For me, filling the page takes a lot of nerve—and I don’t think I’m alone. First I have to get past the shrill nasty voice that says, “How can you possibly think that you are capable of writing anything new or interesting about this subject?” I don’t like her very much, but she visits most days I sit down to write. I’m getting better at pushing her out of the way, but she generally gets her say before I do.

And even when I get past her and start to write, her little creepy cousin perches on my shoulder and whispers, “Are you sure?” every time I finish a paragraph. I don’t like her very much either. But she eventually shuts up as I get rolling and start to feel that I’m on the right track. It can be a long wait sometimes before the writing drowns out the voices, but when it does, I swear I even sit taller in my chair.

At the beginning of a project, I’m up and wandering away from the keyboard every 250 words or so, hoping, I suppose, that the voices will be gone when I get back. No such luck. But each time I sit back down, it’s a little easier and when everyone finally shuts up I can write for a long stretch without a break and begin to feel like a writer again.

My voices are their loudest and most persistent when I’m not regularly at the keyboard. And that’s been the state of my writing life lately. I’ve got out the calendar and once again carved out some daily writing time. If I tame the voices daily, their whining gets shut down until they don’t even bother to visit. Then the writing becomes a pleasure—still hard work and still second-guessed regularly—but a pleasure.

And I start today.

Another beautiful day to be thankful for!

Today I am grateful for health and life… For the infinite love of and for my incredible Twin Flame husband and our two boys… For a nature hike filled with hills and trees, gentle breezes and lilting steps… For peaceful time alone in the house (a precious commodity!), spent cooking with so much appreciation for the life force of the food, and time to eat together… For the opportunity to help people through my work and to prosper in doing so… For a warm home and even-warmer heart.

What are YOU thankful for right now? (comments welcome)

Thanksgiving may be over for 51 weeks more but every day that ends in Y is a day of blessings! MondaY, TuesdaY…

I invite you to share your thankful, heart-full reflections in comments on this site, as well as your own practices of gratitude. For example, my husband does gratitude journaling daily, listing what he is grateful for. I, too, journal with Spirit daily and always sign my love letters to the Source of All Good things “TYG” – Thank you, God! As a family, we give thanks with each and every meal and bless the food that it may turn into energy to fulfill our life purpose and be God’s hands here on Earth. I also take gratitude walks, create gratitude books with my children, and strive to live life as one Great Full praise for Creator and all of Creation. See my earlier entries for 5 Great Ways to Be More Great Full.

I don’t claim to be 100% “there yet” (if there is such a thing), but most people who know me say I am one of the happiest, most positive people they have ever met, and I certainly feel good, so I must be doing something right! I know that Life is a work in progress and that we can choose to feel grateful, to feel peaceful, to live in our hearts, moment by moment…

A Gift of Gratitude and Peace for You

So here, as my gift to you today, is a new, consciousness-enhancing meditation that will help you bring your awareness to the present moment and all of its delights, as well as calm, center, connect with the divine within and around you, and open your heart. Inspired by both Buddhist and yogic meditation methods, yet timeless and universal, this practice can transform your life – and your perception OF your life, which is at least as important, since the outer reflects the inner. The Breath of Gratitude Meditation is a simple yet profoundly powerful practice that will enhance your appreciation of life, the Universe and everything – instantly! Try it for free on my blog and see how much heartfulness and gratefulness (great fullness) you can allow yourself to feel.

Here is how you do the meditation, which, by the way, is portable, requires no props, altars, other people, special places, or resources of any kind, because you already, always, all ways, have ALL you need, within you and around you, right here, right now:

Sit peacefully, placing your hands over your heart chakra, that place where you feel strong emotions, in the center of your chest. You will know it’s the right spot when you feel an inner shift, like an “Ahhhhhhh” just by gently touching yourself there, like you are cradling yourself with love.

With your focus on your breath, begin to breathe IN something you are thankful for, anything that you appreciate right now. It could relate to your past, your present or even your future. With each breath OUT, send out gratitude to the Universe (God).

You are essentially experiencing a stream of heart consciousness that will change and flow with each breath as you maintain a focus on receiving blessings (inhaling) and sending out love and gratitude (exhaling).

