Julie Unplugged

Still in the Making: October’s Coffee Poem (#blogboost)

This morning I decided it was the perfect day to write a poem about coffee. It was the time of day I like to write sunrise poems, but the sun is rising later and later so I am awake and writing long before the first hint of light begins to show itself to me

I have written several coffee poems. They are always well received. One of my friends carries my very first coffee poem in his wallet.

Today, however, nothing floated into my hands and off the tip of my pen. I took a gulp, closed my eyes and thought, “Bitter”. The next thought was, “When did I decide I like this stuff?”  I scolded myself and thought, “A more original word for bitter” and in floated “Acrid”.

Hardly the stuff for the poem I wanted to write.

Those words do match my mood lately.

Ironically, or not, this realization makes me laugh.

Then I thought, “What does coffee do that makes us decide to like it?”

I thought, “It makes a fun percolating sound. It wakes us up when we are tired and need a jolt awake.”

I decided to visit one of my favorite “friends” for poetic inspiration: the thesaurus.

First I looked up BITTER: my favorite word combination the thesaurus offered was this one: Dire vexation. I like that – it sounds so utterly romantic. I can imagine Dudley Do-Right riding into town to rescue the fair maid shouting, “Dire Vexation, can’t I get a decent cup of coffee?”

Everyone needs coffee before work begins, yes?

Then I sought out synonyms for percolate. When I was in college my coffee maker was actually an old fashioned percolater. I enjoy coffee maker sounds a lot. I found when I researched what I have written about coffee, I mention several times how much I love this sound. Interesting.

Here are my favorite words for “Percolate” ~ note not all are coffee related. To me, this makes it even more fun: Seep - drip – dribble – drain - amble – dawdle - meander - stroll – wander

Finally I found words that are synonymous with alarm. I found, among others, tintinabulum, carillon, peal, rouse and stir up.

My poem has not yet magically come to life, but I did scoop up some words and images for some word-love later. Perhaps it will be poetic, perhaps it will be prose-oriented.

I am guessing it will bring a smile to some faces and perhaps you will carry what I write in your pocket some day.

Right now, I am giving myself space to not be attached to the outcome, I am simply enjoying the process, even if that means giggling about word combinations that strike me as funny.

It is better than doing and writing nothing.

Do you get stuck in the “thinking about” writing or taking action in another way?

What would happen if you moved forward in a simple way (like opening the thesaurus) to have fun rather than worry about the result?

I have my guesses but I will look forward, instead, to hearing from you.

 

  Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot

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© 2011
Julie Jordan Scott

 

#SOCSunday ~ Traveling & Beginning to Feel the Slightest Bit Better

This is my Stream of Consciousness Sunday blog post. 5 minutes of writing without an agenda gave birth to what you see below... Thank you, Fadra at the All Things Fadra blog, for hosting this writing circle. I continue to look forward to it each week.It has been a tough, tough can I say tough couple of weeks.

I keep thinking, “This is going to feel better!” and “Wait, I do feel better” and then I feel that old sludgy feeling and think, “Nope, I’m lying to myself when I say this is better.”

So – I decided to be with wherever I am and know and trust those who love me will stick with me. You see, in the past I always had this all pervasive belief that if I wasn’t completely loveable 100% of the time, no one would love me.

What I discover, continually, is that by being vulnerably exactly who I am ~ people love me even more.

At least the important people will love me even more.

I am going to go to Massachusetts this week – leaving Thursday – to visit my beloved daughter Katherine who attends Smith College. It is “Family Weekend” and I will be the family representative. I was supposed to take a long trip – almost twelve days – but cut it back to five days after a crisis came up two weeks ago.

I haven’t grieved those missing days – which were to include a visit to the town I grew up. I don’t know when and if I will grieve those missing days. Just doesn’t seem to be room for that right now amidst the continuing clean up from crisis number 4,288.

