Being an Inspiration

Last month on the Writersvibe we were taking a look at publishing. I mentioned being an inspiration using only a few words. I did just that last fall.This is what my inspirations looked like:

I also consider this another way I do creativity and art. I spent hours finding the right font, the right font size, and the right colors. The magnets have changed a little since the first set, and they continue to evolve. I've even added two more magnets to the series--I even used my own photographs for the background on one of them.

I'm traveling this weekend, and if you are in the right place you'll see one of these. Take it, leave it, or pass it on. You can follow the journey of what happened and what is happening at smilegoneviral.com.

What would you leave behind on a magnet to brighten the world for the rest of us?

Finish More: The Little Dog Laughed

A few weeks ago I spent my last day at "work." Since then I feel a little like I've been living in a nursery rhyme:

I'm not sure how I chose "Hey diddle diddle" for what's going on right now. I think it's the improbability of moon-jumping cows, plates and spoons eloping, and actually getting some of my goodness-that-would-be-so-awesome-and-I-will-never-find-the-time things finished. Well, I'm doing it! Here's a recap.

Look

III: The Little Dog Laughed

One job finished. A new on the way someday. Breathing

One room spackled. Prime in progress.

Four shelves display crafts, baubles, fabrics, and paints

The place of nursery rhymes, stick stands, and dragons

One movement starts here in the ache of thighs and shoulders

of kettle balls. Balls of iron slung and swung. Stronger

One point five closer to master; One month early with spring

One hundred turtles complete in a puzzle, not a missing piece

One paperweight turned video conferencer and writing utensil

Intentions set. Some done. Some undone. Loving progress.

What nursery rhyme are you living in right now?

Stepping Outside the Blank Page

This month the at my other home, the WritersVibe, we are showcasing our other art mediums. I am so excited to write about the connections I've noticed between writing and other ways of using my hands and creativity.

I love to play with words and that's how Rhyme's a Rhyme came to be. I had some blocks with my writing. In  times of "blocked," I rediscovered that I like to play with paper and beads and thread and paint and glue and pine cones and whatever else happens to be laying about. After a little (and sometimes a lot of) play, the words come like an avalanche.

I've written about the journey a few times:

• Silk, Erasers, Brushes, Chalk, Water...Oh Boy! 
• Joy's in Collaborative Art 
• Spark: Tiny Stitches and Candles 

and, oh, there is so much more.

Traci recently highlighted the wonderful possibilities of a snow day at Jots Beyond the Margin. She chose to read. I might choose to snuggle up with a cup of hot chocolate, an old magazine (or manuscript?), and a pair of scissors to create snowflakes and paper chains.

Where are you creative outside of writing?

Functional Kindergarten Worksheet Paper Chains

Oh, the Things I have Dreamed

I've been contemplating the dreams that my starry-eye ideal thinks up at least 500 times a day. I am so glad they don't come true.

They go something like this:

Dream by the Hour

Butterflies and rainbows

Fall at my feet

The Leprechaun smiles

And lets go of his pot of gold

Inside each gold wrapper

Lay the smooth grip

of velvet chocolate

We are covered

in white daisies

Turning their faces

Toward the Sun

Chocolate melts

on our tongue

And you?

I've buried you in the daisies

Keeping you safe away

from the terrible joy

and horrible fun

Down we topple

To build a dream

by the next hour

Consider a passing thought or a dream. What would it be like if it came true? What would be different? What would be the same?

Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

This month my contemporaries and I have been writing about publishing at the Writersvibe. Getting from draft to final copy can be like getting sucked down a black hole of research, marketing, and the like. Fall to far down that hole and finishing feels impossible.

You may even feel like you've been sucked into Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. So let's pause and and have a little fun.

Let's write own version.

Jules and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

The alarm went off. Jules jumped out of bed,
Tripped over the cat, and stepped in something wet.
She felt like she needed to throw up.
 "These things always happen in threes, right?
That three. I'm done so it's going to be a great day!" Jules said.
What Jules didn't know is that it was already
a terrible horrible no good very bad day."

On the way to work Jules heard: Flump. Flump. Flump.
"Seriously. A flat tire at 5:00AM?" she said.
The wind was cold and Jules forgot her gloves--
in her rush to beat the early traffic
And her flashlight. She sighed.
 This was going to be a
Terrible.
Horrible
No good
Very bad day...

A.H. at Glazed Heart might ask me "Where's this Story Going?" I don't know. <sigh> Where do you think it's going? Help me finish this one up--pretty please with sugar on top?