Destiny Allison's Blog, page 14

Creative Procrastination — 5 tips for staying on track

I went for a walk this morning with a dear friend. The wind blew cold and gusty down the railroad tracks and we fought for breath as we caught up on our lives. My friend is also an artist and writer. Like me, she is involved in multiple projects, pulled in a variety of directions, and often frustrated by her inability to focus on just one thing.

For most creatives, this is a challenge. We’re great at ideas, vision, and inspiration, but we often suck at implementation. Like a five year old on a soccer field, we lose interest in the game when something else catches our attention and sparks our imagination — a butterfly, the way the sunlight makes patterns when we squint our eyes, a dragon shaped cloud.

So often I hear creatives talk about getting the next piece started, or done, for months on end. I used to think the procrastination came from over thinking. Then, I thought it came from fear. Now, I think its some of both, but also more.

We don’t finish, or start, because its not in our nature. Developing the discipline and skills necessary to produce the work is really hard.

When my son, a natural with anything related to music, was offered lessons, he turned them down. He didn’t want to practice or be required to build a foundation of knowledge. Instead, he wanted to tinker, invent, and explore on his own. Now grown, it is one of his biggest regrets. Another son is a talented athlete, basketball his favorite game. Dribbling, lay-ups, and stealing the ball came easy to him. Free throws and rebounds did not. He relied on his innate ability and made varsity. Then, his weaknesses stood out. Until he was willing to work on the things that weren’t innate, he couldn’t achieve his goals.

Our world is filled with never ending streams of advice. We are encouraged to express ourselves, be the person we want to be, and live a life we choose. Support, inspiration, and encouragement abound. Right up until we are alone in front of a canvas, a blank screen, a guitar, or a ball of clay.

We start. Tinkering and exploring, we fiddle with the media until we hit the inevitable moment when we hate what we’ve produced. It’s not good enough. Then, often, we set it aside and think about it, avoid it, or pretend we’re waiting for inspiration to strike.

The truth is, inspiration is fickle. The only way to coax it consistently is to work consistently. The only way to get good, is to practice and this is not what comes naturally to us. Ugh! Tedium! Delayed gratification. Why would we do that when there are so many wonderful distractions.

The success of any business depends on the right combination of vision and implementation. In my business world, I have a partner who excels at the day to day requirements. He loves them. If he didn’t, our business would have never gotten off the ground. In my creative world, I have to develop and maintain ae day to day discipline for myself.

Here are five ways I do that:

If I don’t think a piece is good enough after a couple of revisions, I set it aside and start the next one. Laboring over a work for extended periods of time not only kills the work, it kills my drive. 
I work every day. Sometimes it’s a blog post. Others it’s a painting, a sculpture, an article, or a fiction piece. No matter what, I spend at least some time every, single day, making something. 
I get feedback from people who are willing to be honest with me and I listen, especially when the first thing I do in response is defend. If I have to defend it, it probably isn’t good enough to stand on its own. In addition, when I ask for feedback, I also commit myself to completing the work. Otherwise, I’ve wasted their time and am embarrassed when I have nothing new to report. I may not take all the recommendations, but I don’t want to let them down. 
When I get stuck in one media, I switch to another. Changing the way my brain wraps around a problem always helps me solve it. If it’s a sculpture that’s bothering me, I write. If it’s the writing, I work with my hands. Without fail, it gets the juices flowing again. 
I give myself deadlines. They’re reasonable, attainable and I stick to them. One of my favorite tools is Google Calendar. I set it up to send me reminders that keep me on track. When my computer yells at me, I’m inclined to listen.

What are some ways you stay disciplined? I love to hear them

When Life Gets in the Way

Balancing life, work, and family is an ongoing challenge. Often, I’m pulled in so many directions I want to run away. Fantasies of spas and other quiet self-indulgence interrupt my daily endeavors.

I used to feel guilty about this, as if I wasn’t living up to expectations or, worse, was dissatisfied with my life. Then I realized that a) most people do this and b) just because I’m occasionally overwhelmed doesn’t mean I’m not doing what I want to be doing. Now, when the fantasies come, I let them. They are a deep breath in the midst of hectic days.

This morning, my grown son dropped off his puppy. Until the puppy is potty trained, he is not welcome at my son’s office and we agreed to baby sit. Ordinarily, the puppy goes to work with my husband. There he has a cute kennel, lots of toys, and people who love to play with him while they’re waiting for service.

