I'm reading two compelling books.
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The first is called Growing Gills by Cartoonist Jessica Abel.
At it's most elemental it is a book about how to make creative work happen in the midst of myriad contradictory commitments-- and for those who feel neglectful of their tantalizing but unrealized creative ideas, I imagine it would be most useful for this.
Making stuff happen however, is not my particular problem--
making is my job,
starting, persisting and completing
my stock in trade.
What can be a problem,
(as per the imagery in the tapestry in last week's blog post),
is making sure that I use that persistence
and my sometimes excessive enthusiasm,
to carry me, as the saying goes
to the top of the right mountain.
In other words, if I'm going to put the effort in,
why not be sure I'm putting it into something that is
1. engaging in the moment,
2. worthy of the struggle through the 'Dark Forest' in the middle of its execution,
and 3. rewarding/satisfying (at least in theory), once it is finished.
Seems obvious, but it is astonishing how often it is not.
To that end, though I'm not actually doing the exercises right now, it has been wonderful to give names to phenomena I've experienced and dealt with in a more nebulous fashion.
Idea Debt
Open Loops,
the aforementioned Dark Forest,
and the reality of Dilemmas.
Indeed, I was reading the chapter on saying "No" so you can say "Yes"
when an offer popped into my in box that would have thoroughly (and almost happily), diverted me from a truly compelling but overgrown path that is beckoning off to the left.
There is a decent chance I'd eventually have remembered to say no without that chapter,
but I would have been wracked with indecision for a good deal longer.
So if nothing else, Abel ideas will give me a context within which to examine said path -- so I don't take up my bow saw and loppers unnecessarily.
Abel discusses these ideas in depth on her website and in the kindle version of her book ,
which she is currently offering for free on Amazon to go along with her online book group (which I haven't joined either but still find interesting).
Not sure how long it will be available, but it is worth checking out if any of these ideas seem compelling. Apparently she has a facebook page too, but as I do not partake of that realm of social media, I've not checked it out.
At it's most elemental it is a book about how to make creative work happen in the midst of myriad contradictory commitments-- and for those who feel neglectful of their tantalizing but unrealized creative ideas, I imagine it would be most useful for this.
Making stuff happen however, is not my particular problem--
making is my job,
starting, persisting and completing
my stock in trade.
What can be a problem,
(as per the imagery in the tapestry in last week's blog post),
is making sure that I use that persistence
and my sometimes excessive enthusiasm,
to carry me, as the saying goes
to the top of the right mountain.
In other words, if I'm going to put the effort in,
why not be sure I'm putting it into something that is
1. engaging in the moment,
2. worthy of the struggle through the 'Dark Forest' in the middle of its execution,
and 3. rewarding/satisfying (at least in theory), once it is finished.
Seems obvious, but it is astonishing how often it is not.
To that end, though I'm not actually doing the exercises right now, it has been wonderful to give names to phenomena I've experienced and dealt with in a more nebulous fashion.
Idea Debt
Open Loops,
the aforementioned Dark Forest,
and the reality of Dilemmas.
Indeed, I was reading the chapter on saying "No" so you can say "Yes"
when an offer popped into my in box that would have thoroughly (and almost happily), diverted me from a truly compelling but overgrown path that is beckoning off to the left.
There is a decent chance I'd eventually have remembered to say no without that chapter,
but I would have been wracked with indecision for a good deal longer.
So if nothing else, Abel ideas will give me a context within which to examine said path -- so I don't take up my bow saw and loppers unnecessarily.
Abel discusses these ideas in depth on her website and in the kindle version of her book ,
which she is currently offering for free on Amazon to go along with her online book group (which I haven't joined either but still find interesting).
Not sure how long it will be available, but it is worth checking out if any of these ideas seem compelling. Apparently she has a facebook page too, but as I do not partake of that realm of social media, I've not checked it out.
How is it that every set of size 2.5 mm circular needles feels totally different from every other set, and the only way to figure out which one is right is to try them all.
The other book I'm thrilled with is Amy Twigger Holroyd's Folk Fashion
which I learned about from the compelling podcast
Mrs. M's Curiosity Cabinet.
She (Mrs. M), is most satisfyingly thoughtful about myriad aspects of this yarnish/cloth-centric making world of ours, focusing particularly on material integrity (if that is the right phrase), which is something about which I am passionate. So thank you Meg, for this and all the interesting thoughts and ideas to come.
But back to the book.
I've only just begun to read Folk Fashion, but am fascinated by Holroyd's very readable and scholarly approach to topics I hold dear, and look forward to delving deeply.
Again, I don't feel qualified to summarize, but already she has given me new definitions for some overused words (sustainable, folk, time, open ...),
and, surprisingly already helped me to notice that my passion for making and mending,
which began well before high school, is very much a part of fashion --
not a quiet way to avoid a mysterious and alien world I neither liked nor understood.
Indeed, as I've recently realized, my reluctance to shop
has as much to do with an overwhelming surfeit of unsatisfactory choices,
as with my self-perceived lack of taste or ability to make said choices.
In other words -- I DO know what I like,
I just rarely never see it in the commercial world.
This holds true, alas, both for stuff that goes on walls
and stuff that goes on bodies.
Give me a few clean fleeces though -- and shopping R us.
which I learned about from the compelling podcast
Mrs. M's Curiosity Cabinet.
She (Mrs. M), is most satisfyingly thoughtful about myriad aspects of this yarnish/cloth-centric making world of ours, focusing particularly on material integrity (if that is the right phrase), which is something about which I am passionate. So thank you Meg, for this and all the interesting thoughts and ideas to come.
But back to the book.
I've only just begun to read Folk Fashion, but am fascinated by Holroyd's very readable and scholarly approach to topics I hold dear, and look forward to delving deeply.
Again, I don't feel qualified to summarize, but already she has given me new definitions for some overused words (sustainable, folk, time, open ...),
and, surprisingly already helped me to notice that my passion for making and mending,
which began well before high school, is very much a part of fashion --
not a quiet way to avoid a mysterious and alien world I neither liked nor understood.
Indeed, as I've recently realized, my reluctance to shop
has as much to do with an overwhelming surfeit of unsatisfactory choices,
as with my self-perceived lack of taste or ability to make said choices.
In other words -- I DO know what I like,
I just rarely never see it in the commercial world.
This holds true, alas, both for stuff that goes on walls
and stuff that goes on bodies.
Give me a few clean fleeces though -- and shopping R us.
Somehow, this opens up everything!
