Make Way for a Writing Life!

My library of writing inspiration continues to grow.

I have wanted to be a writer for as long as I have been able to write.

I suppose, by definition, as long as I have been writing, I HAVE been a writer!

At my youngest, "playing school" involved writing stories in response to my sister's assignments.

One of my earliest diary entries.  I was an art journaler from the beginning...lol!

In elementary school, my favorite tasks were sentence starters, when my teachers would begin a story, such as, "You are walking down the sidewalk, when you see a strange pair of glasses.  When you pick them up...." and then our job was to finish the story.

The journals I've been keeping on-and-off since I was seven years old.

In middle and high school, I wrote for the school newspaper and our literary magazines.  I even joined literary magazines publishing works of students from school districts across the city.

In college, I never stopped writing, with classes in English, American, and Spanish literature, plus a multitude of history courses.

In my twenties and thirties, I dreamed of becoming a published author, and my journals hold constant chastisements that I never make it past writing diary entries.  I have always been conscious that my desire to dedicate myself to writing never goes away, and yet I haven't contributed the time or ambition to make it happen in any intentional way.

Stories and quotations from published writers contain a wealth of inspiration.

Now I am in my forties, and while I don't think I'm running out of time, exactly, I'm certainly not getting any younger.  I am back to my commonplace books, collecting inspiration from the lives of famous writers.  (A discouraging number of them, by the way, seem to have died in their 40s!)

More spreads from my current commonplace book

I am back to my daily writing in the style of Julia Cameron's morning pages (though my writing seldom takes place in the morning).  And I am planning to do some focused writing for my Living Stones blog, since I am most interested in focusing on matters of faith and Christianity.

Because of my renewed focus and intention, I am going to put this Drawing Near blog on a bit of a hiatus.  It has become clear that I cannot keep too many balls in the air at the same time, and if I am going to sustain my writing practice, then my art and crafting is going to take a backseat for awhile.  I hope to maintain my blogging and mail art friendships, and am still interested in swaps with those who might be interested.  I continue to be reachable at aleakaskey@yahoo.com.  But for awhile, at least, I won't be making updates on this blog.

It is likely I will pop back in from time to time when I can't bear to be away any longer, but for now, it won't be on any kind of a regular basis.

So be well, my friends.  I continue to wish you lives of creativity, hope, and happiness!

A New Chapter

As I was growing up, there were three things that I knew for sure I would be in my life:  a teacher, a mother, and a writer. 

I formulated my teaching career goal at age four, and though I toyed briefly with other options (missionary, minister, journalist, architect), my teaching aspirations never really wavered.  They gave me a very definite path to follow through college, and a sense of security as I worked through my Masters degree, my student teaching, and into a classroom of my own.

Motherhood likewise felt like an assured path.  I followed the great tradition of meeting my husband in college and marrying him halfway through my Masters degree.  We delayed a family to establish my teaching and secure his doctorate.  The Grand Plan got waylaid by circumstances that ended our marriage--the stuff of other stories--and I entered a four-year period of single life, searching, and maternal dreams put on hold.  I would have to wait through another courtship, a second wedding, and two devastating miscarriages to finally realize that long-standing dream of motherhood.

And then there were my expectations that I would be a writer.  I kept a diary, wrote pre-adolescent poetry, wrote for my school newspaper, and edited the literary magazine.  As an undergraduate English major, I continued merrily along my path.  That is, until I interviewed for the staff of the college literary magazine and was soundly rejected by the pompous upperclassman then serving as its editor.  Did I really allow one senior with a bad attitude to derail my entire life plan to become a writer?  Could I have been so insecure, so ready to fold at the slightest obstacle?  I think there were enough distractions and alternatives at the time that I just shrugged my shoulders and decided to fill my time with other things.  How could I have cast aside writing so easily?  All I can guess now is that the book's worth of pages I typed for my English, history, and Spanish literature classes kept me writing so endlessly that my creative writing inclination just quietly slipped into the shadows while I wasn't paying all that much attention. 

The desire is beginning to stir again, though, and I am at a place in life where I have the time, energy, resources, and wherewithal to heed its return.  Last week I pulled all my writing books off the shelf--Bird by Bird, Writing Down the Bones, The Right to Write, Writing Motherhood, Pen on Fire--and dusted off my scrawny one-subject notebook to resume Morning Pages, a la Julia Cameron. 

And today I took the next big step.  I invited my friend Mindy to be my writing partner and my Friendly Reader.  We decided to meet weekly for writing and sharing, while also committing to writing daily in between.  We are going to do our own Morning Pages, complete the Set the Timer exercises in Pen on Fire, and share other interesting writing prompts and activities with each other as we run across them. 

