[-writing, exercise-]

Writing takes activity. You have to write the words down on the page. Everyone knows that. But what’s going on inside as you make that effort to put a story together? Think about the issue of control and how it does or doesn’t work for you. We tend to think of energy, activity, the doing part of it as the most important. But consider another viewpoint. Here’s what Brenda Ueland says about it:

Willing is doing something you know already, something you have been told by somebody else; there is no new imaginative understanding in it. And presently your soul gets frightfully sterile and dry because you are so quick, snappy and efficient about doing one thing after another that you have not time for your own ideas to come in and develop and gently shine.

In this spirit, here’s a daydreaming exercise to foster the idea of letting go so that you can dream something up rather than just jotting something down.

Sit in front of your computer. Look at the keyboard for a few moments. Put your fingers on the keys and type a sentence. Type ANYTHING.
For example:

your thoughts:
• I am typing a sentence.
• This is a stupid exercise.
• I hate this.
• What am I doing this for?

whatever comes into your head, no matter how weird:

• Dogs with feathers would create nests in their sleep.
• Wallpaper hides cracks and peels when it’s old.
• My teeth might crumble before I die.

the most random nonsense you can come up with:
• Jumbled crossover blinks always allay floods.
• Accessing liverwurst can be the answer to pink socks.
• Everyone jousts because the ghostly phone didn’t ring.

Now here’s the hard part. As soon as you’ve put the period on your sentence, delete it.

As fast as you can, type something else.

Delete that.

Keep doing it for at least ten minutes, more if you can tolerate it.

Now begin your writing for the day.

This exercise does three important things:

1. It loosens your mind by making flighty associations and spurring imaginative juxtapositions on the page
2. It clears the mind of the top layer of dry, tired dirt so that the underlying fertile soil is available to you
3. It provides practice in letting go of words.
   This is a valuable lesson for a writer because we all tend to love what comes out of us. Our words are our babies and we don’t like to make them disappear once they are on the paper. But we have to know how as well as when to delete. This will help.

[-photography, digital images, photo essay-]

words and images by Maureen Shaughnessy

“cloud ice earth dancers”

Life is filled with mundane happenings and objects we take for granted.

Read the rest of this entry »

[-crackles!-]

Read the rest of this entry »

[-essay, poetry-]

What makes good poetry is a bit of a mystery to many of us. This chocked-full of tips article can help you make yours good enough to publish.

by guest contributor, Mary Diane Hausman

Are you ready to abandon your poems? Before you toss your newest poem away, revisit it using some exercises that have proven helpful to poets who are feeling “stuck.” If you explore some of these ideas, you may be steps closer to placing your poetry in a well-known literary journal.

You can make submissions on your own, or hire some help. Every poem, on average, must be submitted to 100 markets before it is accepted. For poets, these numbers are sad, but true. Even the best poems must cover a lot of territory before they appear on the printed page. A reputable author’s submission service may offer you more time to write while they take care of the submissions. Remember that a good submission service screens potential writers for quality work. They don’t take everyone.

When writing poetry, a poet considers language. They also consider form, and may even consider audience. But that is not all. Though form serves as a vehicle or container, and audience can help drive a poem; and while it is language that gives voice to poetry, it is basically the root of the poet—the poet’s experience—that gives voice to the voice. Even when poetry does not reflect the poet’s direct experience, it is still filtered through her or his eyes. Both poem and poet are inextricably connected; one cannot exist without the other. The material from which the poet culls the poem is that which has been sown, tilled, pulled, dumped, dredged, fermented, stored, and often kept hidden all the poet’s life. If the poet feels brave enough, or even if she is terrified beyond belief, she will excavate this treasure and use it to lay a foundation. Foundation laid, the poet then uses language to form the structure, build the ramparts which hold the poem together. Having built the poem with the blood and bone and truth of her, the poet thus offers a monument that withstands even the critic’s wind. Or, at least the storm of self-doubt.

