Happy 2025; My Year to Go Forward

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Happy 2025! Happy-to-be-back-blogging-again! Happy just to be here at all! 

2024 wasn't exactly a stellar year for this blog; three whole posts for an entire twelve months due to lengthy eye surgery and subsequent recuperation. I couldn't see, so I couldn't write. (Or read very much, for that matter, either.)

But that didn't mean the year was lost, or solely centered on measuring out eye drops. Before I was totally out of action, I did get a lot done, including:

• Upgrading my website to now sell my jewelry and artwork.
• Completing the 100-Day Project. Some of the pieces from the project can now be purchased at my site.
  
• Going on numerous local adventures with my wonderful friends. Favorite trips were visiting Albuquerque's Turquoise Museum and afternoon tea at The St. James Tea Room.
  
• Finding some great books, the best being The Riders and Dirt Music, both by Australian author, Tim Winton.
• Discovered graphite watercolors--an amazing product I can't imagine how I ever lived without. Prior to finding them by chance on a YouTube channel, I had used water-soluble graphite pencils, but watercolors mixed with graphite in pans? Never. I'll be writing more about why I'm such a fan in my next post.
  
• Finished, edited, and polished both the final draft of my novel, Writing a Ghazal by Moonlight and my novella The Seaweed Collector. (At last. The End.)
• Created a series of illustrations for The Seaweed Collector.
• Walked (almost) every day as best I could.
  
• And finally the big one: I signed up for a 2025 art trip to France. Yes, I did. I will be staying in a former sixteenth-century convent-turned-art-retreat just outside of Toulouse for a new splash ink class taught by my friend and art teacher, Ming Franz.
  

While the trip to France might sound like the most exciting thing I have to look forward to, I do have some other equally important plans, starting with:

• Spend more time on market research and manuscript submission. Whether it's seeking out agents and editors for my yet-to-be-published manuscripts, or increasing exposure for my existing books, artwork, and jewelry, I want to up my marketing by assigning a daily time slot dedicated to business.
  
• Organize and polish my many short stories into a series of three anthologies.
• Finish my dystopian novella work-in-progress.
• Draft out and sketch two new picture book ideas: (Hint: they involve furry little animals wearing clothes.)
  
• Revive this blog and get back to a better posting schedule.
• Re-arrange and streamline my apartment to become a more functional art studio. For a long time I've been looking for an art studio to rent when it hit me: I have walls, I have space, I have good light--and far too much furniture. As soon as I return from France I'll be changing, well, everything.
  

In the same way that I like to list my past highlights and future goals, I also like to choose a word for the year, and this year the word is: Courage. And I must say, I can't think of anything scarier.

However, given that 2025 is the Year of the Snake (I HATE SNAKES!) I'm going to try my best to look 'em in the face, even pick one or two up by the tails, and hey, you never know. I might just make friends with a couple. So here I go: new year, new me, new vision. I hope you will find an equally inspiring, if not challenging, word for your own great year ahead.

Tip of the Day: Pick one thing that frightens you the most about creativity (and we all have at least one). Write it down, and then ask yourself why you're so afraid. It could be as simple as "fear of failure," or, "There's too much to learn. I'll never manage it all." Or, "Editors are so mean. Rejection makes me feel worthless."

One of the reasons I have always feared snakes is that my father was from New Zealand where there are no snakes. I was raised with terrible phobias because any kind of snake was considered a potentially deadly foe; no thought was ever given to non-venomous varieties or how helpful snakes can be maintaining their environment. 

Creativity can be just as frightening when we don't know what we're doing, or why we want to do it. This year, make a commitment to conquer that fear by learning as much as you can about whatever is calling you. You'll be surprised at how harmless it can be! 

The 100 Day Project

India ink on gouache mono-print background.

Hello! It's been a while (months!) since my last post, but I've had a good excuse: starting in mid-February and finishing on Memorial Day, I went for:

#The100DayProject

Watercolor on pre-washed ink background.

100 days of super-fun, super-disciplined, and very consistent art practice which then, well, exhausted me. Because 100 days is a lot of days. But I had fun--I did!

Watercolor and ink diptych.

Anyone who has read some of my previous blog posts knows how much I enjoy themed challenges: NaNoWriMo, Inktober, even small 5-day personal project sprints, I have done them all. Usually these challenges have been built around an established goal such as writing 50K words in a month, or 31 days of ink drawing. The 100 Day Project was different in that it allowed room for participants to choose their own projects. For me this was the perfect time to work on the dozens of pre-painted backgrounds I had on the ready and stored away to finish "one day."

