Dream Power – A way to boost creativity

I’m at a large conference, trying to find a seat before the final presentation starts, when I see a display table featuring laptop computers for sale at a bargain price. I’m tempted, wonder whether to consult my husband first, but decide to go ahead and buy one now. The computers come in pretty black and blue cases. I open one, but what’s inside isn’t a computer – rather, it’s a nesting set of bright children’s toys in primary colors – dollhouses, corrals, cars and trucks, lots of other stuff. I’m fascinated, but this isn’t what I expected, and I don’t know what to do. . .

This dream from last night almost escaped me, but it came flooding back when I saw my husband open his laptop while I was finishing breakfast. It felt significant, so I immediately wrote it down in my new blogging journal. I don’t often remember or write down my dreams these days, but there was a time back in the day when I was still practicing art therapy and deeply involved in dreamwork. I attended various training sessions and even gave workshops on dream interpretation.

Ann Faraday’s method of dreamwork was my favorite, and I used it for many years. I just Googled her to see if I could provide a link for you, but I came up short. Her books, Dream Power and The Dream Game, both published in the 1970′s, are still available on Amazon, but she has only a short entry on Wikipedia, which doesn’t even indicate if she’s still alive – at any rate, she doesn’t have a website.

In this blog, I’ll try to reconstruct what I remember of her method, using my own dream as an example. To avoid boring those who aren’t into dreamwork, I’ll jumpstart it on the next page. Two main points before I do so: first, there are no cut-and-dried meanings; the same image can mean very different things to different people. And second, exploring your dreams can have all sorts of benefits in both your creative work and your day-to-day life. 

James Lee Burke – perseverance furthers

In my mailbox this morning I found the thick glossy program from the Mystery Writers of America ‘s Edgar Awards Dinner. I didn’t attend; it’s too pricy for me. But I did splurge enough to attend the symposium* the day before. I was especially inspired by Julie Smith’s interview with this year’s two Grand Masters, James Lee Burke and Sue Grafton.

The program’s  article about Burke by his daughter Alafair Burke brought back memories of his talk. He published three novels as a young man, but his fourth, The Lost Get Back Boogie, was rejected over 100 times in the next nine years. Throughout that time, he never stopped writing. She quotes from an article he wrote for the New York Times:

“A real writer is driven both by obsession and a secret vanity, namely that he has a perfect vision of the truth, in the same way that a camera lens can close perfectly on a piece of the external world. If the writer does not convey that vision to someone else, his talent turns to a self-consuming bitterness.”

Since he’s published 27 novels and is still going strong, he obviously managed to write his way through that tough period. Note his emphasis on reaching “someone else” through writing. How many readers do we need in order to steer clear of that “self-consuming bitterness”? And how long are we willing to toil away in solitude without them? For me, it’s not all that many and not all that long. That’s why I chose the POD option – for the time being, anyway. Endlessly delayed gratification is not for me.

*The MWA’s Edgar Week Symposium is available on CD’s and/or DVDs. You can order individual sessions, but a better deal is to order a complete set of three MP3 CDs for $35 or six DVDs for $50. I’m not getting them because I heard them all live and in person, but it would be a worthwhile purchase if you have a local writers’ group to share it with, or even just as a treat for yourself and your friends. Details are on the Mystery Writers of America website.

Art work in progress – my online persona

Last night I got a message on Facebook: “Are you the Julie Lomoe with an MFA from Columbia? If so, I own one of your paintings, and I adore it.”

I didn’t recognize her name, but that doesn’t mean I never met her. I was active in the SoHo art scene in the late Sixties and early Seventies, and much of that time passed in a tumultuous blur. I wrote her back, of course, adding a “friend” request and asking her to tell me who she is and which painting she owns.

I’m increasingly amazed at the connections the internet stirs up. Sometimes they’re weird or even fictional. A couple of years ago, when Googling myself, I came across a post by someone in England describing “a painting by Julie Lomoe”. As I recall, the title was something like “Soldier in Winter.” The only problem was that I’d never done a painting even remotely like that, and I have no idea how or where the guy came up with my name. But I guess that’s the way legends are created.

Now I’m creating a new online persona, and I’m finding the process is more complex and multilayered than any static work of art I’ve ever created with paint on canvas or words on paper. In my Nia* class at the YMCA** today, and later on the weight machines, I was inundated by thoughts of blogging – possible topics, new categories and pages, people to contact or check out online. The ideas swirling through my head were so engrossing, I was practically oblivious to the influx of half a dozen unfamiliar but hunky young men in the weight room (the college semester’s obviously over!)

Now what was I saying? Oh yes, about blogging. After the Y, I dropped by Staples to pick up a spiffy new bound journal, a small one that’ll fit easily in my handbag so I can jot down all those ephemeral ideas before they evaporate. And I’ve vowed to stop beating myself up about “not writing” – I’m writing every day online, and I’ll be back into visual art as well once I have time to delve more deeply into the intricacies of web design.