Following are some simple ideas for exploring poetry and using your own experience to create a poem. If you’d like in-depth technical information on form and poetry structure, there is a brief list of recommended books at the end of this article.

* Practice using your voice by writing a poem about a life experience, a memory, a desire, or a belief.

* Write a poem about your name. You may do this in either a positive or negative light—whatever is meaningful to you. You may even pick a name you like and write a poem about that name, making it your own.

* Select a poem written by someone else; write your version of the poem.

* Select two poems by different poets which contain the same theme. Write a couple of paragraphs comparing the poems.

* In your own words explain what you think makes a “good” poem.

* Pick a topic you dislike and write a poem about it.

* Try writing song lyrics. Compare your lyrics to a poem you’ve written.

* Read some material on different structures of poetry (iambic pentameter, rhyme, sonnet, etc.). Write a poem with the same theme in each specific structure. Pick at least three different structures.

* Write a poem explaining poetic rhythm.

* Explore and write examples of lyric and narrative poetry.

Some books on poetry worth owning:

* A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver
* In the Palm of Your Hand by Steve Kowit
* How to Interpret Poetry by Laurie E. Rozakis
* The Poetry Dictionary by John Drury

Exploring the ideas listed above may help open new doors for your writing. In addition to your poems being well crafted, they must be submitted regularly and extensively. Beat the odds with strong writing COMBINED with a powerful and tenacious submission strategy.

© 2005 - 2007 Mary Diane Hausman

About The Author: Mary Diane Hausman was born and raised in the Texas Hill Country, and that experience provides a strong voice for her work. Her work appears with Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, and Rita Dove in the anthology, Unsilenced: The Spirit of Women (Commune-a-Key Press), as well as in numerous other anthologies and literary journals, including: Primavera, Inkwell, New Texas, My Lover Is A Woman and Pillow Talk (Ballantine Books and Alyson Books), The MacGuffin, The Texas Review, Out of the Dark. She teaches college level creative writing and poetry as well as public workshops. She has utilized Writer’s Relief Inc., an Author’s Submission Service, for ten years which frees her time to write. For more information, visit their web site at http://www.wrelief.com. Click here for more articles by the author.

Published by permission of the author in the July 2005 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: space and spaces

[-writing fiction -]

Are your stories missing the mark?
This article may help you to understand what isn’t there that needs to be.

by contributor, Russ Kremer

Many of the stories we read, including most of the good ones, follow a fairly simple formula, one that’s easy to learn — but difficult to master! We see it so often we don’t always recognize it, but many otherwise fine stories suffer by ignoring it. All we need to do is introduce a character with a goal, or some event that needs resolution. Then, build up the suspense to the climax, which is when the goal is met or avoided, or the event takes place or not. As simple as this is, executing it is another matter entirely.

The most frequently missed element is conflict. Ideally, the main character should be in conflict on every page, and the reader needs to feel it. This doesn’t mean we all have to write action thrillers. Romeo and Juliet, The Odyssey, To Kill a Mockingbird all use this formula. What they avoid - and what is common in early drafts - is passivity, characters waiting around not doing anything.

It’s almost impossible to get to the conflict too quickly.

I notice in my own writing that too often it takes me several unnecessary chapters, or in the case of a short story, paragraphs, to warm up and get to the point. The reader has nothing invested in the characters or the world I’m describing when she picks up my story, and the first thing I need to do is capture her interest. I spend far too long on set-up, and the backstory of someone the reader doesn’t care about yet is boring.

When I look over my first drafts I see long stretches where nothing happens. Oh, sure, I’m describing things, but most of them have nothing to do with the character’s journey, or with resolving the dilemma I should have introduced in the beginning. It should be easy to start off by saying Ann wants to move, that Bill wants to marry Sue, that a peaceful town is threatened with fire, then write the story where we follow along and see what happens. But it isn’t as easy as it seems.

