The Journal

thinking, writing, learning

2014 What Have I Learned?

 

I never want to stop learning. Yup, that’s what I learned.

When my hands were full of ink and my new press was giving me a fit, I had few moments of angst. But I wanted to figure it out. I’m not sure I was a learner when I was younger, but the adult me loves to problem solve.

I also learned:

  • how to make a tasty beef brisket and sour cream potatoes
  • I really do have anxiety issues (plane, relationships, food)
  • how to balance writing rejections with the joy of acceptances
  • I want to keep my hair short
  • some things never change (dislike of cold, love of sugar, need to be near the beach)
  • I can still overdo social media (it’s a great place to hide sometimes)
  • how to let go of expectations (most of the time)
  • not to listen to the voice in my head (most of the time)
  • how much I enjoy being creative, even reading about creativity!

Let’s see what 2015 has in store……

 

Why we do what we do

il_570xN.634074383_nkarOne of my letterpress teachers created this poster, which I bought and hung above my press.

The words inspire me. I’m not a designer. I have no background in art. And, yet, for most of my life I’ve been drawn to type and white space. I’ve been trying to figure out where to go with my writing studio and my presses. What I am beginning to realize is I don’t need to “go” anywhere. So each day I do what moves me. One day I create a card. Another, an inspirational poster. Or I write. Or I meet my writing group. For me, the greatest gift in this journey is learning not to care what anyone thinks, but to create a life that matters to me.

I should have named my shop, “Even if nobody cares.”

Do Better Tomorrow

Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities
no doubt have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.

Tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely
and with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with
your old nonsense.

This day is all that is
good and fair.
It is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on yesterdays.

Emerson

 

Ten Years… and counting

 

Ten years….of writing, reflecting, and posting.

This blog has morphed from a class blog (2004), to a runner’s diary,  to a tech teacher’s tips for teachers, to a writer’s journal, to my progress with letterpress.

June is always a time to reflect, at least for a former teacher. It makes me think about Annie Dillard’s comment:

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

I’m trying to picture myself years from now, thrashing about, wondering if the way I’ve spent my days matters.

 

 

Hearing Truth

4366761552_0a671b63b5
I’ve been thinking a lot about feedback lately. In our writing/arts studio, we want creative people to feel free to explore and play–with words, paint, fiber.

For some of us, that’s enough. But others are looking for more, for feedback to finish/publish/sell a project.

So we’ve created different spaces for our various stages of production. If we’re exploring an idea, learning a new skill, or simply letting our creative side bloom, we go to Our Words or an Art Experience. If we need to know whether our project needs refining, polishing, or even tossing, we attend a Writing Workout or perhaps a private consultation with an artist.

But taking constructive feedback is difficult. Many of us struggle with perfectionism. We have trouble failing.

I love the 30/90 percent idea I read about this morning on 42floors.com:

We call it Thirty Percent Feedback.  It’s a trick I learned from our investor, Seth Lieberman.  It came about because I once asked him for feedback on a product mockup, and he asked if I felt like I was ninety percent done or thirty percent done. If I was ninety percent done, he would try to correct me on every little detail possible because otherwise a typo might make it into production. But if I had told him I was only thirty percent done, he would gloss over the tiny mistakes, knowing that I would correct them later.  He would engage in broader conversations about what the product should be.

I think writers often don’t recognize we are at 30%, rather than 90%. We begin to focus on commas, when we should be reworking language (or revising the heck out of something).

I love giving labels to ideas.