hard to believe this very busy, small town man managed to find the time to maintain relationships. It's also amazing how easy it was for people to automatically lend support without even asking. These people organized and delegated and did whatever they could to make things easier for all of us. Even the young children, so innocently unaware of what was going on, provided the comedy relief, something my father-in-law would have enjoyed watching. I guess the message here is to continue writing even when things are crappy. Whether happy or sad, inspiration and creation can still be found. Writing it down can heal the spirit.

Questions

Kilroy_60 at Fear and Loathing: The Gonzo Papers sent me these questions to ponder. I have to admit that it took some time. Most of my answers aren't clear-cut, but I'm a little like that...a little bit country and a little bit rock n' roll. 1. A book that has changed your life: There are many books out there that have changed different areas of my life. I can't name only one: Ghosts I Have Been by Richard Peck (read it when I was 10), Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams,William Nicholson, What the Bleep Do We Know by William Arntz et al (book and movie), Good Grief by Lolly Winston (excellent writing), Women's History of the World by Rosalind Miles. All of these have changed my way of thinking or inspired me in some way. 2. A book you have read more than once: The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. This one could go under question number 1 as well. 3. A book you would want on a desert island: 101 Ways to Build a Wooden Boat From Twigs and Sand. (Okay, it's not a real book, but if it was, I would buy it.) 4. A book that made you laugh: Paging Aprhodite by Kim Green. I like it when a book makes me laugh from the first page. 5. A book that made you cry: 'If There be Thorns' by VC Andrews (from the Flowers in the Attic series). I was 16 and I distinctly remember crying near the end. I can't remember crying any other time. 6. A book you wish you had written: One young adult series that comes to mind is Francine Pascal's Fearless. Amazing stories. 7. A book you wish had never been written: Hard one, but Malleus Maleficarum (The Witch Hammer) comes to mind. 8. A book you are currently reading: Smart Women Finish Rich, Canadian Edition by David Bach 9. A book you have been meaning to read: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold 10. Now tag 5 people: I'll have to figure this one out.

Inspiration

First of all, I'd like to direct your attention to the right side of the page where the links are located; I think you will find these links interesting reads. I'll be adding more links as time goes on. Second, I want to apologize to anyone that I don't respond to right away. Trust me when I say that it's not you, it's me. I want to talk about different areas where we can find inspiration. I know that I've mentioned before that inspiration can be found anywhere and everywhere, you just have to pay attention. I know that it can be difficult to get out of our heads and just open up to all the possibilities around us; we live in a world where we need to go faster, and, if we blink, then we've missed something. Take the time to find that inspiration. Give this a try: go to your nearest playground and have a swing. I'm not kidding. If you feel a little creepy doing this, do it when the kids are in school or at night when the kids are in bed. Seriously, swing as high as you can. Think about nothing but the act of swinging. Shout out, "I can see my house from here." Feel the wind blowing through your hair, discover how high you can go. Many things can happen when you do: you'll feel free, alive, and possibly regain something that you had lost ages ago.

Motivation

Once again, summer has been keeping me busy. I find myself swamped with things to do, and usually those things don't involve writing. When I'm unmotivated (and would prefer to sit on the couch and watch TV), then writing doesn't get done. I know that if I sit down and start writing, the motivation and creativity will come.

Part of me even wonders if my lack of motivation is fear based, mainly the fear of success. The novel I'm writing now seems to be flowing smoothly, but, once I get into the groove of it, I feel scared of what it might become, or what it might not become. I don't want it to sound lame or have the basic run-of-the-mill style.

I certainly don't want my work to be the hokey style of one New York Times Best Selling author. For some reason, I've read 4 of her books. Each book is pretty much the same, except the character's names have been changed. I can't understand how she became a best selling author. In the same breath, I can't figure out why I've read four of her books. Maybe it's my reminder to not write like she does.

In some small way, this author has inspired me to do better. I suppose we all need a good author and a bad author to keep us pursuing our writing dreams.

