stardate june 9th 2007

i finally figured out how to get back into my blog, now I only have time for this haiku (Haiku review 5-7-5 syllables)

memory, mid-life
i have too many passwords
write them down, silly!

Kids poems

Sometimes other people's poems can act as inspiration for rhythm and structure. I found this kid's poem and then wrote one that sprung off of reading it:


December 26
by Kenn Nesbitt

A BB gun.
A model plane.
A basketball.
A 'lectric train.
A bicycle.
A cowboy hat.
A comic book.
A baseball bat.
A deck of cards.
A science kit.
A racing car.
A catcher's mitt.
So that's my list
of everything
Santa Claus
forgot to bring.

February 2
by Jill

a drink of gin
a twist of lime
a funny book
some more free time
a swizzle stick
a lounger chair
a wide brim hat
and summer wear
an attitude
that isn’t black
a brisk outlook
my humor back
a disposit-
tion- even- cool
a big hot tub
or swimming pool
a lease on life
that keeps me young
a dashing man
who is well sung
that’s a list that
alludes my brain
when trying hard
to appear sane

the absurdity of long titles and the magic of dreamboards: a juxaposition in need of a segue

Yeah, I do have long titles to books and one women shows(My show's title was I Can't Always Handle Reality But It's Really the Only Place to Get a Good Cup of Coffee - it was a long show too). I like the aspect of breaking rules that long titles entail. It has an element of the absurb which always appeals to me as well. Someone told me my book title was too long and I was no longer convinced they were right when five NY publishing houses wanted it with title unchanged.. a plug for following your instincts
Someone asked me to give an example of a dreamboard and I couldn't email them back direcly because it was in blog feedback form. The one you see is Jenn's from last year: .. I just had about 30 people in a workshop creating dreamboards over at my house.. It's a magical experience..that just requires magazines, poster board, glue and belief. (a few more secrets will be shared this thursday night) go here to register.. it's almost filled. Link: http://www.artellawordsandart.com/workshops.html#dream

Have a great day and other platitudes that serve you,
jill

Creativity is a Drug

I'm working on two books right now. One is The Awe-manac: A Daily Guide for Creative Brilliance, Child-like Wonder and Soul-fillment - Running Press bought it and I'm really happy with how it's evolving. I get to illustrate this one. The other one is The Ten Anti-aging Potions (and a Spot Remover): Creative Agelessness - this one's just pouring through me and I haven't tried to sell it yet but I'm getting the message that it might be very popular. Creativity is definitely an elixir for youthfulness, and there's nine other potions in there that I can't wait to share.
It's all about creativity isn't it? I can't seem to get enough of it. I'm addicted. Robin Williams said "Creation is a drug, why do you think Einstein's hair looked the way it did?"

However, today a new title came through that I think will have to just be a title: The Muses Get Raunchy: Nude Pictures of the Bodyguard . Them Muses is wily.

midlife crises

Surfing the net the other day, I landed on Amy Wallen's website (her novel went on sale yesterday by the way.. Congratulations Amy). Among a list of details about her interests, she included that she started playing piano at age 40 and I thought nonchalantly to myself, “Hmm, maybe I’ll return to playing the piano when I turn 40.” Yet, I am 50. Now on most occasions I enjoy my highly sophisticated denial skills but this time they robbed me of 10 years that I could have used to develop a provocative and well spiced piano repertoire. A mid-life crisis immediately set in. I sat in paralyzed angst owing to the fact that I had a LOT of stuff that I assumed I’d do by the time I gotten to the age I’d already been. Angst is an uncomfortable thing to sit in. Of course, there have been several flurries of aging reality before this one. I’ve, in fact, had 60 or 70 mid life crises - starting in my … 30s.

In my early thirties I thought people in their mid-twenties had their whole life ahead of them while being 32 was late in life. In my forties, I thought, now I was surely ancient; the forties are synonymous with old age, right? So little time left. A little bit of common sense from each of these countless crises helped me perfect the art of looking forward rather than back. Realistically, I could have possibly more than 35 MORE years left to learn the piano, meet and love a lot of wonderful people, bike through Holland, make a contribution or nine, and experience many other things on my list of yearnings. I am pretty sure I could get good at almost anything in only 20 years so I’d even have 10 to 15 years left to read funny literature and paint quirky watercolor paintings . Looking at it that way... there seems to be plenty of time left.

At this point in the age-game we have wisdom, a deepening potential to be creative - rich life experiences as inspiration, less reason to be stymied by what others think, the mellowing agent of age, and more motivation to live deeply and evocatively.

I now consider each mid-life crisis I’ve had as one more draw back of the band on my destiny sling-shot. My sling-shot is currently at the max extension, the point of release and I’m poised in the middle so to speak, ready to be launched with divinely executed aerodynamics which includes but is not limited to a graceful arch into the second half of my life - in a confident, deliberate, undaunted, gusto-filled, effortlessly dedicated forward motion rather than a diminishing one. And I’m taking you with me. So let’s have launch. For a conversation and further revealing of anti-aging potions, choose the anti-aging option on the newsletter subscription link.

"I want the one rapture of an inspiration." ~Gerard Manly Hopkins, a poet

"I have an inspiration, so I'm feeling one, maybe two raptures.
So I sit to write down my inspiration. A flying monkey swoops down and carries off my inspiration, my motivation, my ability to focus. And my grammar. Darn. Another monkey hands me the remote control to the TV. Thanks. Yet another one just flies by and smashes into the sliding glass door. He thought it was open. I just cleaned that window yesterday (when I was supposed to be writing)." -me

illustration by Jared Chapman

Getting out of a rut

This is a picture of a mind in a rut. It doesn't know why it isn't moving forward.. it just does the same old thing every day not aware that making a slight change, shifting in a different direction may bring it some different scenery.