Yesterday on Simple Mom, I shared my thoughts on The basics of single parenting…

In my daily life I have to continually refocus my efforts on the essentials. It’s an ongoing process of learning the difference between what I should do and what I can do.

My friends, family and therapist have to remind me of this often. I tend to think that I should be able to accomplish and stay on top of an unreasonable amount of projects and responsibilities.

Check it out and leave a comment over there to let me know what you think.

Sometime in the next 6 months, we hope to have a hard copy edition of Grey and the Good Attitude Cape available for purchase! It will have a few additional pages and illustrations that the e-book currently does not have. But, more importantly, we are hoping to give discount coupons to everyone who supported the e-book version!

If you havn’t already, sign up for my Very-Rare-Almost-Never Newsletter to be notified when the hard copy edition is ready for purchase! And if you or anyone you know would like to do a give-away or review on your blog for the e-book of Grey & The Good Attitude Cape, let me know!

This morning I was talking with a friend about where I am now as a creative human compared to where I was ten years ago and I felt so encouraged to see the progress.

I shared some poems and art at church this morning as part of the service. It made me think about how refreshing and freeing it is to be in a place where I am proud of my hard work and I can look at my work (both writing and art) and acknowledge that it is good.

I’m no longer embarrassed about putting my art into the world.

I don’t struggle with false-humility or fear in the same ways I did when I was younger. Sure, part of it is just growing up. Part of it is the side-effects of graduate school and acquiring a sense of professionalism from honing your craft. 

And the other part is definitely the results of all the challenges in my life in the past 6 years. When you go through a divorce – especially the way mine turned out – you come to a point where you can’t survive if you still care what people think.

And although the positive things I’ve learned do not diminish the pain of the circumstances, I am thankful to have some concrete affects from that experience and be in a place with more perspective. I can now write a poem, a song, or create a video and am able to freely acknowledge both weaknesses and strength in my work without being either discouraged or  foolishly inflated. I am grateful.

For me, this shift is profound and far reaching. I’m a mother and I have a day job, but the real passions of my heart are entirely of the writer/artist sort. I’m thankful to be able to write and be creative at my day job, but it’s obviously not personal expression. And that’s okay.

I am not bitter that in this season of life my income is not entirely from personal creative pursuits. I value everything I am learning at this stage of my life.

A friend and I are planning to go through the book,  The Artist’s Way, starting in April. I already use 750words.com to do the Morning Pages ritual that Julia Cameron writes about. And I definitely feel no creative block. But, I am looking forward to continuing to go deeper into my own creativity because I am certain that as a passionate, creative human, the freer I am to create and share, the freer I will be in every area of life. 

This morning before church as I was thinking about the intersection of worship and creativity, I was struck by how both are about paying attention. A writer pays attention to the senses, to details, to people. And to worship God starts with giving Him attention. And from there it is about being honest with God and honest with yourself. You cannot have intimacy without honesty. 

I’m turning 30 next month. When I reflect on the last ten years of my life, this shift from self-consciousness to freedom and fearlessness may be the most meaningful alteration. I am free to be honest with myself in ways I never have before. And I know that I have yet to see the full effects. Cheers to that.

So I write poetry. On many topics. You know, like the nature of reality and the search for beauty and truth. Also, I have a little boy. Mix those all together and you get this: http://www.literarymama.com/poetry/archives/2012/11/good-poem.html

My poem, titled “Good Poem,” was recently published in the online literary magazine, Literary Mama, which features writing by mother writers about the complexities and many faces of motherhood. Thanks to the editors at Literary Mama, who curate a great selection of beautiful work.

I have been blown away at the response to my first post on Simple Mom. I wish I had more time to reply to each and every person who commented, but if it isn’t obvious by the content of the post… I don’t have a lot of free time. In fact that’s a big response I’ve received: “How did you even find time to write this?” Well, thankfully, I had a few months notice, but I also have really amazing, supportive friends who helped me out so that I could take some time and craft something honest that I was proud of. I look forward to sharing more thoughts and reflections on Single Parenting over at Simple Mom  next month.

Music has always been powerful in my life. I know I’m not the only one. It’s a magical medium for beauty, comfort and soul-relief. These two songs were pivotal sanity-savers on those dark dark days when I really questioned if would survive intact. When sorrow clashed with the responsibilities of parenting, working, and providing and exhaustion and despair threatened to take over, I would listen to these two songs on repeat and it helped. Ruthie Foster’s version of “Walk On” and Gaby Moreno’s “Sing Me Life” offered reminders of true things like the power we have in choosing to not give up.