I am looking forward, however, to Smith Family Weekend. I love the Northeast. I have gifted myself with a short visit to Concord to “hang out” with my transcendentalist homies and I will visit Amherst and my beloved Emily Dickinson. I know Katherine will have studying to do and can’t be connected to my hip 24/7 so I can do some exploring on my own, but I have to admit – the Monday and Tuesday after the weekend when I will be alone are something I am very  much looking forward to as well.

I need to go to a thrift store and find a folding chair so I can sit and write in a variety of spaces.

Wow. A smile just crossed my face.

See? I knew things were looking up….

***

 

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up your post below.
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

Sunday Check in #ROW80 ~ #Wordmongering + a-ha's + wow, this is a fast pace....

Wow – this ROW80 pace is very fast plus this coming week I will be traveling so… who knows how well I will do after Wednesday. Just warning you of reality, as it is….

I was wondering if any of you reading use the #wordmongering tag on Twitter? I have used it regularly for a while now and it can be a very powerful exercise.

I gave myself until October 14 to realize what WIP I wanted to create and lo and behold it came to me, unexpectedly, during a #wordmongering session.

It works like this: you check in at the top of the hour and declare, “I #amwriting” and attach the #wordmongering tag. I usually let folks know before the hour starts that I will be writing, in case anyone feels that having a writing buddy for a half hour chunk of time will prove helpful.

The focus, for me, is word count.

I have been able to work on 3 different blog posts at a time during one half hour session so it is very, very did I say VERY helpful?

Writing/Craft

Write: Morning Pages Daily à Haven’t been as consistent for the past couple days. And its ok. I know I will pick it up again, quickly. I missed two of the last three days. Awareness is key in restarting and yay, I am aware.

Write one haiku daily à Yep. Nothing I want to share here, though.

 

Edit: POETRY: Work on editing one poem daily – YES! I scooped this goal back up! I am thrilled. I was going to attend a poetry event Thursday night so that got me very focused on editing and voila, I have kept going with it.

PROSE: I’m calling it “Life, Interrupted”.  And yes, the joy of editing and sewing together years of material has begun. Thank you, free writing via #wordmongering.

Read: One poem a day. YES!  

One Book on the Art of Writing. YES! I have been reading a poetry text book I got from a thrift store. It is fantastic… Writing Poems by Robert Wallace and Michelle Boisseau

I am working on the novel – Julia France and Her Times by Grace Atherton. No more reading this week. And it is ok.

Creativity as a Practice: Do some non-writing related creative activity daily (photography, painting, singing, performance of some form or fashion.)

Today I visited the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Got some photos I am enjoying completely and will use as writing prompts, too.

Some photos:

 

Social Media

Weekly: Write no less than five blog posts weekly (combine with publishing long running ezine Daily Passion Activator.)

Wrote three more blog posts, even amidst crazy schedule. DPA still sits, untouched. Need a breakthrough there.

Biweekly: Post my #ROW80 updates on Wednesday and Sunday! Continue with SOCSunday and Wishcasting. Yes, yes, YES!

Daily: Visit no fewer than two or three of my fellow #ROW80 as well as Ultimate Blog Challenge and ShineOnline Challenge peeps ~ YES< YES< YES!

Plus, REMEMBER I WRITE BECAUSE I LOVE IT and… Word-love has the power to change the world. One sentence at a time, we are having a positive impact on this beloved planet.

For those who have never bumped into the #ROW80 world, this is how it works:

A Round of Words in 80 Days is a place to set writing goals and encourage other participants with their goals.

The rules: Sign up; define measurable goals, and check-in.

That is ALL! Simple, no “you must do it like this by then or the world will explode!” Personalized goals with community support.

 Abundant Word-Love to all my ROW Friends-to-be! Thank you for your affirming comments!

 

  Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot

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© 2011
Julie Jordan Scott

 

Finishing the Curtains: 3 Simple Steps to Completing What You Started and Didn't Finish (#blogboost)

“It’s a job that’s never started that takes the longest to finish.” — J. R. R. Tolkien

There is nothing like finishing a long overdue project to help get positive energy flow moving once again.