Something I do when I can't think of what to paint, or I don't feel particularly motivated, is to experiment with color. Whether I paint on individual sheets of watercolor paper or inside my sketchbook, I like to take bottled ink, watercolor, water-soluble graphite and/or watercolor crayons and just go for it, washing-in loose swaths of color, the looser the better. Not only is it restful to swish paint around without a goal in mind, but when the paint dries I then have a potential background for a more complete painting.

Watercolor on, um, watercolor!

The only drawback to this method is the backgrounds can easily add up to an unmanageable amount. Eventually I'm faced with the day when I have to realize: "One day" is NOW.

Mixed-media using so many things I don't remember them all.

And for the 100 Day Project, NOW brought with it much more than 100 days of using up pre-toned paper, including:

1. Just like when I first painted the backgrounds, I never really knew how I would finish each piece on the different days of the challenge. I didn't know what the subject matter would be, or what colors I would use, or if the results would even be any good. In other words, I didn't have a plan other than the plan to show up every day. And that turned out to be the very best plan of all.

2. By not having a set plan I was completely open to surprise: spilled ink became rain; dark blobs became mountains; accidentally putting the wrong color on my brush became my favorite color and I couldn't imagine using anything else.

3. Having to paint something new every day forced me out of my comfort zone. To break what could have been a monotonous chore, I tried colors I tend to avoid (red in particular) or I painted on unusual paper sizes, scraps from larger pieces that then became, for instance, a series of diptychs. An added bonus was some unexpected de-cluttering, putting those scraps to good use.

4. Adhering to a daily schedule of "paint, scan, post to social media" meant I had to work to a deadline and that meant I had to let whatever happened happen. I didn't have the luxury or time to fuss, rework, or start over. I just had to accept what was on the page and look forward to tomorrow.

5. Which also meant that some days my work was really, really bad. Again, if a piece didn't work, I had to let it go. But then I noticed something strange: no matter how bad a piece was, there was always one or more parts about it I liked. Which then meant: not one minute of the challenge was a waste. Every day held valuable lessons and growth.

6. Limited time left little time to think. Often the only thing I could think of painting was trees: trees on a hill, trees by themselves, trees leading into a forest of yet more trees. At the same time, though, I was worried the repetition would be boring for my viewers. A major element of the project was the injunction that you had to post and show your work in public and I worried people would soon get sick of seeing so many trees. However, I then remembered what my wonderful art teacher, the late Gary Sanchez always said: "Don't just paint a sunflower. Paint a hundred sunflowers. A thousand sunflowers! Become a sunflower expert!" I still might not be an expert, having at least 876 more trees to go to reach one thousand, but I'm on the way!

7. Expert or not, the thought of showing my work every day was scary. I soon discovered there was absolutely nothing to be afraid of. The people who saw my work were so kind, supportive, complimentary, funny, and appreciative of my efforts and willingness to tackle the project that this alone made every minute worth it. I am so grateful for their encouragement as well as the many times they let me know how inspired they had become to embark upon their own creative paths. It was beyond amazing to think my little trees were actually making a difference to people. Because at the end of the day, isn't that what the arts are about: making a difference?

Water-soluble graphite, ink, and watercolor crayons (and no trees).

Tip of the Day: The best challenges are never about the finished work. Instead, regard them as a framework to use as a focusing tool, asking yourself:

• What would I like to learn from a challenge? A new skill; an improved skill; how to use my materials; or simply a chance to meet other creatives?
  
• What can I give up in my daily schedule to make time for a challenge? What activity isn't serving me as much as taking time for my creative work could do?
• What is the one thing I've wanted to try but never have--could I do it now, or is there a later date I can set aside this year and give it my full attention?

I hope the answer to the last question is "Yes!" Happy Creating!

Finding a Path for 2022

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It seems impossible that it was exactly two years ago that I last met with my various writer's groups, weekly drawing classes, and my illustration groups. Two years! Since then I've done everything in my power to believe the situation was only temporary and that one day we would all go "back to normal."

Today I realized I won't be doing that any more. And that's not such a bad thing. In fact, it's fantastic!

Moving away from my hopes and dreams for "normal" means that I can be open to change and new beginnings. Best of all, I can do it my way without fear of getting it wrong. In other words, I can experiment. Hanging on to "normal" means being stuck. This year I want to run with scissors.

At the same time, I do want to put my scissors to good use, cutting out a new path of possibility and creative endeavor. Some of the projects I'd like to work on this year with a renewed sense of joy are:

1. Update my website to include my beaded jewelry for sale.

2. Publish The Abyssal Plain.

3. Submit my novel, Ghazal, and my novella, The Seaweed Collector, for publication.

4. Finish the first draft of one new manuscript (not entirely sure yet which one this will be).

5. Continue painting and drawing, but with more focus on working within a specific series. (More about this in my next post.)

