Journey Juju

#best09 - Best Rush

Design Your Creative Life conference, London, March 2009. From left: Fay Weldon, Jacqui Lofthouse, Susan Raeburn, Eric Maisel, Margareta Hammar, Ann Ljungberg, Suzy Greaves. Front row: moi.

Speaking in London at the Design Your Creative Life conference in March was the biggest adrenaline rush I can recall. My second presentation rocked. The room was alive. I provoked thought, I gave hope, I offered tools to make creating easier. 

I’ve been speaking since 1994 and this was a peak speaking moment for me.

There’s nothing like overcoming the feeling of apprehension just before standing in front of a group of people. There’s nothing like stepping up, stepping out and stepping toward the people in the room, offering something I love.

There’s nothing like feeling my offering received, like feeling the energy in the room shift. It’s a kind of fullness found in the cycle of giving and receiving, and it’s a rush.

#best09 - Biggest Challenge

which way to go?

To tell the truth, the whole year has been a big challenge. I have been trying to figure out where to go and what to do with the next phase of my life. I believe I've been in a sort of mid-life crisis, but my friends in their 50s assure me that worse mid-life hell is on the way.

Leaving my home and belongings behind to head to Europe for god knows how long, taking up with younger men, throwing all level-headed planning to the side - that's not a midlife crisis? They say, "Oh no, we expect all that from you any time."

So it's been a big hoary challenge all year long. Rather than wax on about the whole year, I'll share one particular day that kicked my ass to the curb.

City Shrine series

 When I set out on my journey last year, I invoked a lot of juju to make sure that my travels would be smooth, safe, and tons of fun. I brought this juju upon myself with a project: make 100 travel shrines and sell them.

Remaining travel shrines. NFS

I made 100 travel shrines, sold about 80, financing my plane ticket with the sales. 20% of the proceeds were loaned to Dorothy Siaw, an entrepreneur I connected with through Kiva.org.

While traveling, I made City Shrines as a way to remember these cities as I and my Muse experienced them. These are portable talismans that represent the essence of a place as experienced on that trip. It's an artistic expression that makes travel more meaningful and fun. The first City Shrine was created in honor of Lisbon. After that came Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam and London.

I gathered ephemera from the each city – museum ticket stubs, postcards, receipts, cards, the detritus that one collects while traveling. I sought out the perfect containers for the shrine. They had to be from the city, lightweight and cheap.

I made several City Shrines leaving the city by train. The speed and rhythm of the train, my little tray table open and overflowing with supplies...such a beautiful way to honor a place.

It's more than just a fun way to gather the ephemera from a trip into a container. My City Shrines evoke memories of the people I met, the adventures I had, and the magic that made my journey truly one of great juju.

Shrines are just one of the creative travel tools I share in my e-book, The Creative Travel Toolkit. It's on sale with my other products for a creative life during the month of June 2009 to celebrate my ten-year anniversary of Original Impulse.

I’ll be sharing my City Shrines with you on Mondays as a weekly feature on the Journey Juju blogazine. I only have a handful so it will be a short series. Hopefully they will inspire you to make your own City Shrines. You don’t have to travel to do it. You could make a shrine for your own city.

Your journey is sacred. This and other Journey Blessings on sale in June!

The Writer's Life in London

It's been a wonderful couple of weeks in London. I've enjoyed the intense, wacky, creative vibrant pulse of this capital city. Even without my trusty iBook.

To keep it brief, I'll give a few highlights of living the creative life in London. I've had the great pleasure of meeting many creative people and sharing our stories. (Sorry I can't share photos at this time!)

Jacqui Lofthouse, UK writing coach, was kind enough to host an evening for me, inviting a group of her writer and editor friends. We had dinner together and then repaired to the pub for more literary chat. I loved meeting published authors and hearing about their projects. Some new friends, too!

My friend Jessica e-mail introduced me to her friend Catherine Davidson, author of The Priest Fainted. I love these email introductions, reminiscent of another century's letters of introduction. Catherine and I enjoyed a stroll through the Tate Modern followed by tea at the seventh floor cafe overlooking the Thames. This is where I began my new Gherkin series of paintings and what I hope to be a lasting friendship with a wonderful, dynamic and creative woman.

