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Thursday Seeds: Forced Progress
You’ve made a deadline for yourself. You picked it out more than a year ago. So much has happened since then. And yet still you are going to make this happen come “not heaven or high water.” (See what I did there? It falls flat doesn’t it?) It comes together. The browns should in fact have a whole lot more depth and shades to them because your work is centered around the theme of dirt. Your empire of dirt is flat because you forced it. If you had found out that the theme of dirt was the case earlier, then maybe your mix of paints would be the very thing…
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Thursday Seeds: Inner Listening
It can only happen when you stop and do so with intention. The reason could be, as I saw on a TV show last night, to reaffirm that happens next. A brief pause even in a critical emergency that can deviate the course of the outcome. It was the case in diagnosing a patient. A few seconds of waiting in that setting that can seem like a life time. And yet, it’s only long enough to hear what wasn’t heard or to correct what was likely mis-heard. It happens. We want the best things to happen and yet that might not actually be what is actually going on. That course…
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Thursday Seeds: Talk to your Characters
The voices in your head that are your characters… Are you crazy? In a sense, you are, but don’t take yourself to the hospital just yet. Get their names down. If they don’t want you to know them, they shut up real fast. If they don’t care, you can have a conversation that may even tell you about the characters in your next book. If you talk with authors, they will tell you that the best characters have minds of their own. They don’t fit in a sweet box and they usually, if given room, will change your story for the better. You hear all the time as a writer,…
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Thursday Seeds: Animals that talk
Photo motivations. Two sacked out cats. Snacks woke everyone up, now. Animals that talk. The ones that insist on snuggling. The ones that insist on being right up next to you at night or on the writing table when you write. And lord help you if you have two cats like that and they are fighting over the real estate that is your writing table. It doesn’t happen that often because they all get purged then. I go upstairs. One cat is in the bathroom having water from the plastic bowl set up for her in there. The other is taking the steps two and six at a time with…
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Thursday Seeds: Animals that don’t talk
Should I be nervous? There is no time. There are no words, this female deer is headed toward me up the hill and onto the plateau that is my neighbor’s backyard at dusk. My cat, the only one at the time, was surprised too. I can tell by her stance as the deer walked right past her and toward me. It’s only afterward that there is a pause and the twitch of noses in greeting of one another, this dear deer and Tuna, my best friend and travel companion. No words. Her name is Agnes but only because someone else said so. She never announced a name with her presence.…
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Thursday Seeds: ADHD? No Problem!
Passive Resistance. Using Obstacles against themselves. Doing this is more active than it sounds. That’s what this whole book I’m reading says. I’m interested in this because the theme of my post today is this: ADHD? No problem! Turn around to the other keyboard. This is the concept or hack that I picked up from Madeline L’ Engle. She also taught me to meditate and write and several other things just from reading her books. One of which is naming your home even if it isn’t a farm. Hers was named Crosswicks. She is a mentor of mine. I’m pretty sure that her discussion on writing tables was in her…
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Thursday Seeds: Art begets Art
I’m in a fervor at the moment regarding all the options that technology gives me. Art begets Art is the theme. So how do I say it without saying it? By the way, Begets and begats, which do you use? My thoughts are that Begats are for people and begets are for ideas. Now, do I let autocorrect assume the word that I mean? What if the AI folks are wrong? Do I let the iCloud decide which picture is best? What if they are wrong too? How do I teach both of them that I’m not like the others? That my drum beats differently? I go back to pencil…
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Thursday’s Seeds: Have you suffered for your art?
Yes I’ve worked my butt off on books that aren’t yet published because funds ran out. I’ve placed projects on hold knowing what it takes to unwind a mind to relax enough to get to the heart of creativity. It takes months of meditation and self-reflection plus hard work on getting your habits in line. Sure there is the healing of the other things within life. The life tools to heal and also cope with what life hands each of us. Covid alone should be enough suffering for those in the art or creative industries. It’s not all there is though. No The other answer is that NO, I haven’t…
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New Series for 2023 | Thursday Seeds
Heading into a new year means #resolutions. Sure, I wanna shed the weight. I chose those pastries I ate in the holidays. Now, what of shedding a few other things so that I can take this commitment on? Can I do it? There is a plan. I’m beginning with the end in mind. And I’m also making room for the fact that the end that I have planned, might not be exactly what I think it is today. That is a place for #Ambiguity and space to learn to thrive and grow. You know those word finds where they say that the first word you see is the word of…
