Just popping in to recommend the book Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman. It’s not like any other time management book I’ve read – there are no ‘tips’ or ‘tricks’ to exercise while cooking dinner or write a book while running a marathon. It’s more about recognizing that we have limited time and tough decisions need to be made about what is going to get done and what isn’t. It’s helped me focus on what’s important in my creative pursuits but also life in general.
This book is a part of the reason I’ve been pretty quiet here on my website – it really changed how I look at my creative work and I’ve been (slowly) more productive in the things that are truly important to me. One of my biggest lessons from the book is not to try to do too many things at once. I have so many creative projects and I used to think that if I touched each one that I was somehow still making progress on all of them at once. But that wasn’t the case and this book helped me to see the truth of that. Now I am actually making measurable, exciting progress on the children’s book I’ve wanted to write for years.
Unfortunately, this means thatmy comics, which I was really using as drawing practice for the children’s book, have intentionally fallen by the wayside. As has my music creation. And my other writing projects. Sometimes the hardest decision is choosing between two things we REALLY want to do. One day, I’ll have time again for my other creative pursuits and I look forward to that day. But for now, I am enjoying getting closer and closer to my goal of publishing my picture book.
After years of using our old IKEA kitchen table as my desk (you served valiantly table), I finally have a new, real desk with drawers and my daughter gets the old table as her craft table. Here is a tour of my new desk (with only a small amount of clutter removed for pictures).
The full view. Desk and ladder shelves from Amazon. Chair from a friend who was getting rid of it. Painting was a gift.
Close up of desk top.
Close up of ladder shelf & cork board.
‘Hidden’ shelf under the desk. My legs are short so I don’t hit it at all.
Drawer #1.
Drawer #2.
My various on-desk writing implements. My mini desk bookshelf.
Shelf #3 from the top.
Shelf #3 from the top.
And that’s all folks! I love my new desk and am enjoying having drawers very much.
My family and I went on a walk and my daughter and I collected lovely fall leaves to do some different projects. She made a fall wreath (well, most of one – she got tired halfway through) and I made these.
So we’ve made the decision to move. Not now, but next Spring after we’ve done some home improvements and (hopefully) there is a vaccine for COVID. Unfortunately, I did a pretty ‘me’ thing to do and put all the pressure of parenting & unschooling during a pandemic, deep cleaning a house and multiple home improvements (including painting all the kitchen cabinets and all the rooms in the house) on my shoulders. Fortunately, I realized the absurdity of this a month and a half in instead of 6 months later.
I was able to talk all this over with my husband and release a lot of the self-imposed pressure but there was still some hangers-on especially when it comes to balancing my creative pursuits and my daughter’s needs. Then I came across this interview with author Austin Kleon (I’ve mentioned him before). What’s funny is that the interview was written in 2019, long before COVID hit, but I found it incredibly applicable to my current situation. For instance, this is what he would tell other parents who are juggling a career:
It’s not you. You’re probably doing the best you can. It’s just that everything is stacked against you. Everything from a lack of affordable child care, underfunded schools, crumbling infrastructure, bad health insurance, to a world that’s just really and truly insane. It’s near impossible and it’s not your fault. Just keep going. Do the best you can.
He was also very honest and wasn’t afraid to talk about the less than perfect moments of parenting such as yelling at his kids and looking forward to their bedtime. I struggle with yelling too but so often parents who share online only show the picture perfect moments or ‘tips & tricks’. It was nice to see that I am not the only parent struggling, even if his words are from a different time, in what feels like a galaxy, far, far away.
I knew I was in trouble when my brain was composing short, little Tweets at random. I knew at that point, I had been on Twitter too much and it was starting to change the way I thought.
Ever since I started this little experiment, I’ve been writing and sharing with regularity and I can feel my brain changing but in a better way than overusing Twitter changed it. It’s now beginning to think in my writer’s voice. I’ve been stretching and working that writer muscle and it’s been getting stronger. The ideas are coming without much effort and at a more frequent rate.
So doing the thing means that it’s easier to continue to do the thing.
This is not a new concept to me but I’m relearning this particular piece of knowledge in a new, deeper way. And I’ve seen this principle apply to lots of things in my life. When I’m already in the habit, it’s mentally (and sometimes physically) easier to continue doing the thing. When I stop, it’s much more difficult to get that momentum going again. So for now, I’m going to enjoy the benefits of a newly strengthened writer muscle.
