“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

said Eleanor Roosevelt.

That wasn't all she said (aside from things like "Please pass the salt!") but I'll save her other words of wisdom for another day.

Dreams? Hmmm...

Great to have dreams, to be a stand for those dreams becoming reality but it's a little airy-fairy, not enough on its own. Declaring it and being in action are needed too...

by Jenjen Bunny

 So, here is the future I created the other night with Pete and Tim, Paul and Jen, plus subsequent additions.

A cherishing and loving environment for my family (Such a blessed, wonderful year ahead for us, with Jamie and Breanna getting married in April, Laurie and Irene expecting a baby in July and Tim starting out on a new and positive phase of his life)

Shifting the balance of my work life from corporate to creative, from manic bursts of activity followed by slumps to consistent, joyful purpose. (Included in that will be to be taken on by a literary agent for my children's writing and have Of Night And Light published)

Better managing my health (I've taken on two main principles: 5 A Day - for fruit and vegetables, and 2 and 2 for alcohol - which is to say - no more than two glasses of wine a day and two days a week with no alcohol at all - and will start up with yoga again once the Brighton seminar has finished - the sessions clash)

Feels good. DOESN'T feel like New Year's Resolutions, trotted out with very little thought and lasting for only a few days...

Happy, happy 2013!

Twelfth Night or what you will

Back in the day, I played Feste the fool in Twelfth Night - it was an all girls' school and I was a late developer - flat-chested I mean - so likely to land the male roles, if any. Can I remember anything about it? Nope.

by John Link

As for being the fool - I'll say 'type-casting' before you feel the need!

Twelfth Night today (tonight?) and I've just finished taking down all the Christmas decorations.

 You should have seen me climbing down the wisteria to get the outside fairy lights. Like a little monkey I was. Or a sloth.

Usually I hate doing this job because it means the end of Christmas, the end of holidays, back to work, BUT, in the spirit of creating the year (more of that tomorrow) I took a deep breath and shifted the context.

It's the BEGINNING of a wonderful year in my life so why not...

 simply...

REJOICE?

The courage to create

That's the title of a book by Rollo May.

The Courage to Create

I haven't read it, haven't even bought it (yet) - reluctant to add it to the teetering pile of books I've promised myself I'll read. Tomorrow. Next week. Soon. Sometime.

I've read extracts, though, and they make so much sense...

“Human freedom involves our capacity to pause between the stimulus and response and, in that pause, to choose the one response toward which we wish to throw our weight. The capacity to create ourselves, based upon this freedom, is inseparable from consciousness or self-awareness."

Tonight, we have good friends coming round for dinner and together we're going to create the year ahead.

Note to self. Do not drink too much Prosecco. Who knows what I'd end up committing to...

A swift blow to the head

We all need one sometimes, me more than most.

Yukito Shikoro

Mine wasn't from a mutant woman, however, but from a horse.

Horses are (occasionally) very good at reminding you they are actually wild animals and not cuddly-wuddly ickle pets.

After several years of carrying out the same job in the same way every morning - which is to say, leading Alfie behind me, having brought him in from the field, and then putting Star's bucket of feed over her stable door for her...today it all went pear-shaped.

Perhaps Alfie looked too interested? Perhaps he just got too close? Perhaps I simply wasn't concentrating? I don't know. Whatever the case, I was putting the bucket over and Star suddenly landed a hefty side-swipe on my head and either bit, or caught her teeth on my left ear. (That ear! The one with the persistent ache in it. The one that is now bright pink and slightly swollen with a worse ache in it than before!)

ENTIRELY MY RESPONSIBILITY.

Thank you, Star!

How much rewriting do you do?

Hemingway: It depends. I rewrote the ending of Farewell to Arms, the last page of it, 39 times before I was satisfied.

 
Interviewer: Was there some technical problem there? What was it that had stumped you?

Hemingway: Getting the words right.

(From "The Art of Fiction," The Paris Review Interview, 1956)

So - I'm into my third rewrite of Of Night And Light...only thirty six to go. Actually, if I'm honest, it's not so much of a rewrite but a checking through of the previous rewrite before I send it off again.

It's scary how much I like what I've written. That is NOT, by the way, arrogance. Other writers will understand, I'm sure.

However...

by Banksie

One of the strangest things is the act of creation.

"You are faced with a blank slate—a page, a canvas, a block of stone or wood, a silent musical instrument.

You then look inside yourself. You pull and tug and squeeze and fish around for slippery raw shapeless things that swim like fish made of cloud vapour and fill you with living clamour.

by sraaa

You latch onto something.

And you bring it forth out of your head like Zeus giving birth to Athena.

by shhimi

 And as it comes out, it takes shape and tangible form.

It drips on the canvas, and slides through your pen, it springs forth and resonates into the musical strings, and slips along the edge of the sculptor’s tool onto the surface of the wood or marble.

You have given it cohesion. You have brought forth something ordered and beautiful out of nothing.

You have glimpsed the divine.”

Vera Nazarian's beautiful description of the creative process.

If only...

Starting as I mean to go on?

Happy New Year everyone!

I started...not as I mean to go on (sorry Pete)...

The first bit was as I mean to go on, actually, with the horses, but that goes without saying.

The second bit wasn't...

In case you were in any doubt, I do NOT get rid of stress by mopping my floor and buffing it to a perfect shine.

I am more of this school of thought:

But...compromises have to be made...

Happy New Year kitchen floor! Make the most of it.