I did this on Wednesday night: it was a choice – “I’m tired, I want to go to bed!” or “I’m tired, I want to take thirty minutes and finish the very cheery curtains I started a Summer ago and never finished!”

Believe it or not, I chose the latter because I knew when I got it done and those curtains got hung the residual effect of smiles and contentment would serve me long term in the future. The extra half-hour sleep, while appreciated, could be made up later.

Did I mention I started working on the curtains about sixteen months ago?

It wasn’t just sewing the curtains that stopped me. That was the easy part. It was that when I made the first panel, I didn’t make the opening as big as the old curtain rod. Now, it would have been reasonable to just rush out and get and install a new curtain rod.

I don’t know how to use a drill, so I knew it would be challenging to install a rod.

And I pride myself on my independence, so I didn’t think to ask anyone until last week.

Suddenly, this fifteen-month-project just waiting to be came to fruition because I actually had the gumption to say, “Hey, dear friend with power tools, would you please install a new curtain rod for me?”

Now I shake my head in wonder that I never even bothered asking. I was too convinced I would be a bother to my friend and then, I sort of forgot about the curtains. I forgot the desire for their cheerful greetings in the morning as I got my morning coffee and sat down to write.

(The Tie-backs are make shift ~ I just needed the sun to shine in!)

Let’s review all it took to finish this project:

1. Ask a friend who had the right tools and the right skill set for help.
2. Clear space and time to put up the curtain rod.
3. Clear space and time to finish the curtains. It actually required less than two hours of sewing to finish the job.

I could have had cheerful curtains fifteen months ago if I made a simple request and cleared my calendar for two hours worth of effort.

My mind gets numb when I realize how much cheery curtain time I gave up because of being afraid to be a bother to a friend, who didn’t think it was a bother at all, by the way. He was glad to help, as most friends tend to be.

I remember the song “Finishing the Hat” from one of my favorite plays, “Sunday in the Park with George”.

 “There's a part of you always standing by,
Mapping out the sky,
Finishing a hat...
Starting on a hat...
Finishing a hat...
Look I made a hat...
Where there never was a hat.”

I'm not just standing by my windows anymore, feeling there is something missing.

Now I have sunshiney new curtains, where there used to be very dated, 1970’s style beige-so-unlike-me curtains.

What have you been putting off OR what have you forgotten putting off that this brief read reminds you to finish, once and for all? Remember, the steps are simple:

1. Make the request
2. Clear the time (which will probably be less than you think.)
3. Clear the space (which will probably be smaller than you think you need.)
4. Enjoy the results.

Jeff Davidson reminds us “The human mind appreciates closure and a clean ending.” My heart appreciates my cheerful curtains.

What will your heart appreciate when you simply choose to get it done?

 

 

  Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot

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Julie Jordan Scott

This is post 5/31 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I got started 10 days into October after a rocky beginning of the month. Think I can catch up? Read and follow along to see!

Wildflowers Teach the Untamed You to Reach Up, Now ~ (#blogboost)

I have been visiting favorite nature haunts this week, perhaps seeking the Untamed Me that roams my blood stream. “Come out,” I urge her. "It’s safe!”

She doesn’t appear to believe me this time.

She doesn't come out so readily: not at times like this when the stress runs high and the urge to be conventional and not draw attention is so pervasive. There was a time when being ordinary was my primary focus. Uniqueness had no space at all in my life.

Perhaps this “going underground” again of the Untamed Me is the knee jerk, pendulum swinging away and into perceived safey is natural and to be expected. Maybe this itself shouldn’t unnerve me like it does.

Yet to deny that it does is to deny the Untamed Me breath.

I choose, instead, to write my way into what is: to create a safe haven, to be present for activities that feed my creative callings. I remember what nourishes and feeds the untamed me and see those activities are ones I make space to experience rather than force them into a back corner of “no time for that!”

I go for walks and I bring my camera. I capture images that make no sense when I take them but when I get home, they tell me, “Reach to the sky for your answers, Julie. Your Untamed You prowls and skulks on land but she also loves swimming in the sky, surfing the clouds and choppy breezes. She loves sunbathing and dancing among the air’s currents. Remember? Reach to the sky!"

