Category: Blogging

Wreck This Journal: Week 5 – Making My Mark

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During these past five weeks of the Next Chapter’s Wreck This Journal adventure, I’ve had so much fun making my mark on this book.  I even had to change the title to Wreck Jenn’s Journal!  The cute stickers are from my friend Ana Ottman (thanks Ana!).  Here’s a look at my wreckage for the week.

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I drew two disgusting, yucky true stories about my pup Emmett.  Sure he’s cute, but it’s really gross when I accidentally touch his poo or when he barfs on chicken bones.  I thought these were perfect fodder for the “ugly…poo…barf” page.  Click here to see a bigger version.

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Do you remember the old-fashioned toy Wolly Willy with the metal filings and magnet wand?  While getting my haircut last Friday, I was inspired to make my own versions for the “create a drawing using a piece of your hair” page.  With journal and glue in hand, I picked up my hair trimmings and decorated my page.  My hairstylist got a kick out of it and even suggested a few of the ‘dos.

Oh, and you’ll see that there’s a blue splotch, too.  The blue soaked through several pages after I swam with my journal.  The absolutely cool thing is, the ink is from the “color outside the lines” page.  Not only did I color outside the lines, I colored in three-dimensions!

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This circle page feels so cheery and fresh with all of the bright colors and fruit.  My journal actually smells lemony now because I infused it with some “Lusty Lemon” essential oil.  I got the idea of finding images of circular objects after seeing the Ganesha icon from the wrapper of my Yogitoes skidless mat.  I also added the Ganesha description, “The God of knowledge, wisdom and wealth, Lord of success and destroyer of all obstacles” to the title page.  Perfect!

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On Monday, I ran into my dear friend Julie Daley at Bittersweet.  We had a lovely conversation and afterward I invited her to wreck my journal.  She signed her name with decadent chocolate cake!  Yummy.

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Here’s the magazine page with my favorite words on it circled.

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And here’s the “test art supplies” page on its third week of being my blotting paper at intuitive painting class.  It’s super cool to see it get messier and messier!  It looks even better in person.

I’m really feeling like the freedom to destroy, deface and make my journal my own has enhanced my overall creativity.  I’ve been in a creative flow the past several weeks.  I’m looking forward to more wrecking!

Wreck This Journal: Week 4 – Diving In

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During these past few weeks, I’ve grown quite attached to my journal and it now goes with me everywhere.  It’s like having a little creative companion to inspire me throughout my day.  I look over and hear my co-conspirator asking me, “Hmmm, what mischief shall we get into today?”

After surviving a shower with my journal, I ventured into taking it for a swim with me last week.  This was quite a leap considering I seriously contemplated putting my journal into a ziplock bag before bringing it into the shower!

I swam a little on my own first, scoping out the pool.  Being the good rule-follower that I am, I even found myself glancing over to the pool rules sign to make sure there wasn’t any wording about bringing strange, foreign objects into the pool!  I felt self conscious as I brought the book into the water with me, concerned about what others might think.

But in the end, I just took a deep breath and plunged right in, journal in hand.  It was quite exhilarating!  Then we lounged together poolside and worked on our tan.

Here’s a quick video of me checking out the damage ;).

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My journal was sopping wet, so my husband suggested wrecking it further with a hairdryer.  I’m amazed at the volumizing effect even without a diffuser or mousse!

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Here’s my journal at the beginning of my Intuitive Painting class with Chris Zydel.

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And here’s my journal after a good, messy session of painting.  What fun!!

Through all this play and destruction, I’m learning some helpful lessons from creative wreckage that apply to my life in general:

  • Thinking, anticipating, fretting, and plotting about something that stretches me is usually a lot scarier than actually just doing it.
  • By stretching myself, I discover new edges that challenge me and empower me to grow.
  • I feel even more invested in my creative endeavors after I’ve taken a risk (whether it turned out the way I wanted it to or not).
  • I’m capable of way more than I think I am.

What life lessons are you learning from your creative wreckage?  I’d love to hear.

Wreck This Journal: Week 3 – Getting Messy

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For week 3 of the Next Chapter‘s Wreck This Journal adventure I played with getting a little more messy.  I dabbled in food stains, dragging the journal and other fun stuff.