I usually sit around and think about plans and ideas and possibilities for months, sometimes even years, before I act on them.  I am so excited that I only took a week to take major action to return to a real passion with roots all the way back to childhood. 

In The Right to Write, Julia Cameron asks, "What if there were no such thing as a writer?  What if everyone simply wrote?  What if there were no 'being a real writer' to aspire to?  What if writing were simply about the act of writing?"  She goes on, "What if we allowed ourselves to be amateurs (from the Latin verb amare, 'to love')."  My plan is simply to write:  to write because I love it, to write because I want to, to write because it makes my brain feel good. 

Come along for the ride!

Finding Poems on the Spines of Books

*********************************

If you haven't entered my giveaway celebrating my 200th post milestone,

it's not too late!  Enter here.

*********************************

Are you familiar with Found Poetry?

When I was a high school English teacher, my students would "find poetry" in the pages of the books we were reading, identifying themes by highlighting select words on a few pages within a chapter.  In one class that needed LOTS of opportunities for movement and talking, I wrote large words on paper and scattered them around the classroom floor for the students to arrange, kind of like magnetic poetry on the fridge.

Quinn McDonald proposed a fun version of Found Poetry, which she discovered while organizing the books on her shelves.  She realized that the book titles sometimes sit together in fun, poetic ways.  She calls it Book Spine Poetry. 

Quinn invited her readers to try some Book Spine Poetry and link up to her blog, so I thought I would give it a try.  What do you think?

1.

Certain girls--summer people--specimen days, the barefoot believers, feeling good.

(Hard to figure out the punctuation for that one!  It sounds best read out loud, slowly.)

2.

She's come undone In the middle.  I can say a prayer...a separate peace.

3.  This one shows there's still fun to be had with our hubbies even after we have our kids (heehee):

The incredible truth about mothers?  Oh My stars!  Good in bed...little earthquakes...wild gratitude!

4. 

The rhythm of family:  Laugh & tickle, hug & pray.  The source:  Can you find it inside?  Good faith!

5.

The wanderer, daughter of fortune...prodigal summer, baptism by fire...I know why the caged bird sings.

It was kind of fun to scour the book shelves, looking for titles that might lend themselves to found poetry and relate to one another.  Though Quinn did it while organizing her shelves, I had to be careful not to get mine in total disarray as I pulled titles from three different rooms and a hallway! 

If you decide to give Book Spine Poetry a try too, let me know; I would love to read your Found Poems!

Inspirations for Art Journaling

If I were to count up all of the books, magazine articles, and blog posts I have read about art journaling, I'm pretty sure they would add up into the "zillions." 

In every source that I remember reading, the writer begins with strategies for addressing the blank page, usually by offering a series of techniques for creating background papers with paint, stencils, stamps, and ink. 

Leslie, over at Words of Me Project is offering a free eCourse that turns that structure on its head...with very effective results!

Each week of her course "Mind.Body.Soul," Leslie offers a focus word, such as "Believe," "Reach," and "Do."  She then gives us a writing assignment--a series of questions, usually, to answer in our journals.  No paint, no glitter, no doodles.  Just us and our thoughts and the words we can put them into. 

Then, when she moves on to an activity to get us messy and playing in our art journals, we have some great "fodder" for making our pages even more meaningful. 

I really respect this approach.  I have been journaling on and off since I was eight-years old, doing it "the old fashioned way," as I've come to see it--with words alone.  Only in the past year have I really focused on introducing art and images into my journaling, and while it is loads of creative fun, it can sometimes be tough to make the pages meaningful instead of just "pretty."

By beginning with thoughts and words, and then moving on to paint and imagery, it becomes much easier to ensure that there is beauty and meaning in my pages.

I have several books with wonderful and meaningful writing exercises that I think would make great starting points for art journal pages. 

If you are interested in using written inspiration in the creation of your art journal pages, I encourage you to check out Leslie's eCourse, as well as some of these titles:

• Sleeping on the Wing by Kenneth Koch and Kate Farrell
• Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg
• Wild Mind:  Living the Writer's Life by Natalie Goldberg
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
• Writing Motherhood by Lisa Garrigues
• Pen on Fire by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
• The Practice of Poetry edited by Robin Behn and Chase Twichell
• Pencil Dancing:  New Ways to Free Your Creative Spirit, by Mari Messer

What role does actual writing play in your art journaling practice?  How do you ensure that your pages are both meaningful and attractive (if, in fact, it is important to you that they are both)?  I would be curious to hear your thoughts in the comment section.

