WitW: week 1

By way of explanation for this post and those to come....I am participating in a self-exploratory online read-along with some folks from the about.com quilting forum. The book is called Walking in this World, The Practical Art of Creativity by Julia Cameron (hereafter WitW), and it's described as a "jump start to the creative process," and employs inner reflection, self-study and alone time to achieve this. I don't know that I am feeling stalled in my creative process necessarily, but it sounded interesting, and I was intrigued at the idea of self-exploration, something I would have resisted even a year or two ago.

It's a twelve-week "program" and each week includes a "check-in," which I am going to do here on Sundays starting today. So bear with me while I get touchy-feely (it won't be too bad this week, I promise), or if you'd rather, stop reading now and come back later.

~~~~ Week 1 Check-in ~~~~

Morning Pages: I only managed three days of morning pages, though towards the end of the week, I had ideas for things I wanted to write about. I am not at all surprised that I didn't manage them all this week, I know they will take practice for me: both the getting up earlier and the writing itself -- my first entry largely consisted of I-don't-know-what-to-say sorts of thoughts. I'll make a better effort at them next week, and I can already tell that they'll be useful once I get the hang of it.


Artist's Date: not yet. Well, at least, not for real. While out and about on other errands on Saturday, my husband and I went to an antique shop in Seattle that we had driven by many times and had always promised to visit. Like I said, I wasn't alone, so it wasn't a real Artist's Date, but it was certainly as close as I was going to get to one this week. It was a real antique store, not a junk shop, but also not superfine, collector-level antique place. I was inspired by the farm-esque kitchen cabinets and utencils... I also particularly loved the vintage knitting needles (some plastic, some aluminum), all organized in a circa 1950s "knitting pin" display.


Weekly Walk: I walked the dog around Green Lake solo on Saturday morning (busy day, Saturday), and I tried to focus on my creative self, to some success. I walk quite a lot in my daily life, so I feel like I might have to go for special walks to fulfill this activity...though it would feel weird to walk without the dog.