6. And of course, continuing with this blog.

2022 is going to be my year of optimism with no looking back. I'm letting go of both the good and the bad experiences from the last twenty-four months and I'm looking forward to the future, whatever it brings. 

Tip of the Day: Vision boards have always been my go-to way of establishing my goals and plans for any given year. For 2022, however, I want to change things around a bit. Instead of putting together a vision board, I'm going for a vision quest. Rather than searching out a dozen or so magazine cut-outs to represent or symbolize things I already want, I'm going to let the images search for me. I want to discover things I had no idea I wanted or that even existed.

Starting with a blank journal, every time I come across a magazine photograph, headline, or article that speaks to me for even the most trivial or surprising of reasons, I'll cut it out and paste it on a page. I'll let the journal develop like a mysterious road map inviting me into unexplored, but much-needed territory. I can't wait to see what happens--I can't wait to see where I go. Happy New Year, everyone!

Achievement and All That Jazz

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Dancing on the beach . . . 

I've loved this photograph from the minute I found it. It was just what I was looking for to use in my book trailer for Better Than Perfect, my YA novel set in 1970s New Zealand. The scene made me think of "poised for success," which was exactly how I wanted to portray one of the book's central characters, Ravenna St. James. Ravenna is a teenage girl on the brink of adulthood pushed by her mother and family to achieve more than she is emotionally capable of. Her younger cousin and the first-person narrator of the story, Elizabeth Haddon, is forced to live with Ravenna and her family when her own mother dies. Living in Ravenna's shadow as she sails from one glory to the next, Elizabeth begins to doubt her own self-worth and fears she will never do anything in life to equal or surpass her cousin's many achievements.

Elizabeth has always been one of my favorite characters. Her concerns and struggles to get somewhere in life are feelings I believe we all deal with on one level or another from the day we're born: our first smile, our first words and steps, our first "A" for spelling. Woe betide the child who's running a little behind or to a different drumbeat!

What got me thinking about achievement and its accompanying baggage was reading a tweet (what would I do without Twitter . . . ) about how difficult it was to write an author biography, you know, those paragraphs you're supposed to include with your manuscript submission package along with your synopsis and marketing plan. Personally I hate writing them. All I can ever think of is, I lived here, I lived there, I am boring. When I do take the leap and try to include any accomplishments that might make me sound like a more interesting person, I immediately pull back, thinking: Whoa, stop right there. That's way too braggy, tone it down. And cut out all that arty stuff. Nobody wants to read about your bead making or silver clay experiments. Which then leaves me with: I lived here and there and have a BA. Whoopee!

This isn't the first time I've wondered about what is a real achievement. Last year in particular when we were first getting used to lock downs and the lack of genuine social interaction the subject truly troubled me because 2020 was meant to be The Year of Achievement!  I had made so many plans in the weeks prior to the pandemic to put myself forward, to enter art shows, to sell my jewelry at craft fairs, and of course to market and sell my manuscripts. Then practically overnight all the doors slammed shut. Even my agent couldn't get a single response from the publishers she tried to contact. How could I achieve anything locked in my room? 

The answer was to keep going regardless of circumstance and to create my own definition of achievement. In my journal I wrote: 

Achievement doesn't have to be grand, showy, or seen by the neighbors. Achievement is reaching your own self-created milestones, taking on something you love but that also has degrees of difficulty that require dedication. Achievement is sticking to your plan and seeing it through to the very end.

Following that, I then wrote my steps to get there:

• Focus, focus, focus. Be still and pinpoint exactly what it is I can do with limited opportunity.
  
• Choose one project to work on at a time. Just one, and fall in love with it.
  
• Give that project my full attention and effort.
• Commit to finishing, no matter what.
  
• Use and appreciate adversity--find the silver lining. For instance, without my usual daily distractions, classes, and groups I can find loads of extra writing, drawing, and creative time. Seize the day!
  
• Use positive affirmations, e.g., "I wake up happy to focus and continue writing my novel."

My list worked. Looking back over 2020 and now into the wide open space of 2021, I feel I achieved quite a lot. And you can too, one small or large action at a time. The main thing to keep in mind is never underestimate your achievements, and never compare them to others. Each achievement is unique and valuable in its own right. Don't fall into the trap of thinking achievement means publishing a best-seller or getting a six-figure publishing deal. These things are only for the moment anyway, wonderful high points good until it's time to repeat them. More often than not the true achievement is having the courage to write, edit, and polish a 300-page manuscript that may never see the light of day but one you're willing to submit 564 times before you call it quits. (But please don't quit.)