********************************************

Just a quick side-note:  Whenever someone leaves a comment, I was hoping to reply with an individual email, to make my responses more personal.  After writing several email messages, I discovered that many of them were being sent off to "no-reply comment@blogger.com," which must be the equivalent of Blogging LaLa Land.  I obviously have to work the kinks out to make sure that my messages are being sent to actual accounts.  In the meantime, I apologize if you never heard from me!  Please know how much I value and enjoy every comment I receive.

Six Word Memoirs

I recently taught a week-long graduate course to teachers of kindergarten through eighth grade. We focused on managing reading and writing classrooms—all the nuts and bolts of scheduling your time, handling your paperwork, getting to know your students, building a connection to their homes and parents, and creating a workshop environment in the classroom to support their reading and writing growth.

One of the activities my co-teacher introduces each summer as an ice-breaker is the Six Word Memoir. She originally clipped this idea from a Valentine's Day issue of Readers’ Digest magazine. People summed up their lives and loves in just six words. We have found it challenging and fun to do the same in our classroom!

Here are a couple of examples from the original article:

• Where he is, I am home. (Julia Evans)
• In hindsight, I’d still choose you. (Natana Gill)
• Marriage, children, empty nest: Now what? (Oliver House)
• He e-mailed again, and I deleted. (Molly Antopol)
• Hired me. Fired me. Married me. (Julie Klam)

They’re great, aren’t they?

So, of course, we all write them in class. Some choose to focus on love. Some create a list of topics: a memoir about their childhood, a memoir about teaching, a memoir about love, a memoir about the summer.

I think it’s fun to create a memoir about each stage/aspect of my life: childhood, teenage years, first marriage/divorce, single life, remarriage, motherhood, today.

Here were a couple I wrote during this summer's class:

• Headstrong, too young, bad choice, divorce.
• Second chances lead to life’s treasures.
• Daughters—my heart outside my body.
• Writing, art—bring energy to living.

Someone in class suggested that this could become a daily writing discipline—to reflect on the day each evening before bed, and create a Six Word Memoir to encapsulate whatever stands out to you.

The words “daily discipline,” of course, doom me before I even begin, but I have done it on again/off again since the class finished up.

I have one of those ten-year journals, where you have just four lines to write about your day.

For example, when I write about July 10, I can see what I was doing or thinking or experiencing on each July 10 prior to this one. My book covers the years 2010 to 2020, so I have really only just begun. (And by the way, I was amazingly faithful to it last year, but there are a few significant gaps this year; I have to believe that after ten years, some two week gaps here and there won’t seem quite as significant!)

Anyway, it occurred to me that this ten-year journal is the perfect place to record my memoirs when I feel inclined to create them. Here are some examples:

• July 2: Zentangles bring me home to art. Reclaiming comfortable position as full-time mom. Too much laundry for one day. Dirt, shovels, sprinkler—true toddler bliss.
• July 3: Still, humid heat makes outside unbearable. Pee, poop, and potties exhaust me. Grilled steak, asparagus, and Corona—ahhh! Long talks draw sisters closer together.

Do you see how fun this can be as a journaling practice?

It has also occurred to me that those of you involved in the Index Card a Day challenge could incorporate Six Word Memoirs if you were interested in including meaningful text with your daily drawings and images.

If you decide to try a Six Word Memoir or two, I hope you’ll include it in a comment, or share a link to a blog entry where you try it out!

Enjoy a creative weekend!

You Are My Happy Place

Every holiday, I try to find books or activities that help the girls begin to understand the significance of the holiday.  While I'm not sure that Groundhog's Day made much sense to either of them, they seem to "get" the idea that Valentine's Day is about celebrating love.  One of the books I found at the library was You Are My I Love You by Maryann K. Cusimano.  What a poetic book!  I was hooked by the very first page:

I am your parent;
you are my child.
I am your quiet place;
you are my wild.

As I was gathering the book up with the others to return to the library last night, I got a flash of inspiration to use the structure of the book to write my own poem for my girls.  Here is the poem I wrote for Katy and Bayla; perhaps this will be the start of a Valentine tradition!

I am your Mommy;
you are my little girl.
I am your cozy hold;
you are my tilt-a-whirl.

I am your cup of water;
you are my juice.
I am your please and thank you;
you are my cut loose.

I am your shoes and coat;
you are my racing past.
I am your slow it down;
you are my speeding fast.

I am your shepherd;
you are my sheep.
I am your naptime;
you are my no time for sleep.

I am your right-side-up;
you are my upside-down.
I am your crafting fun;
you are my dance around.

I am your seek;
you are my hide.
I am your safety net;
you are my slide.

I am your hand hold;
you are my climb.
I am your bedtime story;
you are my made-up rhyme.

I am your beaded necklace;
you are my smudgy face.
I am your Mommy nest;
you are my happy place.

Happy Valentine's Day to Katy and Bayla (and to you, too!)