Happy Friday the 13th!

Why happy? Because superstitions are very useful for a writer. Think how many different superstitions are truly tropes in fiction--where would werewolves and other monthly lunacy be without the superstitions around the full moon, for example. And of course they differ from culture to culture.

Can you, dear reader, think of a way you used a superstition in your writing? Mine is that I wrote a short story about a ghost sheriff--and sold it to an anthology a couple of weeks ago--I love superstitions! Except for those that I believe in, knock wood.

And...

HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13TH!

Take Time to Eat the Flowers

Baxter enjoying the lilies--by eating them!

Have you ever had a time in your life when you're so busy there's no space to breathe? If not, why not?! How do you live? I'm asking because I need to know--this whole summer has been swamped--I'm mired in projects and behind on all of them. Next week is even busier as I'm camera person and editor for a film project.

How to find time to eat the lilies?

Egg and Spring Day Greetings

Daffodils for a HAPPY EASTER

One of the funnest things about being a *semi* Buddhist is that I feel that I can embrace all holidays! I'm a semi-Buddhist partly because I was raised by a declared atheist who participated in Navajo ceremonies and a come-to-it-late sloppy sorta Buddhist. Our tradition was a morning egg hunt, but we had to find all the eggs and have egg salad sandwiches forever after. And why we celebrated Easter...

Whether you're celebrating the traditional holiday or love eggs or simply enjoy a new spring day my good wishes go out to you.

My favorite Easter candy is Cadbury cream eggs--but I only like them NOW. How about you? Any traditions you'd like to share?

 

Gratitude and pumpkin nut bread

My stomach-with-legs kitty on the lookout for Thanksgiving leftovers.

Proven facts: Gratitude increases creativity and productivity. Chocolate decreases inflammation. So I remember every day I'm grateful for family and friends and chocolate!

PUMPKIN NUT BREAD (I always buy big cans of pumpkin so I can make this)

1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2c whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp salt
dash cloves
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 eggs beaten
1/3 c. water
1 c. cooked pumpkin (fresh or canned)
1/2 c. chopped pecans (or any nuts or can be omitted)
1/2 c. dark chocolate bits (can be omitted, but why?)

Grease 9x5x3 loaf pan (cake pan works too).
Place all dry ingredients in large bowl, mix well. Add oil and eggs. Add water, pumpkin, nuts and chocolate bits. Bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours until done, let cool, ease out of pan.

Variations: use different spices, mace and allspice, used mashed sweet potato instead of pumpkin, frost if baked in cake pan with sprinkling chocolate bits on top and when slightly melted, spreading with a knife, cream cheese frosting works as well, as does raisins or any dried fruits.

Enjoy! And

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Branding--OW!

A platform Bruce built

First snowfall of the season

A couple of posts ago I talked about the necessity of creating a platform. Above are a couple of instances of same. The first is of course a different type of platform, one created by Bruce, my permanent boyfriend. But it illustrates how to create "branding" as well as a platform: Bruce uses recycled materials in his creations. The platform was built with a shutter from our previous home and the basil was re-planted from this summer's garden. Bruce's Brand is becoming the guy who recycles while creating useful art. A brand can be created by creating different projects using the same creative process.

And what does branding have to do with snow? Well, I grew up in Sun Valley, Idaho, a world famous ski resort. And the ski resort is world famous for skiing in the sun. In fact, Sun Valley has been so successful at branding that many people don't know that during summers, it's also a great resort for all sorts of outside activities, with superb trout fishing, golfing, hiking, horse trails and on and on.

What does this mean for a creative person trying to establish or maintain or grow a career? It means branding requires some thought and planning. It needs to be original and specific, but hopefully avoids "Sun Valley is ONLY a ski resort" type of branding. Narrow enough to be distinct, but broad enough to be attractive to a wide audience. (How many people never read fantasy until Harry Potter?)

Difficult to achieve, I know, and I'm working hard on my own brand, coming up with new fresh ideas for promoting myself and my writing. I remind myself often, that branding, like any creative process is always a work in progress.

What are some of the ways you've branded yourself? Any that have worked well that you'd like to share? Failed miserably? Or do you take the organic approach and promote as it comes?

Next up: networking.

10 Weird Things

Beth of Beth's Adventures asked for a list of 10 things people might not know about me. So...
1. I can chew my own toenails, but don't.
2. I grew up in a ski resort but prefer to ice skate. I was so small when I started skiing I kept falling off the ski lift.
3. I met the love of my life on Match.com (Hi Bruce!).
4. I love basenjis (an African hunting hound, barkless but not silent, not obedient but loving) and I'm on my second one, 20 years of basenjis!
5. I started college when I was 15 (and made it through by attending a liberal arts school and taking English and History classes only).
6. I'm of mostly Scots descent. I've been to England and spent a summer in Ireland but I've never been to Scotland.
7. I have eyebrows, but my hair is so light as I am a natural redhead you can't see them. Means I have to pencil them in, BUT I never shave my legs either!
8. My oddest job: hmm, I've had lots, maybe cold sales calling for a guy with a cold storage truck business?

Okay, that's only eight, but I'd love to hear from my readers...what are a few weird things about you? Share!

Self Congratulations & Celebrations

My celebratory chocolate with the cat wondering if he likes chocolate.

The cat has decided he doesn't like chocolate.

Self congratulations are in order. As I posted earlier, I prioritized and set my intentions to finish my rough draft by a certain time--and succeeded! Thanks in part to great support and encouragement by fellow blogger Kathy McIntosh of Well Placed Words. Thanks, Kathy!

