The hive
I skipped blogging in June and July. The days kept going by; that’s what days do, and the barrage of heartbreaking news events, coupled with my participation in Dis/Rep’s Evolving Our Power seemed to clog my creative writing arteries. In a good way. The question that emerged that made me question my desire to “speed along” was; “How do I find a humane pace for myself, and still find the space to make the art I want to make?” How can I connect to “the flow;” and enjoy the doors that open to what I offer? Those into which I can put my precious energy. Do the thing that I tell my daughters, and move toward those who move toward me.
Busy bee
These last two months were buzzy. I had three fantastic classes/coachings. Each one energized me toward a particular creative endeavor. Some of them have opened doors, some of them haven’t. A voiceover class with Tina Morasco, an audiobook course with P.J. Ochlan, and I’m working on new animated character demo with Krystal Meadows. Concurrent with the classes, I’m finishing up a short, animated film, “Symphony of Grief,” that Jen Tate, Jackie Weissman, and I began working on in 2021. I also presented at the Leadership Exchange in Access and Disability (LEAD) conference with Audio Description Training Retreats. Guess what? Too much!
Buzzy band
I was talking to a trusted friend about the buzzy busyness of being a freelance artist. We reframed our ‘busy’ with an image of a conductor directing a symphony. There are upwards of sixty players in a symphony orchestra. In our scenario, each section of players could represent a project. “More strings” might be working on Symphony of Grief for several hours. Later, I “bring up the woodwinds” and do my voiceover auditions. I’m listening to my life’s music, lifting and lowering the dynamics of the gorgeous sounds with my baton. I want to listen more carefully to the projects that sing to me. Projects that are taking up too much space, or when I get a “No,” well, that allows other instruments to come to the front. Being rejected for a project can hurt, but – NEWSFLASH! — it opens the door to something better for me at that moment. There is nuance in curating a creative life, and one of them is embracing the rejections an opportunity to move toward the offerings.
Golden honey
The term “pleasure activist” is something I heard at Dis/Rep’s Evolving Our Power. If you aren’t aware of the work that The Curiosity Paradox or Dis/Rep, are doing, put them on your radar. I was introduced to the work of adrienne maree brown and found this wonderful interview on Sounds True with Tami Simon. Are you ready to make critical connections?
Let’s nurture and love one another and trust that small is ALL! Trust that there is always enough time to do the right work, and — what do you know — here I am right back to the beginning of this post.