Saturday Creativity Quote

What to write about? How to keep going? It’s often a quandary, especially for beginners, driven by desire but lacking craft or confidence. And while I don’t mean to say “write what you know,” or at least not to confine yourself to writing what you know, I do know that our stories can be a powerful place to start. And that all writing is more powerful when we give it the understanding that comes from empathy and from knowing ourselves.

“You need to claim the events of your life to make yourself yours.”

— Anne Wilson Schaef (1934-2020), who wrote extensively about addiction and popularized the concept of co-dependence

(Tranquility, oil on canvas by Tabby Ivy; collection of the author)

Saturday Creativity Quote — Jung on creativity and play

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.”

— CG Jung

Words, stories, memories? Colors, shapes, the intervals between sounds? Play, and find what you love.

(Alpine Moon, Wengen, Switzerland; photo by the author)

Saturday Creativity Quote — Cameron on morning pages

I’ve felt a bit at sea lately, and after Christmas, decided it might be useful to start writing morning pages again. You know the idea, I’m sure: write three pages, by hand, first thing in the morning as a form of clearing and centering before heading into the day’s work, whether it’s your creative work or something else. Julia Cameron, their primary proponent, cautions that they “aren’t meant to be art, or even writing.” They are simply a tool, useful not just for writers but for all artists and anyone looking to deepen their creative experience.

The morning pages are the primary tool of creative recovery. As blocked artists, we tend to criticize ourselves mercilessly. Even if we look like functioning artists to the world, we feel we never do enough and what we do isn’t right. We are victims or our own internalized perfectionist, a nasty internal and eternal critic, the Censor, who resides in our brain and keeps up a constant stream of subversive remarks that are often disguised as the truth. . . . By spilling out of bed and straight onto the page every morning, you learn to evade the Censor. . . . Morning pages will teach you that your mood doesn’t matter.

“Morning pages are meditation, a practice that brings you to your creativity and your creator God.” — Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

A Good Year for Reading

2022 was, well, I think we can all agree it was a challenge for the world, in so many ways. Upsides for me: a fabulous trip to Switzerland and Italy with my husband, brother, and sister-in-law, two books out (Peppermint Barked, the 6th Spice Shop mystery, and Blind Faith, written as Alicia Beckman), and a return to in-person events, where I relished in the opportunity to reconnect with readers and meet new ones. And, reading. I read 59 books, including a few audios. Nearly 2/3 were crime fiction! Seventeen were by writers of color (including 4 nonfiction books that were part of my research for Between a Wok and a Dead Place, aka Spice Shop #7, coming in July) and seven were by LGBTQ+ authors. I’m delighted to see a more diverse pool of authors getting shelf and review space, awards and nominations, and general buzz. No matter how we categorize ourselves, we’re better off as readers and writers when the community widens.

My two favorite debut mysteries were both published this year: Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies by Misha Popp and The Bangalore Detectives Club by Harini Nagendra, a historical mystery. .

The rest of my list – all recent, though none new in 2022, in order read:
Harlem Shuffle, Colson Whitehead
Clark & Division, Naomi Hirahara
The Midnight Library, Matt Haig
This is What Happened, Mick Herron
The Dutch House, Ann Patchett,
The Turn of the Key, Ruth Ware

And two years in a row, my favorite read of the year was the last, literally finished at the 11th hour, on New Year’s Eve:
Beneath a Scarlet Sky, Mark Sullivan

Wishing you a year filled with deep joy of a life you love — and lots of good books!