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.

Free Books - Part Two!

Here we go, the second installment of the Free Book Give-Away! When I say free that's exactly what I mean. The recipient pays nothing - not even shipping! I am in the process of doing some home renovations, and I need to make room for other things, so won't you help me out by taking a book or two off of my hands?

1. Eyes of A Child by Richard North Patterson
2. Achieving Your Financial Potential by Scott Kays
3. French Silk by Sandra Brown
4. Heaven's Price by Sandra Brown
5. Disclosure by Michael Crichton
6. No Disrespect by Sister Souljah
7. Dreamer - A Novel by Charles Johnson
8. The Client by John Grisham
9. Inside the Magic Kingdom by Tom Connellan

So that's it, click on the title to learn more about the book, and leave a message in the comment section to receive your FREE Book! For a look at the first installment, look here.

Note - I don't want to delay this posting so I apologize if you have problems with the links. For some reason when I tested them I received error messages. I am hoping this is just a late night glitch and you won't have that problem.

I Support My President

I was once a political "junkie" listening to every speech, flipping through the various channels to get a taste for all of the pundits, but in recent time I have tried to divest myself of these habits because they were in a word - DEPRESSING!

Last night was one of those nights when I could not listen because I knew that so much of the rhetoric would be laced in hate and venom. Why so much hate? Well in my opinion it has to do with the "browning" of this country and a fear of loosing control.

The "browning" is not just in the White House, it is the fact that there are more and more minorities in this country, and a lot of people can't handle that! Some minorities included.

But this post is about me supporting my President and why. I support him because I believe that he has the best interests of all Americans when he attempts to shape the policies of this country and because he is a man of character.

It takes a man of strong character to admit that he hasn't satisfied the masses and an even stronger one to once again extend the "olive branch" to his dissenters in an effort to move this country forward. I have not read his statement in its entirety, but this reporting suggests President Obama is once again open to dialogue.

I will begin to watch in a few days when the volume of rhetoric has been reduced to a reasonable level, because it is now time for the Republicans and the Tea Party to play their hand. It's a hand I believe we are all familiar with, but now it is up to the American people to choose between substance and rhetoric. Allegedly the people have spoken and they want to "Change the Course" according to Rep. Boehner, but what is the course and at what cost?

So as not to ramble I will end by restating - I Support President Barack Obama, and it has nothing to do with the color of his skin, but everything to do with the content of his character!

No School On Election Day?!

While I don't have any children I do try to keep up on news worthy items and it appears to me that I slept through one - No School On Election Day for safety reasons! Come on, I really couldn't believe it at first, but then again with all of the rhetoric and hate that has surrounded the last several election cycles I guess I should not be surprised.

In a meeting this morning a co-worker and I discussed the number of schools closed today, but I had no idea it was associated with safety until this afternoon when I asked my sister why she was home. She said no school because of the election and my response was "since when," to which she replied "they started it year before last for safety reasons or something."

This is getting to be a little silly. I listened to a commentary this morning by Jeff Johnson on the Tom Joyner Morning Show and he recounted covering elections in other parts of the world and how in places like Iraq, Africa and Asia election day was a National Holiday. It has never been a National Holiday in the U.S. and to think that it has become a holiday because of fear for the safety of our children is despicable.

The First Installment of Free Books

As indicated in the previous post, I have books to share with the masses! In an effort to make room for other things, and of course some of these will be new books I am parting with some of the hundreds of novels that I own. If you are interested in obtaining any of these titles, please leave a note in the comment section. I will cover the cost of postage so all you have to do is have a love of reading or an interest in the titles and they could be yours!

Help me purge!

Here is the list:

1. Good Peoples by Marcus Major
2. The Silent Cradle by Margaret Cuthbert
3. Gingersnaps by Delorys Welch-Tyson
4. Any Rich Man Will Do by Francis Ray
5. Like the First Time by Francis Ray
6. Like Breathing, A Novel by Ricc Rollins
7. Sins of the Mother, An Alison Young Thriller by Cheryl Saban
8. The View From Here by Brian Keith Jackson
9. Pride by Lorene Cary
10. Singing in the Comeback Choir by Bebe Moore Campbell

Just click on the title to learn more about each title.

