A VIEW FROM THE TOP OF A SHORT TREE

We all start at the top. Where the vista of possibility seems like a John Ford western film; wide expansive prairies so vast you can't see the beginning or end of the range, and an unspoken promise of  tremendous opportunity. I think that is the best place to be when you begin anything...you climb to the top and you imagine that the landscape before and surrounding you, holds your dreams.  Your task is simple: to work with a passion to realize and bring to life, what you imagine.

Conversely, most of us believe we start at the bottom.  I believe it all depends upon how you view life. I start at the top.  Sure, my tree is not full grown so I may not see as much at the top as if it were the tallest tree, but it's a growing tree and it's strong enough to hold me as I cling to the center, growing wider by the micro minute and taller.
Pick a sturdy little tree and stick with it.  It has potential just as you do.  It can and will, with nurturing, become.  You will too. I remind myself that it is the growing process that makes the journey memorable.  Memories become stories. For a writer, that is essential...our memory evokes emotions, passions, fears, excitement, sentiment that is there to articulate with words that are like jewels, each glittering with meaning. 
Like the sturdy little tree, you too can grow to realize your dream. Of this I am certain.  In fact, I am counting on it. With that, I'm going to water my sturdy little pine tree now...it's all on paper waiting to be fed more words that become thoughts that become what is known as sentences.  Hopefully they will make sense and have meaning to those who read them. Make the most of your day...let go and climb the tree.  You'd be amazed at what's out there before you.  Thank you for being here...until next time. 

BACK TO SCHOOL! (REFLECTIONS OF PAST HABITS)

Tomorrow is the BIG day!  School begins! I'm excited...and nervous. 
Okay, I'm scared. 
It's been a dry spell here at the board and computer...words haven't been forthcoming and neither have the revisions. I could say my dog Maizie Marbles ate up my words, my brain's batteries died, or that I fell asleep as Sleeping Beauty did according to the story.  But I'd be lying and I don't lie.  Not well.  Not ever.  It goes against my moral compass and my code of ethics.  So I'll confess: other, seemingly more important priorities seemed to squeeze in the way of my intentions and took over.  For instance:  being on FaceBook with my friends, talking to people about creating a website, doing laundry, washing dishes, keeping the house clean, cleaning out our rabbit, Mr. Milo's house weekly, walking Maizie Marbles so she stays in shape and so do I, driving to and from the east end because I live in two places simultaneously despite one husband who remains in one, snowstorms too many to count, real estate matters that seemed to consume the better part of my work ethic and better judgment, and admittedly, succombing to idle laziness whenever possible.  An essential exercise especially in the freezing days of winter snow.  How after all, could I write and draw when the roads were covered with a nor'easter storm snow and too dangerous to drive on.  We were all told to stay off the roads and at home.   Now do you see my point?  I was helpless and hopeless.
After attending the three day conference of SCBWI in Manhattan,  I was fired up and ready to plunge into my dream world and imagination, writing and illustrating, practicing to be what I yearn to become/am. Shortly thereafter winter set in again.  My spirits were quelled and I hid under the blankees.  Cozy comforts. 
Since I seem to have lost my way I have decided to implement the following:  
I have to hire a better guard of my time, the one I have is not getting paid anything but does a terrible job of managing my schedule. That Guard has been my conscience.  So, tomorrow begins order.  Law & Order.  The new work laws have strict boundaries.  No fooling around on FB.  Let the laundry pile up, we have clothing to last the rest of the year. Cleaning of the house can rest for a while.  My husband and I wear glasses more frequently with each day and the dust doesn't seem to be that thick yet. Whatever lies on the floor we don't necessarily have to make a point of looking for, it will, at some point, be dragged around by the cat, Mr. Baxter, and we'll pick it up. Food shopping can be kept to a weekly excursion, perhaps less as the need to diet is no longer a question but a fact. Winter has a way of making sure you store fat in places you didn't think you had but are frantic to see  disappear before summer if not sooner.  
In a concerted effort to abide by the new Work Laws I am hereby assigning myself the luxury of avoiding all jobs for compensation, real or otherwise unreal, to do this: write and illustrate.  School will help me focus and I'll "get back on track", "ride the wave", be "in the groove", or "into the flow"....whatever best describes it...I've got to get it.  And as long as I'm writing this I can't get "it". 
This is what it used to feel like when I had to have a report done for school...proscrastinate until you're on nerves end and then burn the candle at both ends while you drag to the finish with bleary eyes in the morning.  When you see "A" at the top of the paper you sigh with great relief and another chapter has closed, only to begin the next.  That's where I am.  I gave myself "A" for setting the sails and leaving the harbor.  It's not enough to know I have a destination but that I have the determination and belief that my talents are directed by my navigational instincts and through those, I will arrive where my heart longs to be. There is so much diverse talent in the market it can snuff your fire out rapidly if you let the storm of insecurity pass over your glow.  My feeling is there is always room for another expression of work and the more the merrier. 
Tomorrow is Valentines' Day. 
Valentines' Day is a good day to fall in love with your talents and dedicate yourself to the creative side of yourself...the one you love the most!  So for all of you procrastinators, give your best creative love your all...it deserves it!
Here's to my teachers and my love of my world...and you!  Thanks for being here...you're very important to me. Here's to LOVE...it's what we all desire and need to give more freely.  The gift of giving is a gift unto itself. 
With Love and Hugs xo
Me

NIGHT AND DAY, I AM THE ONE

Okay.  Here we are sitting at the desk again.  Page is empty.  Nothing today is coming up in the mind.  Alot of well meaning intent to work is present but no actual productivity.  It could be that it is day time, a bright and sunny day meant for serious work, but I am beginning to believe I am of the nocturnal sort.  Not only do I thrive in the deep dark navy blue night, but my best work emerges...like bats out of the cave, rushing to life! I am most creative when everyone else's mind is long departed the hours of consciousness.  Every evening I hear the great singular owl in my woods and know it's time to write and draw. 
If I look in the mirror will I see a caricature of a Halloweenish face...dark and eery, or the pig tailed girl in a red corduroy jumper I draw and call "Abigail"...an obvious self portrait. 
Let's face it, when everyone else is asleep, the telephone doesn't ring from the office, the washer and dryer are done churning, the mailman/woman isn't rapping at the door, and the animals lie peacefully together, curled around themselves in slumber.  My darling sweet husband is fast asleep long before I, and my son is at college so I know he's perfectly safe and sound...right? Don't answer that last question...I consider no telephone call a sign that all is well with him. So, I ask myself, isn't this the perfect time to really hone in on my creative right and left side brain?  And what about the top and bottom or middle of my brain...those sections are feverishly at work as well.  We're plugged in and the thoughts pour out of me....onto the paper and into the computer via my fingers, tentacles of energy typing rapidly to the words as they line up in my mind to connect to become sentences.

Nightfall is fast approaching.  It's just after five pm.  Time to get ready for I am the one, the only, in this house that will yearn for the dark to begin my thoughts and work!  Is this normal?  Don't answer me.  Wackiness is what gives color to my work.  I'll quietly keep it tucked inside by day...and let it jump out at night.  Best of both worlds.  

SNOW STORM COMING RUN FOR THE COVERS! (BLANKEES)

There is simply no time to talk about writing or drawing...we're collecting candles and making sandwiches to take under the blankees when the snow storm hits...we may not have electricity so the new fangled computer won't be working and if all fails electronically, my iPhone may go kaput as well!  So for now my friends, gather the nuts and bolts and flashlights and take cover...tomorrow we'll build a monster snowman and terrorize the neighborhood!