Tandaan

Week 10 of The Artist’s Way

Documenting my creative recovery.

May 17 – May 23

Recovering a sense of Self-protection

“This week we explore the perils that can ambush us on our creative path. Because creativity is a spiritual issue, many of the perils are spiritual perils. In the essays, tasks and exercises of this week, we search out the toxic patterns we cling to that block our creative flow.”

Week 10 Tasks

1. The Deadlies: Write about how these things have had a negative impact on your life; alcohol, drugs, sex, work, money, food, family/friends

This is very much a private morning pages type of task! A task that’s hard to do, definitely an eye-opener.

2. Touchstones: make note of the small things that bring happiness.

My Light an incense each morning, after I reset the house, to enjoy as I have breakfast and write my pages. ♡!! Knowing I can snap a pic, with no pressure of how it looks, just capturing a moment <3
My boyfriend’s Bolognese~ It’s his best dish and I feel content when we have it.
My hand made star mug <3 I use it almost every day for my morning coffee! I made it years ago and I love it so much.
Linking arms with my mom and getting a hug from my dad <333 Not something we did when I was growing up. Now that I’m older, I make a point to be closer to my parents whenever I can!! It’s important to me to connect with my parents, literally too!
My dad’s crafted things. I go to their farm and see things everywhere that my dad built himself, he is no expert and that makes it all better. His craftsmanship is clearly seen and I love it so much. I find it inspiring that you mention needing something and within a few minutes, he is already working to build it for you. He is a creator with no blocks (at least in my eyes), he has an idea and he gets right to it, an inspiration for me.

3. The Awful truth

Look I’ll definitely be keeping this one in my pages~ but here are the prompts incase you’re interested;

Tell the truth. What habit do you have that gets in the way of your creativity?
Tell the truth. What do you think might be a problem? It is.
What do you plan to do about the habit or problem?
What is your payoff in holding on to this block?
If you can’t figure out your payoff, ask a trusted friend.
Tell the truth. Which friends make you doubt yourself? (The self doubt is yours already, but they trigger it.)
Tell the truth. Which friends believe in you and your talent? (The talent is yours, but they make you feel it.)
What is the payoff in keeping your destructive friends? If the answer is, “I like them,” the next question is, “Why?”
Which destructive habits do your destructive friends share with your destructive self?
Which constructive habits do your constructive friends share with your constructive self?

4. Setting a bottom line: Try setting a bottom line for yourself. Begin with five of your most painful behaviours.

Girl again its in my morning pages only haha

5. Cherishing

List five small victories.

Keeping up with this course and with my blog posts! Hard work.
Learning how to print photos at home.
Changing my breakfasts to one I’m excited for.
Starting my writing again and seeing clear goals and milestones, finally.
Displaying my artwork and vision board where I never did before.

List three nurturing actions you took for your artist.

I keep track of my day closely.
I listen for what I eat or play I hope to do that day and do my darndest to make time for it.
I let myself draw imperfectly, no judgement or expectation.
I connect more with my dad through my new photography hobby and it heals my lonely inner child with each interaction, I like to think it heals his too~ ♡

List three actions you could take to comfort your artist.

Sit outside and pay attention to nature more often, with no devices or distractions.
Let her have permission to take up space, paint, puzzle, draw.
Minimise anxiety around old projects, can they be mentally marked as done? Or can they be quickly finished now? Remove the guilt, clear my mental to do list.

Make three nice promises to yourself. Keep them.

I promise to eat fresh breakfasts.
I promise to care for my space.
I promise to listen to my creative desires each day.

Do one lovely thing for yourself each day this week.

Light an incense each morning, after I reset the house, to enjoy as I have breakfast and write my pages~

Week 10 check-in

The Artist’s Way has questions for me to answer specifically in my check-ins, let me answer them now!

How many pages did I keep up with in my morning pages?

Did I do my artist date this week? I visited a comic book store this week! I found a comic that I’d never heard of before, but was a great match to the genre of the comic I’m hoping to write! I’ve been lost about how much to write with my story, it’s just so easy to write way too much detail, or to feel like I need to be super specific about each step that moves the characters forward. That comic was great, I learnt ways that they make action seem quick, how simply they’re able to move characters between locations, how little they talk about things like that! It’s very cool and it’s helped me realise I have a good bit of detail about my plot already and I can let myself keep moving forward instead of keeping on planning (like I’m afraid of being stuck in for ages again!).

I went from 1.25 of a concept, to a full story just thanks to that knowledge! All it took was visiting a store and coming across the right story. I also was able to realise that I had about one volume’s worth of story, and I was able to split up what I had into four issues! I’ve been progressing with it slowly page by page 🙂 I’m excited to see how the plot splits~ I’m excited to see what parts I’ll need to flesh out or cut down so that my pacing can be strong! And I’m excited to read more comic books and study more films so I can strengthen my understanding even more <3