Happy Friday! Another week is coming to a close. It is amazing how quickly the time is flying by this year. Though, in fairness, it feels like that every year.  Today’s inspiration is from Gertrude Stein on the importance of harmony, which seems appropriate at the end of the week.

Harmony is essential to life and to art, at least it feels that way to me. In writing, tension, conflict, and suspense are all necessary for compelling story. We know this in our fingers when typing and in our brains when editing. But there is also an element of harmony that is necessary. This doesn’t mean we get rid of tension or obstacles, but  if everything in the story is going well, then the writing itself is in harmony. All the parts are working together to create a story that we don’t want to leave. That, to me, is harmony on the page, but we also need harmony in our lives.

As we create  writing, calligraphy, letterpress, doodles, or something else, we have to have some part of our being and life that is in harmony with our art. I don’t buy into the idea that we need to suffer in our lives in order to create. I take solace in positive psychology research (and I love this talk by Shawn Achor on the happiness advantage) that shows our brains are more creative when we are happy. And, happiness is easier to achieve when there is harmony.

I hope you find harmony in your work and have a wonderful weekend full of moments that make you smile. 🙂

What is home to you? Is it a place? A person? Is it somewhere you feel deep in your bones that you belong? For me and for my writing, the where and what of home is very important. Everyone wants a home and a place to belong and, on this gloomy day when I want nothing more than to be curled up at home, this quote sums it up for me.

Stephen King wrote this in his novel, Revival, and the quote feels like home to me. Having people want you to stay longer is a wonderful thing. To not wear out your welcome, to be somewhere you can belong, to be content with staying, are all wonderful things.

So as you create and live and love I hope you find a place to call home, in art and in life. Adventures and travels are wonderful things, but there is something magical, too, in coming home. 🙂

Spring fever has come early where I live. Flowers are blooming, new leaves are budding on the trees, and the birds are singing. We’ve even broken some records for hottest days in February. With this strange turn in the weather, it can be hard to focus inside on work when the outdoors are so beautiful and lovely.

I love this quote because it reminds me that sometimes the best way forward is to take a break. I’m rather bad at taking breaks when I’m working on a project, whether it is writing or editing a story, researching copy for a new exhibit, or cleaning the house. If there is something that needs doing, then I should be doing it now. Except, sometimes this can cause exhaustion and a too-narrow vision of what it looks like to be productive or successful at the end of the day.

Sometimes, we need (I need) to take a deep breath and walk in the sunshine. We need to listen to the chickadees and juncos chirp and feel the breeze on our faces. We need to be distracted, diverted, so that we can be more creative and wise when we return to our work.

I hope you have something lovely to be a diversion for a while today before you get back to thinking big thoughts, dreaming big dreams, and creating big visions. 🙂

I was at a writers conference (the lovely San Francisco Writers Conference) this last weekend and learned a lot from the agents, editors, writers, and published authors in attendance. It was amazing to hear about all the different paths people have taken to become writers and to become published authors. So this quote by Eddie Cantor seems especially appropriate after listening to many authors talk about their long journeys to publication.

Sometimes in the thick of writing and rejection, when others seem to be having overnight success, it can be hard to remember that success usually comes after a lot of time and effort. It is comforting to know that there is rarely an overnight success and most likely there is a lot of hard work that we never see behind that “overnight” success.

It motivates me to keep writing and creating. These things I can control and the rest I try not to let bog me down. I hope you have a lovely week of creating things that give you joy in the process and that you find success sweet when you get there. 🙂

While it isn’t the time yet for lazy summer days spent daydreaming, the new year always brings out the dreamer in us all. If we don’t make resolutions, we make secret hopes and wishes that this year will be different, will be better, will be beautiful as well as new. So this week’s quote seems rather appropriate.

I love the reminder that everything starts out as someone’s daydream. Whether it is a flower arrangement, a poet, a book, a painting, a computer program, a recipe, or an app, that something new starts as someone’s dream. It is important for us to remember as we go forth into the world creating and sharing and caring. The quote is a reminder that we can’t take anything too seriously because it comes from daydreams, yet at the same time dreams are serious stuff that have the potential to change the world. This duality of daydreaming is what makes it so wonderful and powerful.

I hope you have time to step away from your daily chores and work to daydream. And, I hope, you share the creations of your daydreams with the world. 🙂

How’s everyone’s new year going? Still excited? Still refreshed? Or are you a bit frazzled and tired? Or perhaps you are somewhere in between the two extremes. Because a new year brings with it both excitement and anxiety, especially in regards to resolutions or goals for the new year, this quote seemed particularly apt to share.

It is good to remember that little steps and small changes do lead to big things. Little by little really does the trick. When we feel like we aren’t making progress or a project seems to big to ever finish, we must remember that nothing happens without starting. And sometimes starting is slow and we don’t see much change or feel like we are doing anything at all. Then we get discouraged and giving up can appear to be like the better option.

When that does, remember that little by little does the trick and we have Aesop to thank for remembering that. I hope that your year is full of fun projects that excite you and determination to see them through even when progress is slow. I hope you have a wonderful year. 🙂

As this will be most likely be the last quote in calligraphy that I share this year, I wanted to share the one that I thought came out the best this year and also has a lovely reminder on how to go through life.

“Speak little, do much.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

As we move from one year to the next, it is good to remember that we can do much and don’t need to talk a lot about it as actions really do speak louder than words. This reminds me that if I want to do a lot of writing and reading and calligraphy on top of my full-time job, then I need to do a lot and stay away from talking a lot about it.

These blog posts help me be accountable for practicing my calligraphy and for imagining at least a scene of a new story every week. They are great and I enjoy sharing and charting my progress, but they aren’t substitutes for the actual practice and work.

Also Franklin, even though years before social media, reminds me that if I want to get things done, probably not spending a bunch of time on Twitter, etc. is best for my work (as we all know, but can easily fall down the social media time sinkhole anyway).

So as we move into a new year, and wrap up the current year, let’s remember that we need to do what we say we will do and get on with it. Talking about it can happen later.  🙂

The month is halfway over and it is time to panic about how much we haven’t gotten done this year, right? Or, at least, how much we haven’t managed to get done in time for the holidays, or the end of the year reports, or that project that we swore we would get done this last month, right? Or should we perhaps instead be focusing on peace within our own lives? Since it is a stressful time of year for so many (in addition to being a merry time for so many), today I share with you this quote from Emerson.

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is good to remember that we are the only ones who can bring peace to ourselves. And, if we have peace within ourselves, we can often bring this peace to bear in our interactions with others and hopefully create a bit of calm in the world of hurry, stress, worry, and anxiety. That is good to remember this time of year, and really any time of year.

So my wish for you is that you can find some peace within yourself and remember that you are enough no matter what you’ve accomplished or not this year and always. And, if you can, use your gifts and talents and time to bring a little peace into the lives of those whose paths you cross. The world will be a better, brighter place for it.