Post #189

June 11, 2018

Oh, Monday Me! #1

Walking by Inner Vision Blog

Oh, Monday Me!

#1 in my new Series

So Much to do & so Little Time to do it all?

Do you ever wonder how artists or writers spend the day?

How do they find time to work in their studios or offices?

Is it possible they never sleep?

Or maybe, they are just so full of creativity they never need to rest or take time off?

In my new series

“Oh, Monday Me!”

Some aspects of being a full-time working artist & author-

The kinds of questions I have posed are typical.

First,

we are not super human beings who don’t live in the “real world,”

While we are dreamers and creators, we still have obligations outside of our craft.

Most of us have a spouse, families, homes, teaching positions at the local university; art and/or writing business; and many other activities in our everyday life.

We are:

Weeding flower beds or mowing our lawn

Standing in front of you in the check-out line

Walking beside you on the treadmill at the gym

Pumping gasoline into the SUV or truck

Driving our kids to school in the mornings

Creating art and writing books and articles

Refreshing our lives and spirits throughout every day

And, much more!

We all have the same quantity of hours, minutes, seconds in a day.

Nobody was magically blessed with an extra allocation of time.

Sorry to burst your bubble if that is what you think about us.

The truth is that all people have a level playing field.

Every person has opportunities and creative desires.

This post, “Oh, Monday Me!” explores some “typical” days in my creative life.

I am both a visual artist and an author.  This means I live in two worlds, simultaneously.

TODAY:

At 5 a.m., I took the dogs out for their first walk of the day.  It was a short one, just a little walkabout around the yard where I live with my husband, Bob, 2 cats and 2 dogs. When the dogs and I returned to the house, I unleashed them and both dogs took a nap. Once the dogs settled,  I poured out some cold milk and went outside again to feed the 5 feral cats who are camping out around our house the past few months.  There are 2 babies and 3 adults.  The youngest adult is becoming friendly and she stood quietly as I gave her the bowl of milk.

While my morning coffee was brewing, I went into my writing office to open up the computer and began checking e-mails.  This can easily take and hour or two, depending on which messages required a response right away.  While I sent out responses, I also sipped the hot coffee. I thought about today and what I’d do.  I seldom plan a day in advance because I am retired from my teaching position and now, as a retired professor, I have unlimited time to work at whatever project I decide to concentrate on for the day.

Three mornings a week, my husband and I drive to a gym n our local senior center. I spent an hour doing cardio.  Soon, lunch was ready and we spent the next hour eating and visiting with our friends around the table. This gave me an opportunity to appreciate the  meal with friends.  I need these tri-weekly breaks because of the solitude of studio work every day I find the gym, lunch time, and occasionally participating in a ladies knitting group life  affirming as we talk about local events and share news with each other.

Making art and writing are private activities.  Because of the loneliness of the days of working, I  need to plan on taking some social breaks to stay refreshed. I’ll also plan some “do nothing breaks,” each day.  Rest is important for recharging our batteries and refreshing our minds and spirits. I’ll take several of these “Sacred Rest” breaks today.

I’ll walk the dogs every 3-4 hours, and this is a beautiful time to appreciate nature and look at changes that are taking place daily.  Nature is ever-changing and sometimes, I try to look at little nuances for as long as I can.I feel like I need to remember the details and hold them inside of me. I’ll try to tuck them away in my thoughts so that I can find them again one day when I need just that particular feeling or thought for a poem or an art work.

Around 1 p.m., we were back home and it was time to get down to the creative business of the day. I promised my literary promoter that I will get some articles out to her this week.    I decided to write a post for my Walking by Inner Vision Blog.  This is what I am doing right now. I am writing this article for my new series, “Oh, Monday Me!” Since today IS Monday, I’ll have to get this written and edited and posted this afternoon.

On the back of my mind, I am thinking about working in my fiber art studio on the 2^ndfloor of the house. I call this my Library Studio space for it is a room dedicated to keeping my books, and where I work on my fiber art projects

Outside it is rather overcast and its muggy.  The weeding and gardening I am thinking about doing can wait until early tomorrow morning when I will work for an hour or two before I begin working in the studio.  In my thoughts, I am constantly juggling projects and time allotments for working on them and I make decisions as the day progresses.  Everything is subject to change at any time. I don’t wear a watch any more. I don’t have to work on any sort of timeline like I did during the years of teaching. At this stage in my life I can follow the flow of a day.  Artists and writers refer to this freedom as “following the Muse.” I always know, intuitively, what must be done on any particular day and I have an internal rhythm that acts similar to a pace car that goes out on a racetrack to set the pace before a race begins on the speedway.

Each day brings new arrangements of creative time management.

I check periodically to be sure of deadlines for sending  out

submissions to art exhibitions or publications.

It all works out.   At the end of every day, I give thanks to my Creator

for all that I experienced today.

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