I have never been this organized for Paradise City before and I know the trick: accountability. Yup, I know that my good friend Jeff, who is going to be helping with the big things, has somewhere to be in the afternoon- so he is going to show up here tomorrow morning at 7:30 and I need to be ready to roll. So my car is just about packed and all the details are in good shape.... almost.

Nothing like a deadline that involves being responsible to another person!

The other thing that has been a little different is giving myself a bit longer to focus on organization and taking better care of myself along the way.  Like giving myself permission to take breaks- real breaks- like an afternoon at the local lake beach when it was just too hot to think.

I definitely recommend some down time to keep the stress at bay when preparing for a big deadline.

I thought you might like to see a few things:

This is the newly painted and redesigned booth. So Swank!

In a month I will be setting up my booth (# 422) in the Paradise City Arts Festival, and I am really getting excited to see people again! I feel like I am crawling out a covid induced isolation chamber, and though I do love my solo time, I also long for connections with people.

I have been working on three very different commissions  which has resulted in a bunch of new glazes and sculptural ideas that I am looking forward to seeing in a clean space and sharing with you!

So I am revamping my booth, whole new look and color! It feels like making a new gown for the ball...Not that I really know what that feels like. But I can imagine the fun! I hope you will drop by and tell me what you think!

It can get very overwhelming to have too many ideas that you are working on at once. I know, I have spent most of my life doing it. But what I have found is that I like having a lot of ideas going- they feed off of each other.

Yes- it can be helpful to simplify.

If you are stopped up because they are all clamoring for attention and you can't get a good grip on any of them, it is a good idea to clarify which one or two you are working on right now.

But do not ditch the others. 

Just put them aside and let them rest. They will gestate- they will develop in the background without you having to do anything about it.

As a potter and a sculptor, I have had long stretches when I am not making pots. And then I come back to it, and fall in love with pots all over, I find that the shapes and ideas that I was working on before have developed without any direct attention from me. Same is true with the sculpture, or I should say with the various types of sculpture that I do. 

The cycles can happen within a week, within a year, within a month. The rhythms will change and are very particular to you.

So how do you figure out what to let rest and what to put your focus on right now?

When you feel that irritation or frustration that you are not getting anywhere and they are all clamoring, there is part of you that is asking you to pay attention.

And if you listen carefully, you will be able to hear the one that has lost its energy and motivation, that needs to take a nap, and the other one that is itching for attention.

It is really ok to listen to your desires here.

I find often that when I get that irritation it is because one of the things that I have been letting rest needs to wake up- and when I sit with it for a minute- it will become clear very quickly what needs to be done- what the next right step is.
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Its winter in New England. It is so easy to feel trapped inside because the weather is crummy. I was just out in it, and I want to encourage you to get out there too. I bet it will energize you.

​There are so many things getting in your way as an artist or a creative.

Whatever it is that you want to build, create, put out in the world, there are two kinds of blocks.

It can be very fun to push into the high energy of a big deadline.

You let go of various other responsibilities and hone in on the one thing and go go go. Flow is happening and wouldn't it be great to do this all the time!

And then the deadline comes and you get it done and suddenly you are in free fall.

​Have you been there? It can feel really painful and scary. 

Even without the big deadline- there are times when your creative juices are flowing and other times when they just aren't, and you can wonder if you are not really a creative.​

​You can start with "I want" but it has to shift to "I choose".

So journal with the question "I want"- let yourself dwell in that sense of longing that comes from a lack.

Find the quality of being that you are longing for, maybe pleasure, play, creativity, openness, whatever it is for you.

And when you are ready to step into it, say "I choose".

​And choose it over and over and over. Keep coming back to that quality of being in everything you do and see what happens.

When you have the negative voices in your head telling you things like, "you never follow through" or "you are not reliable as an artist or creative, you don't complete anything, you don't stick with it," don't just ignore them.

Stop and listen. Find out what they are saying.

Not so you can believe it, but so that you can get the real message about what is important to you. What is that horrible nasty voice talking about that is important to you.

"You never follow through" is really "I want to follow through on this important thing to me." It is a call to come back.

​So stop listening to the insult and hear the call. ​

The point is to recognize that consistency and success is not a straight line. Rather is coming back over and over.

It is fresh starts.

And you have an infinite number of fresh starts available to you.

So let go of the shame and guilt about having stopped previously.

Forgive yourself.

​Know that you may stop again, but that you can always come back. And that is what is important. Coming back to a fresh start on something that you care about.