Dear Ones,

I have held a seed of a story a secret in my heart for some two years now. I created a few heART-ful images two years ago, that I made into cards and necklaces. Today I colorized a drawing that had remained a black outlined coloring page for all this time.

For the past 10 days I carried this teeny little book I am attempting to fill with words, beauty, love, humor and whimsy– aspiring to become a bigger book– a gift for my 7-year-old Sonshine. It’s a little story about a special little bird.

Earlier this year I told a group of 1st graders about the story’s main character–Joybird. I told them how our imaginations can make so many things, including books. The children are now 2nd graders, and they continue to remind and ask me if Joybird ready for them yet? (I feel more pressure and anxiety about this than if I was on deadline for a publisher!) Gulp. What did I do?!

Joybird needs to fly, and I’ve run out energy to believe in my excuses.

And now double gulp, I am sharing my position with YOU right now, in an effort to support and encourage YOU and that special secret something in YOU that also needs to fly. What is it? Do tell!

I read a lot of books about creativity. Most recently I re-read Lewis Hyde’s classic The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World.  I came across this gem, that I want to share with you, in case it can inspire YOU to begin making, writing, illustrating or painting that special something YOU want to love into existence, something that perhaps YOU have carried for a long while.

“An essential portion of any artist’s labor is not creation so much as invocation. Part of the work cannot be made, it must be received; and we cannot have this gift except, perhaps by supplication, by courting, by creating within ourselves that “begging bowl” to which the gift is drawn.”  ~ Lewis Hyde

Yes, dearhearts…. it is time for us to SHINE and take a little time to indulge and express our creativity, and open up our begging bowl to invoke the creative muse to arrive before us. Risk ourselves. And let’s finally do it!

I’m here for you. If you want to bounce ideas off me, phone or skype with me, whatever it is, let’s support each other on a new creative adventure. email me.

I have a lot of gremlins: Voices in my head striving to convince me of my illustrative inadequacies. I don’t want to believe them. It doesn’t matter if my gremlins don’t love what is about to happen. It only matters to trust myself, and allow the space and time to love this gift and let it come into being! A gift for my son. (If he likes it, maybe I’ll share with his school friends too. If he doesn’t, at the very least I will have spent time ignoring and renouncing my gremlins, and loosening their grip on me perhaps freeing me up for yet another new creative venture?!) Roar!

honoring YOUR de-gremlinizer superpowers, together let’s do this!
my love,
❤ becky