My partner in crime, Emmett, helped me drag the journal down the street in the video below.

We didn’t get very far before the string snapped, but the cover certainly got scuffed up. I think it ended up for the best that the journal detached from his leash. I didn’t think through the positioning and he ended up peeing on the string which was really gross.

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I warmed up to the food mess by putting a few stains on my stain page.  Who knew that blueberry soy yogurt has such adhesive properties?  The pages were glued together after the yogurt dried.

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While savoring a tasty raw food meal from Cafe Gratitude, I figured I’d commemorate the delicious lunch in my journal (even though it says to document your dinner – so rebellious! Haha!).  I smeared on some raw pasta puttanesca zucchini noodles and fake meatballs and garnished with a sprig of watercress from the side salad.

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I took my journal with me to intuitive painting class.  Instead of using a paper towel to dab my brushes, I had fun using my test page.  I will continue to use this page for my paintbrushes for the rest of the book club.

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My leftover paints made a colorful palatte for my handprints!

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And finally after this week’s mess, I cleaned off my journal in the shower! Haha.  Really, I had been avoiding this because I hate water-logged pages.  Oh well!!

I love Jamie’s vlog post about attachment this week.  Great insights, Jamie.

Juicin’ it up on The Juice

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This morning I did a video shoot for BlogHer’s The Juice.  The fabulous BlogHer co-founder Jory Des Jardin interviewed me about creativity and writer’s block.

If you haven’t seen these weekly video clips, check them out.  They’re quite informative.  From fitness tips to healthy meals to work/life balance, it’s about “more of what you want, less of what you don’t!”  My clip will be up at the end of August.

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The crew was super friendly and I had a blast!  I also loved that they had a professional make-up artist on-site and we did a quick photo shoot in the garage afterward.  Yes, this Leo felt like a star, at least for a little bit :).

Wreck This Journal: Week 2 – Creative Cohorts

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What fun it’s been wrecking this week!  AND seeing all the other creative destroyers participating in the Next Chapter.

Reflecting on this week, I noticed that I stayed more in the realm of “art” making rather than pure destruction.  It was still quite a stretch for me to bend pages, to color with random crayons that I pulled out of a bag without looking/color coordinating (gasp!), and to add three-dimensional objects that make the pages all unwieldy.  For goodness sake, my book won’t even stay closed now – which I guess is a good thing… haha!

I also had fun asking friends to play with me, starting off with my friend Amy.  Amy and I met for the first time in person at lunch today and she was so sweet that she brought me a little present.  I opened it up to find that she gifted me with sparkly gemstone stickers (which was perfect for Wreck This Journal, even though she didn’t even know about it!).  I invited her to stick some stickers on the book.

Here’s my friend Amy “wrecking” my journal – isn’t she adorable?

You’ll see that there was food still on the table, but I wasn’t ready to document my meal yet. 😉  My excuse?  Well it was lunch, not dinner! Haha.

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This is one of my favorite pages so far.  Once I started putting fruit stickers on, I had the urge to draw the fruit that went with it.  The Dole sticker just looked like it could easily turn into a banana!  And then I jotted down my random thoughts about the fruit.

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Right before going to bed last night, I got inspired to do the office supplies page. So, I rummaged through our stash of post its, staples, paper clips and such.  The most satisfying act was making labels with my P-touch.  I also forgot how toxic White Out smells.  That, mixed with Sharpies might have added to the creative flow!

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I decided to sleep with my journal before it got too messy and gross ;).

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And today after lunch with Amy, I stopped by my friend Kate‘s house.  I handed her the book and asked her to do something destructive to this page.  She made me hang out in the bathroom with the water running so I couldn’t hear what mischief she was up to.  When she called for me to come out, this rogue seamstress and my Kiss the Paper cohort showed me the cutest sewn awkward heart.  I love it!

Given my resistance, it’s obvious that the next place to venture into is the gross land of food, licking pages and perhaps bringing it in the shower with me (I really, really hate it when my books get wet and water logged!).  Well, as they say, “What’s in the way is the way!”

