Equinox Balance, What?

*Note on Time—this post was supposed to go out yesterday but life. Know what I mean? All the life, and so here we are a day late. But still, magic is real regardless of my timing, and it was the most beautiful day. So…

 

Happy Autumn Equinox, everyone!

This photo encapsulates my current life nearly completely. Let’s break it down:

1. It’s hard to see my computer but it’s there, underneath the books. Underneath the chaos. The words are always there, marching parades through my mind, and I always want to write. Sometimes chaos wins. Sometimes words win.

2. The books are from two of my most favorite people in the universe. I’m keeping them both close, at this point (the books and the people), because I need them (the books and the people).

3. Pencils, spiral notebooks, metal rods, homework packets. Everywhere, everyone’s stuff is everywhere. Our basement flooded this summer and we are still mid-repairs, so while life keeps going because it does that, all the little people and the big people and the stuff and the cat and the cat’s stuff are smooshed together.

4.  Electrolytes, medicine cups, and teacups, yes. This has been a year of much illness, here. We are learning to deal. Mostly. And when we can’t deal, for various reasons, we refer back to number two.

5. Follow Your Heart cheese. This is just pure bliss. Because not everything is bad.

6. Golden Child and frozen Kind bars. Again, pure bliss. Because she is amazing, and family is hard but good and always worth the fight. And Kind bars are their own definition.

This has been a hard year, my friends.

And yet, the seasons cycle through, and things change likewise, and there’s definitely magic in this movement. Hope, and magic, and a balance of dark and light. Moments of balance between day and night. In case you doubt, the equinoxes are proof:

e*qui*nox

noun

1. the time or date (twice each year) at which the sun crosses the celestial equator, when day and night are of approximately equal length (about September 22 and March 20)

[definition from Oxford Languages] 

Week Four--Week of Me

original link here

Hello fellow Creatives! Welcome to Week Four of our five-week Picture Book Challenge. 

Remember, as far as rules go, we’re keeping it simple:

1. Word count: 300-500 words.

2. Write only what the illustrator can’t illustrate. Allow room for their art (or yours if you’re illustrating your own stories) to bloom too.

3. Be kid friendly. Review Week 1 for a reminder of what that means.

Okay, friends, this week we’re taking the notes and the lists and the conversations we’ve had, all the digging we’ve done over the past few weeks, and we’re putting our findings to a different kind of work.

We’ve spread our arms wide to figure out why these books and stories are meaningful to us, generally. Now we narrow our investigation to the individual, specifically. To the me, and to the you, to our hearts.

Who are you? As a person, as a title, as a number in a crowd? And what experiences in your life, your culture, your surroundings have impacted who you were when you were two vs. when you were ten vs. who you are now?

How do these things affect the way you feel and interface with the narratives you’ve studied the past few weeks, and hopefully created as well?

These are big questions. Maybe it’s easier to ask the little questions, then over time answers to the big questions manifest more clearly.

Little questions, such as:

“Do you believe in soulmates and why, even if the answer is ‘no’?”

“If you have a nickname, what is it and how did you get it?”

“Which do you prefer, soy milk, cow milk, or some other kind?”

From broad wonderings to minute details, any query will do. Where do we find a lot of random yet potentially enlightening questions for ourselves? Put into your favorite search engine something like, ‘conversation starters,’ or ‘character prompts,’ etc. What are some questions you’d ask your favorite famous person, then ask yourself instead.

Here are a couple Q&A’s from Kicking Corners to get your brain rhythms flowing, if you need:

Lack Luster Liebster

1+1=11

HummyPutterings

Things I Love

Blogging Award and Such

Create an ongoing list of questions for yourself. As you consider your answers, take cue from our Week of Wonder and tap into your inner child. Remember: new, strong emotions, and empowering.

In what ways can you look at the questions from new angles? How can you incorporate smells, textures, sounds to make your answers feel more visceral? More real to you?

In what ways do the questions shake up your strong emotions? If they don’t, can you consider the questions in different ways so they do?

How does answering these questions empower you? If your answers don’t feel empowering at first, or this seems unclear, sit with the idea a little longer. Do you recognize change in yourself that’s been positive? Perhaps you haven’t changed, but rather you’ve become stronger in your resolutions.

Your findings through doing these exercises will be pure gold fodder, my friends. The stories you remember could be stories you want to retell. Maybe you see a series of patterns or events that connect in your answers to build a bigger story. Or maybe you understand now why a certain legend is so important to you and you want to create that connection for little readers.

Whatever you find, and whatever you decide, write it all down. Then write your story.

We can do this. 300 words from your heart.

 Go, write, win!