The Traveling Writer

Over the past four years, I've been in different places: the south suburbs of Illinois; northern Illinois just by Iowa; Denver, Colorado; Bemidji, Minnesota; and more recently, Barcelona, Spain. In the last week of October, I had no idea where I would be living: would I go more to Ohio with my parents? Try to stay in the south suburbs of Chicago or move to the city? Or would I try to live in Denver with my sister? The answer: none of the above. I got hired on the fly and was asked to move to the Twin Cities. Then I went full circle, to Ohio for a month and back to Chicago again. I'm seeing it with new eyes now that I'm living in the heart of Logan Square. I imagine I'll go to other parts of the world sooner or later. Imagine me on a plane, on a bus, or a hippie van if you will. This is one rooted writer waiting in transition for the next part of her life.

[spaingirl]

Dear Aunt Jenny

About a month ago my aunt passed away, before I began a new journey back to Spain, this time in the city of Madrid. I wrote this on the plane for her.

Dear Aunt Jenny,

I can see the sky at your level. Just an hour ago a line of pink rimmed the horizon. Rose hues powdered the clouds with kisses. I should not be surprised you live somewhere so beautiful. Your home on earth–Muppet Manor–was pink…

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[spaingirl]

Artist's Way, Week 8 -Recovering a sense of strength

Artist’s Way, Week 8 -Recovering a sense of strength

This week was very interesting for me. I had my first missed day of morning pages since I went out on a weekend trip and forgot. I then did pretty much all the activities on my road trip on Friday. I didn’t feel rushed, but the process for this week didn’t feel as spread out or impactful for each day. It is very interesting to me that the book mentions finding my “true north,” when over and over…

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[spaingirl]

Artist's Way, Week 7-Almost tossing in the towel

Artist’s Way, Week 7-Almost tossing in the towel

There have so far been two times I almost tossed in the towel during the Artist’s Way. The first time was the second week in, because I simply didn’t have the energy to wake up early enough to both workout and write morning pages. I had only just started my workout routine and resented being thrown off that path so soon and replace it with morning pages. I prioritized writing over exercise as…

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[spaingirl]

Crammed into a Tight Space (Artist's Way, Week Six)

Crammed into a Tight Space (Artist’s Way, Week Six)

I am now officially halfway through the Artist’s Way. I am technically on the third day of week seven, but I’d like to  recap week six here. The theme was recovering a sense of abundance. This week was actually the most challenging to complete all the activities by far. Everything felt so rushed and doing it for the sake of doing it that the activities had lost their magic. For example, I had to…

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[spaingirl]

Night at the Green Mill

Night at the Green Mill

Last Sunday evening, I was rushing to find an artist’s date for the week. Luckily I remembered the weekend before while looking for ideas, that the Green Mill had a slam poetry night that Sunday. I checked to see if it was a regular thing, and sure enough, it was! I’d always meant to go since I moved to Uptown, and it was only a ten minute walk for me. When I first walked in, I didn’t know what…

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[spaingirl]

Artist's Way Week 4-Slip ups begin

Artist’s Way Week 4-Slip ups begin

I am the kind of person who likes to do all the exercises and activities within the required week. Sure, I’ve forgotten to do daily affirmations sometimes or had an artist’s date that wasn’t exactly pre-planned, but these were minor. This week’s mission was reading deprivation. While I was able to stay away from books and movies (movies being the hardest part for me), I was unable to stay off…

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[spaingirl]

Things I did during reading deprivation

Things I did during reading deprivation

While I couldn’t completely keep myself off of social media and online articles, I did refrain from reading any books or watching my typical movies. Here’s what I did: On day two my stomach hurt, so I simply cradled by pillow and stayed under the covers, doing nothing at all. It was actually quite lovely. I cooked a bunch of potatoes. I haven’t cooked since March so this was actually a big one. I…

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[spaingirl]

Strange Catalysts (the Artist's Way)

Strange Catalysts (the Artist’s Way)

In “The Artist’s Way,” Julia Cameron mentions that synchronicities might begin to appear in one’s life, things might begin to change, and creativity might become unstuck. I came into this with the sole intent to revive my writing inspiration. Instead, I’ve achieved a different kind of transformation. I did receive small manifestations–from a free chai latte, to a one dollar meal (my childhood…

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[spaingirl]

