There is no scheduling task as hard as protecting your writing time.

This is a universal truth. You go to bed on Sunday night thinking, I’m going to have so much time to write this week! But when Monday morning arrives you realize—between the dentist appointments; and the days school gets out early; and the classroom volunteering; and the taking of the ridiculously chi-chi dog to the groomers—there’s one 2 hour block available for actually working. See it? You have to kind of squint a little and look…right…there! It’s that tiny gap between babysitting the neighbor’s kids and making dinner for 12. Two tiny hours. About six pages worth, if you’ve got your groove on. Which you probably won’t, because you haven’t picked up the piece you’re working on for a week or two and it will take half that time just to get your mind back in the game.

I moaned about this to my writers group on Monday and everyone agreed. Protecting your writing time is a bitch.

I know some people who write in the wee hours of the morning, and others who stay up half the night. I know some who bow out of family stuff on the weekends to get some work done, and others who have to resort to sitting the kids in front of the boob tube in order to meet their publishing deadlines. No matter how you slice it, it’s hard. There are sacrifices. And it’s very easy to fall into a cycle of constantly worrying whether you are using your time wisely and justly. It’s a big energy-suck, which ironically, makes it all the harder to do your artistic thang.

So here’s what I think, let share our ideas with each other. What does your working life look like as an artist. How do you find, make, or protect your artistic time? I’ll give you my method, and you let me in on yours. I am confidnet that between our creative bass ass selves we can make this art thing happen!

Magpie Girl’s Tips to protecting your Art time

1) Make a list of the non-negotiables. This helps you worry less that your aren’t doing your fair-share in life. Go ahead, write them down. Now, cross of about a third of them because you probably just think they are non-negotiables. Go on. Be bitchy and way less helpful that you usually are. Mine include getting enough sleep; exercising every day; preparing for monkfish abbey once a week; cuddling with the kids in the morning; hanging out with our household after dinner (most nights); grocery shopping; cooking 2-3 real meals a week, and doing the household bookkeeping. That’s it. Eight things that are absolutely my responsibility.

2) Put those non-negotiables on a schedule and see what time you have left. Try not to cry. It will be enough. At least, it will be enough for now. Small beginnings are good.

3) Protect that time like a banshee. This my friends, is the hard part. After I slot in the must-do’s I end up with 9hrs a week of workable time. 9hrs. It’s not even a .25 equivalent! If I am realistically going to get anything done as an artist, I have to honor that time, no matter what. For me this means only booking appointments on my one “family task” day a week; saying no to school volunteering except for one field trip per kid per year; only emailing 15 minutes each evening; avoiding the internet; and getting my family to help with the household tasks.

4) Enlist and Reinforce. Show your new schedule to your family, post it next to your calendar, tape it into the front of your notebooks, and write it out once a day for two weeks— whatever it takes to solidify your boundaries. Then keep going back to it until protecting those nine hours (or whatever) becomes a habit—as customary to you as going to church on Sunday, or watching Grey’s Anatomy on Thursdays, or whatever. Keep practicing until it is part of your rhythm.

That’s what works – most of the time—for me. How about you? What tips do you have for protecting your artist life?

Make a new plan Stan…

It all starts with a plan. Pick one goal. Outline the steps it will take to get there, and get moving!

11) Get motivated by cold hard facts. If stats are your thing, spend an hour finding your carbon footprint (how much carbon-based fuel you use.) It’s intriguing and inspiring.

12) Then pick just one thing to do from this list of ways to offset your carbon footprint.

13) Reprogram your heater now to run 1-2 degrees lower whenever it kicks in. Ditto with the air conditioner, keep it 1-2 degrees warmer this Summer.

14) Make a bike your second car. The new Townies are super hip and designed for mild city riding, and if you live in a hill-heavy city like mine, an electric assist bike like this beauty can help you get around for less than a second (or first!) car.

15) Share. Only need a car (or a second car) occasionally? Join a club like Flexcar. You’ll be tempted to drive less and you’ll save money to boot. Some even offer small trucks which will help with that strip to by organic produce for your “slip out the back, Jack” projects.

16) Fix your flight consumption. Flying for travel or business? Offset your flight’s carbon emissions by donating to a CO2 reduction program like this one. For instance, $13.60 will offset a short-haul flight by funding reforestation in the Great River Valley in Kenya. How cool is that?

17) Reach for the Sun. Live in a sunny clime? Time to think about solar panel, especially if you have a pool. Start here and see what you can figure out.

18) Don’t get into hot water. Turn down your water heater 3 degrees and reduce your carbon load in seconds. You can also check your local utility to see if they offer cost incentives to household who switch out old waterheater for more energy effecient models.

19) Unplug appliances when not in use. Electric appliances draw a small amount of energy even when they are not on. Unplug your blender, toaster, and coffee pot. Get really ambitious and unplug the microwave, TV, and computer printer as well.

20) Don’t overcharge. Once your computer or cell phone battery is full, you can unplug it and save energy.

“Just slip out the back, Jack..”
Backyard ideas for going green(er)!