For example, my  Breath of Gratitude stream of heart consciousness went something like this, i.e. these were my thoughts and feelings accompanying my breaths:

Breathing in peace. Breathing out gratitude.

Breathing in beauty. Breathing out gratitude.

Breathing in joy. Breathing out gratitude.

Breathing in my husband. Breathing out gratitude.

Breathing in food. Breathing out gratitude.

Breathing in my oldest child. Breathing out gratitude.

Breathing in my youngest child. Breathing out gratitude.

Breathing in a good home. Breathing out gratitude.

Breathing in a beautiful Thanksgiving this year. Breathing out gratitude.

Breathing in music. Breathing out gratitude.

Breathing in laughter. Breathing out gratitude.

Breathing in breath itself. Breathing out gratitude.

Breathing in friends. Breathing out gratitude.

Breathing in my dog. Breathing out gratitude.

Breathing in a new computer (coming soon!). Breathing out gratitude.

Breathing in work I love. Breathing out gratitude.

Breathing in life. Breathing out gratitude.

Breathing in this moment. Breathing out gratitude.

Breathing in God. Breathing out gratitude.

and so on….

Of course, the heartful, mindful appreciative awareness you experience will be different from my own. In fact, it will be different from YOUR own because it will be new each time you do this meditation, from minute to minute and day to day.

I did this meditation in silence today with one of my private practice clients for about 10 minutes to begin our session, and we both felt an immediate and deep shift into greater awareness, appreciation and peace. Doing this Breath of Gratitude Meditation will enhance your spiritual path, and facilitate your “gratitude attitude” throughout the day, and throughout your life. As I shared in my earlier blogs, thankfulness is one of the best ways to keep the faucet of blessings open!

Why the placement of the hands over the heart center? Can it be coincidence that EVERY world religion and spiritual path recognizes the importance of this part of the human body and energy field? Did you ever wonder why humans the world over, throughout history (and herstory) pray by placing our hands together, in front of this center? Why, when we feel strong emotions, we place our hands over our chests? The heart contains a form of intelligence and intuition all its own, which is why Native American elders told Carl Jung, “We see why you white people are so unhappy so much of the time. It’s because you make decisions from your heads instead of your hearts.”

In Book 1 of my LoveLife! series, The Radical Self-Love Workbook, and in intuitive healing and coaching sessions, teleseminars and personal growth trainings, I share many more proven, holistic practices for your mind, body, heart and soul that are easy to fit into your busy life, field tested over 15 years in private practice with thousands of people. I have studied meditations all over the world and, in fact, designed and taught a Multicultural Meditation for Busy People program at Kaiser Permanente for years. I have also practiced meditation on a daily basis for 29 years, am an ordained interfaith minister as well as an intuitive life coach, and bring this expertise and personal experience to my teachings, healing and coaching work as well as my writings and, of course, meditation audios.

According to The Institute of Heart Math, a scientific research facility and think tank dedicated to studying and exploring the electromagnetic energy of the heart field and its universal importance for health and happiness, breathing with a focus simultaneously on appreciation and on the heart center (a.k.a. heart chakra or field) is the single most effective practice for increasing joy and inner peace.

So, divine being, enjoy The Breath of Gratitude Meditation!

Enjoy your life!

Many thanks for visiting my blog and for shining your light in this world!

With love,

Sage

“Let the beauty we love be what we do.

There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”

- Rumi

www.LoveandSpirit.org

www.SoulMatesMatchmaking.com

P.S. Please share what YOU are thankful for, in this infinite moment…and your own tips for living more “great fully” in your comments below. Thanks!

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This Sunday at Gallery 5’s Rock and Shop I’m going to have All My Crochet for Sale

Here’s Some Samples

Yeah, I crocheted a dress.

It’s for sale

My Model’s the Cutest. She’s Rachel.  I Love Her.

Teal leg Warmer are Nice Too

This was just a Taste

There are some great resources on the web, that help explain / demonstrate / model narrowing a search strategy or mind mapping concepts. Please add in your favourite sites.

