I feel honored and excited beyond words to be in O Magazine. Oprah has been a hero of mine for a long time. You see, the secret about my book, The Little Spark–30 Ways to Ignite Your Creativity, is that it is way more than a craft book–it is more of a self-discovery book.
My summer book tour schedule is up and I can’t wait to meet you if you live in or near these cities. I will be speaking in some wonderful book stores, quilting stores and maker spaces across the country. Save the date and check the events page for updates to the schedule as there may be additions.
Happy New Year! I wish you a happy, healthy new year filled with all the magic you can muster. I hope your year is ecstatic, wondrous and full of mystery. I hope you can wander back into yourself this year and get real close with your passion. Here are 8 simple reminders from my book to help you have the most creative year ever. I am very fond of number 5:
Here is the 3rd post in our series about honoring the New Year with Vision Boards:
I hope your walks are going well! As you are busy quieting your mind of noise, it’s time to start preparing to make your Vision Board. Before New Year’s Day, gather any necessary materials. Below is the Materials List from my book:
Well, hello and happy holidays–
The time has come to break the internet! Please join me and my 26 blogger friends this week for a ginormous party to officially celebrate the launch of my new book, The Little Spark–30 Ways to Ignite Your Creativity. We intend to make a bunch of noise, throw some confetti and give away FIVE copies of the book to FIVE lucky winners! Five!
Books need trailers, too! So we made some movie magic to celebrate the launch of my new book, The Little Spark–30 Ways to Ignite Your Creativity (Stash Books 2014). It is in stores now…just in time for holiday gift giving and perfect for anyone on your list who is ready to step into a life of creativity and passion! Hope you like the clip…and feel free to share it!
I put a governor on my woo woo here. Seriously. I do. You know, like how some U-haul trucks have a built-in governor on the motor so we can only go a certain speed and no faster? They do that for our protection. They know we don’t know how to drive that big rented truck anyway and we’d be a liability if we could go as fast as we wanted on the most stressful day of our year–what with all of our belongings in the rear…on moving day…and we’ve gotta get that truck back by a certain time or we’ll get charged.
Although I still can’t figure out why, our little house full of love and spunk is up on Apartment Therapy today here. The photographer, Lindsey Kay Averill, did a great job capturing the spirit of our home and the art wall and the tree fort. And, as ever, I am not short on words. Check it out…
I had a pause today–a moment of quiet reflection–staring out the window…and I had some thoughts. On this day of Independence here in the US, I’m thinking a lot about freedom. Actually, I’m thinking about whether or not money buys us freedom. And I am feeling that it does. Certainly, it does. I know. But, at what price? What do we lose in the pursuit? Of course we must work and work hard…but at what?
I have said and I maintain that I have never bought into the “struggling artist” paradigm. (In fact, I feel that if I am struggling at anything then I am probably doing it wrong.) Yet when I compare myself to others, I very much feel the loser. On paper that is. In the realm of stuff. But not in the realm of the spirit and the soul. There I feel very rich indeed, and not even by comparison. I dare say, I feel free. There are many routes to that freedom. For me, this moment right here with the keyboard under my fingers is my goldmine. Or being with my kids as they turn cardboard boxes into homemade foosball games and other contraptions, or lost in making magic in studio, whether painting, or sewing, or just gathering sticks on a walk to turn into something later, as we did today.
My life is not leisurely, per se. There is no, or very little, sitting still. Not much leisure, rest, respite, travel, or even reading. Not much time for reveries by the open window. But my life is the reverie. I am usually making something, cleaning something, emailing someone back (usually too late) or trying desperately to teach my children to eat healthy snacks and not clobber each other. Yet, it is all the dream. I feel terribly, terribly lucky to occupy this exact very life. I love it, despite the toiling, the constantness. Because my life is a creative expression of the love that lives in my heart.
What we toil at matters. Where we put our love, energy and time matters, and it should feel good, although that isn’t always possible. Where I put my love, is where my life will go. So, I choose to go in the direction of my dreams. Don’t get me wrong…I so hope there is a pot of gold involved at some point of this rainbow, but there ain’t no use fretting over that too much. So I just keep showing up at work and play. I witness the beauty around me everyday and bathe in gratitude for the treasures I find in my family and in the world. Happy Independence day. I hope you have some freedom inside of you to follow your bliss, your passion, your Little Spark of creativity. If you don’t, go find it. It is there. Watch this video narrated by Alan Watts for some inspiration:
| My book! Preorder signed copies here. |
I could go on and on about my super-secret little project that is no longer secret (and wasn’t really so little after all). I wrote a book last fall. I did that largely in my tree fort, on a laptop. And I think, I mean I truly believe, that it rocks. It isn’t quite done. I mean–