1) Use organic plant food and fertilizer in your backyard. I like these guys.

2) Grow steppable ground cover instead of grass, which demands lots of water, fertilizer, and weed work. I like “pygmae” which has yellow flowers. I put in a half dozen each year to gradually (and economically) replace some of our turf. My local garden store carries this line , but why not go all out and find an organically grown alternative? (Tell me if you find one!) Read the rest of this entry »

Reposted from here, because I think it still matters.

Well, here I am back at work and ready to finish up the collage journal I’ve been working on since last Summer. Alas, the scanner refuses to play nice with the computer and I can’t get the last two pages ready for print! Stymied from bringing even just one project to completion, I am a frozen by the possibilities of tinkering with dozens of unfinished or yet-to-be-started projects. It’s been two weeks without creating anything more solid than Christmas cookie dough. I’m not stuck exactly, just sort of stiff in the artistic joints. “So,” I say to myself, “Let’s warm up with a nice little blog.”

Let’s talk a bit about the creative process shall we? It’s a long and bumpy one, by most accounts. Paintings do not spring forth from your brush fully executed, nor do novel pour out of your fingers without numerous backstrokes long periods of chewing on the ends of your hair. Read the rest of this entry »

to do when you’ve been sick a long time and are getting depressed.

1) Take a shower and wash your hair. If it’s long, put it in a ponytail, if it’s short slick it back under a bandana. Put on a clean sweatshirt (not the one you’ve been sleeping in for six days) and call the look “sporty.”

2) While you’re at it brush, floss, moisturize. You’ll feel better.

3) Change your sheets, crack the window, and take all the glasses you’ve accumulated on the beside table to the kitchen. (You don’t have to wash them, just get ‘em to the kitchen.)

4) Consume at least one thing that is not chemical and in the shape of the pill — a tall glass of water, a piece of fruit, a green salad. (It’s okay to have the salad delivered from the pizza guy.)

5) Repeat: “This too shall pass.” (Even if it is a migraine that hasn’t gone away since last Saturday.)

6) Get back in the bed with the very clean sheets. Be kind to yourself if you can.

Here we are again talking about how to break the stereotypical rotten-body-image thing that most American females are restricted by, and find a more shalom-like way to acknowledge, relate to, and treat our bodies.

None of us seem sure of how to get there, but that’s okay, I’m pretty good at stumbling around in the dark until we can light one candle.

Here’s my question for today, what are the absolute basic necessities for you as your body. I’m not talking about what you should be doing according to the latest Hollywood trainer or even according to your wholesome good-spirited naturopath. I’m talking about what you intuitively know to be bedrock-necessary for your body given who you are and how you are at this stage in your life.

Don’t know the answer? Do what Jen always tells me to do: get very quiet and be very brave and spend some time with your journal. Or if you are a kinetic learner, try taking a walk without your headphones. It will come to you. Your body – you – knows what you need.

I find I need to do this a couple of times a year, usually when I’ve let one of my bedrock needs fall out of my daily rhythm. Some of the things on my list remain the same, while others change with health, season, and age. I find that there are usually more than three and less than ten. If I get more than ten, I’ve drifted out of “bedrock” and into “preference” or “shoulds.” Here are mine for the present:

What I (as my Body) Need Right Now

Silence while working and driving.

Sleep from 10pm-7am.

Gentle exercise everyday.

To drink water after 3pm.

To honor my fullness and my hunger.

To knit and write every day – and consequently to ice my wrist every night.

What are yours?

I have not written for many, many days because at least one person in my household has been sick, or in pain, or both, everyday for the past three weeks. Most the time this was me, because my botox wears off two weeks before the FDA will let me have another round and because I got the flu. (Really, there’s no one wimpier in this house than me.) Cate got the flu too, and managed to be cute and flushed for 48 hours before completely recovering. Eden got it twice and on the second round she spent a full four days lying on the couch. And did I mention that it’s mid-winter break, a random week off from school that our district uses to torture working mothers. Arghhhhhh!

Look, February is a hard month, especially in the Northwest, where the sun tends to hide until the end of March. It’s grey and it’s wet and the wind is blowing and you’re definitely sick of the sweater you got for Christmas and you start to think in vain of your every-so-easy flip flops and the sweet little swishy skirt you bought last August on close-out at Old Navy.

When I moved to Washington from California my college orientation leader told us “never change your haircut, your major, or your boyfriend in February.” It’s good advice.

So what can you do during the end of winter dull drums? Here’s my favorite list:

1) Get thee to a tanning booth. No one will judge you if you get a little sun kissed and feel warm for 15 minutes a week.

2) Priceline a hotel. I don’t know about where you live, but in Seattle $80 will get you a five-star hotel with a hot tub, an indoor pool, HBO, a very fluffy bed, and the Sunday paper.

3) Use a lip balm that smells like pina coloadas. I like this one in Coconut Cream“> from Alba.

4) Ditch your regular body lotion for sunscreen. MMMMmmmm smells like Summer!

5) Turn on all the lights in the house whenever you are home. While you’re at it start swapping regular incandescent for full-spectrum light bulbs.

