Good Day to all of you.

We continue today with our Artist’s Way Journey. Some of you have gone and obtained a copy of the book or workbook — that’s great. Someone asked if it was necessary to do, and no, it’s not. You can take this journey with us without the book, although I’ll say again the King County Library, one of our biggest supporters, has several copies of the book and audio book.

I’ll ask you again, as promised, how you’re doing on using the tools of The Artist’s Way and your creative recovery efforts:

1) Morning pages? Me? I’m 5/7 this past week. Seem to have some trouble on the weekends getting them done; so, I need to work on that.

2) Artist’s Date? Me? I’m doing well on that. This week I’ll be at NorWesCon 35; so, I’ll have lots of opportunities for that.

3) Affirmative Reading? Never a problem for me because I have those posted near my writing desk.

Today’s exercises (note they are extra detailed because we are NOT meeting this Sunday due to the Easter holiday and my conference schedule):

I want you to return to the list of imaginary lives we’ve made (see below if you forgot *) Add five more lives (me:  rancher, wilderness guide, environmental scientist, a master gardener, a successful etsy business person). Again, check to see if you could be doing bits and pieces of these lives in the one you are doing now. If you have listed a dancer’s life, do you let yourself go dancing? If you have listed a monk’s life, are you ever allowed to go on a retreat? If you are a scuba diver, is there an aquarium shop you can visit? A day at the lake you could schedule?

Next:

LifePie:  Draw a circle. Divide it into six pieces of pie. Label one piece spirituality, another exercise, another play, and so on with work, friends, and romance/adventure. Place a dot in each slice at the degree to which you are fulfilled in that area (outer rim indicates great; inner circle, not so great). Connect the dots. This will show you where you are lopsided. As you begin the course, it is not uncommon for your life pie to look like a tarantula. As recovery progresses, your tarantula may become a mandala. Working with this tool, you will notice that there are areas of your life that feel impoverished and on which you spend little or no time. Use the time tid-bits you are finding to alter this. If your spiritual life is minimal, even a five-minute pit stop into whatever you see as a spiritual place (nature, synagogue, temple, cathedral) can restore a sense of wonder. Many of us find that five minutes of drum music can put us in touch with our spiritual core. For others, it’s a trip to a greenhouse. The point is that even the slightest attention to our impoverished areas can nurture them.

We’re not done yet:

Ten Tiny Changes:  List ten changes you’d like to make for yourself, from the significant to the small or vice versa (“get new sheets so I have another set, go to China, paint my kitchen, dump my bitchy friend Alice”). Do it this way:

I would like to____________________________________________________________________________________.

I would like to____________________________________________________________________________________.

As the morning pages nudge us increasingly into the present, where we pay attention to our current lives, a small shift like a newly painted bathroom can yield a luxuriously large sense of self-care.

Two to go:

Select one small item from your ten tiny changes and make it a goal for the week.

Now go do that item.

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Reminders:

Word Jazz is Tuesday, April 10 at 7 p.m. If you are wanting to come but don’t want to sit alone, I have a table for 5. Due to schedule changes I have three other seats available. Let me know if you’d like to come and sit at my table. Otherwise get your reservations today; my understanding is there are very few seats left.

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And now your moment of Writing Zen:

“Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast — you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.” ~Eddie Cantor

—
What did you Write today?
~Casz

Casondra Brewster
Moderator/Founder
Sno Valley Writes!
Helping Writers Reach New Literary Peaks Since 2008
http://www.snovalleywrites.org
Check us out on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/SnoValleyWrites

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron

*Imaginary Lives:  If you had five other lives to lead, what would you do in each of them? I would be a successful author, a literature PhD, a helicopter pilot, depth psychologist, or a violinist. You might be a sucba diver, a cop, a writer of children’s books, a football player, a belly dancer, a painter, a performance artist, a history teacher, a healer, a coach, a scientist, a doctor…..Whatever occurs to you, jot it down. Do not over think this exercise. The point of these lives is to have fun in them — more fun than you might be having in this one. Look over your list and slect one. Then do it this week. For instance, if you put down country singer, can you pick a guitar? If you dream of being a cowhand, what about some horseback riding?