If someone in your story has a secret, and she’s asked “What’s new?” there’s tension and conflict. Will she reveal her secret or won’t she? If she has no secret and is asked the same question, there’s little to engage the reader, nothing at stake. When there’s nothing at stake, nothing that depends on the outcome, the “What’s new?” question should be removed. Nothing is answered, nothing is revealed, nothing is added.

Writers love words, descriptions, their characters. Readers have no such immediate reactions, but they want them. They want to love or hate your characters, but they need a reason. They want to see them in action, doing things, making decisions, taking the initiative. It is not always enjoyable to read about someone waiting for something to happen, for something to respond to. Sure, that’s a big part of life, but it rarely translates to a good story.

Just as bad, is when the conflict is introduced, but then ignored. We did not hear anything about Juliet’s shopping excursions before her dates with Romeo (although I’d imagine she and he both were concerned about their appearance). It may have been interesting, may have contained some great descriptions, but it wouldn’t have added anything necessary to the story. It would not have advanced the plot, and that’s another common error. If a scene can be removed without having to re-write huge chunks of the story, it isn’t necessary.

Readers are being asked to spend their precious spare time in the world we’ve created. If dawdle along, refusing to get to and stick to the point, they’ll spend their time elsewhere. If, however, the beginning is gripping, the characters are growing, the plot is advancing, they just might keep reading to see what happens next or even, how the conflict is finally resolved.

© 2005 - 2007 Russ Kremer all rights reserved

Check out another of Russ’s writing articles, Necessary Things.

About the author: Russ lives and writes in LA. He has had several works of short fiction and non-fiction published. He is a yearly participant and winner of NaNoWriMo where he’s well-known by newbies as a guy who knows a lot about writing. He began the “older, but not the official, NaNoEdMo website” - a group for all year ’round editing support, writerly exchanges and feedback which can be found at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nanoedmo/. His website: half-dozen.net. His blog: crenallated flotsam

Originally published in the July 2005 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: space and spaces

[-quick tip-]

A Quick Creative Practice
~simple habits can have profound impacts~

Inspiration Log

Keep a journal or notebook log for your projects. Always write down a sentence or phrase about what inspired you to begin. Once you get in the middle of the work, it’s easy to go off on a tangent or get bogged down. It can be helpful to look back at that initial inspiration to either get back on track or make a decision about where you want to go that is different from your initial idea.

Originally published in the July 2005 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: space and spaces

[-art, tutorial-]

Here’s a drawing tutorial for anyone who’s ever actually uttered the words, “I can’t draw a straight line” as well as for others who know they can, but who are out of practice.

HOW TO DRAW

by Nancy S.M. Waldman

Becoming aware of Negative Space will help you to be able to beautifully reproduce anything you can see.

What exactly IS Negative Space? The easiest way to think of it is the space around whatever solid object you’re trying to draw. Here’s an example. In the photo on the right we’ve pointed out some of the negative spaces.

See the spaces between the back rungs (the yellow arrows)? That is negative space. The spaces in-between the rungs at the bottom of the chair (green arrows) is also negative space. Around the edges of the photograph - outlined in purple - you can see that the total space around the chair is also negative space. Seeing it in a photograph is easier than if the chair were sitting in your room. Then, you would have to imagine the edges of your paper as the outer edge of the negative space around the chair. See below for a hint about how to make this easier.

Notice that each one of those negative spaces has a specific shape. This is what you would need to tune into if you were going to draw this particular chair in this particular position. Does this feel too complicated?

Here’s another example. The second photo has some of the negative spaces outlined. Anything you can see that isn’t candle or candlestick is negative space.

Now look what happens when we put the candlestick in a more natural setting. What you notice immediately is that the background is more complicated and one object overlaps another. That is precisely why paying attention to the space around objects is so important.In drawing what we see, we must overcome the part of our mind - the L-mode - that tells us “this is too hard!” Entering into a state of R-mindfulness will help to stop thinking about how we aren’t up to the task and will, instead, allow our eyes to take in what is actually in front of us and translate those lines, edges, shadows and colours to our paper.

