Time for some manifesto magic. I wrote about my love of manifestos – the certainty of them, the optimism of writing out your aspirations as faits accomplis, the boldness of life plans deeply rooted in personal values – way back in August last year, when I featured three manifestos that were all about living a creative life and making art.
This time, I’m sharing four manifestos that are, each in their own way, about love – loving our bodies, our dreams, ourselves, and each other.… Read more
Manifesto magic: 4 different takes on love
Obscure word doodle #3
My friend, Christie, shared with me today’s obscure word from the Facebook wall of Elizabeth Gilbert. The word is sitzfleisch, and I don’t know if it’s obscure so much as German, but I’d never heard it before, and I love it (and that might just be the unofficial criteria for making it into the Obscure Word Doodles project).
Sitzfleish is actually the combination of two German words: sitzen (to sit) + Fleisch (flesh).… Read more
Bibliophile in the real world
I had an appointment at the doctor to go over some blood work results. I was running late, but making up for it by driving way too fast all the way there. Speed Racer that I am, I walked through the door at exactly the appointed time. The receptionist smiled, said hello, and told me they were running a little late.… Read more
10 things doodling has taught me about the creative process
I was doodling while pretending to watch ALIAS on Netflix, and I made this.
Note: ALIAS is kind of hard to follow if you’re not actually watching the screen. It looks like this.
XO
… Read more
The part we get to choose
“What we focus on, expands.” ~ Julia Fehrenbacher… Read more
***
Now and then, the simple truth of a statement like the one above hits me with the unexpected force of a sucker punch. It’s not that Julia’s observation is surprising, or at least it shouldn’t be. I know how powerful attention is. I relearn it all the time: when, in the eleventh hour of a deadline, I finally buckle down and do the work; when, in conversation, I stop planning my next statement long enough to truly hear (and then truly connect with) the person sitting across from me; when, on my yoga mat, I get quiet and centered enough to still the shaky instability of a challenging pose.
Obscure word doodle #2
These days, my favorite work keeps landing at the intersection of doodles and words. Not that this post was work. This was just plain fun.
I love this word that I didn’t know existed until a couple of days ago when I stumbled upon it while reading. (Coincidentally, it rained that day and the petrichor was sweet.)
I sometimes hear people complain that the English language falls short.… Read more
The Creativity Interviews: Yoga teacher, blogger/writer, and designer Lyn Girdler (and TWO sweet giveaways)
As part of my ongoing quest to explore what it means to live a creative life, I periodically invite kick ass creatives to come play with us on the blog.
Today’s episode:
Productive procrastination, the magic of an amazing mullet, and what it *really* means to be creative.
I first met Lyn when she wrote to tell me that she’d stumbled upon my poem, “My Religion.” She told me that she’d read it to a room full of yogis and they loved it.… Read more
Getting naked with Julia… and a sweet giveaway
Here’s what I believe: the best works of art are acts of public nudity.
The artist, subtly or overtly, is exposed, even in works of fiction, even if the exposure lies only in the creator’s desire to communicate something true and real. To some degree, that kind of nakedness is inherent to the act of putting one’s work out into the world where it can be accepted or rejected, praised or ridiculed.… Read more
In this fragile sacred space
This is one of my favorite pictures of me and my youngest son, way back when he was still shorter than I was.
This fall, he’ll be heading off to college. It’s weird to think of him so far away from me. I’m proud and sad and nervous and excited… for both of us, actually.
We’re standing now, as we were in this picture (as we are every day, I guess), on the edge of the rest of our lives.… Read more
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Powering down
Tomorrow afternoon, I embark on a weekend getaway. I’ll be totally offline for three days. (Just ignore my little involuntary shudder right there. I can do this. I’m committed.) I’ll spend my unplugged days ducking in and out of quirky-hippie-one-of-a-kind shops as well as my all time favorite used bookstore; hiking in forests and along shorelines; sipping wine on a rooftop patio; kicking back in an outdoor cafe, where we can “relax by the fireplace or at the tables outside, around a pond in the middle of a Scandinavian wood of birch and conifer trees.”
It’s supposed to rain.… Read more
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My seven cures for creative block
More than once, in the midst of a creative block (which for me is truly just a baby step away from full-on existential crisis), I’ve been told by well-meaning writer friends that my block isn’t real. “It’s all in your head,” they say, as if that’s helpful, as if the fact that my blankness resides in my head (where, incidentally, my imagination, my creative writing skills, my ability to link disparate ideas together in meaningful ways also reside) makes it any less real.… Read more
Hello!
My mission: make art, do work, and engage in shenanigans that inspire fearless love, soulful evolution, and wild creativity as a way of life.
And if, in the process, epic quantities of cheesecake are consumed, all the better! Read more about me here.
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