8 thoughts on “A Dog’s Life”

1. Since about 10 posts popped up at once from you in my Google Reader, I decided to comment on the weiner dog one, because weiner dogs are awesome. 🙂

   You’ve inspired me… I went to Half Price Books and bought the Artist’s Way, along w/ some colored pencils, because I love the drawings and triangles you’ve made. I’ve blogged a little about it, but I’ve had a stressful year and am currently trying to juggle a job that isn’t what I ultimately want to do with my first semester of MBA classes. I need an outlet to help with the stress, so I’m looking to use my creative side a bit more. We’ll see what happens!

2. I realized when I was putting all those up that they’d be a little overwhelming, but I wasn’t sure when I’d have a chance to do them, so there was a big truckload all at once. I wasn’t sure anyone would comment, because I figured there were just too many to really take time for them all.

   Unfortunately, I didn’t get all THREE dachshunds that were running around that day. My aunt and uncle brought their two, but they were all jumping around like crazy and Kurt was being a snot, so it didn’t happen. I think he was in a time out on dad’s lap here.

   Artist’s Way, FTW! You’ll have plenty of opportunity to put those pencils to use. I started with crayons and markers, then somewhere along the line got some pencils, but that was probably after I was done with the Artist’s Way.

   You may find that it is a bit of challenge to manage your time around the program that’s outlined in the book, but it’s SO worth it! I managed to do the last month of it during November when I was not only writing my first novel for NaNo, but also through Thanksgiving. I never missed a day. Sometimes I only covered the minimum, but I never skipped a day of writing or an Artist Date or any of that sort of thing. It has proven to be one of the most fun and worthwhile things I’ve undertaken.

3. I was curious… I haven’t gotten very far into the book yet, but when I started looking at Week 1, it looked like there was a lot of stuff to do on top of the morning pages and the artist dates… are those more or less optional, or just suggestions, or…? Maybe the book tells more about it and I just haven’t gotten there yet.

   I’m kind of relaxed about it, trying to just make it through the beginning explanation of the book while I am still finishing up end-of-semester projects. I figure if I can do that and start on the morning pages, etc by the time school is out, I’m in good shape.

4. Ah, yeah, that would look a little scary without some of the explanation that goes with it. The book gives you leeway on that stuff. You’ll see as you read it and get up to Week One. The whole book is about creativity, and you get a real opportunity to exercise that with your time management and how to come up with ways of accomplishing the tasks.

   That reminds me of a particular conversation when a friend called on a Friday:
   Friend: “What are you doing tonight?”
   Tom: “Going to First Friday.”
   F: “Sweet! We’re going too. Come with us!”
   T: “Um…I can’t.”
   F: “What do you mean? Why not?”
   T: “I have to go by myself.”
   F: “Huh?”
   T: “It’s this Artist’s Way thing. See…”

   Ah, yes. Good times with the Artist’s Way!

5. Ok, so I read the beginning parts of the book (Intro, Basic Tools, etc) up to Week 1. And while I still have 2 finals next week to get through before I commit to it entirely, I am eager enough to get started that I’ve decided to go ahead and start w/ morning pages and artist’s dates before I jump into Week 1 officially after my finals. I did the morning pages today for the first time. Any suggestions for artist’s dates?

   Hope I’m not bugging you too much… I’ve just enjoyed reading about your experiences and think you have some great ideas. 🙂

6. Cool! You’re really jumping on this thing! I have to say that I owned the book for a year before I actually started working it, but once I did, there was no stopping me. I’m glad to hear you got a start on your morning pages. Lots of people balk at that. I get up an extra hour early every morning to make time for it.

   I’m glad you just brought up the Artist Dates, because it made me realize I didn’t have my tag cloud enabled here! I fixed that, so you can click over on the right and pull up some of entries. They’re not all up, but you can get some ideas.

   Let’s see…what did I do? I went to several art galleries including the Harrison, the IMA, and the little gallery in Broad Ripple near Forum Credit Union – Hoosier Salon. I drew stuff for other people, went on a walk, took photos, went to Kiln Creations for weeks…and weeks…and weeks(!) and decorated a cool little serving bowl. I went to see the movie Coraline (loved it!), went to the Newport Hill Climb and journalist Ernie Pyle’s historic site, saw “Evil Dead, the Musical” (good times!), and…oh, I went to the Children’s Museum!

   Sometimes it was stuff I already knew about, like Kiln Creations, other things just showed up at the right time, like Evil Dead and the Hill Climb. Sometimes I got on the web and looked up “things to do in Indianapolis” to see if there were art openings or poetry readings or that sort of thing.

   One thing I would have loved to do was to go down to Midland Arts & Antiques and just walk all through that building, not even buy anything necessarily, but walk through and look at everything. There’s so much fabulous gack there it makes your brain fizz and crackle like fireworks!

   The Indy Arts Center probably has some really great stuff now that it’s Christmas, and you can always wander around there and look at what people are making. Sometimes when I’m there I watch people weld or blow glass, and there are always exhibits up.

   Thanks for reminding me of all this – it was so much fun! I should do it again.

7. I think one reason I’m jumping on like I am with the morning pages and artist’s dates are that they are things that I really love doing already. Journaling and blogging are things I love to do and can’t seem to find time for, or when I do, I get lazy and watch a movie or something instead. So the morning pages are my excuse to just start writing and not have to think about it. And I love to just do things like go to a bookstore and browse or go out by myself somewhere – another thing I put off and don’t make time for often enough. So reading the Artist’s Way just gives me excuses for things I already want to do anyway – haha.

   Great ideas and similar to ones that I’ve considered or am thinking about. I’ve been t Ceramic Dreams in Broad Ripple, I’ll probably do that as one. And of course drawing on my own, the IMA, and I’ve wanted to go to the Children’s Museum to see the Chihuly glass for a while now and still haven’t made it. Now I’ve got a good excuse!

8. Journaling has been great for me. It was something I’d not been doing before, and it really helps me get my thoughts in line on a day-to-day basis. I like the fact that you’re supposed to write absolutely anything that’s in your head, no real structure. That’s perfect, especially early in the morning. I’m surprised what lands on the page some days. It can be a hard schedule to stick to, but it’s really rewarding if I keep at it.

   Hah – my ceramics one just stretched on and on. I honestly thought it would take two sessions at the most to do it. I think it took eight or nine! I kind of miss it. I really loved that activity.

   The Chihuly glass is awesome! Make sure you go down to the basement level to check everything out there. You can look up through the floor at the base of glass surrounding it, and it’s gorgeous! The Artist’s Way is all about prioritizing for stuff like that, the antidote to, “I’d love to do that, but…”