When we SEE the space around what we’re drawing, the 3-dimensional picture in front of us flattens out.
Take a look at the candlestick still life again.
Some of the negative spaces are outlined so that you can see them more easily.
Look at the curved space showing through the back of the chair (outlined in purple). If you began there and drew that space, then allowed your eye to travel to the next space - say the space that is made by the edges of the window, chair rungs and table just below the curved space (outlined in yellow) and so on to the next and the next space without worrying too much about how it was turning out, you would be doing several important things at once.

First, you would be paying attention - truly seeing - what’s in front of you rather than thinking, “There’s too much! What do I draw first? How do I show that light edge? I can’t do this!” — all of which would be worse than useless to what you’re trying to do. Getting away from L-mode wordiness is an important step.

Second, you would be transcending your L-mode and getting into your R-mode, the creatively friendly part of your mind.
The reason this happens is that the L-mode is confused by paying attention to what isn’t there. When the L-mode gets frustrated that’s a clue to you that your R-mode can kick in. Once you become familiar with that frustrated feeling, you’ll begin to welcome it - it means you’re on the right track!

Third, you would be seeing what’s in front of you in a new way… more as puzzle pieces than as objects with 3-dimensions. In order to draw what you see, it’s necessary to flatten out the picture.

In this way, it is actually easier to draw a complicated picture with many overlapping details - such as the second candlestick still life. The candlestick with the white background has such a large negative space in comparison to the object that it’s easier to lose your way than it is with the smaller negative spaces of the second candlestick. Here’s something very complicated for you to imagine drawing:

Can you begin to see the negative spaces? Remember from our candlestick example that the seemingly more complicated scene became easy when we looked for the spaces around the objects and thought of them as puzzle pieces. Let’s move in closer to the plant so you can see that the same principle applies.

Look at the beautiful negative spaces! When drawing something this complicated, an artist does make decisions about what details can be left out.
You can do a magnificent drawing of a complex subject like this without drawing every single leaf or space. However, what never works is to allow your L-mode brain to instruct you while you’re drawing as to what a Swedish Ivy looks like. If you do, the end result will not look like the plant in front of you. It will look generic at best.

In order to draw faces, people, plants, hands, landscapes, interiors, trees - in fact anything you can see - using negative space will make you believe in your own artistic talent! Of course there are other skills in learning how to draw what you see but learning to use Negative Space is an essential tool to have under your belt. Have fun!
Picturing Frames

Make yourself a picture frame in order to envision the edge of your drawing and see the negative space more easily. Out of stiff piece of 8″ X 10″ cardboard, cut a rectangle out of the center, leaving a 1″ to 2″ frame. There’s no magic to the size of the opening.
In fact, try two, one with a 5″ X 6″ opening and another with a 4″ X 5″ opening. Hold them up to the scene that you want to draw in order to picture those outer edges of your negative space. This is also a great tool for getting the best composition before you begin.

© 2005 - 2007 nancy sm waldman; all rights reserved

Originally published in the July 2005 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: space and spaces

[-essay, parenting-]

What do yoga, Carlos Castañeda and being a loving, effective parent have to do with knowing who and where and what you are? Read this great essay to find out.

Playing the edge, finding one’s spot and being one’s true self

by guest essayist, Joe McCarthy

I recently attended a four-class parenting seminar on Love and Logic, wonderfully facilitated by Cindy Horst. The three “rules” of Love and Logic are:

1. Take care of yourself by setting limits in a loving way
2. Give choices whenever it’s reasonable.
3. Let empathy and consequences do the teaching.

Throughout the classes, parents were encouraged to stretch to allow children to experience more consequences directly, enabling them to fail early and often, rather than being protected or rescued from those consequences. There is much to be gained by moving out of our comfort zone, but stopping short of real pain. Cindy notes that the Love and Logic principles can be used not only by parents interacting with their children, but in school and the workplace as well.

I see these principles as applying equally well to my interactions with my self.

