About to Scapbook

One of the things I got for Christmas was a small scrapbook (8"x8").  I've tried scrapbooking in the past but never did more than a few pages.  This book, however, because it's smaller that the average size, seems less intimidating somehow.

The only problem I've had is that there aren't that many pages and yet the only way to buy the backing pages of the right size is to buy a giant pack of them (needless to say this is quite expensive). But then a few days ago, guess what I found in poundland?

Each pack contains 5 pages that are the right size and, as you can see, a small cutting of each page as well.  Now I have more than enough pages and feel ready to get started.  I'll be posting the pages as I create them and if anyone has any ideas they want to share, don't hesitate.  I'm planning on using it as a showcase for things I love and enjoy rather than specifically pictures of events as I feel that's where I fell down last time.  I'm really excited and can barely wait to get started but I really have to do some writing first.

Preparation

Today I started a new cross-stitching project (you know the one I mean Kess).  Before I started I spent quite a lot of time organising the threads so that they were the right length, sorted by colour and threaded onto an index card and labelled.  I'm sure I could do the sewing without spending this time but in the long run I would waste time trying to work out what colour to do next and cutting each piece to the required length each time.

And I suddenly realised that this is exactly the same as writing.  Okay, not exactly the same but run with me here.  Many times I've launched into a new writing project with no organisation, desperate to get the words down.  Now, while it's good to be writing, I can tell you that out of the stories I've finished, these weren't among them.  Because when I just launch in I have no idea who I'm writing about or what I'm writing about or anything at all other than some random scene in my head (and sometimes not even that).  So after a while I peter out and lose momentum.  Of course this could be the point where I start working out what I'm writing, but then I would probably have to go back over what I've already written and change it to fit - wasting time.

The stories that have worked for me are the ones that I've planned for.  I don't necessarily mean step-by-step planning (though if you work that way, good for you) but just getting the basics down.  Who am I writing about?  What do they want?  Are there any themes I particularly want to address?  This last one, I am aware, can be a bit unnerving to ask, particularly if you haven't written much in the past.  But I believe it should be asked first, just so long as you are happy to deviate from it - then at the end you can see what you wanted to write about and what you actually wrote about.  This planning doesn't have to be intensive but it can make a great deal of difference when you get stuck in the middle somewhere.

Just like cross-stitch, writing needs a little prep work too if we want to save time and our sanity.

A Drop In The Ocean

I used to believe I could change the world.  I wanted to make it a better place and that dream took me to South Africa.  I couldn't have imagined the amount of suffering and poverty that I was to behold. 

Seeing that amount of pain made me believe there was no way I could help.  I am just one person - how could I possibly have imagined that I could make a difference?  Then someone told me something that is only now beginning to sink in.  You may only be one person but imagine if every drop of water in the ocean decided it wasn't important and so disappeared - there would be no ocean.  It is the same with us.  One person may not be able to change the world by themselves.  But if everyone decided not to bother because they didn't feel they could change anything - nothing would get done.  But if everyone does a little something, big changes can happen.

So I want to remind you that you are important.  Your contribution to the world is necessary.  If we work together, exploiting our strengths, we can change the world (and hopefully for the better).

What are your strengths?  Any stories of changes you want to share?  Please feel free to use this space to comment and discuss anything and everything.

One At A Time

As you know, I don't really make New Year's resolutions - and technically this isn't a New Year's resolution as I decided to do it today.

I have decided I am going to try and do things one at a time.  I am terrible for starting things (particularly stories and crafts) and never finishing them because I get waylaid starting something else.  Today I was telling my boyfriend to slow down to "do one thing at a time rather than try and do lots of things and do nothing" and realised that actually that's good advice.  So from now on I'm going to try and focus on one project (at least of the same medium) and hopefully have more to show for it rather than many half finished projects.

Does anyone else have this same problem?  Any tips on how to keep my focus as I'd really like to hear them?

A Crafty Year Ahead

In the past few months I have noticed that I have become more and more interested in crafts.  I've always been into card-making and cross-stitching on and off.  But this year I feel that I really want to experiment with a few other craft endeavours.

This is mainly because I'm feeling in a more creative place than I've ever felt before.  I realise that the writing I do is creative (it's in the name creative writing!) but I'm thinking more visually creative.  I've always had a problem with being able to visualise anything I'm not writing, but lately it's like a switch has been flicked in my head and I can see things in a different light.

I received a small scrapbook for Christmas so that's where I'm going to start.  I've tried scrapbooking in the past but it never took.  This time I'm going to go about it in an entirely different way - showing my hobbies and joys rather than specific memories.  I plan to indulge in creative work I can find online and perhaps even visit a museum or two.  But in general I just plan to not limit myself.  I've always found breaking limits really hard so I'm going to push past them and unlease my visual creativity.

I'm not telling you all this because I expect you to care or because I want you to feel jealous (or smug), but because I expect that at least a little of what I discover will filter into this space.  I am not going to censor myself on what I can show or write here any longer.  I am going to discover who I am and I truly believe that this blog will be an important part of that discovery.  I hope you follow me on my journey and perhaps you will discover something along the way as well.

Happy New Year Everyone!

New Year

Now is the time I should be writing a blog post about the past year and my hopes for the year to come.  But the truth is I don't know what to write.  So much has happened in the last 364 days but nothing of note springs to mind.  I do know I've changed.  I cannot explain the change within me, and I know that the change is only really beginning to happen.

I feel more at ease with myself than I ever have.  Yet I have also reached a point where I don't know who I am anymore.

So all I can say is I hope that in the next year I continue to allow myself to grow into the person I am supposed to be.  I don't know who that will be but I'm looking forward to finding out. But at the same time I hope to stay in the present moment, and feel who I am right now, at all times.

I look forward to seeing you all next year and we shall see where this journey called life will take me next.

My Christmas Tree

 

Every year I decorate this little tree (I did it rather late this year as I keep it at my parent's and I only came back here a few days ago).  I bought it quite a few years ago.  I looked for a tree I liked, something small for my bedroom, but didn't find anything.  Just as I had given up hope I found this one in the window of a charity shop - I went in a bought it right then and there.  Since then I have decorated it every year with the few ornaments I have. 

Each ornament tells a story and is completely individual - my favourites are the little wooden soldier that I bought in Germany at a Christmas Market and the decorated walnut I bought at a craft market one year.  My original plan was to buy an ornament each year but I just haven't found anything I really love in the past few years.  However I hope to keep decorating this little tree each year and remember with love how I acquired each ornament.  The only thing I really need for it is a little topper - maybe I'll find one next year.

What tradition do you keep each year to keep Christmas alive in your heart?