Wreck This Journal: Week 1 – Playing with Fire

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The Next Chapter book club starts up again this week with Keri Smith’s Wreck This Journal.  Thanks, Jamie for a great pick!

As I mentioned in my Juicy Pens and Thirsy Paper post last year, I don’t write in my books.  I don’t dog ear.  If I do for some odd reason need to markup a book, I’ll do it very lightly… in pencil.  It goes without saying that Wreck This Journal poses a challenge for me!  Author and artist Keri Smith urges us to roll up our sleeves and get messy with challenges like take the book in the shower with you (are you kidding me?!) or cut through several layers of the book (yikes!) or lick the page (gross).  Hmm, I may need to ease myself in with more innocuous activities like writing on the grocery list page or tracing my hand.

Fortunately, my intuitive painting classes encourage me to get messy, make ugly art and just be in the creative process.  I’ll definitely be tapping into that as I work my way through Wreck This Journal.

I did give myself a head start by buying a used version. It’s still blank inside, but it’s already a little run down and it’s got a black remainder mark on the edge.  I needed to have it broken in rather than cracking open a pristine copy.  Perhaps that’s cheating a bit, but it’s what worked for me! 😉  I even loved how the envelope it came in has seen better days.

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Given that during the 12 Secrets Next Chapter adventure, I shared that I could use more fire in my life, I chose to kick off wrecking my journal by doing the “burn this page” page.  Here’s a video of my first attempt.

After I got the hang of it and wasn’t worried that the whole book would go up in flame, I got bolder and played around more with the burnt edges.  I actually like the effect.

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I’m looking forward to meeting other Next Chapter wreckers this summer and playing together!  Here’s to wrecking!

Secret #12: Planning to Achieve Your Goals

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The final chapter of The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women focuses on goal setting and action steps.  After three months of exploring the creative process with Jamie Ridler’s Next Chapter book blogging group, it’s important to also have a plan for making it all real.  Right now, my big goal is to have my book proposal completed by the end of May (which is now next month – yikes!).  I’ve been working with my book coach for quite some time and I feel like I’m starting to make some significant progress.  YAY!

I like to see my goals on one-sheet of paper and the anal part of me likes to check things off once I complete them!  So, I created a Quarterly Goals Sheet template that I fill out and post on my bulletin board above my desk.  It’s a great way for me to track how I’m doing against my vision.  For some tasks, I will also fill out a more detailed Action Plan template so that I can get really clear on the specific steps, resources needed and (since I’m a pressure-prompted worker) timing.

When I’m overwhelmed with a really big project, I often times will just put up tasks on post-it notes and organize the plan from there.  I love how visual and free-form this method is.  Other times, I’ll just write a letter to myself from the future to inspire me to take the steps needed to make my goal manifest. For other creative planning ideas, check out my Wishstudio Blogzine Musepreneur column on some right-brain approaches to business planning.

I’ve enjoyed re-reading the 12 Secrets in community with other women.  This process of exploring and sharing has helped to deepen my understanding and practices of the 12 secrets in new, exciting ways.   I’ve absolutely loved meeting so many inspiring, creative women through the Next Chapter book blogging group!  And I look forward to the next book selection which Jamie announced on today’s celebration call.  If you missed it, you can listen to the call here.

Also, on the celebration call, Jamie announced the launch of “Your Creative Spark: Inspiring Interviews with 12 Highly Creative Bloggers” (I’m one of the interviewees!).  I just downloaded my copy and am loving all the juicy creative goodness!  Click here for more details on Your Creative Spark.

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Secret #11: Subtracting Serenity Stealers

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It’s tax time and my husband spent an hour rummaging through our storage crawl space to help me track down a statement from almost nine years ago for our accountant.  Clutter and disorganization definitely bring me down and today’s antics were such a reminder of that!

What I realized in reading this week’s chapter of The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women is some of the same things that are strengths in my creative process can also be serenity stealers.  For example, when I’m in the frenzy of my creative flow, I have piles of papers all around me, books and magazines stacked left and right, pens and post-its galore.  I have to be surrounded by my inspiration and all my iterations.  However, the physical chaos can be quite an energy drain, especially when I’m winding down on a project.