This notion of stretching to the edge of our comfort zone reminded me of the concept of “playing the edge” that Erich Schiffman describes in his wonderful book “Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving Into Stillness”. Reviewing the highlighted passages in my copy of the book revealed close alignment with some of the concepts taught by Don Miguel Ruiz in “The Four Agreements” and by Don Juan (via Carlos Castañeda) in “The Teachings of Don Juan”. I’ll include some relevant passages below.

On “playing the edge” (from Erich Schiffman’s book):

A large part of the art and skill in yoga lies in sensing just how far to move into a stretch … This place in the stretch is called your “edge.” The body’s edge in yoga is the place just before pain, but not the pain itself … Sensing where your edges are and learning to hold the body there with awareness, moving with its often subtle shifts, can be called “playing the edge.”

One of the things you learn in yoga is to enjoy working with intensity. Intensity is simply more “energy” at any given moment, more feeling … Yoga can teach you to enjoy and learn from a broader range of experience. It will encourage you to seek out and process more intensity … Skill in yoga involves creating the perfect amount of intensity — not too much, not too little.

The real key to depth in postures is going slowly, making sure you have thoroughly opened your early edges … Proceed slowly, edge by edge and gate by gate … Respect your tight edges. Work with them sensitively. Lure them to greater openness.

Never be in a place you don’t want to be. If you do not like it, change it. Adjust. Find the degree of stretch you can totally immerse yourself in … Never fight yourself.

This last part reminds me of Don Juan’s notion of finding one’s spot (via Carlos Castañeda’s book):

Finally he told me that there was a way, and proceeded to create a problem. He pointed out that I was very tired sitting on the floor, and that the proper thing to do was to find a “spot” (sitto) on the floor where I could sit without fatigue. I had been sitting with my knees up against my chest and my arms locked around my calves. When he said I was tired, I realized that my back ached and that I was quite exhausted.

I waited for him to explain what he meant by a “spot,” but he made no overt attempt to elucidate the point. I thought that perhaps he meant that I should change positions, so I got up and sat closer to him. He protested my movement and clearly emphasized that a spot meant a place where a man could feel naturally happy and strong. He patted the place where he sat and said it was his own spot, adding that he had posed a riddle I had to solve by myself without any further deliberation.

Finally, re-reading the opening chapter of Schiffmann’s book reminded of the concept of mitote in Ruiz’ book:

Your mind is a dream where a thousand people talk at the same time and no one understands each other. Everything you believe about yourself and the world, all the concepts and programming you have in your mind, are all the mitote. We cannot see who we truly are; we risk to be alive and express what we really are.

Schiffman addresses this issue of who we are - and who we are not - and suggests that yoga can provide a way to discover and experience our true selves:

Yoga is a way of moving into stillness in order to experience the truth of who you are … From very early on, a fundamental conflict was introduced into our psyches revolving around this basic and most important issue: Who am I, really? And because we were not encouraged to find out for ourselves, we believed what other people told us. The result is that we feel guilty, ashamed, embarrassed, and confused about who we are. We feel judged … [Yoga teaches you to] turn your attention inward and focus on yourself. Focus on what it feels like to be you. Experience you.

One of the things I like about Love and Logic is that it encourages children to be who they really are. Rather than trying so hard to control children, the program points to a path through which children can more naturally unfold to be their true selves, with gentle guidance and support from their parents. This approach resonates with me, and I will try to apply it as best I can. And, regardless of how this affects my children, I plan to get up extra early tomorrow to have more time to find my spot, play my edge … and experience being me.

about the author:
Joe McCarthy’s mission is to help people relate to one another. He has played the edges of academia and industry, and is currently moving out of his comfort zone and opening up to the intensity of a new entrepreneurial path aligned with this mission. More about Joe’s entrepreneurial aspirations can be found at interrelativity.com; other dimensions of his journey can be found on his blog: gumption.typepad.com. This article is a slightly revised version of this one originally published on his blog.

illustration from the yellow woman series by nancy sm waldman © 2005 - 2007 all rights reserved

Published with the permission of the author in the April 2005 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: inspiration

[-tip, practices-]

simple practices have profound impacts

Most of us tend to work better and - more importantly, finish! - if we have a deadline. If you don’t have a *real* one, try this as a mental trick.