Another email introduction was made for my by Clydette, one of the most gracious and generous women I have ever met. Clydette lives in Paris and we had dinner followed by a stroll towards the Eiffel Tower that I will never forget. Clydette sent an introduction to Chris Chopyak, who has a graphic learning company in Denver. We spent a lovely afternoon at the V&A tea rooms, the opulence of which I will never forget. Tea and talk and connections and possibilities abounded in our conversation and I look forward to connecting with Chris in Denver.

The Design Your Creative Life conference, hosted by Swedish writing coach Ann Ljungberg, was a complete treat. I presented alongside Fay Weldon, Eric Maisel, Jacqui Lofthouse, Suzy Greaves, Susan Raeburn, and Maggan, a delightful and inspiring Swedish comedienne. The two days were packed with inspiration and new friendships. I am becoming a conference junkie and look forward to this Saturday's conference in Antwerp, hosted by Martine Vanremoortle, who was also at the London conference. Check out photos by the wonderful Swedish writing coach Johanna Wistrand.

On Tuesday I connected with Tania Hershman, a talented short story writer whom I met in November at La Muse in the south of France. Tania lives in Jerusalem but was in London for the Jewish Book Week. We hung out at Organic Planet before heading to a reading. One of her flash fiction stories was being read at the Liars' League, where the hosts gather a handful of stories, give them to actors to read, and attract an attentive crowd. We packed the upstairs room at the Wheatsheaf on Rathbone Street and passed a few hours being wittily entertained.

Among my own peregrinations as a writer and artist,

• I strolled along the Thames
• rode the tube up and down and all around
• practiced yoga at Alchemy studio in the heart of Camden
• caught up on my movie going
• ate a lot of good vegetarian food
• cruised along the canal
• bought some clothes and of course a few more notebooks
• had dinners with my friends Antony and Jenny
• enjoyed drinks in the Lamb with the Swede Patrick
• fell in love with Lamb's Conduit street, the most perfect street in London
• made some art
• coached my clients and got an amazing new client
• used my A-Z guide to map my wanderings, and 
• scoped out sites for my urban creative crawl that I will do next year. My Sketch Crawl did not run this year due to lack of imagination and lack of enrollment. We'll work on that again next year.

I also got a very very very encouraging email from my agent, who is loving my revision of Chasing Sylvia Beach. I can't tell you how happy that made me and how I look forward to hearing his thoughts on the whole book. Wish me luck!

I'm looking forward to going back to Colorado on the 9th of April. I'm planning an art and performance show, considering things I can write about this journey, and looking forward to seeing my people again.

What a great few weeks in England! I shall be sad to leave but look forward to returning to the continent on Friday, going to Antwerp for the creativity conference on the 14th, then to Amsterdam on Monday for more art making, biking, friend making and wandering. Stay tuned for updates from the Creative Nomad!

London Highlights

I'd love to write all about my visit in London, but as I am on the computer only an hour or so a day, I must economize on my words.

I am happily playing with my creative travel tools and filling my illustrated book. I am wandering the streets, riding the double-decker buses and meeting new friends.

Here are the top ten highlights of my week in London:

1. Visit to the Tate Modern, where I had an explosive and delightful insight about my work in the bookstore.
2. Meeting new and old friends: Jenny, Antony, Jacqui and her creative tribe, Catherine, and Chris.
3. Fish and Chips at The Fryer's Delight. (You gotta do it at least once!)
4. Riding the city from East to West on the ~#23 bus, seeing all the sights from the top front window.
5. Filling my accordion notebook with color and drawings. Wish I could include a picture!
6. Sunday (Up) Market on Brick Lane. Loved the creativity of the vendors and the delights of world cuisine.
7. Walking Southbank for hours, gazing upon the Gherkin, the Tower Bridge and the panorama of London.
8. Drinking cider in pubs. Yum!
9. Finding Cass Art, a discount art supply store. Yes, I know, how many art supplies does a creative nomad need? Well, my Muse is very demanding and wants all the colors and notebooks. I must indulge her.
10. Taking hot baths in my house in Bloomsbury to fend off travel ache.

I could write a low-lights list, which would include the near-fight I had with a London thug, but I'll save my time for more positive pursuits.

I'm having fun, looking forward to the Design Your Creative Life conference this weekend (still room open!). After that I have a whole other week in London where I will be planning my sketch crawl and making more art and meeting more friends and enjoying life as much as possible without a computer!

