I'm back

I can't believe that once again, I have let this blog fall by the wayside. I did some redesigning a few weeks ago, and check in regularly to review post from the blogs I follow. Not very good about posting myself however. As I have stated before, it had always been difficult for me to give my creative life the time it deserves when I know that others and other things require my attention. Spring and summer and all the work around the house that those season bring, definitely got in the way. Not that I have kept up that well with the to-do list there.

Anyway, I am once again making an effort to commit at least a few hours a week to the creative pursuits. In addition to getting back into the studio, I have taken up my writing again. I have begun work on some short stories and have already signed up to do this year's National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). About 5 years ago I did my first NaNo when a friend who is a published author convinced me to give it a try. I successfully completely my 40,000 novel in 30 days both that year and the following year. (Those manuscripts now reside on this computer waiting for revision.) I tried for a third year, but doubt and frustration caused me to give up at about the halfway point. The past 2 years, I have been occupied with the Fall Gallery and Gift Event I started at work. Since I have now left the activities committee, and since no one else seems to want to take up the baton for the event, my Novembers are now free again. Because of that, and because I have been hearing the call to write, I signed up to participate again in a few months. Not really sure what I will be writing just yet, so we will see what develops on it's own.

In addition to the short stories and NaNo, I have been reading more about the art of writing, and have attended a seminar on writing mysteries. I don't believe that mystery is my genre, but I still came away with some good advice and recommendations. As a result of the seminar, I picked up Stephen King's book On Writing. It is a great book - part memoir and part guide to writing. I was encouraged to read that SK was once embarrassed about being a horror writer. He felt it when people questioned why he was wasting his talents on writing scary stuff. Aren't all writers supposed to aspire to writing literature? He eventually came to terms with what he is drawn to write. I can't tell you how encouraging to know that someone as successful as Stephen King once worried about what other people thought about the horror genre. Since I was a teen, I have enjoyed reading horror novels. Because that is what I like to read, it is also what I feel drawn to write. I can now say that I am OK with that. Rather that fight it, or not write at all, I shall write what comes to me and hopefully that will take me where I need to be creatively.

I am beginning to feel very much the same way about my painting, sculpting and assemblage artwork as well. I am drawn to the dark and somewhat gloomy subject matter. (With a bit of whimsey as well. Don't want you to think that I am this brooding and unhappy individual.) I am a story teller, and the stories I like to tell, aren't necessarily pretty or have a happy ending. With that realization, I have done a great deal of web surfing and research and have found this whole breed of artist I never knew existed, and many of them have a presence here on Blogger. I have found that their are painters, and sculptors who specialize in Halloween as their subject matter of choice, and I LOVE their work. I am really looking forward to exploring these same things in my own artwork, and daydream a little about joining their ranks some day.

I think that I just need to focus on combating the doubts that keep me from living the creative life I now know I am meant to live. When I do that, and begin to create the stories and art that I am naturally drawn to, I can find the fulfillment and success that I know is waiting out there for me.

Well, enough rambling for now. I will be posting more again soon. I promise myself that. I hope to include some snippet of my writing when I am more comfortable as a writer. In the mean time, I can include pictures of the things coming out of my studio.

Here's to a productive fall, full of all things dark, and spooky and just a little fun!