Resources: 

- Google Wonder Wheel   – do your search in Google, then click on Show Options. Select Wonder Wheel from the left-hand frame. Information about WW can be found on the following google site  http://www.googlewonderwheel.com/
- Visuwords – graphical dictionary & thesaurus. Shows links and relations between words and concepts
- iiBlueSky   mindmap tool  ( iPhone app).

There are also some interactive sites to help with boolean searching

- Boolean Machine
- Boolify

…published by my lovely friends at Threads and More. It’s a simple bolero pattern to be used with their mega Wonderballs and is now available in store when you purchase a Wonderball.

Also you should definitely check out the Threads and More blog for loads of great discount and giveaways in the run up to Christmas…a different ‘gift’ everyday so check regularly

Several weeks ago, Ryan and I went downtown to check out our local food co-op. While at the checkout stand, I just so happened to notice a magazine that was practically screaming for me to buy it – MaryJanesFarm: the Everyday Organic Lifestyle magazine. I don’t want to tell you too much about it because I really hope you’ll go buy one yourself {or better yet, subscribe!} but I want to share something I found in the particular issue I picked up that day.

In the Home Safe Home section under Personal Care, there is a fun little recipe for homemade toothpaste:

“Sarah from Minnesota submitted it and she says, ‘I’ve been using the following recipe for homemade toothpaste for over six month now, and I love it. So easy to mix up, very effective, and there’s not a harmful chemical in sight.’

The recipe is as follows:

1/2 cup baking soda
1/4 cup hydrogen peroxide {you can add more or less, depending on the consistency you like}
1-3 drops peppermint essential oil
1-2 drops tea tree oil

If you want a smoother feel, you can add vegetable glycerin, and for a sweeter taste, you can add powdered stevia. It may take a little getting used to, but it’s so cheap and easy, and it allows you to avoid the fluoride and additives found in conventional toothpastes.”

I just mixed up our first double-batch last night and it was a great success. While the texture is definitely different that your average toothpaste, it reminds me a lot of the Tom’s of Maine or Trader Joe’s brands. My mouth feels clean and fresh after brushing, and the toothpaste is stored easily in a mason jar {along with a spoon, for stirring} on the bathroom counter.

Let me know if you try it, too!

{Full disclosure: I’m writing about MaryJanesFarm purely and simply because I love the magazine – I was not compensated in any way!}

Wednesday December 2, 2009 By Kevin Morrow

Hey everybody, thank you for reading another one of my blogs today. There are a lot of things on my mind, so I you know I have to talk about them. That’s just how I roll.

The topic of creating value through my talents and things I love to do has come up within my awareness. So off into the land of blogging I go.

Money,money,money…

A very interesting subject. I’m no longer focused on it. All I care about right now is doing what I feel is right. Despite everything that I “think” I see around me. I think that money is an “idea” that takes many forms. The many forms are not really real, therefore I can’t focus on the money itself.

The IDEA of money is real, the “material” money is not reality.

Here is what I mean by this, not that you don’t understand, I usually repeat myself to verify what I meant to myself.

So check this out, when I say “money’ different perspectives will give different answers. All of those answers will be true to those perspectives. But if those perspectives are based on material then they are not based in reality. Let me re-introduce myself…my name is… Just kidding. I was writing and all of a sudden a Jay-Z song popped into my head. Now back to the subject…

Here is the Wikepedia defintion for money….

Money is anything that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts.[1][2] The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value, and occasionally, a standard of deferred payment.[3][4]

The money supply of a country is usually held to consist of currency (banknotes and coins) and demand deposits or ‘bank money’ (the balance held in checking accounts and savings accounts). These demand deposits usually account for a much larger part of the money supply than currency.[6][7] Bank money is intangible and exists only in the form of various bank records. Despite being intangible, bank money still performs the basic functions of money, as checks are generally accepted as a form of payment and as a means of transferring ownership of deposit money.[8]

Now that you have read this definition you can see what I meant about money not being real. The dollar bills and the digits in my account are not real. They are variables of an idea. This is very good news to me. Because this means that once I actually realize this concept, I can free myself of all worry.

I’m now establishing my self, and positioning myself to use my talents to provide value to YOU. Yes You, the incredibly smart person who is reading this blog right now. As of right now I am aware of a couple ways of how to deliver this value to more people, and I know that as I continue to write more people will come to assist me.

