On, In, and Around Mondays: No Books, No Bread

Stop reading. (Just for a week.)

That's Julia Cameron's advice in chapter 4, for The Artist's Way journey.

I didn't do that, but I did something similar.

For the third week in a row, I stopped grocery shopping. This began accidentally. Things just didn't work out to go to the store.

Of course, we soon had no bread.

Then we had no milk.

Then no apples, no bananas, no broccoli, no lettuce or hummus or chips or cereal or... a lot of things that serve us as staple foods. I decided not to shop again, and again.

This sent me to the freezer, the basement cupboard, the back of the produce drawers. It sent me to the woods and the yard, to wild mustard and ramps, currants and dried figs. We baked bread. My youngest made homemade tortilla chips. Cashews suddenly seemed like an excellent breakfast when accompanied by frozen raspberries. Last night we had quesadillas with hot peppers.

My fridge is cleaner than it usually is, even spacious. My cooking creativity is heightened. What *do* you do when your staples are not available anymore?

I've done the "don't read" thing before with Julia. Reading is a staple in my house. She was right, of course. The absence of word-bread turned me towards play, hand-made things, even times of complete motionless silent daydreaming.

What's a staple you could veer around, just for a week? Going bookless or breadless, might you find yourself fig-happy and currant-creative?

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On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by...) you. Feel free to write any which way... compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place. Would you like to try? Write something 'in place' and add your link below.

If you could kindly link back here when you post, it will create a central meeting place. :)



<a href="http://seedlingsinstone.blogspot.com"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5083/5217906589_c7120874ca.jpg" width="308" height="69" alt="On In Around button" />

This post is also shared with Laura Boggess, for...

The Artist's Way: Collecting Quotes & Questions

Sometimes I simply like to collect quotes. Like these from today's first book club discussion of The Artist's Way.

For me, it's almost a form of poem-writing, to do this. I lift essential words from a text and they stand in a line, speaking powerfully...

***
How do you know if you are creatively blocked? Jealousy is an excellent clue.

[Question to self: who am I currently jealous of? why? ]

***
Many of us find that we have squandered our creative energies by investing disproportionately in the lives, hopes, dreams, and plans of others.

[Question to self: is there anyone whose plans I've let seriously eclipse my own? If so, why have I done this? What are the "good reasons" I continue to use as an excuse? ]

***
All that angry, whiny, petty stuff that you write down in the morning [pages] stands between you and your creativity. Worrying about the job, the laundry, the funny knock in the car, the weird look in your lover's eye—this stuff eddies through our subconscious and muddies our days. Get it on the page.

***
It is very difficult to complain about a situation morning after morning, month after month, without being moved to constructive action. The pages lead us out of despair and into undreamed-of solutions.

[Note to self: I like the process aspect of this. It assumes that the undreamed-of solutions will take time. That's okay. Undreamed-of solutions can't possibly all be at the surface. Otherwise they wouldn't qualify as undreamed-of.]

***
Very often audacity, not talent, makes one person an artist and another a shadow artist—hiding in the shadows, afraid to step out and expose the dream to the light, fearful that it will disintegrate to the touch.

***
Creativity is play.

[Question to self: when I don't take time to play, why don't I take time? What's that about? What are the excuses I use?]

***
Progress, not perfection, is what we should be asking of ourselves.

***
Give yourself permission to be a beginner.

[Question to self: what do I feel like I am a beginner at? Can I let that happen? Should I maybe always have at least one area of pursuit that requires beginner-status?]

***
'But do you know how old I will be by the time I learn to really play the piano/act/paint/write a decent play?' / Yes... the same age you will be if you don't. / So let's start.

***

Lovely post photo is from Duane Scott. Used with permission.