Tip of the Day: Whether you're writing an author biography, an artist statement, or just a daily journal entry, a good first step to evaluating your true achievements is to make a list of every past thing you regard as important to you, great and small. Don't censor yourself. Have fun, be braggy, be silly. Now pick the top three that relate best to whatever it is you're drafting and expand on those. I promise you'll be surprised at just how accomplished and fascinating you really are!

Start a Creativity Journal for 2021

 

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Happy 2021! What are you going to write or make this year? Whatever it is, a good way to get started and stay on track is to use what I call a "creativity journal." Unlike a journal that records general daily thoughts and events, a creativity journal is a dedicated space solely for dreaming, planning, and keeping all of your "how to" notes and supply lists in one convenient place.

The notebook I'm using this year is the "Celeste" edition from Paperblanks and is meant to represent "a Venetian morning alight with marvels." (Sounds good to me!)

The journal is a handy 7" x 5", just right for quick thoughts as well as more serious contemplation. I especially like the elastic band (not shown) attached to the back cover that keeps the journal closed when I'm not using it. I also like the creamy, high-quality paper and the nifty pocket glued to the inside back cover, great for business cards, receipts, and oh, you know, stuff.

One of the first things I like to do with my creativity journal is divide the pages into various sections and headings that I can complete, and refer to, throughout the year. Once these sections are in place I can go back to them at any time. For instance, I have sections for each month of the year with further areas to list how I plan to fill in the weeks. Other sections are specifically to log my ongoing progress with tasks such as manuscript drafts, painting series, or maintaining my blog. My final journal pages are left blank for all those deep, meaningful questions always at the top of my mind, e.g., What do you long to make if time, money, and skill wasn't a problem? Very important issues!

More journal sections I've included in the past that you might like to try using are:  

• A place to record accomplishments, finished projects, sales and reviews.
• A section for how-to notes taken from books or magazine articles.
• Areas to paste in small motivational magazine photos and quotes.
  
• Pages for baby steps: things to do on a daily basis that will take me to the finishing line.
• A place to list favorite supplies or ones I'd like to try in the future.
• Sales opportunity pages: lists of agents, editors, craft fairs, online sales outlets
• Pages devoted to ideas for branding, asking myself, What's my message; what's my theme?
• A place to list possible workshops, classes, books to read, or any areas I need to research in order to accomplish my goals.
  

I'm sure you have plenty of other ideas for things to include in your own journal, but the one section I most enjoy is my vision board. This is something I usually spread over two facing pages, or better yet, the journal cover itself (unless, of course, I'm using a Paperblanks "Celeste" journal and wouldn't dream of pasting on a single sticker!). 

 

To make a vision board in your journal, simply start by asking: Where do I want to be by the end of the year? What kind of creative life do I want that will express my highest potential? 

 

Rather than writing out your answers, go with your intuition and fill your board with collage and artwork. Use magazine cut-outs, glitter pen doodles, fortune cookie sayings, vintage ephemera, bits of junk mail, anything that visually portrays your goals for a colorful, exciting, and satisfying year ahead.

Tip of the Day: Go slow. Take your time with your journal and remember creativity is a process. You've got a whole year ahead to fill in your journal pages with lists, plans, and ways to make your dreams come true; there's no need to rush. Some years I've had to wait all the way until December to know exactly what it was I wanted or needed to do. The main thing is to look upon your journal as yet another part of your creativity, so make it a joy to use. 

Wishing you the happiest of journal discoveries for a bright new year!

Traveling Light and Going Goal-Free

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Here we are: June already, and the time of year I usually do a goals check-in, asking myself how it's all going, what's working, what isn't . . . Oh, boy.  

What can I say? As much as I'd love to tell you that my cumulative efforts toward goal-completion are moving with rocket speed, the truth is, they are not. In fact, a few weeks ago I actually got rid of my goals journal, and I feel a lot better for it.

As we are all probably sick of hearing (and knowing), 2020 hasn't been much of a joy ride. So many plans have had to be changed, put aside, or dropped altogether. For me personally this has involved abandoning plans to take new art and language classes, as well as giving up on even thinking about overseas travel. What I can do, however is keep working, as in:

• Keep writing, which means continuing with my WIP.
  
• Keep submitting my work for publication.
• Keep learning and practicing to improve my drawing and painting skills.
• Keep beading and building inventory for an eventual business, one that was supposed to start this summer, but now is, well, getting ready for NEXT summer!
  