It’s the way the cake gets baked. It was really apparent to me that this is true in my reality based on my last trip to Las Vegas. Talk about synchronicity…

The difference between CREATING VALUE and WORKING

Think about what an entrepreneur does… They create value. Think about what an employee does…They deliver other peoples value. Neither one is bad or good, but both play different roles.

I have a friend that hates their job, but they can’t leave because they don’t know how to create value through themselves. They haven’t had the time to find out what value they can create, and thus they are stuck in a game of paycheck to paycheck. At their job they deliver the value that the owners have established, and since it’s not something the person loves, it actually causes a lack of love to flow from their mind.

I see much value within them, so I deliver their value back to them through my actions. I do this out of love. By doing this I saw something cool. What if I could, by being myself, deliver $5 dollars worth of value to 1,000,000 people. I’m talking about true value from within myself to 1,000,000 people. This is my new goal.

I realize that the above statement included money, so I’m going to revamp the idea and say, what if I could supply value to 1,000,000 right now? What if, does not exist. I can and will and am doing this right now.

This includes all amounts up to and beyond 1,000,000 people.

This means the people and opportunities to make this happen are now presenting themselves to me. I’m open to receive the ideas,people,events, and opportunities right now.

I know that the actual money is not real, so I know focusing on it is not real. It’s the value exchange that is real. The biggest drug dealer in the world is supplying a “value” to people. Bill Gates is supplying a “value” to people. Subway is supplying a “value” to people.

The value is the real “idea.”

Focusing on earning $1,000,000 is almost impossible to me because it doesn’t represent any value in my head, it’s like wishing for 1,000,000 rain drops to fall on my head.

THE TRANSITION

I know I can create value. The value is being created right now. I know there are at least 1,000,000 who can benefit from what I can provide. I only require the bridge that I may not directly see right now. But just like a planner, I can visualize a bridge and see it crossing the challenge. The value I create is crossing that bridge in my minds eye right now to all amounts up to and beyond 1,000,000 people.

People who know how to do this and who relate to my blog will contact me with knowledge and ideas. The intention is now set. I feel good writing this so it must be true. After the negativity that surfaced in my reality today, I know that I’m able to provide value.

CHASING MONEY?

I know why I’m not super successful at MLM. I feel like MLM in my life is reflecting the fact that my intentions are not all about gaining money. In my MLM yes I can deliver the value of the company, but what about the value within me? This is why the “IDEA” is great to me, but the process is foreign.

The new Idea is for me to take the “IDEA” of providing value through the MLM and apply it to what I can provide. I can feel the wheels turning in my head right now. What kind of value can I provide that can be spread by word of mouth? Well your looking at it.

Spread this info via word of mouth…

I have to go now, I’m going to go cook up some ideas.

When I come back, grab a plate and get ready for that good home cooking!

Peace, and love to you…

has spread all over the house whilst I am preparing for my first market this weekend.  2 more days to go and enough things to do to fill many more!  Head over to Kirsty’s to see many more lovely creative spaces.

I’m also taking part, for the first time, in Sew, Mama, Sew!’s Giveaway – click here if you fancy entering my part of this huge giveaway.  Thanks. x

How long ago was it that I first showed you the new piece for the shop? Monday you say? Monday a week ago!? 

Yes, well… I never said I was prompt

Not to mention the various hair/backdrop/focus fails on the first photo shoot. As you can probably tell the focus issue still hasn’t been resolved. The perils of D.I.Y photography you know. But it’s a choice between buying an air-conditioner OR a DSLR with remote control. *drool* 

But ANYWAY, Hortensia Noir is now up in the shop!

Portia Munson: My Favorite Artist

Just the other day I read an article by Pat Olsen, on the Harvard Business website, titled “How to Survive in an Unhappy Workplace.”  The article offered valuable insights about interactions in the business world, about managing our lives, and about seeking joy, in work and outside of it.  I’d like to share with you the comment I made to the article:

Thank you for a very practical, insightful article. This is such a great approach, Pat, for most things in life are not black and white. Thank you for demonstrating life is a process, and how can we work towards greater good?