London Riff

Reporting from a groovy organic cafe/surfshop/internet point off Brick Lane.  I'm not at the keyboard much which is both a relief and sad. London offers pkles plenty to do without having my face in a computer screen so I can't complain. I will ask you to pardon the typos.
This will be a riff/free write on things so far.
Sunday (Up) Market completely undoes me: so much to see and buy and eat. I want it all but end up buying some face cream and soap from a woman who uses antique tins to hold her lip balms and hand creams. I took photos but you'll have to wait to see them. The clothes are great, as well as handmade art, buttons, badges, pins, jewelery, cards, scarves, so much... I buy a shirt and a dress. I got a dress yesterday but am not sure it works on me. it's rolling the dice to buy without trying on but I do it anyway.
The food! Stalls serving Caribbean, Mexican, Japanese, Thai, Ethopian, French...again, I want it all. I eat a fried rice cake wrapped in a nori shawl and a thai pumpkin curry, sharing a table with other strangers absorbing the kaleidoscope of the market. People play carrom at nearby tables, a game I've never seen and don't understand.
I wander Brick Lane, vendors, food, people still fucked up from last night, carrying giant cans of beer, ultra hip, ultra cool, this is London, gritty, spitty, alive and full, full, full. I love neighborhoods like this. My Muse goes nuts and makes me stop to take crazy notes before I forget everything. We're really using the creative travel tools here!
This week I'll be visiting museums and working, speaking with clients and preparing for my two presentations at the Design Your Creative Life conference. Also trying to get as much done on The Illuminated Traveler before this weekend.
I bought my first ever cell phone and being a newborn. Booked a room at a groovy apartment in amsterdam for March. I have a week after that before the CREA conference in Italy and then I plan to fly back to Denver in early April. That's the thought anyway. Still room for flexibility and creativity.
Okay typing on this computer is driving me crazy but I wanted to stay in touch with the Journey Juju community.
P.S. I still have about six of the ten postcards to make. There are some things I want to paint on my street in Bloomsbury so I'll be doing that this week too.
Happy creating to you all!

Ten Years, Ten Paintings

The latest revision of the novel is finished, I’m packed to leave Roquebrun and ready for Paris, London and beyond.

I’m really excited about returning to making art while traveling. I hope to finish my illustrated book by mid-March. I plan to chronicle this next leg of my trip in a Moleskine accordion notebook, one of my favorites. And to celebrate my ten-year anniversary as a coach, I want to offer you a chance to be part of the art.

 

I’m going to paint ten postcards illustrating moments of my journey and sell them for $10 each to celebrate my ten year anniversary. Get a slice of Europe and a peek into my journey as a Creative Nomad with a unique mini watercolor painting. Each painting will include a short story about the setting. The ten paintings are available for pre-order through February 19th, 2009.

You may have seen postcards I did from my trip to Paris in 2003. If not, take a look at my online gallery to get a sense of my style and to read the story behind each painting.

Limited Edition Art

I’m only making ten of these for sale, and pre-orders will go quickly, so reserve your postcard today. Paintings are $10.00, which includes postage from Europe. Tax does apply for Colorado residents.

Order your postcard here. I’ll send it to you before April 1st from somewhere in Europe. You’re welcome to make suggestions on your order form about what you’d like to see on your postcard, but I can’t promise anything.

Order your painting today and look forward to a piece of my European juju in your mailbox this spring!

London Calling! Your Muse Beckons...

You may have heard me mention preparations for a conference in London.  I was delighted to be asked to present at the Design Your Creative Life Conference, March 7-8, 2009, sponsored by Ann Ljungberg, writing coach and publisher.

This conference is devoted to making the creative process easier for writers, visual artists, and creative professionals. Creativity coach Eric Maisel will also be speaking, as well as UK writing coach Jacqui Lofthouse and author Fay Weldon.

At the weekend conference, I will give two presentations: Getting Feedback That Helps the Creative Process and Completing Projects for Creative Satisfaction.

Get all the details at the conference web site.

The following week, I'll be leading a course through the city of London. I've been developing a new offering that's based on my creativity tours, and the London Sketch Crawl will showcase some of the work I've been putting together to help people become creatively empowered.

If you want less struggle and more play when you create personally or professionally, this is the workshop for you. Get out of the box and into the city with your Muse as guide.

This is more than your ordinary sketch crawl. Read the full workshop description.