If I hadn’t taken my camera on the walk, this process would have taken a lot longer.

The images would sit in my subconscious, perhaps, metaphors ripe for  gleaning yet ignored, stored in a closed up shed amongst rusty pitchforks and shovels.

I look back at the photo.

I don’t know the name of this plant.

I wonder about it and wonder if I should even publish a blog post not “properly labeled”. I giggle at myself for even harboring such a thought.

I lower my head, as if to pray, and ask the rushing thoughts to become still.

I do not know the wildflower’s name, but I do know what she is speaking to me.

“Reach up!” she tells me, and perhaps you, too.

“Reach up, toward the sky!”

I stretch my muscles skyward, throw my head back and feel my body’s response.

“More, more!” it seems to say, laughing.

The “Go Underground!” crowd shouts, “You don’t have the luxury of time enough to sit with your body stretched and your head thrown back. Get off your butt and do stuff now.”

I reach up, breathing in and then out. Puff and blow, lower the shoulders, feel my body doing its happy-to-be-breathing-and-moving dance.

John Ruskin must have known moments like this when the reach of the sky calls out from the sometimes-seems-too-oppressive drag of the “Go Underground!” minions. He wrote these words which eloquently say what I feel:

“It is written on the arched sky;

it looks out from every star.

 It is the poetry of Nature;

 it is that which uplifts the spirit within us. “

Nature’s poetry is in the call to go underground as well as in the call to reach up. The underground minions are trying to be helpful, not recognizing the seductive destructiveness this form of pulling back and withdrawal has for the person I am.

Think with me, now, to where you are right now and where you have been this past month.

Perhaps you are unscathed by the call to “go underground where it is dank and musty and safe.”

Perhaps you don’t do battle or don’t notice this push and pull, this call to catalog the darkness and light instead of dancing with both, valuing both, learning from both sides instead of stepping through one door never to see what is beautiful on the side of the other door.

Which aspect of you feels better, right now?

Do you need a respite for a day with the curtains pulled shut and a light darkness of “Go underground” or would you feel more relieved from a day in sunshine, a day of “Reach up, toward the sky!”

For this one day consciously choose which serves you in your life right now and act accordingly. Don’t do it because I suggested it, do it because it will seriously make you feel better.

  Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot

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Julie Jordan Scott

This is post 4/31 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I got started 10 days into October after a rocky beginning of the month. Think I can catch up? Read and follow along to see!

#ROW80 MidWeek Check in: Just Keep Rowing, Just Keep Rowing, Just Keep Rowing...

Regular ROW check ins are going to be my saving grace and then some over these next few weeks ~ I can feel it.

I have had a surge in creative process since we last checked in. I haven’t felt particularly motivated to take photos until I started ROQW80 and now, I have been back to photographing slices of life and then piggy backing my writing on my photos.

It feels great. I have been going through a lot in my life and being creative in spite of not necessarily being in the best place emotionally works well for me.  

For those who have never bumped into the #ROW80 world, this is how it works:

A Round of Words in 80 Days is a place to set writing goals and encourage other participants with their goals.

The rules: Sign up; define measurable goals, and check-in.

That is ALL! Simple, no “you must do it like this by then or the world will explode!” Personalized goals with community support.

Writing/Craft

Write: Morning Pages Daily à Yay, me, I have been doing this. Not always three pages in one long write, but three pages early in the morning as best I can. It is doing its work.

Write one haiku daily: I have been continuing to write and tweet my haiku. Here are three from the past couple days.

~ ~ ~

Cell phone alarm ~

sounds awake the still dark house ~

roosters and space chimes

~ ~ ~

Monday morning calls ~

Orange scepter points the way

Highlights see school’s edge

~ ~ ~

Breakfast al fresco

Beth shifts yesterday’s shadow

Bus rumbles past us

~ ~ ~

Edit: POETRY: Work on editing one poem daily – BAD JULIE. Left untouched…

PROSE: I’ve given myself a deadline of the 14^th to figure this one out….