Artist's Way Week Three-Childhood Memories and Girl,Interrupted

Artist’s Way Week Three-Childhood Memories and Girl,Interrupted

This week’s theme was the childhood creativity. As I recalled my childhood room, so many memories came back to me as I filled out the details. These were memories at the deeper recesses of my mind–not lost to me, but certainly not recalled since my teenage years. When we had to write about our five childhood treats–I suddenly remembered something I didn’t even know about myself since I was a…

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[spaingirl]

Artist's Way-Week Two

Artist’s Way-Week Two

This week was actually far more challenging. I was exhausted after a week of waking up at 5:15 am every day, and I quickly dropped my exercise, instead adding on Louise Hay’s morning meditation. I used my morning pages much more heavily for dream work, and was having better dreams, possibly because of Louise Hay’s evening meditations. It was both impressive and frustrating that I started to need…

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[spaingirl]

Children's Author

Children’s Author

One of the activities from week one of the Artist’s Way was imagining 5 different occupations, and emulating one of them for the week. Unfortunately it was the second to last activity, so I only really had two days to do it. It was however a rewarding experience, to challenge myself to edit my children’s book I hadn’t looked at in a year, and to revise another shorter piece by working with my…

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[spaingirl]

The Artist's Way- Week One

The Artist’s Way- Week One

–I am married to my writing, and the Artist’s Way is my marriage counseling I bought the Artist’s Way three years ago in an effort to feel like I was doing something about my writing. After visiting a friend a couple weeks ago, I saw she had the same book and put it in her bag to read. It struck me at that moment that this was the motivation I had been waiting for–seeing a friend actually using…

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[caradenison]

1.  Love and accept yourself as you are right now.  Start a list to remind yourself of all your wonderful qualities.  Add to it every day. E.g.,  I am the most positive person I know. 2.  Free yourself from past resentments and disappointments about who you were yesterday.  Stop engaging in self-blame and guilt for past acts and omissions.  Today is the first day of the rest of your life.  Revel in it. As Scrooge announced on Christmas morn, “I am not the man I was!” 3.  Let go of any and all resentment you’re hanging onto about everyone and everything else.  Stop looking for reasons to criticize and blame others for their acts and omissions.  Let go of your desire to control others. The past is gone.  It is what it is, and cannot be changed.  Let it go.   4.  Stop giving your power away.  Use your time, energy, and vitality wisely.  Every time you choose to focus on a negative, you are depleting your reserves rather than re-charging your batteries. Focus on circulating and re-circulating positive, life-affirming ideas. 5.  Use creative visualization and your imagination to your advantage, not your detriment.  Instead of picturing worst case scenarios, see things as you want them to be.  Visualize yourself doing things in a state of perfect health. Visualize ideal outcomes and happy endings, not dire consequences. 6.  Do not speak of your illness, or dis-ease with others.  The more attention you place on what you don’t want in your life, the more energy it absorbs.   Remove your attention from your dis-ease.  Put your focus and attention on the things in your life that make you feel good. Starve your illness and dis-ease by refusing to dwell on them. 7.  Love is the antidote to fear.  If you appreciate the many blessings in your life, and express gratitude for anything and everything, you begin to flow in  a healing bath (rather than languishing in toxins).  Develop an attitude of gratitude by making a list of all the things you are grateful for, including  increased health and vitality. Be grateful for the health and well-being coming your way. 8.  Recognize that you have the power to heal yourself.  That healing power flows from the thoughts you think.  Allow positive thoughts to circulate, eliminating stress and boosting your immune system. There is no such thing as incurable.  Miracles abound. 9.  Be happy.  Appreciate this moment.  Resist nothing.  Love yourself and others.  Be  grateful for small blessings.  Make happiness your number one  priority.  When you remain positive, you summon well-being, and vanquish  illness and dis-ease. When we exist in a state of happiness, we boost our immune systems and allow our bodies to use energy reserves for healing.   10.  Laugh!  Laugh again!  Watch funny movies and recall memories that make you laugh.  Once you access the joy within, let it expand to fill your entire being, crowding out illness and dis-ease. Laugh your way back to health.

https://nrhatch.wordpress.com/2010/08/28/10-ways-to-attract-positive-energy/ via @digdogdig   (via girlinlondon)

[butthorn]

[crowmunculus]

when she says “go deeper” but you’ve run out of discourse

[whatever-you-write]

This is an apology letter to both of us for how long it took me to let things go

_- Buddy Wakefield

[somepiecesofmyheartandsoul-deac]

“Perhaps I want nothing more than to be with you.”

– L.W.