I've been sick for the past couple of weeks, and while I am feeling much better now it threw off my monthly goals considerably. I have a tendency to seize excuses for not getting things done, a habit I really need to break.
In the meantime, I've reached a rather daunting decision: I need to learn how to draw. See, I have determined to illustrate my stories in addition to writing them. I tried a couple of 3D art programs (Poser, DAZ, etc), but found them disappointingly clumsy and wholly inadequate to my work. So, the only alternative is to bite the bullet and learn to actually draw the illustrations myself. As all my pencil-related-skills are woefully lacking, this is going to take a lot of work, but no alternative.
I've been doing a good deal of self-reflecting recently, and have found that I have a curious kind of permanant tenseness. Not quite sure where it comes from or (more importantly) how to get rid of it, but I know it must go if I'm ever to make any progress in crafting the life I want. More on this issue (let's call it 'the Knot') as it develops. I've also realized that I enter every conversation under the assumption that no one really wants to talk to me, but is putting up with me out of politeness. That's something rather
With my return to relative health, I have again embarked on the slow, painful process of crafting a daily schedule. So far I've had some success with working in prayer and exercise, but less with writing, reading, and studying.
The good news is that I did finish Lepus, so now I just need to go back and revise it a little (I'm redoing the whole opening, for instance) then I'm going to send it out to family and friends for review.
So, goals for May:
1. Learn Italian: need to imerse myself in la lingua Italiano.
2. Study drawing: already had some success practicing on my own, and now I'm looking to take a course at the local community college, so we'll see how that turns out.
3. Schedule. Same as always.
I wanted to give you some ideas for working on "the knot".
ReplyDelete1. Primarily, don't ever assume people don't want to talk to you. If they didn't want to, they'd leave. Or they'd say something like - "wow, I hate you but I'm listening anyway, I wish you'd stop." If you assume you're likeable, you'll relax more, The Knot will ease up a bit, and you'll actually be more likeable (not that you're not, but you get my point :) It's likely The Knot comes from that sense of being unlikeable, because it makes you feel defensive, and defensiveness causes your body to tense up.
2. Take the time to relax your body everyday by focusing on areas of tension, breathing well, and mentally relaxing those areas.
3. Embrace your imperfections. That doesn't mean you should stop actively crafting the life you want, it just means that you should enjoy the Process of crafting that life, because you & I both know you'll never be done crafting it. It'll always be a work in progress, and that's a good thing, so enjoy looking around at transition stage. Enjoy breaking resolutions every now and then and celebrate when you keep them.
4. Think of the bacon you'll get to try when I butcher the pigs. Believe me, you'll want to buy your own pig when you've tried it. :)
Much love!