The Creative Notebook

The oddball in the famly speaks out

zomg, Vince Shamwow is *back*! by pragmatic_pete

OMG! I've bought oxiclean. Does that count? I have to admit though, the ShamWow dude does have an oddly peculiar charm about him.

It’s cold and snowy here in Indiana today.  Being trapped inside on snowy days always gives me time to think.  I’ve been padding around the house in my hoodie and Smartwool socks thinking of an old friend who used to head up a writing workshop when I got out the phonebook to see if I could find her.

Somehow, fate was with me and I got her on the first try.  She doesn’t teach big workshops any more.  She has mobility problems and tells me she’s aged a lot since I last saw her, but invited me to come to her home and write with her.  Of course, I accepted.  She does have some people from the old workshops who keep in contact, and she offers them prompts they can come write on with her or work with her via email.  Today, I’m going to give you her prompt as she gave it to me.

I want them to remember me…………….

Finish the sentence.  Try to write for at least five minutes.  Her prompts were always timed.  Ready, set, write!

Do you sit at work, daydreaming about your ideal job?  Do you dream of working in an exotic job with lots of oversea travel?  Maybe your dream is simple, like my brother, who’d love to be in business for himself as a mechanic instead of working for someone else.  But you are held back, like him, by start-up cash.  He needs big money for car lifts to get his dream moving.  I’d love to either be a full time writer/artist, or have a shop for fiber artists and mixed media artists where we can all gather, take classes, and buy supplies.  I’m held back by money, too.

 What’s your dream job?  Pull out your journal and write about it.  Journal writing about your dreams may help manifest it into reality.

Here’s a page from yesterday.  You can’t read all of the journaling because the size of my journal exceeds the size of my scanner bed.

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I thought I’d give everyone a peek in my journal.  I combine visual and written journaling.  I’ll show all kinds of examples, even those that are very artistically embarrassing, if you know what I mean.

I hope to show you that you don’t have to be a writer or an artist to keep a journal and get benefit from it.  The only valuable journals aren’t those of Divinci or Plath. 

Here’s a  spread.

More to come!!!

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I have a sixteen year old.  I watch her make her way through high school, and it causes me to think back to my days in the same school.  So that’s our prompt for today.  Think back to your teen years, your high school days.  Do you have fond memories?  Would you rather forget it?  Were you Mr/Ms Popularity or did you hide in the back of the class.  Does school bring back wafts of formaldahyde from biology or the fragrance of acne treatment cream as you got dressed each morning?  Take out your journal and write about it.  Sketch your school.  Make a collage of things that remind you of your teen years.