Gary and I enjoy watching YouTube. We have various channels that we always watch. We particularly enjoy travel, architecture, creative people . . . and cats! Mixed among those listings are always videos advertising how to make money. Sometimes we watch one or two. Many seem like something we could do. One group was enticing: how to make passive income—selling puzzle books on Amazon—especially word search puzzle books.
I began composing this anthem back in the early 1990s. At the time, I did not feel capable of doing the text justice. So it sat in my files until several years ago when I decided to finish it.
Happy New Year! Turn the page. Pull out a blank canvas. Move ahead. Here are my thoughts for a new year.
Unfinished essays are scattered across my desk. Others are still percolating in my brain—half-formed and waiting. And some essays are hidden inside me—ones I know I will never write. Some days, everything feels too big—emotions, life, situations, every single thing. How can words express the expansiveness of what it is to be alive?
Reading is a challenge for me. I like the idea of reading and enjoy it when I actually do read. However, I have trouble making time and settling down long enough to read. While watching a YouTube video about writing, I came across a reading program by Ray Bradbury: read one poem, one short story, and one essay every night. It sounded easy enough—I could just read short examples of these. I did not realize when I started that Bradbury said to do it for 1,000 days!
Hodgepodge refers to a mixed, jumbled assortment of disparate things. I had a friend with whom I used to chat via email. Often I would put the subject title as hodgepodge. It was a warning that I had nothing particular to say, but rather had lots of varied thoughts and ideas to share. Inspired by a recent blog post of Wil Wheaton, I thought I would try that here.
Autumn rolls around every year—yet I never feel ready. It starts out fine enough: cooler, crisper weather is a relief from the humidity and oppressive heat here in the South. The leaves on the trees float through the air and down to the ground in graceful, gliding movements.
Being creative is not easy. We are often too critical of ourselves and our creative output. Our work never meets our own expectations. It is tempting to compare ourselves to others. Sometimes I wonder why I do anything . . . or why I think I can do anything worthwhile.
I have written a hundred essays for my blog since December 2020. These essays include thoughts about creativity, inspiration, music, songwriting, life, nature, genealogy, language, architecture, and social commentary. They represent a part of my creativity. Expressing ideas through whatever means I have available is important to me. Being creative keeps me sane.
I sat down and started cutting straight lines—not perfectly linear, but as straight as my hands could cut. Pulling pages out of magazines and using the colors or designs that spoke to me, the collage took shape line after line, color after color.
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