Today: Getting ready for planning day with a dress rehearsal – and why I think that matters! Plus, omg, let me share with you my new guitar!
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Today: December begins! There’s so much goodness in the studio already this month – full moon dreaming, planning the year and my birthday just ahead! I’ve also begun the Great Tidy-Up Transformation at home which has brought the question “Who Am I Now?” into the spotlight.
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On episode 40: We’ve made lots of progress since the last show, creating everything from word pages to core cozies to more afghan squares! We also say a special shout-out to Dara and Maurie who sent us such kind words plus told us what they’re creating!
(Note: If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, you’re coming up on the Full Strawberry Moon.You can access the appropriate dreamboard workshop here)
Years ago, sitting in my mom’s living room, hanging out with Mom and my sisters, cutting and gluing, dreaming, chatting, I had no idea that a life-changing practice had entered into my life. Who would imagine that a simple, creative activity could open up the door to my dreams.
And I’m not alone.
Over the years, I have learned to make dreamboards not only as manifestation tools (which they are!) but also as powerful reflecting pools. Creating a dreamboard with each full moon has helped me tune into my inner compass; it keeps me focused on true north. Join me in this Full Moon practice and connect to your self, the Universe and your dreams: big and small, tender and brave, mundane and wild.
This year I have launched something new, something rooted deeply in dreamboards, in moon cycles, in creativity and magic, rooted in my deep belief in dreams and in you: a Year of Dreams.
On every New Moon, I will launch a new workshop that will guide you in creating your dreamboard under the specific influence of the upcoming Full Moon (e.g. Full Snow Moon, Full Worm Moon, Full Pink Moon). Every monthly offering will include not only the moon-specific workshop but also the How to Make a Dreamboard the Studio Way lesson so that we are all creating in the same context and on the same sacred ground. Once you purchase your first Year of Dreams workshop, you will receive a coupon giving you access to a special price for every workshop this year.
And that is the question we will be focusing on for this workshop. From the moment you arrive, that question will start to steep in your heart. Clues will begin to bubble as you gather your materials, holding the question in your heart. As you step into the creative process, you will start to engage with your dreams. When you enter the circle with the Full Moon, you will have the opportunity to discover the messages she has for you. In that moment, you will create a dreamboard that will become a manifestation magnet but that will also serve as a reflecting pool, helping you discover the dreams in your heart – and the parts of yourself – that want to emerge.
Here’s what you get with this workshop:A Note About Timing: When you register, you’ll have immediate access to this program and everything you need to know in order to create your dreamboard for the Full Moon.
(Psst… If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, you can access the Full Strawberry Moon Workshop here.)
I’ve been enjoying conversations with my brother for years so I was just delighted when he said yes to being a guest on the podcast! I(I still think about his take on getting past fear and handling rejection) That was a while ago now and, as always, he’s been hard at work at writing and teaching and continues to have tons to share – including a new write-a-long project! Here’s what my brother, writer and historian Doc Ridler currently has to share.
What is your creative life looking like these days, Jason?
Intense. Jumping around in writing, teaching, performing, mentoring.
What are you creating now?
Tons of stuff. Comic book proposals, short stories, a top secret history project, essays, editing an issue of a magazine, doing improv every weekend.
Plus, for the writer’s out there, I’m going to be doing a weekly writing challenge starting in December. The goal is to write a single short story every week for as long as I can! I have a major history project (cosmic top secret!) which will be dominating my horizons for a good long while, and when that happens I tend to need the fun, frantic, and short controlled bursts of creativity that short stories can provide.
I know what you’re saying: A STORY A WEEK? THAT”S CRAZY BANANA PANTS TALK!
Yes, it is. But it’s also a terrific way to develop your craft and have fun. See, most writers who like the short stuff take a month or two to get them done. Maybe they have twelve stories completed by the end of a year.
BUT! What if you wrote one a week. For a year. You’d have fifty two tales done! Even if half of them sucked grizzly poop, you’d still have DOUBLE the number of stories completed as the folks traveling at regular speed. Maybe half of those need revisions, but I bet twelve or so are going to pretty wild and ready for a little touch up and then off to find a sale!
Ray Bradbury believed in this method. Jay Lake did, too. Tons of other writers who champion “fast” writing say it gets you out of your head and plunges you deeper into the wells of the id to where the good story stuff lives and breathes.
So, I’m seeing if anyone else wants to give it a whirl. Email me, if you do. I’ll probably set up a google group so we can do WRITE ALONG WITH RIDLER together, update on progress, etc. I will not have time to critique anyon’es work, but if you want to take a stab at a method that helped tons of writers get over their hangups and produce lots of cool work, get in the van! Launch date is December 1 (Monday!). You can bail at anytime! No money down! The only thing you lose is time wasted not writing cool stories!
What inspires you?
The need to tell stories, my way.
What’s a lesson you’ve learned that you’d like to share?
There’s no one best way to be an artist. To paraphrase Basho, do not imitate the great masters, but seek what they sought your own way.
Where can people find out more?
I’m crazy active on Facebook
Jason S. Ridler is a writer and historian. He is the author of A TRIUMPH FOR SAKURA, BLOOD AND SAWDUST, the Spar Battersea thrillers (DEATH MATCH, CON JOB and DICE ROLL), the short story collection KNOCKOUTS, and has published over sixty stories in such magazines and anthologies as The Big Click, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Out of the Gutter, and more. His popular non-fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, Dark Scribe, and the Internet Review of Science Fiction. A former punk rock musician and cemetery groundskeeper, Mr. Ridler holds a Ph.D. in War Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada.
Kari loves three things: creativity, collaboration and human beings. She believes each person is rich with gifts, talents, passions, and amazing color. She never feels more alive than when she is holding a space for people’s stories to emerge. By day, she creates video content and editorial strategies for a national nonprofit organization located just outside of Chicago, IL, and coordinates a nationwide network of writers, producers, videographers and animators. After hours, she can often be found facilitating creative process classes at the Open Studio Project in Evanston, IL. She is currently incubating some big ideas for how the creative process can bring communities together… and feeling very warm, toasty and nurtured in her creative cocoon.
Website: CreateofSoul.com
Today: I’m immersed in several projects, from dreamboards to planning day, and I”m thinking about the place of projects and process in the studio.
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