There's nothing quite like celebrating life's milestones to make you feel grateful. My husband marked a big birthday this weekend. The family gathered. We shared a couple of good meals. Some stories. Some laughs. Getting together is always nice, but something about birthdays, maybe it's putting a number on things, always makes me feel grateful for all the years we've had together. Oh, and there was cake: my husband's favorite black forest cake. By the time I thought about taking a picture to include in this post, we had already enjoyed it. But believe me, it was a thing of beauty. (I'm not bragging. I didn't make it. I happily gave that up several years ago when we found a bakery version that we loved just as much.)
When I was part of a local writing group, we became quite good at celebrating. It was a great group of people who genuinely encouraged one another through the lows and cheered each other on through the highs. After that group broke up, a friend and I would mark triumphs on our writing journey with a version of Julia Cameron's Artist Dates, by visiting local galleries, doing something to enrich our creative souls.
I'm so thankful to be part of such a wonderful online group. I treasure each of my critique partners. And so I was thrilled that so many stopped by the blog here to help celebrate the release of Patricia Bailey's middle-grade debut, The Tragically True Adventures of Kit Donovan.Many thanks to all who commented. And the winner of a signed ARC is ... Mirka Breen!
Congratulations, Mirka! I know you'll love it.
What have you celebrated lately? Do you do something to mark the steps in your writing journey?
It’s been several years since I read Julia Cameron’s The
Artist’s Way, A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. If you’ve read the book
you are familiar with The Artist Date: time that the author encourages you to
set aside each week towards “nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner
artist.” Some of my favorite artist dates I’ve spent at local art galleries
letting myself get lost in the creativity of others. In each brush stroke
or click of the shutter I find motivation,
energy, and inspiration to fuel
my own projects.
Reading is another way that I feed my inner artist and I am starting this week on yet another reading high. I finished Sara Zarr’s How to Save a Life (Amazing!) and Margarita Engle’s The Firefly Letters (Lovely!) I’ve also started Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler (too soon to tell, but I’ve heard great things and have high hopes.)
I’m also a big So You Think You Can Dance fan. I just get
lost in the emotion and artistry of so many amazing dancers. And I’ve learned
that the most powerful artists whether they be painters, photographers, writers
or dancers, are the ones who put their whole heart and soul into their work –
something that we can forget to do when we focus too heavily on the
technicalities of our craft.
I missed the first half of this season’s premier episode of
SYTYCD last Thursday because I was at writing group, but I made it home in time
to see this guy, Hampton Williams, who bares his soul and in doing so, he reaches ours. We all
want to be that kind of artist/dancer/writer, don’t we?