6) Reserve a campsite, yurt or cabin on-line with your state park. Look forward to June! We’re going here in August.

7) And my very favorite….run the tub with lots of Bliss Bubbles“>, put the laptop on the toilet seat, and watch your favorite TV show online. Most of the major stations have streaming video of their top shows. My favorite? Bones at Fox on Demand.

Happy surviving!

Everyone who comes to my house in the winter is greeted with this.

I mean that literally. It’s hanging off the front door knob.

If you do not use it, you are either foolish, or deluded or quite possibly both. Anyone who lives with children who are in grade school — or preschool, or in playgroup, or who ever darken the door of a McDonald’s ballpit – all of these people know that the indoor play season is one ripe with germies and creepy crawlies of all kind. Hand sanitizer Must. Be. Used.

[NB: My husband, Paul, also recommends one of these. He’s become an evangelist for these things. Oh, and for people the web over who are typing comments right now about the virtues of good ole’ soap and water, I get it, okay? But sanitizer beats the line to the ladies room...]

If anyone knows of a hand sanitizer that is nice smelling, doesn’t turn your skin into ash, and is maybe even affordable, please let me know. The best recommendation will receive a complimentary Magpie-Girl magnet! Which isn’t actually strong enough to affix a crayon drawing to the fridge, but is kinda cute because it has my little birdie on it! (Guess who discovered printable magnet paper! Oh, the cleverness of me.)

I got a little nod from Minti today for an article I wrote called Mantras for New Moms. They sent it out in thier monthly update as an example of how to write a good advice article. Ahhhhh…thanks Minti!

BTW, I’m over here at Minti, Jen Lemen’s a advice master over there and Jen Payne pops in now and again as does Cate’s godmother, Susan. Check it out and join the parenting fray.

In other good-on-you news, I’ve nearly sold out Hiver, with only six copies left. If you’d still like to order one click here.

I’m hoping to post tomorrow about the process of writing an actual book. If you don’t see a post up about it in a day or to, send me emails and give me a VAK (virtual ass kicking.)

We’ve had a half dozen days off of school this winter — and that’s in addition to the Christmas holidays. Schools been canceled due to snow, ice, and wind. All the sky has to do is sprinkle a mere 1/4inch of snow on the front lawn and viola, schools out! It’s been so ridiculous that on the last night of Christmas break I had this exchange with a neighbor:

Me: “See you at school tomorrow!”
Bill: “Yeah, barring snow, or ice, or wind, or….I don’t know…a plague of locust.”

Well here we are, at sea level for crying out loud, experiencing our second ‘snow day’ in a row. I’m out of money for children’s museums and animated movies, and even the new Christmas loot has lost its play appeal.

So today I instituted a MacGuiver style home schooling regime. If you’re stuck at home with bored kids, maybe this will work for you. Here’s my example of a lesson plan – I let the kids pick one or two things from each category. (Right now my kids are doing SuDoku for “Math.”) May it help stave off the cabin fever for you too!

Snow Day School

Morning Warm Up
Read one story, or have one story told to you
Go over your high/lows from yesterday
centering prayer/meditation

Writing Practice
Draw a picture and write about what you did over the weekend (or last three snow days…)
Write thank you notes for your Christmas presents.
Email a friend or a grandparent.

Math
Time yourself to see how many sums you can do in a minute.
Do a page or two out of your Math workbooks (we brought some at Barnes and Nobel.)
Do some SuDoku
(For Younger Kids: The Kids’ Book of Sudoku For older kids: Junior Su Doku)
Count the money in your piggy bank. Roll coins.
Figure out if you have enough money to buy the thing you’ve been saving for and buy it online with a parent. (Eden is saving for a grown-up easle, Cate wants a nightgown for her doll Kit.)

Reading
Mom reads a chapter of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Read silently by yourself for 30 minutes by the fire. (Light a presto log or candles)
Listen to a story tape while you follow along in a book.
Read one story to a parent.

Art
Watercolor a winter scene.
Use the pottery wheel/bead kit/sewing kit you got for Christmas.
Do a Lite Brite Flatscreen picture.
Draw a picture for your grandparents.
Make a collage out of old magazines.

Science
Look up how yeast works on line.
Measure to make a double batch of zweibeck. (It’s math too!)
Look up how alum works.
Measure and make a batch of homemade playdough. (Art, Math and Science!)

History/Social Studies
Read The Long Winter in the Little House on the Prairie Series
Read this book Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Read this book The Story Of Ruby Bridges.
Find oud what winter was like in the Winter Days in the Big Woods or when there were Sugar Snow

P.E./Recess
Play twister.
Make a snow man.
Take the dog on a brisk walk around the block.
Do the Kid’s Yoga video.

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Alum Play Dough

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
2 T alum
1 cup water
2 T oil
liquid food coloring

Pour dry ingredients into large pan. Stir together to mix. Stir oil and food coloring into the water. Pour liquid into the dry ingredients while mixing, squeezing and kneading the dough. If too sticky, add more flour. Keeps best in the fridge.