Why Don't I Dance?

I used to love to dance. I took tap and ballet lessons when I was a munchkin. I loved going out dancing with my friends. I signed up for all of the ballroom dancing lessons in high school that I could. I've bought multiple DVD's of Bellydancing for beginners.

Sadly, I never went anywhere with the lessons and the DVD's remain unopened. Why?

I've been in a mental space of blocked creativity for the last 2 years. The only outlet I've felt comfortable using was fabric. Now, I've made some very beautiful things with that fabric but they're unsatisfying. I don't feel like I've been designing to my full potential, either.

Being told I was an artist several months ago shocked me. I've always wanted to be an artist but considered it either too flaky or too presumptuous to label myself as such. I'm just the girl who sews some, writes some, sketches some and feels drawn to oil paints and canvas. Maybe, surrounded by a family that has doctors, lawyers, engineers, animal trainers, mechanics and managers of various sorts, I didn't think being an artist, working for myself doing something I love, was very professional.

Whatever the reason, my lack of creative action over the past 2 years has become a source of great anxiety for me. I started reading The Artist's Way and found myself unable to do the exercises. I didn't feel like I deserved to do it even though I occasionally had the urge to paint a tree on a hill in oil paints on my dining room wall.

I have 2 novels started, one of which will very likely be published if I can ever finish it. Why can't I seem to write?

Starting The Writing Diet, I found myself writing more, painting more and wanting to dance. Oh, yes, dancing. Maybe it's time to re-start The Artist's Way and break out one of those DVD's.

An Introduction

In trying to describe what this blog is, I kept coming up with what it is not. This is not a mommy blog. This is not a political blog. It's certainly not a food blog or a dieting blog. It's not really a writing blog, either. This is a blog about me and my creative journey. Because I care deeply about many of the subjects that are covered in all the blogs that this blog is not, I will be writing about them.

A person's creative journey is highly personal so I will not be sharing everything that I go through. Overcoming or even realizing my overwhelming hatred and fear of gazpacho soup isn't something that anybody else really needs to know about. Or maybe they do. I'm not above answering questions if you really, truly want to know why gazpacho soup was the last word I said before I died.

Oh yes, did I mention I love science fiction? And fantasy. And humor.

I don't intend for this blog to be a public diary, though there may be elements of such. I am currently reading and working through a book called The Writing Diet by Julia Cameron and most of my writing, at least at first, will be directed by some of the suggestions and exercises in that book.

I have no intention to humiliate or embarrass with this blog so any information about people who are not me will be shared only with their permission, and that includes my family. Unless I am asked to do so by the person themselves, I will never share anybody's actual name. All friends and family will be referred to by an alias, and one I hope they find complimentary.

Like life, every day on the blog will bring something different. It may be a good recipe and the story surrounding it. It may be a series of pictures I took on an outing in the mountains or the city. It could be a rant about politics, though I'll try and keep those short, sweet and to the point. It may be a meditation on a religious icon or practice that I find fascinating.

In sharing my creative journey, my hope is that I will inspire and motivate. Happy reading!