Free Books, as I purge!

So today is purge day and man it is not easy. I am trying to organize and I can't seem to do it. What is the biggest culprit you ask? Booooks, can I say Booooks again! Recently I attempted to count all of the books that I own and there were well over 700! That's a lot of books, but as my sister has said, "you're a bookie" which I must admit I am. I should not have grown up in the era of "A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste" and "Knowledge is Power" etc. Man did I ever take those messages to heart. Actually one of my favorite pictures is of me as a child asleep lying on my stomach on the hardwood floor, face in a book and knees bent - that is a telling photo. I'll have to find it and post it one day.

Now back to my dilemma - books. I have a three bedroom house, no children and just about every corner and crevice has a book of some sort taking occupancy. I am posting photos of some of the bookcases and piles to illustrate my point.

So how did this start? Well the easy answer is my love for reading. As long as I can remember I have loved reading, language and being taken away through the pages of a book. I can recall as a child being punished and told to go to my room, that is until the day my mother realized that was no punishment! You see I spent those hours reading and engrossing myself in the worlds of everyone from Nancy Drew to Margaret in Judy Blume's classic "God, Are You There, It's Me Margaret."

As the years progressed and my interests were continually piqued I picked up the works of black female authors Toni Cade Bambara, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, and the trailblazer Zora Neale Hurston. Not wanting the men of the Harlem Renaissance to feel left out I began to read James Baldwin, Richard Wright and Langston Hughes. Spreading my wings into collections of poetry, I became a fan of anything and everything Nikki Giovanni wrote as well as making a point to be in the audience whenever she came to Cleveland. There was even an Eldrige Cleaver novel or two in there. So, the point is that my reading passion continued, took on a slant towards the works of blacks, but the majority was still prominent. There was Dostoevsky and Pasternak along with Shakespeare, Albee and Moliere'. Now I don't mention all of these authors to seem anything more than a lover of language.

The problem with just these few authors is that instead of trekking to the neighborhood library and retrieving these works I headed straight to the local bookstore and purchased book after book. For the life of me I can't recall the names of two of my favorite haunts as a teen - they were small independent bookstores where you could find all sorts of used books. One was on Coventry and the other was on Shaker Square, and how I loved going in and spending hours just browsing the titles. That was heaven on earth! They were small, quaint and smelled old because of the books but I found such warmth in these stores. I would say that Mac's Back on Coventry lends itself to that memory.

Now this obsession with books did not end back in the late 70s and 80s, no it manifested and has reached gargantuan proportions as stated in the opening paragraph - more than 700 titles! No matter how I try to purge myself of books I just can't. I've given away a few titles because I am trying to make myself understand that I most likely will not re-read half of these wonderful books. The problem with that assessment is how can I be certain? What if read a review, or become engaged in a conversation about a work that I know I have/had and go to seek it out for clarity and it's not there! What's a girl to do?

Well this girl has determined she is going to be successful in this endeavor and one way to achieve my goal is to share with others, and to do this on a larger scale. So beginning today I am parting with some of my prized possessions, and you could be a recipient. All you have to do is express an interest in the comments section and I'll send you one of my babies! Remember knowledge is power and we must share the power!

Have you tried 750words.com?

Last week I received a message from a good friend saying check out 750words.com as a good site to help get the juices flowing and keep you on track with your writing goals.

I'm always looking for something to help me stay on task with my writing, so of course I took a look and signed up. As per my usual I didn't do anything for the first few days, then I wrote a couple of hundred words one day. Then nothing.

I am pleased to announce that for the last three days I have stayed on task and I have written 750 words or more! Yay for me!!!

The first two days were just random thoughts, but today I rewrote a post I had left in the draft column since July. It's the book review below.

I hope this is a positive trend - better yet, I'm going to make it a positive I won't just hope. I have to control my destiny and this is one way to do it.

If you're having trouble with your writing and looking for an inspirational tool - check it out here.