Read: One poem a day. One Book on the Art of Writing. One book for fun, preferably fiction from the 19^th Century or early 20^th Century by a woman writer. Read from start to finish!

I am working on the novel – Julia France and Her Times by Grace Atherton. It was published in 1912. Atherton was quite the feminist. Good read. I realize I need to note the poetry I am reading, though I have been reading.

Creativity as a Practice: Do some non-writing related creative activity daily (photography, painting, singing, performance of some form or fashion.)

Some photos (the top includes a wacky sketch and my haiku + a thread of morning pages):

Social Media

Weekly: Write no less than five blog posts weekly (combine with publishing long running ezine Daily Passion Activator.)

I have written four blog posts so far this week! Woot Woot! Need to get back into DPA habit, though. By next update, will be swinging right along. J 

Biweekly: Post my #ROW80 updates on Wednesday and Sunday! Continue with SOCSunday and Wishcasting. Yes, yes, YES!

Daily: Visit no fewer than two or three of my fellow #ROW80 as well as Ultimate Blog Challenge and ShineOnline Challenge peeps ~ YES< YES< YES!

Plus, REMEMBER I WRITE BECAUSE I LOVE IT and… Word-love has the power to change the world. One sentence at a time, we are having a positive impact on this beloved planet.

Abundant Word-Love to all my ROW Friends-to-be! Thank you for your affirming comments!

  Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot

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© 2011
Julie Jordan Scott

#Wishcasting Wednesday: How Do You Wish To Be Loved?

One of my favorite karaoke songs is "When Will I Be Loved". I sing it well so it makes me feel good. It was the first thing I thought today when Jamie Ridler asked us in her Wishcasting Community "How do you wish to be loved?"

The truth is, I am blessed in that I am loved by many and I am loved, primarily well.

If I was to improve how I am loved it would be that love would consistently be given and received unconditionally and people who I love (and who love me) would communicate love in a way that makes me feel loved, unconditionally. I want to be loved for who I am right now, not who someone wants me to be when they "fix" me.

Love speaks in different ways: I mostly hear it through quality time with me AND by communicating clearly. One of the ways I fall into not feeling loved is when people fall silent or out of touch or stop showing up for me ~ either don't spend time with me or ignore my requests to show up.

On the other hand, that is a message to spend my love well elsewhere rather than spend it on people who don't appear to love me, afterall.

I wish to be loved unconditionally, with give and take, and have love communicated to me in ways I understand intuitively and wholeheartedly.

  Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot

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Our Autumn in Bakersfield: Views from Walking to School, October 11, 2011 #CED2011

Bakersfield is not known for its vibrant, colorful Autumn season. We do have a sliver of an Autumn, but usually it comes in late November or December… ish. There aren’t a whole lot of deciduous trees and many that are go from green to withered to brown. I get quite excited to find a yellow leaf or a maple that sort of turns from green to yellow to red.

Samuel and I have a morning ritual which includes walking him to school after we drop Emma at East Bakersfield High School. Actually, we arrive at his school and then walk around two blocks or one block just for fun. Beth, our dog, shares the walk with us, so it is fruitful for all of us.

Here are some of the autumn sites we saw today: October 11, 2011

Yellow Leaf Jackpot! For now the best sightings are on the ground ~ Irony!

Some whithered rather than pretty colored leaves. Beautiful in their own way!

This was the first sighting. I asked Samuel to stand above the fallen, curled up leaf.

My favorite photo of the day. I told Samuel, "Mr. Carnahan built this sidewalk when my Granny, your Great Granny, was Katherine's age! Your Grandpa and Nana hadn't even been BORN yet!" Context... Samuel seemed genuinely thoughtful about this.

YES! A reddish leaf! I was so happy about this one, I made an arrow with my feet!