Related to that, during these creative spurts, I tend to have light-bulb moments in the evening and then stay up until the wee hours of the morning to get it all out of my head.  I seem to work better at night when I have to come up with new material or sort through ideas.  The serenity stealer though is lack of sleep.  And I’m definitely one who needs lots of shut-eye.

Part of my lesson is accepting that this is how I create and to build in recovery time for myself.  I’m pretty good about protecting my schedule because I know I can get overwhelmed very easily.  Also, as a Highly Sensitve Person, I know I need to make sure I have lots of quiet, peaceful time by myself.  That’s why I’m so avid about my self-care Fridays!

Some other steps I’m going to take in the coming months include organizing the storage in our garage to make better use of the space and de-cluttering our home office and my art supplies.

Ahh, I feel better just thinking about the spaciousness and serenity that will bring!  Now, off to bed to get some rest!

Secret #10 Abundance and Positive Priorities

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We’re on week 10 of Jamie Ridler’s Next Chapter book blogging group and this week’s secret is Living in Abundance with Positive Priorities.  This is probably one of my favorite chapters of The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women because Gail McMeekin encourages us to relish in doing what we love and who wouldn’t love that?!  And my theme for this year is “abundance, ease and organic growth” so it fits right in!

Gail defines Positive Priorities as “life choices that express who we are and what we want for ourselves.”  One of the most important decisions I made to honor my positive priorities was quitting my corporate job.  At the time I thought I was quite prosperous with my six-figure salary and my never-ending wardrobe thanks to my 50% clothing discount.  I was actually fooling myself with material things.  I feel more even more prosperous and abundant now because I’m spending my time in ways that are meaningful and enriching to me.

Some of the ways I’ve been practicing my positive priorities include:

  • Participating in a weekly intuitive painting class with the delightful Chris Zydel.  Yes, it takes a big chunk of my morning AND I know it’s exactly where I need to be giving my creative spirit breathing room.
  • Doing some food craving sessions with the wonderful Kara Sorensen to combat my life-long obsession with sugar (Girl Scout cookie season was definitely an impetus for this!)
  • Going to yoga classes at least three times a week (five times when I’m feeling really good!)
  • Scheduling my housecleaner to come once a month (I’ve learned that it’s so worth the investment so that I can focus on doing what I love and not scrubbing the toilet).
  • Treating myself to a massage every once in awhile.  I had one on Friday and it was heaven.

Gail also encourages us to tap into the power of gratiude.  An attitude of gratitude is so key to prosperity!  Here are a couple of gratitude resources:

All of these goodies defintely get my creative juices flowing.  What are your positive priorities and how do you practice abundance?

Secret #9: Transcending Rejections and Roadblocks

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I seemed to have been blocked around Gail McMeekin‘s Secret #9 Transcending Rejections and Roadblocks since I waited two weeks to get to it!  Haha!  I am my own roadblock when I get caught up in my own doubts and fears.  I can forget that I need to take steps to move out of the dark forest of doubt and into the flow of the creative process.  Not only is it a vulnerable act to creatively express ourselves, to expose our emotions and personal thoughts, but on top of that, I can be quite sensitive to criticism or not being understood.

AND, I have so much valuable evidence that inevitably good things happen when I put myself out there.  I learn something, or I meet new people or I somehow make a positive difference, etc.  So, I continue to pick myself up and put one foot in front of the other.

Sometimes when something doesn’t go the way I had hoped, I’ll get thrown off track for awhile.  For example, about four years ago, I participated in a retreat that threw me for a loop.  I hadn’t shown up the way I had wanted to and I was really down on myself.  It actually took about a year for me to fully recover my confidence.  Despite the delay, the lightbulb moment was powerful when I realized that I had moved past that experience.  I had learned what I needed to by continuing to work my edge and I had become stronger in the process.

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As I work on my first book proposal, I will keep in mind the journeys of the creative women highlighted in this chapter who persevered through all sorts of challenges.  I love the suggestion of tapping into your warrior energy to move through adversity.  Above is a detail shot of a money collage I did last year.  I will call on this warrior woman’s fierceness for sure!  (And I’ll take her killer abs, too!).

How do you overcome rejections and roadblocks?