Seek out a real world or an online individual or group. Set imaginary, but realistic, deadlines for yourselves and then urge each other to stick to them.

You’ll be surprise how much it helps even when the deadline has no consequences associated with it.

It’s also amazing how much it motivates to know that someone *out there* cares whether or not you keep going!

Don’t be discouraged if you have to try several groups or people before you find the right rapport. Discovering like-minded people is worth it, so keep looking if you haven’t found them yet.

If you belong to a group that helps in this way, post a comment to let others know.

For writers: NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month
For artists: Illustration Friday

[-inspiration, process-]

by Suze Corte

Inspiration? I am often and easily inspired! What to do with that inspired feeling-how to put it to creative uses-is another matter entirely. As an artist, teacher and creative junkie, I dread the times when something seems to get stuck in my creative machinery, jamming up the works somewhere between inspired concept and output. I have reached the conclusion that I am in desperate need of a mechanic, the grease monkey in charge of tuning up the engine and making it go. I think of this oft-absent spirit as my Studio Muse.

Looking back, it’s obvious that the ability to recognize and experience moments of inspiration emanates from my childhood. My siblings and I were encouraged to be creative thinkers, flexible and open to many possible solutions to problems. Not only were we surrounded with readily available art materials and books, but we also had plenty of time for free play outdoors among the grasses and trees and toads. One of my favorite childhood haunts was a spot up in the branches of an oak tree. There I would follow the seasons of my imagination, communing with the ever-changing leaves enclosing my dreamy perch. Nowadays I realize that I received a priceless gift: carefree time in a beautiful natural setting to get to know myself well. I had the delicious opportunity to reflect, to dream, to imagine, to be engaged, to connect, to plan. As a result, I grew up to be an artist and teacher whose antennae are ever ready to detect tiny tantalizing tidbits of inspiration.

I was fortunate to grow up in a family that supported creative pursuits, honoring books and supplying materials for exploration and discovery. Through the years, my creative outlook has provided me with many successes. I have a healthy marriage to an amazing man. We have an intelligent, creative, beautiful daughter. My home is filled with handmade pillows, drawings, and poems. I have created businesses, taught art classes and preschool, written elegant research papers, and created hundreds of gifts for friends, family and clients. So what am I complaining about?

Well, I’m not complaining. I am sad and frustrated that when I sit down to work, I often feel that my Studio Muse has left the building! I’m wanting more. And because I’ve been wanting more ever since I can remember, I have decided to begin today by actively inviting my Studio Muse to move back in with me on a full-time basis. In the back of my mind is an idea of what my muse looks like, and my plan is to create an actual likeness of her. I know that she will take three-dimensional form, but that’s as specific as I can be right now. I want to manifest her in real form so that she can aid me in moving from my imagination-fantasy-dreaming world into my action-doing-productive mode. I will let you know in the ensuing months as this work-in-progress develops. In the meantime, look over my shoulder as I begin the process of defining, designing and refining the great Studio Muse Experiment!

DEFINING - Top Five Things My Studio Muse Will Be:

• 5. Powerful, wise, beautiful, quirky, encouraging, strong, brave, pushy.
• 4. Capable of evoking laughter and/or tears at just the right times.
• 3. Three-dimensional and multi-faceted.
• 2. Available for late-night consultations.
• 1. Fun.

DESIGNING - Top Five Things My Studio Muse Will Be Designed to Do:

• 5. Take up residence in my life.
• 4. Make her presence known when my attitude toward work is unproductive, resistant, or rebellious.
• 3. Request candle-lighting ceremonies.
• 2. Surround herself with inspiring trinkets.
• 1. Preside over my studio with panache.