My "modified goals" are simple, doable, and fit into my new 2020 routines and schedules. To make things even more streamlined, I've been doing some packing, putting away art supplies I'm not using at this exact moment; placing various unfinished works-in-progress into plastic storage containers; discarding old writing exercises that I know for sure I don't want to edit or publish, ever. 

I feel a lot lighter and a lot happier. With only a small amount of projects on my plate I feel as if I'm on a kind of creative vacation, the kind that only requires a small overnight bag and plenty of sunshine and rest.

Traveling light suits me and has always been my preferred way to see the world, whether it's a quick trip to Santa Fe, or a longer journey to Taiwan. Not only is a small suitcase easier to carry, but I never have to pay for any unwanted baggage fees. Most importantly, a small case makes me focus: What do I really need to have with me every day? What items will only create clutter, take up too much room, and will probably never be used anyway?

I weighed these same types of concerns to evaluate what it was I truly wanted to have with me for the rest of the year, if not beyond. As I was packing up my old first drafts and unused sketchbooks, it got me thinking about what else I could let go of, things that might be causing more trouble than joy in my life. You might recognize some of these in your own life and feel the need to let go of them too: 

• Emotions revolving around creative work. Something I've learned about creativity is that it's never going to be free of anxiety and stress. Stress that something isn't "right." Stress that a project or manuscript will never be "good enough." Heck, I can even stress over finding a typo in an old blog post! So often our expectations are light years beyond what is required to achieve or complete any given project. The sooner you can let go of worry and just create without expectation, the better your work will naturally become. Ironic, isn't it?
  

• Over-achieving. For me this means the need to work on too many projects at once. I fell into this bad habit when I read--and believed--a very stupid book that claimed multi-tasking was what highly-motivated professional writers and artists did: spin plates while walking on high wires and jumping through hoops with paintbrushes in both hands and a manuscript in their teeth. All day long! After hard experience and a lot of burn-out, I now know: tackling one project from start to finish is a far more productive, and satisfying, way to work. It's also a whole lot less to carry around in my brain.

• TBR pile. I love to read, more than anything else on earth! But sometimes I can have such a huge pile of books to get through it feels like I'm in some never-ending high school English class: read those books, write those reports! Better to have just one book that I really want to read than a stack of homework assignments.

• Too big of a to-do list. Another of my really bad habits: sitting down to write a daily to-do list that should only include: "buy milk, check post office box, pick up dry cleaning." Okay--that makes sense, one round trip should do it all. But then I start adding things like: Finish novel (which requires at least another six months). Practice drawing faces (well, maybe I have time for that over the weekend). Gesture drawings--twenty of them (which would take probably three hours). And it doesn't end there. Usually I need to get a second piece of paper to write down everything I want to do for the rest of my life. And it's all so counter-productive! Believing that I can accomplish all of this while going to my day job and buying the milk is a good guarantee that I end up wanting to do nothing but read one of those books from my TBR pile. From now on, my to-do list is going to be the size of a post-it or I won't even bother writing it.

• Too many ideas. Although I've done a good job of packing up my various projects in order to concentrate on finishing one manuscript in the form of my current novel, I still keep getting IDEAS. I don't want to ignore them completely and I don't want to lose them, but really, there are days I wish they'd go visit someone else. In order to semi-solve the situation, I've taken to simply writing them down and putting them away in a folder. I want to add "never to be seen again" but who knows, there might come a day when I'll be glad of them. The one thing I'm certain of, though, is I'm not going to a) dwell on them, b) drop everything else I'm doing to pursue them, and I'm especially not going to c) purchase anything they might cry out for such as new paint sets or special supplies. No, no, no!

• Too many online obligations and interactions. This is a difficult one, I know. But there's been something special about having this extra alone time to befriend myself, getting to know what I really want from life, and what types of goals will suit me best when I do come out of isolation. None of us need a thousand "likes" to know our work has value, just a strong inner voice reminding us to show up and do whatever we can at any given time.

To me traveling light means the ability to travel well and to travel easily. It means going where your heart calls you, not where the guidebook says you must. It means being able to stop and smell the roses right in front of you rather than  rushing off to find and paint acres of magic orchids just because it sounds so grand and accomplished. For now simplicity is truly the key. Happy Trails!
 
Tip of the Day: What's weighing you down right now? There's no reason to carry anything other than what you love, but even those things might need to be re-examined in order to navigate our current world with greater ease and a lighter step. Take some time to consider what to keep, what to get rid of, and what you might want for later but don't want to discard completely. Pack it up and save it for next year!