These are not easy things to feel — trying to feel more grateful, to see the positive, stay optimistic, if you don’t enjoy what you do. But life is about service, and part of utmost joy comes from serving others. For example, is there a manager that you truly enjoy working for? Can you make their day a bit easier? It’s not just about the project or providing a report. It’s about making people’s lives easier and smoother, spreading a certain kindness throughout the day. That can bring, joy, too.

The other warm way to build meaning is to think about what is going on behind the scenes. I had an employee say the other day ‘they were just doing a fax.’ I showed them what I was doing — sending a fax. Why was it important?

This fax allowed us to renew our contract with one of the top Fortune 500 companies.

Reconnect yourself, and your team, with the meaning behind the task. Nothing is ever just a fax…..

Having said that, we have a right to find what we love to do. Be grateful for the experience you have had; for right now; and for opportunities in the future. Keep expecting good. Keep exploring your passions. Bit by bit you’ll be centered more on them.

The key is to go from good to good.

Warmly,
Pamela Hawley

I had so much fun going from blog to blog on the last giveway and seeing what all you crafty people were up to that I’m  really looking forward to taking part in this one myself.  So here it is!  Welcome to you all – thank you so much for visiting and hopefully you’ll see something below that you like and so will enter my giveaway!  I am very happy to post anywhere in the world.

Now I am going to ask for something in return.  Nothing big, think of it as a favour maybe!  But because I am going to ask for something I’m going to have four winners drawn.  So, should I ask the favour first or should I tell what’s on offer first?!!

Favour first!  I’m preparing for my first handmade, craft market this weekend and as such have been busy making, making, making and I could really do with some feedback.  I’ve uploaded some photos to flickr and wondered if you’d be so kind as to pop on over and let me know what you think.  Do you like?  Do you not like?  Any fabrics you prefer?  etc, etc.  So you see it’s not that big but it does mean you have to click somewhere else too!  If you fancy playing along just CLICK HERE to see my flickr page. 

IN RETURN HERE’S WHAT I’LL OFFER YOU!!!!

Part One:

EITHER a DRESS OR a pair of TROUSERS similar in style to those shown, made to fit your child’s measuremements (age 12 months to 5 years) in colourways to be discussed.  All the material I use is vintage, recycled, upcycled and I have a fair stash so I’m sure between us we can find something you’ll like.  When entering please specify whether you’d prefer dress or trousers.

Part Two:

Everybody who enters the giveaway will also be put into the draw for a MYSTERY PRIZE, in fact there will be TWO.  It will be something do with sewing/fabric/buttons – you get the picture?

So there it is.  All comments will be very gratefully accepted and I hope the giveaways tempt to you to comment!  One entry for each comment, plus THREE more ENTRIES if you link to this giveaway on your blog.  Giveaway is open until 6 December 2009, after which the draw will take place.

Many, many thanks! xx

in return

Today is the beginning of my December daily album. Scrapbooking a moment every day until Christmas, so I will end up with a mini book of this year’s celebration leading up to Christmas. I have no idea how I am going to make time for this amidst the final weeks of our school semester, but it’s important to me to take a couple minutes out each day and focus on the small, beautiful things that make this life so blessed. I have my album premade, so all that’s needed is a photo with some journaling…easy enough, right? It will be more time in photoshop adding my journaling to the photos then it will be actually sitting at my scrapping desk creating. I will try to add the photo here each day of what I’m putting in my book..we’ll see how that goes. Here’s to day one! PS – Happy December!

Here’s December 1st:

Rudolph dvd watching snuggled under a blankie with a pop tart.

We are allowed to bask in our beauty
We are beautiful
We are joyous
If something about this does not sit right
Breathe
Allow your soul to speak and comfort you
We are free to enjoy our own creations
They are created for all
We are part of the all
They are inspired from our soul
The beauty of our soul manifested in the world
What an amazing gift we all have to give
And to embrace each other’s gifts is to live in heaven

Four days off for Thanksgiving and spent most of the time making collages. By Sunday it was actually difficult to stay focused and feel like I was making good creative decisions. I can’t remember when I took that much time and devoted it to making things.

Here’s what I completed.

