HAPPY EASTER EVERYBODY!!!

*Sniff* Well my subscription has gone ("bye bye colourful page....farewell pretty borders and fonts"...) but I don't mind too much. Looking at it positively, I learned a lot about CSS and Html writing over the past year, and this is a handy skill for other sites I use. In fact, I wasn't even aware of internet lingo until I joined DA, so my eduction has been incredible. I'll probably arrange another subscription when I have the time and energy, although making beautiful journal pages did distract me from the time I should have been writing...

Soooo, here we are in April. Not quite Spring, despite the date on the calendar. We still have frosts and mists at night, but the sun does pop out sometimes, and the flowers are just poking their heads above ground to take a peek at what's going on.

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First off,I've heard two very important pieces of advice recently, which have shifted my perspective on life events. I wanted to share them in case they help anybody else.

A) Happiness and gratefulness
"Happiness is not having what you want. It's wanting what you have."

B) Flexibility and adapting to change
"Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely."
and
"If you don't bend in the wind, you will break."

As Charles Darwin said (it was recently the bicentenary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species, so he sprang to mind) "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

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I'm back into writing mode, and I've decided to be more focussed and organised with what I want to write about. When you feel you have writer's block, it's very easy to panic at the void in your head; there doesn't seem to be anything worthy of writing about, and the things that inspired you before seem a bit old hat. You grab at anything that pops into your mind, but the energy is blocked and you feel like your just typing mundane words. I like to breathe life into my poems and stories....or at least try to!

I have been thinking about my subject choices, and essentially, despite the sluggish pull of writer's block, I'm still the same person who likes the same things; history, myths, nature, human perceptions and emotions. I just need to be a bit more disciplined and start planning my writing and giving it the time/focus it deserves. I've eached an epiphany lol!

I'm also pretty positive and I don't like writing about negative things, or miserable times etc...Even if things in real life are a bit messy, I cherish my creative time and don't want it to become tainted. I personally prefer reading something uplifting or beautiful, that stirs my imagination or makes me laugh. I like to think that for both me and anyone who reads my works, I can provide a moment of escapism.

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So, after my grand speech, I am back to making lists (ooooh, lists...I love a good list). Lists are great because at least you can visualise which direction your working in. When you have accomplished something, you get a tangible feeling of satisfaction as you see that goal crossed off your list. Lists can also be revised if they aren't realistic,and flexibility is balanced with commitment, which works for me. You don't have to feel guilty if you don't accomplish everything off your first list; just transfer it to your next one In my opinion, lists are not just tools, but also dreams corporeal.

I'm a pen and paper lover, so to me, seeing piles of paper with lists on, makes me feel in control. I think writing a list is more traditional and omantic than typing one on a computer; I still write how I was taught at school, and seeing a part of myself on paper kind of keeps me connected to the task at hand.

Ok, after all that, I have (on my list - A beautiful piece of cream paper with an otter at the top...think it's leftover from a pad I got from The National Trust lol!);

1. I'm thinking about a series of poems with the theme of decades. Each poem will be set in a different decade during the 1900s (like the 1920's, 1940's, 1950's etc...). I'm going to research symbols of each age, political and social ideas and fashions. I want to do individual poems that take a reader into those times, during a particular setting. For example I'm working on a social event with flappers in the 1920's and thinking of a war poem for the 1940's. Obviously it's going to be very British, and my artistic interpretation of those times. I am very inspired by pictures and imagining stories behind those pictures so I'm gathering stuff off the internet and trying to create personalities and events behind the pictures.

2. I'm going to read a book I got ages ago (Ha ha ha....I am almost too ashamed to write this...but then I'd rather just admit it and be honest). It's called "How To Write a Novel" and I'm hoping to learn techniques on developing characters, organising plot elements etc... So far I've done all my writing by instinct and winging it I think it's time to add a little education into the mix and try to treat writing as a 50/50 hobby/discipline. I think that by reading, planning and joining in workshops again, I'm going to improve on the basics I started with last year, and make progress on my book.

3. Time management. Hmm...this one is tricky and I think I've let it slip A LOT over the past year. Too many unexpected dramas and crises popping up, then recovering from the aftermath...something had to slide and it was my writing. I'm making complete life changes, from structuring my days and devoting time to actively writing/researching, to eating healthily and giving up my energy drinks (God I miss them...I think they fuelled most of my best works in 2008 lol!). I'm trying to implement small changes each month so that I change my lifestyle gradually and remove the bad, to make way for the goods things I want to focus on. I'm hoping that a positive lifestyle/healthy body will lead to a healthy mind and calmer spirit, leading on to a more productive and creative me

So, not that much on my list really. I didn't want to scare myself lol! I'm a typical Aries, and I normally charge at everything very enthusiastically and want everything NOW lol! I'm trying to learn the more subtle and sustainable approach of doing things step-by-step, and waiting to see the end picture, even if it takes a bit longer.