It’s official- I have decide to give it until the New Year and if the blog stays dormant then it is probably for the best. In the meantime I can be found weekdays adding fresh vintage items to my Etsy store.
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Minimalist
You may have wondered if I was ever coming back to this blog… or whether or not I had abandoned it like so many other abandoned blogs in the blogosphere.
For the last couple of months I have been struggling with writer’s block and of course that precludes any blogging activities… recently I even found it hard to comment on my favorite blogs or on twitter.
After several weeks of writing in a journal and contemplating the state of my creative life while walking- I have discovered a few things about myself. I won’t bore you with an in depth psychoanalysis or all the scary details, but I will tell you that the most important item I discovered about myself is that I am a minimalist.
Now please forget all your preconceived notions about being a minimalist… I don’t want to be a monk or a nun. I don’t want to live without internet and technology or in a cave for that matter with no heat and a hole for a toilet.
Being a minimalist essentially means I am constantly endeavoring to pare down the non-essentials in my life. These non-essentials includes material goods, activities, and basically anything and everything that keeps me from living an uncluttered and happy life.
So the big question is- have I cut this blog out of my life yet? As of today I can still say “No- not yet.”
For one thing, this blog is a part of my branding and my business. How important of a piece it is in my business, I haven’t decided yet? On a personal note- I am trying to figure out a way to continue this blog and at the same time not feel chained to it or like it is just another nonessential piece of clutter I need to pare out of my life.
We’ll see how things go in the upcoming days or weeks. In the meantime, I leave you with this link to mnmlist – a really good blog on being a minimalist.
Posted in Blog.
– November 10, 2010
Drawing A Blank
Now that I have temporarily given up novel writing- one would think my writer’s block would be cured and that I have moved on to better and brighter days… unfortunately it is not been that easy for me to pull out of this particular slump of writer’s block. In fact last week, I made a grand total of one entry in my new journal early in the week and then the journal sat unused on my night stand waiting for me to pick it up again… Chirp CHIRP! (That’s the sound of crickets chirping on my night stand).
You would think that I would feel sort of down about all this, but I don’t and that’s because I have taken up drawing again. A long time ago, before I had five children I used to draw here and there when I had free time. The act of filling up a page with drawings always gave me the distinct pleasure almost as much or even the same as filling up a blank page with words. So I pulled out my old sketch book and that’s when I noticed that the last sketches were dated from the year 2000! Had it really been that long since I sketched anything? Well not entirely, but beyond doodling coloring pages for my young children and drawing bits and pieces of things for scrapbook pages I had stopped drawing for the most part too.
As you can imagine- I didn’t really know where to begin or what to draw first after so long. I felt sort of overwhelmed staring at the blank pages of my sketch book (this feeling reminded me of writer’s block). But before I got to entrenched in another artistic blockage, I checked out a few books from the library. One of the books I checked out is called Artistic Fitness by Ed Tadem.
The book has “50 quick exercises to shape up your drawing skills,” which sounded exactly like what I needed. I did pick out several other instructional art books, but in the end have started using this one because it has a wide variety of animals, still lifes, and even retro items to draw. Yep- that’s right I was sold on the book when I found out that a few of the drawing exercises were vintage items, like a dashboard hula dancer, a 1940′s car, a retro clock and chair, and even salt and pepper shakers that look like they came from a thrift store.
A retro clock to draw from the book Artistic Fitness by Ed Tadem
I can’t wait to try my hand at drawing either of these two vintage style pictures.
A sleek 1940's car to draw.
I am not yet up to the old car and retro clock in the book which are near the end. For now I am still on exercise #3 which is drawing a panda. I must say it feels good to be sketching again, even if I am still rusty. Hopefully I will be back to writing again soon, but in the mean time drawing is keeping me from feeling miserable about my writer’s block.
Exercise #1 The Penguin
The penguin is the first drawing I did last week. I think the head looks a little small, but overall I think it’s not too bad.
Exercise #2 The Snail
I had a little trouble drawing this snail, he’s actually my second try.
Exercise #3 The Panda
I am still working on this sketch of a panda, but I think he is coming out nicely.
Well, I may not have conquered this bout of writer’s block yet, but at least I feel like I am doing something creative and productive. I hope you have a wonderful and creative week coming up and maybe just maybe I will have some good news on the writing front to share with you soon.
Posted in Blog.
– September 27, 2010
Reinvinting Myself
An almost perfect yellow rose from my garden yesterday.
A couple months ago- I realized I was giving myself a severe case of writer’s block. I was forcing myself to edit a book I have had been working on for several years hoping to finish it and find closure. Instead of completing my book- I pretty much killed any desire to work on any other writing projects small or large, including this blog. In fact- you may or may not have noticed that my posts on here have been pretty spartan for sometime around here…
In order to combat writer’s block, I have changed some of my writing habits as of late- including removing almost every rule I have handed down to myself. Projects can now sit unfinished without a nagging, guilty conscious and worrying about a self imposed deadline. I have also recently starting journaling again to sort of unblock this terrible spell of writer’s block. Too- I have started using writer’s prompts as a tool to get myself back to writing anything (this last admission makes me feel like a writing invalid). But I don’t really care anymore, I just want to be able to write something, without the nagging voice of self censorship or the inner editor going off.
As for this blog- I have decided that I am going to open the topics up a bit more beyond the topic of “vintage.” Lately, I find that writing about vintage items makes me feel like I am doing homework- like I am still sort of stuck in school writing essays. I don’t know how it will work blogging about just anything that pops into my head. I don’t want to make this a “Mommy” blog or personal blog per say, but rather a mixed bag of whatever I feel like posting about at the time. Who knows- maybe I will post some of my latest journal entries… okay probably not.
I am really unsure where this will take me or whether or not this blog will still be around in the upcoming year. We shall see- I can tell you, that since I have started breaking my writing rules in the last few weeks, I have felt better and been more productive then ever. So wish me luck with reinventing my writing and this blog. I hope you stick around to see what happens.
Posted in Blog.
– September 20, 2010
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