For those other writers out there who may be guilt-tripping about the time they’re spending online – my unsolicited advice is to get over it. This strange new world is every bit as creative as writing a novel.

*If you want a marvellous workout that’s spiritually and musically engrossing, check out the Nia website. There may be a class near you. It’s the only exercise form I’ve ever been able to stick with for more than a couple of weeks.

**Speaking of the YMCA, for those of you in the Albany area, the Village People will be playing an Alive at Five concert at the park beside the Hudson River on July 2nd. All together now, hands in the air – Y M C A!

What do librarians really want?

 How do librarians decide which books to buy? How much can authors influence their decisions? My local Sisters in Crime chapter learned the answers to these questions and more at yesterday’s meeting with Eileen Williams, reference and outreach librarian for the Guilderland Public Library.

I confess I’ve tended to take libraries for granted, and what goes on behind the scenes has remained uncharted territory for me, but I came away much better informed. Eileen spoke primarily of her own library and the others in the Upper Hudson Library System, but her comments probably apply to others. In deciding what books to buy, they rely primarily on four major sources: Kirkus, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly and Book List. Books by bestselling authors like Danielle Steele are ordered automatically and in multiple copies through a service called Automatically Yours. Newspaper reviews are important too, especially those in our local papers – which unfortunately review pathetically few books these days.

So what’s a little-known local author to do? Fortunately, there’s hope. She and her colleagues are receptive to personal phone calls and drop-in visits. She’s less fond of e-mails, and frequently deletes them unread. The library’s definitely interested in local authors, but they’re more apt to purchase books for which they receive a lot of reader requests. So get your friends to come in, talk up your work and fill out purchase requests. They’ll order from Amazon. It’s okay to donate your own books, but with the understanding that they may be donated to book sales if they don’t meet the library’s standards.

I asked if she’s noticed a decline in readership due to online technology and other distractions. On the contrary, she says – circulation is definitely up. She attributes this in part to the economy (fewer buyers, more borrowers) and to the growing number of retirees, who have more time to read.

This particular library offers a lot of community programming, including several book clubs, one of them targeted to mystery readers. She was intrigued by our group, which she hadn’t known about before, and we’ll probably be on their calendar for a program in the near future.

I’d welcome your comments. Any experiences or advice to share about building good collegial relationships with your local libraries?

Tough choice – blogging or my live in-person writers’ group?

I’m due in an hour at my live in-person writers’ group, the Sisters in Crime of Upstate New York (aka the Mavens of Mayhem). Hey, Alexis Grant and K.A. Laity, it occurs to me that you can make this meeting too! We meet at the Orchard Tavern, 68 North Manning Blvd., in Albany, NY. There’s good pub food and drink, and a librarian will be talking about the book clubs she organizes and other library-related lore. All welcome – you needn’t be a member! As I’ve said before, what are the odds that three of us out of 22 in the world live within an easy drive of each other. We’re a nexus of power, gals!

As I tell myself to get off this computer, get my butt out of the chair and get dressed, I realize that the sharing that goes on in these blogs is a lot deeper and more useful than what I can expect at the meeting. On the other hand, I enjoy the company and the refreshments. I’m going to propose setting up a blog site for the group – there’s no link to them here, because we don’t yet have an online presence. I’ve promised to try getting a website up and running, but I think this kind of site would actually be more useful. Any thoughts on this, folks?

Okay, I’m off to Twitter and Facebook to announce the meeting once more. Don’t forget to watch the Preakness, everyone! I’m torn – I loved Mine That Bird in the Derby, but how can I not root for the filly, Rachel Alexandra? You go, girl!

Panic in play tower and clutter overwhelm

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by panic and go into total meltdown? It happened to my granddaughter Jasper yesterday, and to me this morning. Fortunately, we both recovered in short order. I guess we have what psychologists these days are fond of calling resilience or hardiness. Mine is hard won over many decades, and often tenuous. I hope hers is more intrinsic.

At least one day a week, I drive down to Woodstock to care for my granddaughters. I usually take Jasper, a cheerful and rambunctious three -year-old, to McDonalds, where she loves playing in the enormous play tower with other kids. Yesterday, in pursuit of an older boy, she climbed up to the very top, where she’d never been before.

All at once I heard shrill screams – “Grandma, Grandma!” At first I ignored them – the majority of the adults there are grandmas – but then I realized it was Jasper. I couldn’t see her, and my first fear was that she was stuck in the purple slide tunnel - an opaque cylindrical shoot. Disastrous, if true, because I was afraid of getting stuck if I had to crawl up. But finally I spied her standing in the window of the highest plastic bubble, shrieking and sobbing uncontrollably. I waved and began calling out in what I hoped was a reassuring voice, trying to talk her down, concealing my panic at the prospect of  climbing the tower myself.

