Minimalism can lead to Adventure

I made this meme today. It's kinda funny because the knight needs things like armor to have his adventures. I guess they are not adventures if they aren't dangerous. 

I'm not saying to not be a little prepared. What this meme means is to save up for things you find great enjoyment from, experiences, rather than simply things.

If you are lacking in adventure, maybe it's time to re-prioritize your spending.

Are you buying collectibles, nick-nacks, antiques, or other items that do not bring you joy? Maybe they do bring you joy for a time. Maybe they do serve a purpose. Do you have any that don't continue to serve a purpose and you can sell?

Create an adventure savings or a rainy day fund.

You don't even have to plan your adventure. You can be spontaneous.



Give yourself permission to have fun.

Library Living Room Wall

Our big project this summer was to turn one wall of our living room into a library. This inspired us to make our entertainment system a display worthy of video game hall of fame.

Before:

You can see behind my sons and nephews that the bookshelves we had were full to bursting and quite unattractive, yet eclectic.

We went to Lowe's for all of our supplies from paint, to rail shelving, to cube storage.



The far wall is painted this luscious chocolate color by Valspar called Deep Earth. It complemented the espresso bookshelves well. I painted the screws and washers we used to mount the wall, but the brackets and rails being black seem to disappear into the background.

After:

Ignore the teaching materials on the ottoman and you can see the finished product. There are more cubes behind the chair in the corner.

The decorative lamp in the middle space is standing on a 3-cube unit on it's side to give it proper height. We removed the glass shade and used an old fashioned globe style bulb to give the library an old industrial feel. Maybe a little steampunk?

The desk lamp version of this with a long ovular bulb is behind the chair.

We all have commented how inviting the living room is now! We just want to curl up with a good book and read, or turn off the lights and play a video game or watch a DVD.

What I really want is new living room furniture. The couch is falling apart, the ottoman lid is broken. The only piece still intact is the recliner!

I feel a library such as this deserves a chaise lounge. Don't you?

Fight Writer's Block and Find Your Missing Muse

While stepping back from a work is good practice in order to come back to it with fresh eyes, when you're not finished with a piece and it's not time to edit, stepping away for a break creates a block in the flow of energy. The muse goes missing. They say for every day your take off writing, your muse will take off three!

Some of the ways in which I fight back against my missing muse are to:

Read. I've devoured books this summer, most of which to honor my muse as they are his favorites.

Color. The monotony of coloring busies the right and left brains just enough to let the mind wander. You can get some problem solving done as you enter your subconscious and sort of daydream your worries into submission. This also works with cross stitch. I have a huge lion I've been stitching for 14 years. I just do a little when I feel the need to get into this subconscious flow. I used to do it on particularly bad period days when the cramps were completely unbearable and all I could do was sit, but after my ablation, I don't have those anymore.

Write microfiction. Just getting a small idea out, writing to a prompt or challenge on ficlatte.com, can ease the desire for writing something when there seems to be no direction for such creative outlet.

Brainstorm. I have been following my muse so closely that I have forgotten how to brainstorm for myself. That's why writing Xar felt so good. I wanted to do something awesome. I had it critiqued and it got great reviews and I tweaked it. It is set to go into our short story anthology. Yet I need to keep writing my own things as Elsha Hawk, too. Get out a blank sheet of paper and just write everything that comes to your mind. When you begin to focus on one, expand it and write a few paragraphs or a character sketch.

Review old writings. Looking back into writer's notebooks, into old online microfiction, I search for one liners, or single lines, that are really good and really inspiring. Then I take them in a new direction. I've changed entire stories that way. Once I started with a cultist community that lived in the clouds who met a rival cloud community, but it changed to an island community where a stranger washed ashore and challenged their beliefs.

Doodle. Speaking of character sketches, perhaps you can draw people better than I can and you prefer to wake up your muse by drawing a character from your brainstorming session. You could also just pick up a pencil and doodle, entering that subconscious space until you've worked out where you need to be.

I don't listen to music and get inspired very often because I'm partially an auditory learner and so I pay too much attention to the music to enter that subconscious space. Some people, however, are able to do this.

Paint. Notice a trend? Creative pursuits that allow you to space out and enter that subconscious zone.

Puzzles. I get crazy when I put together a jigsaw puzzle. I sing out loud to myself, get rather loopy and silly, and say some crazy things. There's something about the quiet and concentration and failure and determination during a puzzle build that puts me in a mood of restlessness. I am determined to finish it, to not let it best me, but I want to get out of it so much that I escape into humor.


I'm sure you have other ways. Why don't you share them with the class? Leave a comment!