Many thanks to Naomi Dunford at IttyBiz  (Write Like It Never Happened) for helping me understand why I haven’t been sitting here writing much for the past two years:  It became a job.  I began to feel I had to think everything through from beginning to end and it got hard.  I may have even had writer’s block, like Naomi, now that I think about it.

When I first started blogging, on MySpace can you believe, I blogged daily.  Then I added Typepad and I completed two blogs daily:  one on MySpace and one on Typepad.  Then I brought in my art and started following business blogs and started writing about art as a business, and got WordPress (which nearly broke the bank and made me crazy until I found Kathleen at The Savvy VA).  Then I founded Wyde Women, my coaching business, and when I wrote I wanted it to be inspirational.  Enter block.  Or writing fatigue.  Or some unnamed something – I dropped to once weekly and then I pretty much quit.  Except for Art Every Day Month every November which I love and gives me a reason to write and pursue making art with no time to think about any of it:  just get it on the page.  I think I do some of my best work when I don’t think too hard.  I know I do some of my favorite work when I don’t think too hard.

So I’m back to making this a journal of sorts and we’ll see what comes of it.  I’m afraid to say out loud what I hope will come from this.  What I hope is that I will once again enjoy blogging.  What I think I should hope is that I have no real expectations so that whatever happens, it’s good.  Because, really, whatever happens, it’s good.

Dreams

I love my yard.  If you follow me on FaceBook, you know that not only do I post a lot of yard pictures, but also this year I have been making some huge changes to it.

Over the last 8 years or so, my yard has become an outdoor arts gallery of my work.  When I stopped making art a business (one

more round of small repetitive pieces that the small shops like and that sold and I was going to go drown myself), I began working on what I really wanted to make:  big yard pieces.  I also really enjoy making yard totems out of thrift store glass – they don’t take much thought, I’ve found the right glue, and they look great.

I’ve also tackled doing a mosaic bathroom floor using my handmade tiles as the focal pieces – something I’ve talked about for at least 5 years.  I started and finished that earlier this year.  You can see the progression on my Pinterest Board.

I had my front steps remade – they’ve been falling apart for at least 3 years, and am planning on doing mosaic risers (if the weather will cooperate – today was to be a work day and it is raining.  Plan B:  make totems.  Plan B-2:  go ahead, do a blog, even if it isn’t carefully thought out.  Just start).

And the steps are so wonderful it became clear that it is also time to start landscaping the front yard.  I have.  It’s awesome!  More to go, but a really good running start and a friend who can listen to my vision and make it happen.  And a husband who can work side by side with me when we have the time.  This dream of a spectacular front yard is 20 years old.  Dreams do come true!

Bucket list

Whales.  What can I say?  I want to see whales.

We tried last year in Maine.  Going out on a big boat with hundreds of people and seeing the whales through binoculars wasn’t what I had in mind.  They were fin whales off of Maine (having it’s first 90+ degree week in years.  Our cabin didn’t even have a fan or a tree.  We wound up paying for a hotel room and the cabin owner wouldn’t refund) and all you saw was their sleek backs way off there in the distance.  Through binoculars.

This year we tried Depoe Bay on the Oregon coast.  And got up close and personal:  a B&B right on the ocean where the whales came in and spouted at us, and 4 trips out

with a marine biologist, in a zodiac boat (6 people max), and her pet dog.  Still mostly just backs, but spouts too (none seen in Maine).  I still want a breech (all the way out of the water) and a spy hop (head up out of the water looking around).  I hear September is the best time of year.  We will return.

Seeds

Simple.  Small miracles.  Till the ground, scatter these tiny small hard things, water, and 3 days later grass! white clover!  Maybe seeds are big miracles.  Maybe I should remember that each time I write, I plant small seeds in my unconscious.  Sometimes they sprout by the time I get to the end of writing, sometimes they take a few days – but if I don’t write, no one will ever see the green growing of them, including myself.

 

So it’s off I go.  I am committing to myself to show up to the page at least 3 days a week.  That is pushing it for me time wise.  But I want to push it.  I want to see the green growth that I keep missing because I don’t get it down on paper (or the ether, which I guess the internet more resembles).

Hope you’ll join my ramblings!

 

Wylde Women’s Wisdom:  

Get lost.

It’s good to get lost.

you find things you never even thought of.

And when you come back and tell the rest of the world,

that telling can teach you to rely on your own senses

no matter what anyone else believes or doesn’t.

 

You’ve had an experience that may be unbelievable

to those who have not had that experience.

Don’t let them make you disbelieve.