LeliaJan 83 minImagining 'Vague Days' Clearer through Writing*I’m experiencing a concatenation of ideas about writing, self-understanding and self-actualization. Joan Didion started it. After her...
LeliaJan 22 minEndeavoring in 2022I’ve never been big on making New Year’s Resolutions. In fact, the idea used to annoy me deeply back when I worked out at a gym and...
LeliaDec 24, 20212 minAlter Ego as Creative Muse To my delight, I fell down a Maxine Hong Kingston rabbit hole and discovered this gem from an interview in The Guardian. Describing a...
LeliaDec 21, 20213 minEdith Wharton + Principles of CreativityReading Edith Wharton, the biography by Hermione Lee, I’m becoming aware of why I never liked to read Edth Wharton’s novels, which are...
LeliaNov 3, 20213 minEdith Wharton's Gardening Life“I am intrigued by writers who garden and by gardeners who write. The pen and the trowel are not interchangeable, but seem often linked.”...
LeliaSep 22, 20212 minSoul Vows, Astrology and Bette MidlerSoul Vows is my favorite of Janet Conner’s books. I have gone through it twice and have twice crafted my own set of vows. I think that’s...
LeliaAug 17, 20213 minKeri Smith, Play and Antidotes to the WastelandI’ve been thinking about Keri Smith’s Wreck This Journal as a way to pay attention and engage with my imaginarium but it occurred to me...
LeliaAug 12, 20212 minDominique Christina, the 4th House and Toni MorrisonI loved Dominique Christina’s This is Woman’s Work. It’s not a scholarly work on archetypes, it’s her lived experience of these...
LeliaAug 11, 20213 minCreativity, Motherhood and Self-RememberingI'm inspired by the boundaries women set to protect their creativity and how often women persevere in being creative even if they only...
LeliaAug 9, 20212 minThe Empress Tarot Card, Roses and Life Force EnergyI pulled the Empress card in tarot today and thought of the Dylan Thomas line “the force that through the green fuse drives the flower...
LeliaAug 7, 20214 minMystics, Creativity and the Spiritual PathI’ve been trying to read Carol Lee Flinders’ book Enduring Grace and am having to confront my repugnance for asceticism. The first female...
LeliaAug 5, 20212 minScrapjournaling and Soul ExplorationKeri Smith has a great exercise in Living Out Loud in which you get a box and start a clipping file of anything that interests you. After...
LeliaJul 28, 20212 minFood Writers, Detectives and Soul GuidesI think of MFK Fisher as a food writer, but last night as I cozied up to Last House and a piece of pie (MFK Fisher would probably not...
LeliaFeb 17, 20213 minAll Bad Art is SincereOscar Wilde wrote "All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling." Harold Bloom paraphrased Wilde's idea as "all bad poetry is sincere."...
LeliaFeb 3, 20213 minChase Jarvis's Creative Calling and the 11th house"Most of us have a gap in our lives between where we find ourselves and the life we actually want to be living. It's time for you to look...
LeliaFeb 1, 20213 minCreativity: A Commonplace Book“... art is the bridge between what you see in your mind and what the world sees…” Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit “Everything is raw...
LeliaJan 16, 20211 min"Storytelling Is Good for Your Health:" A Commonplace*I see her walking on a path through a pathless forest or a maze, a labyrinth. As she walks, she spins and the fine threads fall behind...
LeliaAug 4, 20201 minSnibblets I love remnants and snippets, found objects and things that fall by the wayside. And I think it's really fun to put them together and see...
LeliaAug 4, 20201 minWhat 15 Minutes Can DoI've been angry at my garden this summer. Hot, humid weather, weeds, perfectionism and overwhelm have led to resentment, resistance and...
LeliaJul 24, 20201 minWobbly Mandala DayA Jill-Badonsky-inspired wobbly mandala in honor of Jill's July 26 birthday. "Trusting the process leads to peace and contentment....