I wouldn't have explored the neighborhood in quite this way if it wasn't for Leah Piken Kolidas, of Creative Every Day. We have a theme to follow each month of the Creative Every Day challenge. In October it is "Autumn" ~ THANK YOU, Leah, for helping create a more mindful morning for Samuel and me!

  Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot

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Finding Peace in Creepy Yet Somehow Sacred Spaces (#blogboost)

I first met this stretch of river during a time of desperation.

I was alone with Samuel, at home. We were at home by choice yet not by choice. We were waiting for resolution, biding time while doing our best to live life to the fullest each moment.

I was searching, grieving and simultaneously more in love with my son than I ever thought was possible.

This patch of river became a beloved location for afternoon play and adventuring.

What I didn’t know then, something we never know when we first get to know a space or a person, is how significant this single location would become for me.  It has become a comforter, a space of refuge and peace. I visit regularly and when time goes by without a visit, I miss it.

It regularly calls me to return.

You see the view from the first path we walked on that fateful Autumn day in 2007. We were attracted by a tire swing someone else who visited this spot had tied to a tree. Samuel could spend hours playing in that swing and exploring the space he called “My room”, an archipelago which is now underwater at least by a foot or two.

This is a creepy underbelly place, cruised by men looking for anonymous companionship on one hand, methamphetamine users on another hand, and then people like us: explorers and lovers of urban nature on the left foot and finally, law enforcement on the other foot.

It seems an odd place to be in love with yet I am.

I am wholeheartedly in love with this underbelly of a place.

The landscape has shaped as much as I have in the past few years.

This morning I found a gorgeous river flower, akin I suppose to a water lily, floating on the surface which was land, not long ago. Beth, my dog, and I saw an enthusiastic frog leap into the water. Oddly enough, I haven’t seen a frog there before, only rabbits, snakes, skunks and the occasional egret or wild cat.

I watched the ripples in the water fan out as if they were applauding his bold departure. My eyes couldn’t find him under the water. I stood, silently for a moment to honor him before moving along.

Moments like these are as important to me as my glass of water, my sleep, my friendly relationships.

Perhaps it is because if I can find peace in the creepiest yet somehow sacred urban spaces, I can find peace in my life - even when things feel creepy/sacred, too.

 

  Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot

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Julie Jordan Scott

This is post 1 of 31 in October for the Ultimate Blog Challenge ~

 

Emma's Sack Lunch, 2011 is Not What Mine Used to Be, Circa 1975

I carried a brown paper bag lunch to school every day from fifth grade to the middle of tenth grade, when I relieved my mother of the duty by choosing what I would and wouldn’t eat for lunch. Until then, it was a smooshed up tuna sandwich and some celery sticks or perhaps bologna and cheese. The most special days are when Mom had baked goodies for one of my older brothers to take back to college in a care package and I would get a cookie or a brownie surprise amidst the peanut butter and jelly or ham sandwich.

My Emma, however, has never been much of a sandwich fan and I have never been one to force her.

Hot lunches at high school are a difficult maneuver since Emma eats with friends in the choir room, last week I decided I needed to start treating her lunch differently, since she simply refused to eat what she didn’t want no matter how carefully I selected items for her lunch.

Now, she gets pasta or pizza along with fruit and perhaps a sweet on the side.

This morning I cooked pasta with pesto and boxed it up for her.

Not even leftover pasta this time but pasta made especially for her lunch. I can almost hear old school parents, “Just give her what you had. She gets hungry enough, she’ll eat whatever you pack. She clearly isn’t starving to death.”

Right now it feels appropriate to go this extra mile, even when I find smashed grapes and uneaten cheese-crackers in her backpack at the end of the day. She knows I went out of my way to put together a lunch I thought she would enjoy and packed it with a ton of Mommy love.

She is in high school. She needs this as much as a tiny-child needs it.

I think I will include a note in tomorrow’s lunch goodies.

A Mommy-Daughter love note sounds like the perfect mid-school day treat, along with some cold cheese pizza, perhaps.

Yes, this sounds exactly right.

 

 

  Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot

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Julie Jordan Scott