Inspire

My life has been quite busy lately and I haven't been able to write anything in over a week.

I drove to Edmonton on the weekend for my sister's wedding and thought of many things during the three hour trip there and back:

1) It's amazing where inspiration can come from. It's everywhere. All we have to do is see it for what it is rather than look past it.
2) People intrigue me. At my sister's wedding and at the shopping excursion to Costco, I was able to people-watch. There are people out there that can really drive me nuts; but they are still an inspiration to developing characters in my writing.
3) Everyone has a story to tell. Pick a person and watch his/her behaviour. A story can come from anyone or anything. Even the guy on the highway that blew by me at 160 km/h has a story.
4) The day after the wedding, a bunch of us were sitting on my parents deck playing guitar and singing songs. What were the neighbours thinking?

Inspiration happens every minute of the day. All we need to do is pay attention to it.

$1,000,000

Awhile back, as I was struggling to figure out my writing life, I became enlightened to what writing means to me. I asked myself this question: If someone said to me, "Look, I'll give you a million dollars right here and now, but the only thing you have to do is never write again," would I take it? I immediately knew the answer...'No'. I wouldn't take the money (aside from extreme circumstances involving family, of course). To live a life without writing would tear me apart. At that very moment I knew that writing was my life purpose and there was no way I could back down from it. I think this is an excellent way to determine what we are all passionate about. What would we give up to ensure we live out our passions and our dreams?

Possibilities

As I write my fourth novel, I've become acutely aware of all the possibilities available to me as the story unfolds. I can make my characters do whatever they want, I can write whatever I want...it is entirely up to me. It's absolutley thrilling and liberating to be able to do what I want with my work. I don't usually have an outline when I venture into something new. I typically have a thought in my head and just go with it. I felt that this book needed an outline; however, I don't refer to it on a consistent basis. I just sit down and type and the story just unfolds for me from there. It's taking on a life of its own, as it should. Think of where you can take your writing. Think of all the possibilities. It's amazing what the mind can create when it's allowed to do its thing.

Risk

What does it mean to take a risk? We all take risks every single day on one level or another... risks in choosing our career, our spouse/significant other, our money, and even our health. We even take risks with our writing. What kind of risks are you taking? Are you getting your work out to the masses or are you letting it languish somewhere in a drawer or on an old floppy disk that your new computer probably doesn't even accept anymore? There's a quote by Woody Allen that says: "80 % of success is showing up". Are you showing your writing off to the world? Are you letting the world see what magic you can wield with the almighty pen? I'm currently reading the book Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker. He says we all have a financial blueprint that is set for a certain amount of money. We can never make any more than that if we don't reset our financial thermostat to accept more. This can be applied to writing. Many of us have a writing blueprint that believes we are only so good and if we try for anymore than just good, we are afraid we might be seen as a fraud. Maybe it's time to reset our own writing thermostats to achieve more than what we expect of ourselves. So? What are you willing to risk?

Belief

For me, the last year or so has been mainly about soul-searching. It's a time in my life when I'm actually trying to figure out things. I won't go into great detail about what these 'things' are, but they all stem from beliefs embedded in my head since childhood. Beliefs about myself, about the world, about life. I guess I can give you one example. I always thought that if I worked really really hard I would be rewarded and life would just fall into place. And, yes, we do have to work to get the rewards; this isn't anything new. But, I couldn't understand why these rewards weren't coming to me. I knew I was a good person, hard worker, etc. Why were other people around me abundantly provided for while I was only thrown a scrap or two. I'm not any different than they are. I've come to the realization that it's not how 'good' you are or how law-abiding or how 'hard' you work. Sure, these things have their merits, but what it all comes down to is believing in yourself, knowing you deserve the rewards and getting into the 'flow' of receiving these rewards. You have to align with your desires. This is easily applied to writing. Align with your desires, align with your creativity, align with your wants and believe in yourself. Once you do this, the rest will follow.

Creating

Some people may shy away from creativity, declaring that they don't have a creative bone in their body. This is untrue. We all can create. You just have to determine exactly what you want to create.