REFINING - Top Ten Things My Studio Muse Will Help Me Do:

• 10. Show up regularly.

Practical steps: I will write on my calendar each week specific times when I am going to walk into my studio to work. I will also write down how much time I plan to set aside for each studio session. I’ll leave three reminders around the house, scrawled in crayon and possibly decorated with sequins, saying something like “Show Up! 5:30pm Tuesday!!~signed, Your Studio Muse.”

• 9. Stay for the whole “session.”

Practical steps: If I sit down at my studio table and begin to feel that I have nothing to do, nothing to contribute, nothing to say, so be it. I will still stay for the allotted time. I can push beautiful papers around, rearrange things on the shelves, organize paintbrushes, color-code files, rip fabric, cut funny words out of magazines, scribble on 14 different surfaces, make a list of why I should never come here again, decide how I’m going to destroy all the things I’ve started but never finished, or just sit and listen to music. But I’ll stay.

• 8. Enter with an open heart.

Practical steps: As I open the door and go in, I will look at my Studio Muse and be reminded that this is a place where I can expect to reveal my inner feelings, learn about myself, play, hurt when necessary, rejoice, grow, surprise myself, be surprised by the work.

• 7. Begin lightheartedly.


Practical steps: I will begin a ritual of entering my studio with a song, a dance, and a quirky idea to begin the work. I’ll follow through with the music and the fun idea, and then I’ll go on from there wherever the spirit takes me. I may end up crying by the end of the session, but that will be okay because feeling deeply is an integral part of any creative life.

• 6. Focus on work.

Practical steps: I am in my studio to work. Often creative people seem to work by playing, just as children learn best through play and through their senses. I will remain intentional about being at work/play and if I get off track, I’ll write down three things I’d like to work on. This may be just the trick to get me back to what I’m clearly wanting and needing to do.

• 5. Ignore distractions.

Practical steps: I will be present in the moment and worry about everything else later. I will not answer the phone, do laundry, or watch TV, nor will I be lured to my computer whilst in the studio zone.

• 4. Keep an inspirational journal.

Practical steps: I will create a journal that stays on my studio worktable. Since many items I’ll want to keep will be three-dimensional, i.e., lumpy, I’ll also have an adjunct “journal box” where I can keep a collection of stuff. The journal & box will be lovingly created so that I enjoy looking at them daily. I will deposit ideas, concepts, clippings, bits of nature, drawings, snippets of thoughts, song lyrics, bits of paper, lines from books and movies, quotes, things people have said to me, essays, photos, doodles, techniques I want to try, lists, fabric scraps, threads, cords and strands!

• 3. Be present in the moment.

Practical steps: Through easily accessible sensory clues-a scented candle, good music, nice lighting, comfortable seating, and an evocative Muse right before my eyes-I will attempt to place myself into a state that conjures up my productive, playful, emotional, inspired creative working self.

• 2. Remind me of who I am.

Practical steps: When I enter my workspace and see my personal Muse and Inspiration Journal, I will be visually reminded of who I am and what I want to do. I will know again that It Does Matter and will even remember–on a good day–why it matters!

• 1. Show my work in the world.

Practical steps: I will reveal my work to other people often and without a care as to what they might think. Since my Studio Muse is always there for me, to remind me who I am and to keep me centered, I will feel better about venturing out into the world with my babies-my creative offspring. My worth comes from within my own heart and soul, not from anything or anyone outside of me.

• And the Number One Thing I Hope
  The Studio Muse Experiment Does For You?

INSPIRE!

Originally published in the April 2005 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: inspiration
© 2005 - 2007; all rights reserved

About the author:
Suze Corte is a writer, artist and pre-school teacher in Houston, Texas. In 2007, she was chosen as be the Houston Area Association of Educator’s of Young Children’s Teacher of the Year and the Texas Association of Educators of Young Children’s Teacher of the Year. Congratulations, Suze! It is a well-deserved recognition.


To see all of Suze’s PCQ articles and art, click on her name in the tags.