Hi folks, I am starting my new series about what gets me off the ground and in to the creative flow. I call this series UPLIFT. I hope this blog  helps you reach your stratosphere.

What does boldness look like in your work? First, trust your vision. You are the gal who driving the creative bus. Don't allow anyone  take that from you. Cling to your point of view. Boldness means letting people see your work and incorporating their feedback in ways that moves you toward your goals. Boldness means accepting that you may fail, but choosing not dwell on that. Boldness is about healthy, encouraging self-talk. Boldness is all about taking the hits but dwelling on what you learned from them. Boldness is about choosing action over fear. Do it.

I hope you are bold this week.  I will be back next week with more uplift.

Here is a doodle for your pocket. Primary and Secondary

Hi folks, This month I'm calling the series Uplift. The idea of uplift is to improve socially, culturally, morally, spiritually, etc.  We are all hungry, our hearts beating, struggling for contentment and a sweet spot to thrive. This is part of journey for uplift. 

Today was  a big creative day for me. I went to a workshop with Jodell Sadler pacing workshop with SCBWI Brazos Valley. I had a big uplift at this workshop. The idea that I found so provocative is to stop keeping an arm's length  from your story. Of course this true, but immersion in the fictive dream is an absolutely terrifying place to be. You have to open yourself up. 

I find that I want hide behind a mask in my writing. It's like in the early days of theater when actors put masks in front of their faces. The mask was supposed to help the actor vanish in to the role. It was used to transform the actor, to help the audience pretend to be someone else. Finally someone figured it out, if you drop the mask, it's much easier to project the pretend life -- that the audience would connect with the actor's emotional story in a more realistic way if the wooden mask were removed and the audience has access to flesh and bone. 

I struggle to put down the mask. If I put it down, my flaws show. People see my double chin, the age spots on cheeks, the asymmetry of my eyes, the end of my bulbous nose. How will they every connect with my heart behind those eyes? There is this nakedness that must happen to write a true and viable story. It's a thing that resonates in me. It takes bravery to allow others to know you. We are all messed up. That's just the truth. Allowing others to see the blemishes also allows them to see the heart.  Peel off the mask and let the sinew and bone show. Your soul will never escape if mask it. 

I hope that this bit of uplift helps you on your path. I will be back next week with more uplift.

Here is a doodle for the week: "Star in her pocket"

Hi folks, I love November. The air is getting a little crisp, and I might have to put away my sandals soon. This month I'm calling the series Uplift. The idea of uplift is to improve socially, culturally, morally, spiritually, etc.  We are all hungry, our hearts beating, struggling for contentment and a sweet spot to thrive. This week I'm going to respond to a quote by Stephen King article  in Rolling Stone because it got me thinking. 

This statement was the one that caught me though the whole article is good. I've thought about it a lot this week: "maybe all intelligent races hit this level of violence and technological advances that they can't get past. And then they just puff out. You hit the wall and that's it." Something deep with in me just goes all "Gene Roddenberry" at this statement, you know, that whole positive view of the future of the ending of wars, moving on from money, and  focusing on exploring the galaxy.  Maybe we rise up. Maybe be we do better. Maybe the whole universe is alive, and we just haven't found that way to perceive it. We started out with smoke signals back in the day and now we have interwebs. Who knows what is next?  

I don't watch the news much because they are not in the business of sharing what is good and right about our lives. The bright light of gratitude and goodness doesn't seem to draw in the throngs like doom and despair. It's a little weird to me too, because everyone knows focusing on the positive is a sure way to success. You have to deliberately cultivate a life that sees good. I know I'm a broken pot like so many of us, but  I have seen glory in a rock on the side of the road. I've seen it in my cat rolling on the sidewalk. I've seen it in the tree growing next to my driveway. Why can't the Voice in Suburbia says something useful and uplifting? 

I find it helpful to put away the troubling thoughts in life, and do the Scarlet O'Hara thing, "I'll think about that tomorrow" and turn my thoughts toward lofty ideas. This desire has helped me respond positively to the suffering and degradation of life and find new directions. I think of this response like flinging open my arms and embracing the moment. I leap in faith. My deep-seated belief is good triumphs, death is not the end, and love never fails. I leap with these thoughts. 

So what is the end game of this little rambling? There's an updraft, dear, perhaps you should jump in it and see where it takes you. Sounds good. 

I will be back next week with more on Uplift. 

One more chicken doodle: "Chicken Angels."

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.  Abraham Lincoln