This one started out with an idea that I had while looking up at some branches that still had a few leaves on them. Everything was in silhouette. I painted a coat of light blue acrylic and while it was still wet pressed down some torn handmade white paper someone had given me. I arranges wire “branches” on top of that and held them in place with some light blue paper with threads in it. I started to cut and tear leave shapes and arrange them but it was too representational for me so I let it sit for a week or so.  This is how it looked at that stage.

At some point I just decided to play with it and tore papers into rectangles, crumbled them up and glued them down. I filled in some areas with smaller pieces of papers and some more acrylic paint. The amber tissue paper is my new favorite. I just ordered a bunch more!

Collection-1

collage on watercolor paper, 16″ x 16″ – acrylic, various papers, wire, acrylic gloss medium

This one has an undercoat of acrylic paint on a canvas that had several old paintings under it giving it a nice texture.  I used yellow ocher and burnt umber around the edges and naples yellow in the center. I was happy with the “glow” I got after gluing down the green tissue paper.

Collection-2

collage on gallery wrapped canvas, 16″ x 16″ – various papers, copper wire, acrylic

There’s an undercoat of caron d’ache on this one. I was trying to do something similar to the one above. While I was gluing the teal tissue paper down it started to tear and get stuck to itself. I felt like that episode of “I Love Lucy” where she’s trying to throw pizza dough in the air! I just kind of gave into it because it was the last large piece of teal tissue paper I had and let it fall in a somewhat square shape. I was happy with the little tears and overlaps that happened. Not sure I’m completely satisfied with how I completed this one.

Collection-3

collage on watercolor paper, 16″ x 16″ – various papers, acrylic, caron d’ache

So first and foremost … It is officially my birthday month!!!  I like to celebrate the whole month – I think that’s best.  The actual day is the 17th, but my celebration starts today.  Let’s hear it for an easy slide into 54!

Goodness, such an amazing week – where to start …

I’m thinking the biggest stunner of the week was an out of the blue phone call from Barbara Metzger, aka Basha Beads!  I was blown away.  She has Google alerts set up for her beads and saw my blog entry, followed links to my work on my website and the Etsy site, liked what she saw and read and decided she needed to give me a call.  We chatted for the better part of an hour – easy conversation, much common ground and shared aesthetics and lots of laughs … lots of laughs.  You’d never know it was our first conversation.  The upshot of the conversation – Barbara’s going to send me a ‘pick box’ later this month.  This also means that I don’t have to nudge Lynne out of lampworking retirement!  My mind is swirling with possibilities and I’m about to bust with excitement.  Bzzzzz, Bzzzzz, Bzzzzzz – my little brain is just a buzzing.

Which got me working on the next part of the project – the vehicle which will support the new work.  I’m still on my weaving and fiber thing, not that I’ve ever been off.  Lynne told me about some sari silk ribbon on Etsy.  Of course I had to check it out and immediately bought three skeins.  The colors are gorgeous, but I’m thinking it’s too irregular and the seams too bulky for my needs.  Then I thought about a small stash of hand-dyed silk ribbon that looks pretty cool woven … bulky, though.  Just as well.  For my next design phase, I really want to focus on generating virtually all of the content own my own – Basha Beads excluded.  I bought some really luscious silk a while back with plans to cut and dye my own strips.  Here’s three of the experiments and the initial ‘ribbon’ cuttings.

sari silk/leather, silk ribbon, sari silk

After trying to cut slinky silk into ribbon with scissors, it became quite clear there must be a better way.  Tools, must have more tools … Enter the world of rotary fabric cutters and mondo self-healing cutting surfaces.

new tools and accoutrements

ditto

So, I should be all set.

I’m also thinking about doing a bit of ‘retro-fitting’ to some jewelry.  I’m wanting to replace the chain elements with either my own silk ribbon – woven or plain, or braided silk cord … soften the look and bring out the color of the raw sapphires.

awaiting renewal

The essence of my aesthetic is raw yet refined, organic but contemporary.  As my hang tag says, “… rustic elements in classically inspired silhouettes … jewelry designs that, while being firmly rooted in my own urban sensibility, have a primal and somewhat ancient quality.”  I love how the components are coming together.  Oooooh, it’s going to be interesting!

