Synchronicity or what?

Tonight I met a couple who call their unborn baby The Beany and knew KT Tunstall...

Using the internet in creative ways

The 1000 Recipies Project is sending out notebooks into the world to be passed from person to person. Each one to write a recipie in the book and then scan them to be posted online.

The world of secondhand books

.. this article reminded me of one of my favourite books 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

the fabulous project by Heather Champ

Selftaughtgirl

I've been following Kate's journey as a writer and human being for a while now. She's finished revising her book manuscript ! - go here and look at the Jan 23rd journal entry.

On the grayest darkest of days

blog postings get lost easily - go to Loobylu for oz cheer and Chocolate & Zucchini to sample one of the best food blogs.

In 1977 she had red wellingtons

, straight back hair, slightly pudgy, an unmusical family (one LP in the house) and look at her now ! Profiled in the Independent no less. When I met KT Tunstall aka Katie when I was 9 years old in St Andrews singer/songwriter would not have been what I would have predicted for her. Just shows you, it aint your background which makes you a creative person. So just for now give up the 'I can't paint because my mom wouldn't let me make a mess' excuse. Go and do what you wanna do.

Continuing the listening theme

Loretta has a great blog entry.

Learning when NOT to do something

is as important as learning when one must do something.

Michael Nobbs wrote a blog entry on giving up.

We have to listen to ourselves.

Does the doing the thing make you feel flat?, as something-that-must-be-done?, do you feel obligated?, do you feel tired contemplating it?, must you grit your teeth to get through it?, does your heart sink when contemplating an opportunity?

A good for you something may be difficult, you might even feel anxious about trying something new and unfamiliar, anxious and excited it good. Anxious and flat - avoid.

Yes avoid even if someone else says 'how exciting' - you are not them. We have to learn to listen very carefully to the 'still small voice' within which will tell us what is and isn't right for us. We have to listen to the voice however divergent it may be from our friends, family or society's wishes for us. We may even have to admit that our own wishes for ourselves are not right....

If we don't learn the art of listening to ourselves alarming things happen, accidents, bodies collapse, we enter a long arid desert of the soul, mechanically doing things because we 'must' 'should' 'ought' and we don't understand why we are unhappy.

It is easy to do something we have done before because we have done it before - it is far harder to stop doing something and instead experiment to find what is right just for you.

'The most serious result of not listening is that worst thing in the world, boredom; for it is really the death of love'

an interesting extract from some writing by Brenda Ueland.

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it...because what the world needs is people who have come alive" by Howard Thurman

The Starving Artist's Way

is a new book out later in the year.

We tend to think

we have to practice one art form in our career and nothing else. If we do more than one thing then we are a dilettante... Ian Gregory shows otherwise.

An interview with Keri Smith

over at 52 Projects - which looks like a fascinating site anyway!