Balance

May 20, 2011 / still a dreamer

It has been my thought for a while now to write about balance … it has been a constant source of reflection over the past weeks … months. So while I mused over my subject, I searched for an appropriate photo for this post.

Unfortunately, having the love affair I’ve had with photography most of my life, looking for a photo is something akin to the proverbial child in the candy shop. Or better yet, wandering in the woods. I easily get lost. I searched for a photo by my subject, but the word ‘balance’ didn’t yield what I wanted, so I tried see-saw. Nothing. I tried `edge’ and that brought up images I didn’t expect, (like knives), so I tried `ledge.’ Still nothing. Then I thought of one of the greatest ledges of them all …. the parapets of Notre Dame. And gargoyles. This now became free association at its best.

And so you see the photo I chose, above. This is probably one of the most famous gargoyles in the world; he may even have a name, but I don’t know it. As someone who has been enamored of gargoyles before they became faddish and fairly common garden statuary, I have a few of my own; in particular, I have one of the Notre Dame gargoyles in candlesticks.

I’m in love with this photo. The gargoyle is quietly looking over his beloved city, shrouded in mist … HIS Paris. I look with him. And I contemplate the wonder of it all … the beauty and richness of life and the sometimes pain; the inescapability of responsibility and the luxury of letting it all go to become steeped in daydreams; being surely anchored in cement and that violent shrug in which we break free and fly.

So yes … balance.

NJ SCBWI June Conference Approaches

May 9, 2011May 9, 2011 / still a dreamer

Today I was fortunate to find the following quote by Thoreau:

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours. He will put something behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him, or the old laws will be expanded and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense; and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings.”

What does this have to do with the upcoming June SCBWI Conference? I find, and have found in years past, that as this wonderful event approaches, many of those attending who will be meeting with agents, editors and/or art directors start moving into a “do or die” mental state. It is as if this opportunity to be critiqued by a professional in the children’s book field is the very last chance on earth to get published. Of course, we know that this isn’t true, but the stress that starts to build up before the conference is enormous.

Yes, there are deadlines to get work in; the manuscript deadline has passed, and the deadlines for intensive attendees may have also. For those if us participating in the juried art show and/or portfolio display, and/or prepping dummies and illustrations, the heat is on. And writers now start questioning the worthiness of their submitted stories. I struggle, at times, with some of this myself, trying to keep a balance between preparation for the June Conference and the rest of my life, and a perspective on it all.

I want to arrive at the conference serene and confident. How about you?

The quote by Thoreau helped jog it all back in perspective for me. All we can do is our very best. Let’s keep our eyes on our dreams and not get mired down in perfection, a need for approval or to be published this minute, or whatever runs amok through our minds at times like these.

Nothing is stopping us from advancing confidently in the direction of our dreams and endeavoring to live the lives which we have imagined right now. It’s a daily practice, thinking this way, but it sure beats the alternative – becoming mired in baseless fear and crippling stress. Cheers to success! See you at the June Conference!

Making Time for What We Love

March 10, 2011March 10, 2011 / still a dreamer

OK, I’m the first one who says we have to “make” time, not “find” time, but every now and then, something occurs which effectively pushes in my face just how much I’m trying to accomplish, and what happens? Instant overwhelm!

If you have a dream, and I’m sure you do, there really are just times when you wonder how you’ll ever get there. I was updating my web site, and looking at how many children’s books I have somewhere in the process of either writing, editing, storyboarding, dummying and/or illustrating, and how I really want to be working on each and every one. But then I … like you, I suspect … remember that I have to work and do all the multitudinous things that mean taking care of our lives.

It sure can be a dilemma, can’t it? And then we sit down to it, (or run across it, climb up it, build it … if that’s your dream), and we’re happy. I actually updated a few areas of my site, and added the following quote in my shop, where I always like some words of wisdom – “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker. His words seem apt for where I am right now — standing on the edge of everything exciting, but still wondering how long I can fly up there, before I have to return to the reality of everyday life. Well, everyday life as I know it at this precise moment in time.

I plan on making the time to fly up there longer and longer. And to keep on learning how to kick that overwhelm to the curb. How’s your dream coming along?

Winter Sunset

January 28, 2011 / still a dreamer / 2 Comments

“Your eyes register only a limited degree of the creative vibration that makes up everything in creation … Those persons who have perceptive eyes enjoy beauty everywhere.” – Paramahansa Yogananda

(Thanks to my friend, Pat, for sharing this lovely quote.)

Textures of Snow and A Question

January 27, 2011January 27, 2011 / still a dreamer

If you’re anywhere in the mid-Atlantic region you’ve been getting hit with snow. Here in New Jersey we got hit with a 1-2 punch yesterday and again last night. Thankfully, I shoveled after the first round because now there’s another 12″ or so in most places, and maybe 3′ out there where the plow went through. I decide to do a first pass at 8 a.m. to make an access lane from my side porch to the street and also clear off the back/side porch and wherever Little Fee, the feral I feed, might be coming from.

BUT … before I did … I had to take some photos of the unmarred beauty of the snow. And the question? Whatever happened to the teenage boys that used to come around on snow days looking to make some money shoveling some of us out? Yeah, yeah, I know … they’re home texting and playing on the internet. Kinda sad, as I guess it’s a time gone by.