Today, my husband had an appointment and the puppy stayed with me and our older dogs. The 19 pound fur ball is a holy terror, a monster with razor teeth and unlimited energy. My poor old dogs hid beneath my desk, jumped in my lap, and wreaked havoc on my morning.

Every so often, the puppy would abandon his pursuit of them and disappear. Then, I had to go hunting. Was he eating the couch? Chewing my favorite boots? Peeing on the carpet? Yikes. By the time I could hand him off, my dogs and I were exhausted.

Needless to say, I got almost nothing done. The list, always long, felt longer. Wasted hours.

Or were they? In retrospect, I smiled a lot this morning, laughed out loud when the puppy dumped the water bowl and proudly dragged it to my feet, flipped a teddy bear over his head and did a backward somersault in pursuit, and spun in circles happily biting his own tail.

Not once during his escapades did I push my hair back, sigh, and wish for an escape. Surprisingly, the escape came to me.

 

 

A Prayer for Boston and our Nation

Yesterday, the news about Boston shocked me. I spent a few hours watching live streaming until, finally, I willed myself to turn it off. The talking heads weren’t helping. They were hurting.

The tragedy hit close to home and, like most of us, the needless violence against innocents rocked me to my core. Watching the news, I cried.

Still, the news and social media exacerbated the tragedy by spreading rumors before they’d been confirmed as fact, unhealthy speculation, and premature or misdirected blame.

Kristen Lamb has a wonderful post this morning about the event and the dark side of twitter. It reminded me of all the ugly tweets that are filling my stream and how I’ve had to stay away because each one is another small explosion in my heart.

Anger is often an expression of fear and fear is evil. It twists us and brings out the darkness in our souls. The media feeds on it, but we don’t have to listen or participate. 

My prayer this morning is for the innocent victims in Boston and around the world.

In addition, my prayer is for this this nation — that we not launch into yet another period of hate, rage, and fear. I pray our grieving does not compromise our dignity, compassion, and humanity, but instead inspires us to look at what we can do today, tomorrow, and in the foreseeable future to mitigate the negative impulses our grief inspires.  I pray we hold judgment and blame until the facts are known. I pray we focus on what we have in common and not what tears us apart.

I pray that this time, fear doesn’t win.

 

Book Cover Designs

My amazing cover designer, Ida,  came up with some possibilities for the new novel. I would love your feedback. Please let me know which one you like best. Ignore the title, I’m still finalizing it.

Nightmares and Inspiration

It is almost 1:30 am and I am wide awake. An episode of Breaking Bad gave me nightmares. In my dream, I knew I was dreaming, but it didn’t matter. Tossing and turning, I tried to escape the man pursuing me. He held a decapitated head in one hand and wore an ugly leer on his face. No matter where I went, he was there. Eventually, he caught me. Then he offered me a cigarette, which I accepted. Why not? I was going to die anyway.

My dreams are most vivid when I’m not writing. Editing doesn’t count. There’s a lesson here, I’m sure, but I’m too tired to coax it out.

I’ll go back to bed as soon as I know the nightmare won’t return. Until then, I’m surfing, reading the Twitter stream, and talking to you.

Today, I hit 100 blog followers. Thank you. I mean it. This growing community gives me so much joy and I so appreciate the comments, humor, and support.  I also appreciate being nominated for two blogger awards. Kira at wrestling-life.com nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award and Nat at Nat-Russo.com nominated me for the Very Inspiring Blogger award.

So honored.

They are both amazing people who have inspired me. You might consider checking them out.

There are five rules I have to follow to accept these awards. They are as follows:


Display the award logo on my blog.
State SEVEN facts about myself.
Link back to the folks who nominated me.
Nominate FIFTEEN other bloggers who deserve this award.
Notify each of the nominees

7 facts about me:

1.  I’m terrified of Zombies, can’t even watch The Walking Dead, and am up in the middle of the night because I saw a decapitated head on a turtle in Breaking Bad.

2. I’m partly deaf and understand people by reading lips. Great for eavesdropping,   terrible on the telephone.

3. I make my living by sculpting in steel and have more scars than the most hardened criminals, only mine are tiny white lines that run like a road map over my hands and forearms.

4. My husband and I have 6 children between us: 23, 23, 23, 21, 20, and 16. You should have seen our car insurance a few years ago.

