Getting Back My Creative Mojo

I am once again attempting to get my creative mojo back. I started the week off with a bang, but each passing day has found me lacking. I have however found some really interesting sites that may help to re-ignite the muse. I think that part of my problem is the fact that I have so many interests, and only a few hours in a day to enjoy them. I consistently say that work gets in the way of life, and that is so very true when it comes to moving the creative juices.

I think the juices started to flow thanks to my all day Saturday session at Creative Creations Papercrafts, where i spent nearly eight hours creating a slew of Christmas cards. There were a number of really interesting techniques and stamps and the icing on the cake was the fact that I picked up my Big Shot Express that is supposed to help me do all of the embossing that I am dying to do. Well instead of coming home and playing around with my new toy I went out with the hubby and spent the evening and early morning dancing and having a good time. What's so bad about that you ask, well in actuality nothing except for the fact that the next day I was wiped out! I'm not as young as I used to be and I have been trying to recuperate all week.

On the writing front I did at least post a new list of freebies in my efforts to purge a large portion of my personal library, but that didn't take a lot of energy or creative juices to get it started. So what creative projects should I be working on? Well there are two book reviews and I'm not sure why I am procrastinating with these because I truly enjoyed both books. At the root of this problem I think is a feeling that the reviews won't be good, but I've got to start somewhere - right? The second project was NaNoWriMo which I started, but I think that I gave up that idea almost as soon as I wrote the first 700 or so words.

The problem there was starting with a totally new project that I had not really thought through clearly. I still think I want to write the story, but I'm not sure if it is a novel and I won't know that until I do some more research. So I'm at a standstill in the writing area although I do have a couple of projects that I could and should pull out and begin to work on.

Next there is knitting and boy do I have a number of projects that I could and should be working on! I started some foot warmers that I hope will be a Christmas present, but if I don't begin knitting soon I won't get those done. This is usually a pretty productive knitting time for me and could be this year as well because I do have a few people that have requested hats etc.. and I would like to get the sticks going, but here again is that procrastination.

This procrastination doesn't surprise me. I think it may have something to do with the loss of my Mom this past February. She introduced me to knitting and we regularly attending a number of knitting workshops at this time of year in preparation for the holiday season. So to say that it is hard to get into some of our shared activities is definitely an understatement.

Then there is the whole holiday thing. From Thanksgiving until after the first of the new year I am usually in such an upbeat and happy mood and I just don't know how I'm going to muster it this year. Part of me is saying that it would be almost sacriligious to enjoy this time of year, but the other says Enjoyment, Family and Festivities are all the things that my mother would want me to engage in this year - even more so than in the past.

With that positive thought I am thinking about participating in an online photography workshop - Picture the Holidays, which is designed in part to help the participants find and keep the joy of the season. It's reasonably priced and may be just what the doctor ordered to get me into the spirit.

I found out about Picture the Holidays through some random surfing yesterday, and I really enjoyed the site Shutter Sisters! I think I'll become a frequent visitor and hopefully participant. They have some great projects and ideas over there, so if you have any interest in photography I'd stop on over there.