life of a georgia Artist

Photo by  Caroline Rccrd  on  Unsplash  There are numerous ways to have writing support in 2020. Writing has been a solitary event for many writers for far too long. 2020 gives us a chance to set new goals and focus on new items, perhaps writing with a group in a public forum, sharing works with writer friends for critique, or submitting work to online groups to look over each other’s work. Writing can be an interactive collaborative event. While we continue to write alone, we can do it together. 2020 is the year you share your work and stop writing chained to a desk. It is the year you begin interacting with other writers!       A writing group is a great way to get instant feedback and can help us take our writings into the New Year with spunk and spirit. Actually, meeting with like-minded artist is a great way to get instant feedback. It can take your writing into new areas you did not see. I once sat in a writing group that analyzed...

                                                      Photo by  Kelly Sikkema  on  Unsplash It is another holiday season and not all of us are jingling all the way. Some of us are struggling to pay bills, others have no food in their fridge, while others of us are contemplating suicide. Yes the holiday hum bugs are upon us. It is the time of emotions getting away from us. Life seems like it should be a famous Christmas painting when indeed we are lucky to make it through the day. There is no life is a lemon, make lemonade. There is one breath, two, three, There is one step forward and try not to fall back and land like a pancake. The holiday season starts with Halloween and we are okay, then thanksgiving hits and we realize this is going to be harder then we thought. Christmas hits us like a pyramid fell on our heads. We start with o...

                                                      Photo by  Joanna Kosinska  on  Unsplash Have you ever had a blue Christmas/Holiday Season? Is it a struggle to get out of bed and be filled with holiday cheer? Is even getting out of bed, showering, and eating toast to hard? Does depression have a hold on you? Tis the season of joy, good cheer towards men, and lying in bed praying for it all to pass and hoping no one notices you are missing. Depression is a mental health issue many of us suffer with during the holidays. Seasonal depression is real. Why then do people still not believe others when they say “I am feeling blue"?  Seasonal depression is when the holidays feel like a weight is on your chest. It is debilitating and crippling. It keeps us from singing holiday carols. It holds us hostage in our homes and makes sh...

                                              Photo by  Kira auf der Heide  on  Unsplash       Why is Writing so difficult for so many? You are a writer if you have voices, characters, and images in your head and you write them down. If you soul search you are a poet (or writer ) and if you love words and use them in the most magical way, you are lucky. Writing for so many is so a difficult task. Recently I did NaNoWriMo. I wrote 50,000 words for the month of November. I pushed through it and came out with a pretty interesting book. Writing though has had its difficulties with me. Words for many come easy. It is the choice what to write that is the difficult part. There are many different genres available to write in. I love reading memoirs right now. There are so much heart and soul in them. They inspire me to write better, to include...

Photo by  Christopher Harris  on  Unsplash Home. It means to much to so many. It may be a 500 ft sq loft. It could be a mansion or somewhere in the middle. Home though means comfort to us all. It is our safe space. It is our place where we can let down our hair, take off our shoes, and just relax. We have dinners here, we gather our loved ones for holidays, and it is where many school or work projects happen. Home is more then those four supporting walls, it is our space where we decorate it with whatever we want. Home contains all the things we need to survive. A wife, our kids,our clothes, and our bikes. It is where our personal accumulation of items are , but it is also a place where there is an accumulation of memories. Homes come in many forms and shapes, but even if it is just you in there, you are still making memories.  Home is defined as: t he place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household. Fur Babies  ...

Photo by  Nick Hillier  on  Unsplash Writing is very time consuming. First we must clean the house, make meals, get some tea, charge the laptop or find a pen. Writing takes time because we have a process. We do not just grab our writing tool and start, no we light a candle, we get into a comfy chair and have lots of light. We find an outlet. We form a ritual in which we find ourselves creatively writing. We need all our things in the right place. Most of us writers have a place we love to write. Sometimes it is a coffee house, sometimes a chair, but whatever it is, writing is time consuming. Many famous writers have said you need to do 30 min each morning, but what if you are a night person? They have also said have no distractions, but some of us like music playing while we write. People have told us how to write well, better, longer and whatever else for years. We do not have to follow their advice. I know one author who wrote a book thinking no one would e...

P hoto by Rod Long at Unsplash.com What are societies rules for flourishing in a shared space? Why do some people shy away from sitting at a communal space and why some go into it with ease? What is needed in this communal space to be a viable community space? Oh Sociology you keep me on my toes. Ray Oldenburg has a theory that we need a home space, a work space, and a third place. He says: " They are locations where we exchange ideas, have a good time, and build relationships." If we do not talk to one another in this space it is not a viable third place. It should be an enticing place that draws us in and allows each and every person a place of safety. It is a place where ideas and conversations flow as fast as the coffees are poured. It is where you can meet and discuss books, musics, relationships. It is a place to come and just be yourself without judgement or harassment and make new friends.  A Great Good Place  This is where you can find Mr. Oldenburg o...

Photo by  Tim Gouw  on  Unsplash Coffee Houses are full of people on their phones or laptops or both. There are no connections to anyone. We now go in, get our beverage of choice and plug in our earbuds. We do not smile at the person next to us, we do not speak with our neighbors, our total goal is to go in, get on an electronic, and pray no one wants to talk to us. We are missing the bigger picture. We are not connecting and connection is one key to remaining happy. We need to say hello, we need to ask how someone is, we need to feel like we are part of the bigger picture. When we huddle down and desire to become invisible we battle things like depression, anxiety, and loneliness.  Smiling at someone is not going to cure these mental health issues, but smiling accompanied by talking, sharing things about ourselves helps with these items. We battle lonesomeness by connecting with others. We build tribes of friends. We collect people who can aid in our mental h...

Photo by  Eepeng Cheong  on  Unsplash Writing. Hours of work. Our thoughts gathered on paper. We toil for hours for that perfect opening sentences. We yank our hair, we curse our loud, we stomp, drink, argue with loved ones, but one word is never placed on the page.  Why is writing so difficult? Why as writers do we doubt we are enough to write something wonderful? We know how to write, edit, and revise. We know the writing rules. We have learned the technical but not the creative. I have taught a few writing workshops and I want you to try this exercise. It got the groups off running. Write on your page: There is a blue fish. The blue fish is a house door. Now think about:  How do you get in? Why is the fish a door? Is he friendly? Does he bite? By personifying something it allows your mind to see things in a different light. It awakens the brain to say, "This is not right, but why?"  When you see things differently your writ...