A Daily Dose–Monday Meanderings

Photo: thehealthsite.com

For today’s Monday Meanderings, I’m offering a quote a day for each of us who pursue a creative lifestyle, whatever art form(s) is your passion.

Rx: Creative Inspiration—
sig: 1 qd x 1wk (that is, one a day for one week!)
swallow whole, sit back and reflect
get butt in gear and create

Monday:
All of the successful artists (writers…) I know are very disciplined and very organized. Even if they don’t look organized, they have their own order.
Anna Deavere Smith
Letters to a Young Artist

Tuesday:
There is time in your day for writing—no matter how busy/important/stressed you are. You may not like me for saying this, but you do have twenty-four hours to spend. Same as everyone else. You can stop time by falling enormously in love with your own writing self.
Heather Sellars
Page after Page

Wednesday:
Writing can teach us the dignity of speaking the truth, and it spreads out from the page into all of our life, and it should.
Natalie Goldberg
Writing Down the Bones

Thursday:
Blocking is essentially an issue of faith. Rather than trust our intuition, our talent, our skill, our desire, we fear where our creator is taking us with this creativity.
Julia Cameron
The Artist’s Way

Friday:
Writing is about hypnotizing yourself into believing in yourself, getting some work done, then unhypnotizing yourself and going over the material coldly. There will be many mistakes…
Anne Lamott
Bird by Bird

Saturday:
Many of us find that we have squandered our own creative energies by investing disproportionately in the lives, hopes, dreams, and plans of others.
Julia Cameron
The Artist’s Way

Sunday:
Life is so rich, if you can write down the real details of the way things were and are, you hardly need anything else.
Natalie Goldberg
Writing Down the Bones

Image: embraceordinary.com

I found these quotes in a few of the books that have helped me most in my creative journey. I highly recommend them and realize that it’s time for me to revisit one (or all) of them.

Busy as I have been with the work-end of trying to publish my second novel, I feel creatively drained. I haven’t been happy with my poetry and find I am not writing much in the way of new material. In a way, publishing a book is a bit like raising a child and then setting her free in the world. There is a strong sense of emptiness that ensues.

In a few days, I expect to receive my proof of “The Sin of His Father.” There will be another edit (or more), a careful evaluation of the cover, perhaps the need to order yet another proof. I will be working on some sort of marketing plan as well. Hopefully, by early August (maybe even late July) I will be ready to launch this project.

In the meantime, I have a great need to refresh my creative spirit.

Have a happy, creative week.