Having spent so much time and energy on updating the website and installing the shopping cart, it was time to take a few days off.  I got to cruise around town and do a thorough perusal of a couple of my favorite haunts.  On Friday, Dave and I rounded up my darling friend, Marilyn, in Bryson City and headed off further west to the Stecoah Valley studio tour to catch up with old friends.  It’s hard to imagine a more idyllic setting than the home and studio of our long-time friends, Jeff and Crim Bassett of Bee Global.

jeff, marilyn and dave in the gallery

cruising the property

my walkin one and only

Such a glorious day, crisp and clear, seeing old friends and enjoying the special charm of Stecoah Valley.

I’m still taking a bit of a break, well for maybe another day or so.  I just finished up another project that I’ve been thinking about for months.  I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect bag for – well seems like forever.  I accost people on the streets, I frequent T J Max, consignment and thrift stores.  I guess the caveat here is I want a really nice bag, but I don’t want to pay a fortune for it.  A couple of years ago, I thought I’d found it.  I got a bunch of gift certificates to Sundance Catalog one year and put them together to buy what looked like the perfect bag.  Turns out the color was not great, the shoulder strap was too short and would not stay in place and I decided I didn’t like the white accent stitching – phooey!  So that fancy, expensive bag’s been sitting in the top of my closet for a good long while.

I struggled with this for a bit, but figured what the heck, it’s better than just sitting in the closet … I got out the black shoe polish and scissors and went to work.  Gone is the annoying shoulder strap, replaced with a new adjustable black cotton webbing one; the odd reddish color and white stitching are now a much improved mottled dark brownish/black.

my "new" bag

It took multiple trips to multiple stores to round up the antique brass snaps and rivets and eyelets and all the appropriate tools, cannibalizing an old belt for it’s buckle and other hardware, but I’m quite satisfied with my finished product.  Not bad for 20 bucks.

It’s been a good break, very good.  My Yogi Tea ‘fortunes’ have been spot on …

My updated table shrine brings me such joy whenever I sit down to work …

And, thanks to Dave’s constant search for new and different music (he’s a bit compulsive actually, Amazon downloads  are so addictive), I’ve got some new background music.  I haven’t listened to everything he’s gotten, but this one is especially lovely.  Sufjan Stevens …

Now, I’m stopping to take deep breaths.  I can feel the forces assembling … creative impulses, ideas, concepts, motivations.  It’s the inexorable current beneath the icy crust.  Exhilarating, joyous anticipation.  Readying myself to leap, for I know without a doubt, the net will appear.

blessings – kvk

Last night Will asked to borrow one of the owl totes I have been working on. He got a piece of paper and my Sharpie markers, placed the tote beside him and and got to work on making an owl of his own. I think it is FaBuLouS!

Hmmm. There are times I wish I’d stuck to my NaNoWriMo story and just left things alone. It was so much easier to say I was writing a romantic suspense novel about 2 people who are kidnapped by a bad guy, escape, and set out to rescue the bad guy’s next likely victims, while avoiding the police who want them for murder. Well, okay, it’s easy for me to explain.

So what am I writing? A hands-on writing guide for young writers. And that’s a lot harder to explain—even if I can get past the glazed oh-it-must-be-a-teacher-thing look. I finally figured out what my problem was.

When I talked about the romantic suspense novel, my friends got it because they were readers. They understood bad guys and murder and romance and how that all works. They could see the movie.

But my book is by a writer for writers, and that’s a lot harder to get excited about if you’re not a writer, too. I explain that my book is not for teachers; it’s for young writers, ages 12-18 who don’t care if they ever see a black-line master in their entire life. It’s for young writers who enjoy a sense of humour and some attitude. It’s for young writers who don’t want to brainstorm or create mind maps every time they sit down to write, because they have a great story in their heads already and they just want to write the damn thing, the best way they can. I’ve been around these kids for years and they’re amazing, creative, energetic, and can’t wait to tell their stories. They also want to be taken seriously as writers—not as students—and that’s what I want my book to do.

Whew! That feels better. Thanks for listening.

Stay tuned for more as I get this project into shape and embark on my experiment in self-publishing.

Now, back to the book.