I thankful for my CAPS (Creative Action Planning & Support) group. This is a group my artist friend Lori and I decided to start because we wanted some help meeting goals (accountability and all that) and we wanted some camaraderie with like-minded creative individuals. We started last July and have met once a week, every week, since then. There are nine of us though not everyone makes it every week. Between us we have painters, collage artists, quilters, photographers, sculpters, cartoonist and yes, a writer or two. At first I wasn’t sure how useful it would be for me because they are all artists and I am all writer but the blending of spirits is wonderful. You can’t meet once a week with folks and not be changed by the experience.
I am still looking for an in-person writing group (though I love my one-on-one connections with other writers) but this group fills a very special need for me. It’s helpful for me to announce to the group what I plan to get done in the coming week and then, if it isn’t done, to hear myself explain why I missed the mark. While it’s easy to lie to myself with a lot of excuses, it’s much harder to do so to a group of supportive friends. As a result I am more focused and able to finish more work.
I am also thankful that I finally got everything (and boy, what a lot of everything that was) over to the fine folks at Winding Oak for my new website. I can’t wait to see what they come up with! It’s been quite an ordeal but through the process I have become reacquainted with my writer self and it was a very nice meeting.
So hey, CAPS girls, I can finally cross all that website stuff off my list!
Edited to add:
I just remembered one more thing I’m grateful for this week. For much of the week every time I got a negative thought or a thought that threatened to pull me into the past, I’ve been able to note it and then let it go.
Your CAPS sounds like a great group. Must be fun to meet with artists of various disciplines — different perspectives, etc.
Your last note is much like what I’m working on doing this year, too. For each negative thought, stop and rethink with a positive take.
Good job on getting your website stuff together!
Thanks Jama. The CAPS group has turned out to be much more than I thought it would be…but then how could it not when you meet every week? So many different artistic disciplines bring a lot of spice to the pot.
That switching of thoughts is so very hard but I am trying and succeeding in “almost” every area. There’s one space I keep stumbling on but I’m going to stick with it. I feel lighter in my heart already so I know I am on the right track.