Divinely Crafty

Somehow, in a brief moment of delusion, I was convinced to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. Why? I have no clue. I have never written any fiction to speak of. All my writing is non-fiction with a small dabbling in prose. True fiction writing is completely unknown to me. Utterly and completely out of my comfort zone. I suppose that is why I agreed to it. For the personal challenge. Certainly not because I think I have the next great novel in me. Today is November 1st and I am supposed to start writing. Yet as of this moment I don’t have one character let alone a plot in mind. The only thing I can think of is sarcastically opening my story with the dreaded “It was a dark and stormy night…” I figure if I am going to write a bad novel, it might as well hit all the clichés and pitfalls of fiction writing. Go for the worst I can do so that I don’t fail. Set the bar low. But then the part of me that has kept me from doing many of the things I have wanted to do over my life (and I really do want to do this) which is my fear of not being fabulous on the first try (or ever) kicks in and I think that even writing a bad novel is too hard, too scary for me. I know the bookstores are filled with many great books, but in amongst them is also a bunch of crap. I envy the writers of crap who can do so with confidence and pride. How wonderful it must feel to have an impetus to do something and just get on to it without worry and second guessing.

Wish me luck in this. I will make an honest attempt at it, no matter how horrible it is. No – do not expect to read any excerpts from my story here or anywhere else. I will update on occasion as to my progress.

Have any of you written fiction? If so, where did the characters and plot come from? I feel like if I could get those basic ideas solidified that I could make a reasonable attempt at filling in the details. But how does one come up with a story to tell?

Stop and update the blog. I’m at that place in my list of things to do again. I’ve been doing much more than nothing since I last wrote. Just a bit of it as told by some pictures.

Knitting

Back to France again

Looking suspiciously like it was a phoney background

And other things. Lots of other things that I either didn’t take a picture of, or that I am not posting about today. There is enough of what I have been up to to make it possible for a few more posts. So much for thinking that being so very different than I ever imagined meant dull. Never a dull moment. And it seems like I have a knack of turning dull ones into meaningful ones in desperate escape from dull.

I’m trying to envision that this big dream that my darling and I have will be exciting and that it will come to pass. Things are just starting to crack open about what might be in the future. Unsure as always.

Being crafty and keeping busy. Making curtains for our bedroom this weekend. In the plans for well on a year. I move slowly at times. But never still. Knitting like a fool -gifts, trades, and just for fun. I could fill a couple days with nothing but knitting and still only have gotten a start on my list. Knit knit knit.

Several weeks ago I hired a Personal Assistant. Not as glamorous as it sounds, but oh so very helpful and is helping me find where I am able to contribute without worry that I will be exhausted. Gaining some independence, even if I am paying someone to help me be that way. Funny. Wonderful.

Some pictures I have took this past week. Having fun playing with poladroid and exploring photoshop effects a bit more boldly than I have in the past. Learning to trust my creative vision and practicing the techniques needed to bring them to light.

Just a quick note to welcome those of you who have come to my blog by way of the Unravelling course. You will probably notice that my last post was some time ago. I am somewhat of a sporadic blogger- okay, completely sporadic. This is indeed something that I am hoping to either remedy or reconcile through Unravelling. Please do return on occasion to see if I have been inspired to post and gotten off my tuckus to actually do it! Also, please do visit me over at Beneath Our Feet where I blog about my family’s adventures as expats with dreams of starting our own Biodynamic Organic Farm. I also have a Flickr Account for Beneath Our Feet where I post pictures of our travels around the world.

If you are reading this and asking yourself, what is Unravelling and Is Unraveller really a word, I encourage you whole heartedly to go to take some time to explore Susannah Conway’s site and learn more about her Unravelling e-course. Not only is Susannah an amazingly talented photographer, she has created the most incredible course for personal and artistic exploration, which she offers as an e-course. I have just begun the Late Summer 2009 course and one week into it already the cobwebs in my creativity are being blown away and layers of protective and self suppressive veils are being lifted. I am Unravelling!