I’m like a data miner trying to extract the key source and pattern to my practicing abilities. So, from these two examples, I seek to crack my own code of practicing and apply it to my creative writing efforts. The outdoors, the fresh air, the joy of feeling physically fit from regular exercise-this is the essence of my running practice. Running for me has become more about the everyday, the practice, than the one day, the race. I like to track my runs with an app (see Plum Picks) somewhat competitively with my younger sister and, yes, she is way ahead of me. I enjoy running enough to continue doing it regularly even though I’m not as fast as I once was. When the pink of morning haze (yes, that’s another little lyric from the soon-to-be-released, Away World) filters through the trees, I’m off. I do have stretches when I don’t run, but I always come back to it. Exhibit A: I am a regular early morning runner (see Running on Indie) and, though mind, body, weather, and careless, dead-eyed drivers all come into play, I’m still out there after four decades. I am good at consistently practicing some things. So, this leads me to another thing I know. So, if I happen to have a fresh face, I’ve probably been out running. As my older sister once put it, I am a “crunchy granola muncher,” and that ship of style and fashion that I chose not to board sailed away long ago. I will never be the sophisticated put-together type I know that now, and I understand that being fashion forward is itself a choice that requires practice. As if you receive a certificate of sophistication and would suddenly know how to style hair, apply make-up, and throw together a jaunty ensemble with effortless flair. I thought that when you reached a certain age, it would all come together-fashion, style, the whole nine. Epic fail.Īt the time, I chalked up my failure to follow the Seventeen magazine 80s power-packed plan as a genetic flaw or, perhaps, something that I would grow into. Well, the next morning when the alarm went off, I got out of bed-nailing item one on the list-ate a bowl of cereal, and stumbled blurry-eyed to the bus stop, failing to follow any semblance of a schedule before the school bus arrived. I just follow the Seventeen plan and I’ll have a fresh face, trendy outfit, or at least some cool bedazzled shoes and socks that match my school uniform, and perfectly completed homework-straight As and popularity danced before my eyes. Anyway, I thought, “let’s do this,” palms rubbing together. I couldn’t locate this schedule now, so I can only imagine that it had a time slot for a nighttime chat with a friend on an olive-green, wall-mounted house phone with a mile-long cord stretching to your bedroom. The day was stacked from dawn to dusk with every imaginable teenage task. Back in middle school, for instance, I tried to follow the rather detailed schedule laid out for me by Seventeen magazine, as the cover said to “make the most of YOU!” The yearly August Back to School issue touted a tightly packed daily routine, kicking off the school year with a multiphase facial care process, carefully selected outfit, which may or may not have included leg warmers, and a bunch of other “must do” items before the school bell rang. I’ve tried living intentionally by other’s rules of scheduling, planning, and good-habit forming and have fallen colossally short every time. Rather than spend money and priceless time on those things, just start practicing your craft-whatever it is and wherever you are in your journey-because no matter what, and how much you try to avoid it, you will need to create your own plan, a highly selective practice plan that only works for you. Certainly, all the above efforts to help you to help yourself are collectively a multibillion-dollar business. You can digest an array of “how to” guides on practicing and good-habit forming, seek the help of a life coach, intently follow your favorite social media influencer’s life hacks, and so on-and from these things you may gather a few pieces of the puzzle that stick with you on your journey forward into a new habit. What in modern parlance is called “doing the work.” I bring this to you not as an expert but as someone who struggles to make the time, who runs in circles and falls down holes, who walks into doors that aren’t even closed (yes, that is a little lyric from my unpublished song, Life with Alice), and who, well into this thing called life, is still sorting it all out. So, apropos to my lack of consistency, this Plum Indie Blog entry is about practice-about clearing the mental cobwebs enough for the everyday, regular work of creativity. It’s been a while, and I’ve gotten into the practice of not writing this blog regularly.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |