Oh, the days pass by so quickly! I can't believe it's been two weeks since my last post. Homeschooling is moving along fabulously and I have even managed to find time to indulge in a few activities that I've not had time for since the fire - knitting, spinning wool (on my fancy new spinning wheel), and reading. I would like to spend more time writing (both online and in my journal) but I suppose there's only so many hours in the day!
I have enjoyed several fabulous portrait sessions at the studio (one of which was with Noah's girlfriend, Ashley -a top secret Valentine's shoot) and since participating in an incredible workshop with Dave Brosha from Yellowknife, I have so many new, creative ideas for styled shoots (both costumes & lighting setups). I've also begun bringing my camera gear home with me so that I can play with my gear and take photos of my guys.
This post is going to return to some of the Kickstart The Year material that I bought over the Christmas holidays. There was so much kick-ass content that I was simply overwhelmed with the potential for growth, goal-setting and real achievements that I had to approach it in small chunks. I will be working on a segment
relating to my goal of writing a book. I have no illusions of becoming a millionaire NYTimes bestselling author but I do know that I have a story to tell and a gift to share with the world.
You are a Writer - +Jeff Goins
After reading his book, I'm deeply inspired and entirely confident that my gift of writing is one that I am compelled to share and that readers will be happy to consume. I will be working through exercises that are designed to get me super clear on my voice as a writer and tuned into what my message is and as a result, sharing that with you, my readers in a real and
authentic way.
Exercise One - Earliest Writing Memory
My first memory of writing
In grade school, I had a teacher, Mrs Frank. She was a no-nonsense teacher but she loved her role as educator and was incredibly inspiring. In class, we had an exercise for creative writing that I've used with my own kids to this day. She had tons of magazine photos posted on the wall (full page and itty-bitty). Our instructions were to take any photo we wanted and write a story using it as the inspiration. This was a fabulously fun exercise and one that I still enjoy now.
How did you feel the first time you picked up a pen or sat in front of a keyboard?
I remember having such a passion for writing that I asked for a typewriter for Christmas. It was an extravagant gift to receive from parents who I now know had to sacrifice tremendously to give it to me. It was an Olivetti typewriter (with a special whiteout strip!). I can picture my bedroom with my little desk and the typewriter placed perfectly in the center of the tabletop. I wrote all kinds of stories about girls being amazing. They were terrible stories with predictable plots but I was in heaven. I took forever to create a sentence because I had no typing skills but noting gave me more of a sense of accomplishment than that "ding" at the end of a line and that familiar sliding sound as I pushed the lever over to begin another line of text. I wrote constantly. I wrote because I needed to. It was like breathing to me.
When was the first time you wrote something you were proud of?
This is an easy one to tell about. I will always remember the pink notebook with my teacher's perfect cursive in fat black marker on the cover. It was called The Adventures of Barbara McIntyre. It was a story that was borne during one of the aforementioned writing exercises in class but because I wanted to create an ongoing story with chapters and multiple stories involving the one character, my teacher was happy to accommodate. I remember feeling proud, confident and like what I was writing was important. I was the only one in class who was writing a novel. Everyone else was doing wee short stories. I felt special and took it very seriously
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This is some fabulous, insightful stuff. I feel like I'm waking up a part of my creative self that while it has been maintained JUST enough that it hasn't died, a huge part of my core is waking up and being called back into action. How exciting & scary.
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