At last she managed to scramble down and make it back to the table and her unfinished Happy Meal. Regaining her composure, she said, “I want to go right now.” I tried coaxing her into staying – the old “get right back on the horse after it throws you” approach – but she was adamant. Once we were in the car, though, she presented me with an alternative: she wanted to go to Small World, an enormous outdoor playground with wooden fortresses, slides, and towers.

“But it’s raining,” Grandma Julie said. “You’ll get soaked.”

“I don’t care! I wanna go to Small World!”

“There won’t be any other kids to play with.”

“That’s okay. I wanna play by myself.”

Actually it was only drizzling slightly, so I relented, realizing she needed to prove something to herself. We spent a pleasant half hour in the warm spring mist, Jasper running and climbing the tallest towers, and me hunkered down in one of the fortresses, studying WordPress for Dummies.

Now, what about my own meltdown? I’ll give you the option to stop here or read more.

Preview: Panic in the McDonald’s Play Tower

Too tired to blog tonight after a long day of grandmothering in Woodstock. What on earth will tomorrow’s blog be about? The clue lies in the previous sentence.

Readers in the Blog-A-Day challenge will understand – I haven’t missed a day since May lst, and I’m not about to fall by the wayside now. No need to waste your precious time commenting tonight, but I hope you’ll check back tomorrow.

Learning curve vs. linear left-brain tradition

I’ve been mulling over my live WordPress lesson with Alexis Grant at Panera yesterday. Alexis is five years younger than my daughter, and she whizzed effortlessly around her laptop, demonstrating all kinds of features I’d been clueless about and even teaching me some html language. I asked her if she’d ever formally studied this stuff, and she hasn’t – she’s entirely self-taught. 

Like me, most of my writer friends are of what I’d charitably call the “eligible for AARP” generation. Unlike me, the majority are technophobic when it comes to computers and social networking. Some have their own websites (designed by others), and some subscribe to Yahoo groups for writers, like Murder Must Advertise. But the idea of blogging still intimidates them.  And Facebook or Twitter? Forget it!

Those of us over 50 learned how to learn in a totally different modality – linear, left-brain and logical. As a traditional college student, I excelled: I attended all the lectures, took diligent notes, did all the assigned reading, underlining the key points, and emerged from the academic sausage machine Magna cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. 

But that was a completely different style of learning. Navigating my way around a program like WordPress requires a much more intuitive, experimental approach, and the ability to endure trial, error and ambiguity, and to search for solutions that are hidden in layers beneath layers. Come to think of it, it’s a lot more like the creative process of fiction writing or painting, arts I came to after I was finished with academia. Maybe I’ll even come to enjoy it and transcend my technophobia.

Hmm, I see lots of questions emerging for future blogs. How does age impact on our ability to learn whole new ways of thinking? Does the way we were taught in the past handicap our ability to learn new technology? I’d love to see others weigh in on this.

One simpler thing Alexis inspired me to do: blog in the morning rather than late at night. Golly gee, the thoughts actually flow more easily!

Amazing synchronicity amd live WordPress lesson

What are the odds that out of 22 participants in Blog Book Tour’s Blog-A-Day challenge, three of us live in the Capital Region in upstate New York? And that one of those uses WordPress and offered me a live tutorial? (Most people in the BAD challenge are using BlogSpot.)

Today I met Alexis Grant at Panera for lunch and a lesson in WordPress. Among other things, she taught me the right way to insert links and changed the widgets on my page in ways I hadn’t thought possible. She’s a wonderful teacher. Though it will take awhile to assimilate everything, I experienced none of my usual techno-anxiety – perhaps because she did all the work on her laptop, while I watched, asked questions and took notes. I’ll blog more about the experience tomorrow – for now, once again, it’s my cats’ bedtime, and I need to vacate my office.

Blogging as memoir

Tonight I attended the first in a series of group readings, part of  “The Memoir Project” at The Arts Center of the Capital Region in Troy, NY. Memoirs are tremendously “in” right now, and this series features classes and workshops as well as readings. By and large, the evening was engrossing, but a large part of the appeal lay in seeing and hearing the writers live. I doubt I’d ever seek out their work in book form, and in fact I rarely read memoirs at all.

The evening got me thinking – how much do we really care to know about the details of others’ lives? It’s a question pertinent to blogging as well. Why on earth should anyone want to read about the minutiae of someone else’s existence? To make it worth the reader’s time and effort, we need to strike a common chord that transcends self-centered blather. Therein lies the challenge of daily blogging.

It’s even more challenging to blog at 11 p.m. when I’m sleepy and my two cats want their bedtime snack. Unfortunately my office also serves as their bedroom (and litter box room). Sometimes we share the space equitably, but when they’re restless or hungry they writhe around on my desk, claws extended, soliciting tummy rubs. Right now they’re telling me it’s time to sign off.

I view blogging as a form of communal memoir grounded in the here and now. Any thoughts on this?