Deep down, there is a flame of creativity burning inside of you. It may only be a tiny flame, but it is there. All it needs is for you to give it more oxygen and it will glow brighter than you can imagine.

Take the time to find that flame. Once you have it, see what happens. You'll create magic.

Healing

We all write. It's true. We communicate through this medium because it is necessary. We write emails, phone messages; we text message, write thank you cards, and birthday wishes. It's ingrained in us to write down what is on our mind. Writing down what is confusing us, what is bothering us, or how we feel releases the crap that has been built up for far too long.Writing can heal. Once we dig deep inside ourselves, we can let loose what has been holding us back for so long and journaling is a good place to start. If you have the desire to do some journaling, then begin today. It doesn't have to be a fancy journal; it can be a bunch of lined paper. Whatever you are writing or typing on, make sure to go where you've never gone before.

Real Creative Writing

Back in the 70s, I never knew that writing could be an actual career, let alone a lucrative one. Although I wrote many stories at a young age, I didn't think I could take it any further. When I was 12 years old, I began my first novel. This was during a time when the movie The Outsiders was out in the theatres and C. Thomas Howell became the hottest new face on Teen Beat Magazine. Yes, I wrote a romance about myself and C. Thomas Howell. No, I no longer have this book lying around. Some point after high school, the writing thing just tapered off; I had lost my way. I decided that pursuing a career in psychology was the route to take. One day, the writing bug hit me again. Kind of like a reawakening, really. When that light came on inside of me, I knew that writing was exactly what I wanted to do.This is what I want to do for others--find their creative spark by instructing them through real creative writing courses. The kind of courses that actually deal with the creative part and not the theory part. A course that actually inspires writers to find their voice.

What is it...

Flashback with me to the mid-1970s (really, I'm not obsessed with the '70s, I just seem to frequently go there in my stories); this was a time when bell-bottoms were cool and shag carpet was the ultimate in luxury. I think I was in grade 4 when I really started to put pen to paper, make up stories. Words and sentences were interesting at that point because it's a time when you really are learning about the power of writing.

But, back to the story. I would write these weekly stories (some fact, some fiction) about whatever, and tape them to the side of my desk. I remember this particular time when Monty, a kid I used to sit beside, asked me what I was doing. I simply told him I wrote a story about the Titanic. I had cut out the story into a 'ship' shape and placed it where others could read it.

Doing this was something that I enjoyed. It was all about creating. I'm sure Monty thought it was a bit bizarre that I was making up my own school projects. Then again, Monty had a deep fascination with maps; he couldn't stop drawing them. So, I guess in a way, we were both on the page.

What I'm getting at here is we all have these passions that start at a young age. Mine was writing, and it took me many years to figure it out. What about yourself? What gets you going? Is it writing? What kind of writing? And why aren't you doing it? What is holding you back? Is it fear? When you're a kid, you have very little fear and plunge forward without a care in the world.

Get back to that place where fear wasn't even in your vocabulary. Today, write something that happened in the past, or about a person in your life, fact or fiction. It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that you are writing.

Unlocking Creativity

As I was sifting through some old elementary school report cards (I guess they would be old considering they're from circa 1975 and I am an adult now), I discovered something very interesting about the way I feel about myself today. An English Teacher had written that I was very good at creating stories, but had blatant disregard for grammar and punctuation. Well, of course a grade '1-er' isn't going to care about where a comma goes. The kid only wants to get the story out, tell it to everyone as fast as possible and move on to the next thing. This whole thing made me think about how most of us (including kids today) have had their creativity trampled on because well-meaning adults thought it was 'right' to correct grammar issues rather than let a child create. This is what children do, they create. They love to do it. Can you imagine what kind of adults we will have nurtured if we let a child continue creating? My goal is to help others reclaim their creativity, to reach deep down to their core and re-ignite that spark. I want everyone to go back to that grade one class where it was lost so many years ago and find the power in creativity once again.