5. I grew up in the mountains, without phone or TV. The wilderness was my playground and books my best friends. This makes me a little intense.

6. I was a soccer star in high school, but alas, that was a long time ago.

7. Green chili tastes good on just about everything.

My nominations are as follows and yes, I’m nominating these bloggers for both awards:

http://readfulthingsblog.com/
http://legendsofwindemere.com/
http://greenembers.wordpress.com/
http://helenvalentina.com/
http://crimsonleague.com/
http://ggmag.net/
http://firstnovelblog.wordpress.com/
http://glenchen.com/
http://starsrainsunmoon.com/
http://thebettermanprojects.com/
http://sarahcradit.wordpress.com
http://marciasbooktalk.wordpress.com
http://davidecclesauthor.co.uk/
http://www.misterwriter.info/
http://peterdavey2.com/

These are all amazing people. Hope you take a look at what they’re doing. With that, I’m going back to bed. I think I’ve slayed the demons by thinking about all the fab people in the blogosphere. Good night and talk soon.

Reading and Writing and Editing, Oh My!

Today, caught up in the final (yes, really) edit of the novel, I have nothing interesting to say. Sorry. Not lazy, just caught up in another world. Hemingway didn’t know what he was talking about. Writers don’t bleed. Pages do.

Things on my mind: 

This cover won’t work and I’m not sure about the title.

Maybe I should call it Priscilla and Blue. (Welcome thoughts on this )

Someone really needs to do the dishes.

And water the plants.

My editor loved the book and got so engrossed in the story she forgot to edit. SCORE!!!

Maybe she says that to all her authors. Sigh.

 

Walls You Build

Reblogged from Wrestling Life:

I've decided to make my life a "wall building" free zone!

I loved this. So true.

You Can’t Get There From Here

So many people seem to be reinventing themselves right now, striking out on thin ice in pursuit of passion, or a happier life. It’s a wonderful thing to witness, but the journey belies what we’ve been taught to expect. It’s not linear. There is no straight line or simple trajectory that will get us where we want to go.

This is one of my favorite images. I’ve posted it before, but am including it again because it speaks volumes.

For those of raised in the mindset of go to school, get good grades, go to college, start a career, a family, move up, and then retire, it’s easy to get frustrated. At every turn, we ask for directions and some wizened old geezer in our mind replies, “You can’t get there from here.”

He’s wrong and we have to learn how to either stop asking or listening to him. Today, as I’m bopping between studio and computer screen, pushing deadlines and inventing them, I am reminded that the definition of success is not where you end up, but how much you enjoy the journey.

Right now, I’m going to put my feet up, sip a cup of tea. and watch the spring snow. What are you doing to enjoy your journey?

Please Help David Farland

The following is taken from David Farland’s Daily Kick in the Pants. As I read his post, my only thought was “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”

I hope you will read, share, and help if you can.

David Farland’s Daily Kick in the Pants—We Need Your Help

As many of you know, Dave’s son, Ben, was in a serious long-boarding accident last week. He is 16 and suffers from severe brain trauma, a cracked skull, broken pelvis and tail bone, burnt knees, bruised lungs, broken ear drum, road rash, and is currently in a coma. His family has no insurance.

We are having a book bomb this Wednesday on behalf of Ben Wolverton to help his family out. You can view the event’s facebook page here.

For those that don’t know, a book bomb is an event where participants purchase a book on a specific day to support the author, or, in this case, a young person in serious need: Ben Wolverton.

Many of you have expressed sympathy for Dave and Ben and have asked if you could help. Now you can. We need you to help Ben get the most out of this book bomb. Right now we are focused on spreading the word and telling others about it. If you could share this event on facebook, twitter, pinterest, your blog, or through email, please do. This is a way everyone reading this can help, whatever their financial situation.

On Wednesday, we will have the book bomb. If you haven’t yet purchased Nightingale or Million Dollar Outlines, please consider doing so on Wednesday. If you have already purchased them, you can donate money to Ben and his family here.

If you have a blog and would like to do a post about this book bomb, please email me at kami_marynda@yahoo.com, and I will send you some information you can use.

Please consider “attending” our event on facebook.

Thank you.

Torn

It’s noon and I’m still in my bathrobe musing about an article I’ve been asked to write, doing a little research, and torn by my loves.

A tug of war between idea and expression, media and method, time and energy.

Dangling words, dangling worlds.