Uplift: Be Thankful

Hi folks, I'm continuing my Uplift series. A short one this week but full of riches!

One way to cause your work to soar is to be thankful. We choke on our successes when we don't take the time to thank others for their helpfulness. Acknowledging others is a way of sharing your success; it's a trans-formative process. It acknowledges you did not create work in a vacuum. You are interconnected with all around you;  without the spokes to your wheel, you never go far.

Some keep a gratitude journal to remember all the great things that they wants to give thanks about. Others take time every day to be thankful. There is no best way. Thankfulness helps lift me from a depressed state and gives me hope. It helps me avoid stifling my imagination, choking my growth, and losing my joy. Being thankful makes the ties that bind to be much stronger.

Thankfulness is getting above the waves of life and surfing over a turbulent ocean. You will find your way, day by day. Complexity does not equal better. Thankfulness simplifies you and puts you in touch with the better parts of yourself. It sweetens hard work. It helps you approach work in a way is not "crazy making."

Giving thanks makes you strong, so difficult to knock over. It makes you a better person. The act of thankfulness leads you to right choices and will move you closer to wherever you want to be. A thankful heart is better than a pain reliever;  it can cure what ails you.

Finally, if you want your work to sing? Sing the praises of others. Giving honor and acknowledgement to those people who have helped you along the way. Enrich your life.
We live in troubled times; it's comforting to know that one simple act can do so much for everyone.

I will be back next week with more Uplift.

Here is the week's doodle, The Peace Monument, Bamako, Mali.

A quote for your pocket. 

Keep your eyes open to your mercies. The man who forgets to be thankful has fallen asleep in life. Robert Louis Stevenson

BLOOM: Plumb Crazy is Up!

Hi folks, My novel Plumb Crazy has been released under my pen name Cece Barlow! Here are the links. Here is the Amazon link for paperback.  Here is the link of the ebook.

This is a day of blooming, but blooming does always work out the way you think it will.  Did you ever listen to Paul Harvey. He had these little radio segments called 'The Rest of the Story." He'd share little vignettes about real folks with an unusual twist in their lives. This story is one like that. 

I will tell you sometimes it may feel like it is not working out for your creative soul. Whenever I think this, I remind myself of an alcoholic and bi-polar sufferer. This guy wrote and sang songs. He had a small and devoted fanbase but success did not just jump his way. He didn't have a successful album or single and he had a tough time keeping his records in print. (A feeling I am sort of aware of.) His main stages were dive bars, backwoods cabins, or friends' couches. One of songs was performed by some friends and did pretty well. 

So here is the rest of the story, The song that did pretty well was called "Pancho and Lefty" and was a number one hit for Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. Townes Van Zandt's music has been performed by a galaxy of country music stars. The journey of art is worth it. Success can be strange. And finally, every little thing is going to shine.

Here is a link to Townes Van Zandt singing "To Live is To Fly."  I think you will treasure this song as much as I do. I hope that you Bloom anyway!  Just do your art. Don't worry about the rest. I will be back next week with more on the series Bloom.  

The doodle this week is fanart -- Exploding TARDIS. 

Here is a quote for your pocket

Well to live is to fly, all low and high
So shake the dust off of your wings
And the sleep out of your eyes
Shake the dust off of your wings
And the tears out of your eyes

-- Townes Van Zandt

Inspiration Must be Cultivated

Hi folks,

Inspiration doesn't just show up when you want it to.It's something that must be drummed up from the earth of you. Imagine you are a garden --Butchart Garden, a Japanese tea garden, a rose garden-- you pick.  This garden did not just happen. It took planning, work, and weather to create this dazzling place. A cultivated garden bursts with inspiration. The ground of you is the same and to be a place of inspiration, you'll have to work at it.

First up, you have to be rich ground.  You will enrich your ground by reading books -- lots of books, all kinds of books. This adds nutrients to the soil of you. You will absorb fantastic ways of approaching stories. You'll find rhythms, turns and surprises that will inform your work. You'll become of aware of things that don't work. Books will take you on life changing journeys. Without this influx of story, you will struggle to find inspiration.

There is more to the enrichment process than simply reading. You will open up to experience.  Douse yourself with regular bucketfuls of the arts. Engage your senses. Participate in the art. Draw, sing, dance--. If you like to bake culinary masterpieces, go for it. Don't let anyone sniff down their nose at your lowbrow pursuits. If some bachelor reality show inspires, watch it. If some monster truck rally appeals, go. Allow yourself freedom, and you will be welcoming inspiration into your life.

Another important enrichment step: go on adventures. Don't let anyone define what an adventure is to you. If you find visiting tiny off-the-road museums meaningful, huzzah! If you like a walk on the beach, huzzah! If you want to jump out of an airplane. OK. If your idea of adventure is shopping in the garment district in New York, go for it. If your idea of adventure is visiting a website like Atlas Obscura and heading out, so be it. Allow yourself to follow your heart, and you will be opened up for inspiration.

There is more to the cultivation process. All this enrichment will help you on your inspiration road but you must also work. You must work regularly in your creative area to easily access inspiration. This requires you to open up your definition of what work is. Work for me isn't just writing. It's staring out the window. It's taking a nap perchance to dream. It's moving through the manuscript backwards looking for typos. All this work helps prime me for inspired moments.

You've added nutrients to the soil, you've been working, but you need the right weather to make this garden thrive. You know certain things grow in the desert. Certain things grow in the rain forest. Your climate is important. Are you hanging out with a bunch of folks who have no artistic vision? Is anyone supporting you as an artist? No? You MUST expand your circle of friends. Surround yourself with the best and the brightest. Be sure you are in the right climate for this garden to thrive. This is a necessary element for inspiration.

Work on the garden of you this week and you will find that inspiration springs up. It just does! I will be back next week another series on Writer Myths. :)  

Here is a doodle:

Here is a quote for your pocket.
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart. Helen Keller