Now, the next step, is, as Margie Lawson points out, is to congratulate and celebrate. Why? Because if we don't enjoy the small victories along the way, if we just slog along, where will we get the renewing refreshment of success. Why not celebrate the small victories? It takes time and effort to complete a rough draft--why do we ignore and dismiss the accomplishment?

So, part of my celebration, thanks to my s.o.'s delightful mom, Dorothy, is a bit of Valentine's chocolate. Another part is a congratulatory dinner my delightful significant other is taking me to this Saturday. And then, renewed, refreshed and invigorated--onto the next draft!

Do you take the time to celebrate the small victories? If not, why not? If so, what do you do?

Beginnings

Begin as you expect to continue, a wise friend told me.

I expect to continue:
1. Writing as much as possible. Working on writing better. Submitting my writing.
2. Working on a healthy, well-engaged life.
3. Always remembering that the people in my life are by far the most important. Love matters most.

What are you top 3 continuances?

Shifting from the outside in

Lilacs change moment to moment

Above are two photos of lilacs taken only a couple of days apart. Lilacs begin to wilt as soon as they are cut. So why even plant lilacs? Why bring the blooms inside? Granted, they give off a glorious smell, but still.

Could it be because they are so transient? Because they are a reminder of how fleeting beauty and therefore life is? And what does this have to do with shifting to success?

Because shifting is also changing. Yes, that sounds like only semantics, but it goes deeper than a different word. It's also a hint as to how to shift from the outside in.

When was the last time you changed anything in your workspace? Do something new--a new plant, move around the pictures, shift your laptop to a slightly different space. Put a different wallpaper on your monitor. Or even cell phone. Little changes, but they help "wake up the brain" to new possibilities.

When was the last time you tried something new to read? Tried a different way to write? Stepped out, in a small way, of your comfort zone? Done some tiny thing in a different way? Even walking in a different direction or driving to work can help the brain with larger paradigm shifts.

And finally--itsy-bitsy visualizations. Visual yourself finishing a chapter, or mailing a manuscript, or even hearing back with a positive response from an editor or agent. Be detailed with this tiny visualizing--glory in it, if you can.

Any and all of this will shift from the outside in.

What are some of the small changes you can think of to make?

Workshop Wisdom

Last of the spring tulips

Time for a new season. Time to move on up to another level. So how to shift?

The last post was about success. The excellent comments there could be a prelude to this entry. It was obvious that success means different things to different people at different times. In other words, what we perceive as success is always changing. So why worry about it? Why even bother to think/fuss/stew over success?

Well, we're human. But perhaps a better use for our energies would be to focus on shifting our internal world. Oh yeah, real easy, just change how we are. Uh-huh. Inside. Uh-huh. Change the subconscious traps that hold us down. Uh-huh.

There are ways. First, ask these questions:
1. What is your dream life?
2. What are you doing right now that helps create that dream life? (There will be something, no matter how small, even if it's only reading this blog, I promise.)
3. What's one more thing you could be doing? Give yourself permission to imagine big or small, practical or outrageous, or anything in-between. The operative word is doing. Be an active verb--even if the action is sitting down to work five minutes earlier.

Next post--shifting from the outside in.

Dear readers--what are your answers to the above questions? Do you have more than one?

Setting an Intention

It's that annoying time of year: New Year's. When people grown and moan as they make their goal lists.

Doesn't have to be that way. There's an easier and more effective method. It's called setting an intention. I've discussed this before but it needs reiterating.

Setting an intention is more than simply semantics. Words are powerful and when you set an intention, you're saying "I intend" not "my goal is" which is static. Which is somewhere in the future. Whereas "I intend" is an active verb. "I take action." And unlike a goal, it's not possible to fail with setting an intention. You're intending, you're acting, but what will happen due to your actions is in the future and not in your control. So setting an intention means you've already succeeded.

Let me start with my intention: I intend to write the first book of my new trilogy in 2008. See? Simple. And having stated that, I'm already thinking and planning of how to make that possible, without the pressure of failing a goal.

So, readers, what is one intention you have for the new year, hmm?

Balance isn't just for gymnasts

Balance, balance, balance--sure sounds boring doesn't it? Especially to us creative types--it's way too close to-gasp!-self discipline, which always sounds to me like a bizarre form of s&m for recluses...but balance is at the core of what we all struggle with every day. And I do mean all of us, whether we're writers or artists or lawyers. It's an Overcommitment Puritan Ethic Disease, or OPED (a single wheeled vehicle that has a square wheel) for short. I've been thinking a lot on this as my new class is all about "How to Focus and Succeed" at the True North Creative Learning Center starting April 14, and how can we creative folks focus when we're riding around on a one square wheel OPED.
Here's one thing that has helped me balance myself, at least a little: meditation. Aaargh! No! I'll have to shave my head, I can hear you all saying, no whoo-whoo stuff! Ugh! Relax, all I'm talking about is that I pull my attention to the moment whenever I remember to--which isn't often, I'm a flittertigibbet just like every creative person I know. I promise you won't have to wear orange sheets or buy those floor pillows that end up as dog beds...what I've noticed is when I notice the moment it centers me and opens time. Opens time? What? Yes, I get balanced enough to realize what matters, what I should do first and, guess what? now I've got time.

Secret: Dealing with another horrid ion: Procrastination. When you're stuck in this dreaded ion here's a simple fix: pick one small thing and do it. By small, I mean small like pay a bill, or send a manuscript out that's ready and waiting to be sent, not an OPED small like clean the garage. If you pick one small thing and accomplish it, that means you've SUCCEEDED in focusing and doing and you're no longer procrastinating, now are you?
And a big thanks to my good friend and great writer Kathy McIntosh for the suggestion that led to this shared secret.