I work best when I spend laser like time at a variety of activities. As I write, I am looking out my window to my porch which doubles as my studio. Earlier today I painted some dictionary and old, 1940's era text book pages. I am using them in a mixed media project (actually, several projects) and seeing them out there makes their presence a flirtation. I can't stand to leave them (or my project) wait for too long. I have my timer set for 20 minutes and then, I am outside to work on that waiting project. I am sure the papers will giggle and wink at me as I work with them. I have this clothes line drying system for any painting jobs that are in process. Earlier in the week I had a paper sculpture hanging there which I had covered with a material which makes the paper less fragile. Coats it. So I had painted papers and then I had this sculpture, all on the line. My neighbors, I am sure, think I am nuts. They would be right. Nutty for creativity. I always carry my notebooks or if they are missing, I text micropoetry to myself. The only time I don't do much creative work is when I am distracted by life crises. I have had plenty of those in the past week so my blogging has suffered. I only wrote one full length poem in a week (still wrote haiku) and this is very unusual for me. Perhaps that is my next edge: finding the way into the creative process even when feeling so distracted. I tend to write into the distraction but when that feels too raw I get stuck in the "too raw" zone and then, I create nothing. Which creates more hand daggers with light flicks of slices at my rawness. I need to become more comfortable with those light flicks and slices of rawness. The delayed pain like a papercut. I need to know that may happen and be assured that ache isn't bad. I think this is part of the challenge with most of us. We take the dagger flicks of conflict or critique to mean, "this will hurt too badly to try" so we don't try anything. We become listless to the point where our muse dries up and we end up wallowing in either negative self talk and destructive behavior or negative-other-people talk and hurtful to others behavior. I prefer the new method I am working on. Daggers of conflict and critique and the ache that accompanies them are simply places where I may grow as an artist, as a writer, as a teacher. It keeps this musey-water I swim in that much more clear and crisp. Anti-Musing Mud doesn't interfere with what I see. I have used twelve minutes of my writing time and am trying to decide if I should move on to other than this-particular-word-necklace projects. I think that is what I will do.
Hanging out with my muse is something of a lifestyle choice for me. I let Musey-ness be the water I swim around in, everyday, in this Lake-o-My-Muse.
So - I will catch you on the other side of Lake-O-My-Muse. Let's plan to lay out a picnic blanket and chat for a bit, whether or not the sun is willing.
(the top photo on the blog today has a Creative Commons License from http://www.flickr.com/photos/scrmforsilence/2997518287/)
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© 2011
Julie Jordan Scott
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