Changing Gears

Have finished the last of the Artist's Way exercises and am ready to change gears. I close my notebook on this aspect of my world with a sigh of relief and a little bit of regret. There is a real sense of urgency to move forward on other things – including other approaches to creativity. This means a bit of exploration with watercolor, writing, photography and learning more about photo editing.

"All there is to writing is having ideas. To learn to write is to learn to have ideas." Robert Frost

Thanks to a lead from Lisa In Otter Space I purchased “Spinning Words into Gold” and am planning to work through the exercises in this book as my next project. I actually think I may find these exercises more helpful than “Artist's Way”.

The first exercise - in abbreviated form suggests, “…If you are the choices you make, who are you? Try writing for ten minutes, beginning with the phrase ‘I am…’ Keep coming back to this phrase whenever you get stuck….”

I am a writer
I write for myself
Yet I long to write words
that reach out
and touch
the hearts
and minds
of others.

I am a writer
I have stories to tell
and words waiting
to pour
out of my pen.

I am an observer
who writes of sun and sky
of wind, rain and snow
of fog and moonlight
the squirrel chasing his tail
the feel of the feathers
on the goldfinch’s head.

I am a dreamer.
I dream of words
that fall into matching rows
covering the page
with life and hope
with pain and tears
with joy and laughter.

I am a searcher
who looks for ways
to see my dreams
fulfilled.

Maureen Ryan Griffin has a web site that is stimulating: the page I found really interesting is called “Word Play” I think you will enjoy checking out her “exercises.”