P.S. This is not to say that I support our society’s obsession with productivity. Because I don’t. I think it’s good to quit andtake breaks and I think it’s vital to take good care of ourselves.
I’ve done it. I’ve released my first single. A song that I’ve created, recorded, mixed and mastered is out in the great wide world.
You can check it out on most major streaming services including Spotify. You can also purchase it here.
I thought I’d have more feelings, bigger feelings about it, but I don’t really. It actually feels really normal and almost routine even though this is the first single I’ve ever released. And I think that’s a good thing – a good sign of the many singles to come. And they will be singles. That is my current, preferred way of releasing my music. Perhaps I’ll gather them all into an album some day but maybe not.
What I do know is how hard I’ve worked to get to this point – there was such a steep learning curve for me in recording, mixing and mastering. It did not come easily or naturally but I’m glad I took the time to learn it (and, of course, I’m still learning). In addition, there was the emotional work required of me to be vulnerable enough to share this and that work still continues.
I hope you enjoy it. And if you don’t, that’s okay too. My music is not for everyone. But if you do, feel free to share it with like-minded friends, add it to your playlist, leave me a comment, and/or sing along at the top of your lungs.
I look forward to sharing more with all with you. <3
P.S. Be on the lookout for this symbol for the story behind this particular song (coming soon) :
Welcome to one of my new blog series! It’s called Cat’s Meow and it’s just that – the cat’s meow. 😉 It’s essentially a place for me to gush about all the things I’m loving right now. So let’s jump right in!
I’ve just readAustin Kleon‘s book, Show Your Work, and it was quite excellent. I enjoyed his first book, Steal Like an Artist, but for whatever reason Show Your Work really spoke to me at this point in my life. It is chockablock full of good information and ideas (many of which I’ve stolen, at his suggestion, of course). And while I don’t agree with everything in his book, I definitely agree with the idea that people can’t see what you’re doing if you don’t put your stuff out there for them to see. So I am committing, right here and right now, to sharing my work and showing my work more often. If you haven’t checked out his work, I highly suggest you give it a try. And it’s not just for artists either – it’s for anyone trying to be creative (which is everyone). Plus, he’s a fellow Texan! 😉
And Mr. Kleon was actually the one who turned me onto the other thing I’m loving right now: 10 Ideas a Day. This is apparently a pretty old idea from James Altucher but I’m glad I finally heard about it! When I was a little kid, I was an idea machine. I had ideas flowing out of me all the time and as I grew into adulthood, that waterfall had turned into a small dribble. After only 3 days of writing down 10 new ideas each day, I’ve come up with a multitude of ideas and revived my creativity and excitement for creative expression. It really has turned me into an idea machine and has jump-started so many different projects and gotten me excited about old ones. I’ve been writing and documenting my one-off ideas for years now, but sitting down to focus on coming up with ideas was transformative for me. And I realized that so many times when I was jotting down a one-off idea, I’d end it with a question mark and the idea would sit on that paper and never see the light of day. NOW, with my ’10 Ideas a Day’ Journal, I end all of my ideas with a period. I’m much more likely to make it happen (if it’s a good idea) and take action.
So what about you – what are you reading, listening to or excited about right now?
When we moved into our home, 2 of the large trees in our backyard had been significantly trimmed. One of the trees, which I’ve (hopefully correctly) identified as a Linden tree, has been laid bare by the cold of winter. Although I love all the trees in my backyard, this one is currently my favorite (Shhh, don’t tell the others!). It’s got offshoots bursting out of every major branch and it’s trunk. I often think to myself that it looks like a crazy hairstyle on someone’s head.
The leaf-less Linden tree.
As I was meditating in the backyard the other day, I was staring at this lovely naked tree and its many small branches shooting out and that’s when it hit me: this tree is me. That’s Me. That’s what I look like. This tree is a perfect representation of me and my creative expression. I’ve got all these different creative pursuits and expressions bursting out of me everyday. Some of them big, some of them small but all of them take time and effort – they haven’t shown up overnight. I’ve built them up slowly, taking small steps to create this beautiful thing. This sometimes chaotic, sometimes cohesive thing. And some of these pursuits I’ll try for a while and they won’t be a good fit for me for whatever reason and they will fall away. Just like a small branch that a tree tries to grow and then,because of shade or competition, it starts to fall off. That tree has to decide where it is going to put its energy and resources; which branches are the most important. That’s where I’ve currently been in my creative journey: whittling down, prioritizing, and taking small steps in the hopes that I’ll end up with something beautiful and worthwhile.
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