The Artist’s Way is the seminal book on the subject of creativity. An international bestseller, millions of readers have found it to be an invaluable guide to living the artist’s life.

I’ve heard about this book and the workbook that goes along with it. I remember hearing about “morning pages” (“pages of longhand writing, strictly stream-of-consciousness, which provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize, and synchronize the day at hand” first thing in the morning.) and we’re going to be required to do that for this class. We won’t have to share what we wrote, just the experience. I’m hoping this will get me back into a writing routine again because I seem to have lost my momentum until recently. This book is a 12-week program that will will “will help you discover and recover your personal creativity, artistic confidence, and productivity”.

When Ms Cameron teaches this course, she requires her students to sign a contract committing themselves to the course. There’s an example in the book and I’ve decided to sign the contract for the public to see.

I, Celise Downs, understand that I am undertaking an intensive, guided encounter with my own creativity. I commit myself to the thirteen-week duration of the course. I, Celise Downs, commit to weekly reading, daily morning pages, a weekly artist date, and the fulfillment of each week’s tasks.

Celise Downs
6 June 2011

You read it here, folks. This is going to be interesting.

Technorati Tags: Julia Cameron, THE ARTIST’S WAY

I was thinking of Staind’s song, “It’s Been a While” as I wrote this post. I like that band. And it really has been a while. I can’t remember the last time I visited anyone in my blogroll. There’s a fine layer of dust over there. *blows out a breath and coughs as dust mites fill the air*. Sorry about that. I tend to abandon blogs that haven’t been updated in a while, so I imagine that the few regulars I had have long since found someone else to follow.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but my blog is probably going to remain sporadically updated for a little while longer. School has been an all-consuming evil obligation, to the point where I read if I have any free time. And I’m reading books, not blogs. So, let me catch everyone up before I disappear again.

School Daze – The spring semester ended with A’s in both of my classes, Volunteer Management and Human Relations. Thank you to Shoshana Ross and Chantal Sheehan (again) for being my mentors. You can read more about that HERE. I created the other website to chronicle my journey to opening my own nonprofit, so anything I learn in regards to that will be posted on that blog. Anything about writing will be posted here. The summer session starts tomorrow (I had about a 3-week break reprieve) and I’ll be taking Marketing for Nonprofits with Abbie Fink of HMA PR and an online Moodle course, Self-Exploration Through Creative Writing. I’m still looking for course mentors for the Fall 2011 through Spring 2012 semesters. If you or someone you know would be interested, check out the details HERE.

Writing – I finally finished writing Chapter One of the DA graphic novel. You can read about my first two sessions with Bryan Graham, creator of Section 1138, HERE and HERE. It took a lot longer than I thought because I still want to add stuff and keep the dialogue the same. I realize that I may have to re-vamp the story a little bit and provide more action on Draven’s part. I had an original idea when it came to this series: providing little tidbits at the beginning of each chapter that are based on her assignments. For Book One, since it involved a place called The Royalty Treatment Day Spa, I wanted to put the different spa treatments you could get at this spa at the beginning of each chapter. My mentor from my Novel Revising course stated that the info was distracting from the story, especially since not a lot of the action was happening there. I should only include it if the action is actually happening there. Hence the changes I’ll need to make. Now that I’m going a different route with the series, I can have actual pictures instead of text. In addition to finally finishing Chapter One, the Draven Atreides website is done. Finally! After nearly a year. There’s nothing in The Books area (yet), the newsletter hasn’t been created (yet), I haven’t set up a Twitter account for her (yet), and no thoughts have been written down in her “Diary” (yet), but you can look at everything else. LOL. All of that will come when Book One is released. Now that the series site is up, I’ll be chronicling the process of writing the GN over there as well as here.

Life – Still working the day job, but hope to move into the nonprofit sector by the end of the year. Health-wise, I’m trying to cure a reoccurring body dysfunction. During this process, from Dec 2010 to now, I’ve lost about 12 pounds. And no, losing those pounds was not intentional and not something I could afford to lose. Shit like that just happens when you cut something out. I’m trying to gain some weight back while maintaining a healthy diet, but the good thing is that I got a semi new wardrobe out of it. A lot of the clothes I had before were too big, so I had to go out and buy ones that fit. Oh, the hardship! And it really was for someone like me. LOL. Seriously. I’ve never liked clothes shopping (even when I was young) and would rather spend money on books than clothes. LOL. My good friend and manager left the company last month to move to Florida. Really, really bummed about that. And I found out my best friend is moving to Boston for her dream job at the end of July. Really, really bummed–and depressed–about that. I feel like everyone’s leaving me and moving on with their lives. I’m happy for them and at least will have two new places to visit (never been to either place), but still…*sigh*. It just really sucks.

Soooo, that’s it. In a nutshell. My birthday’s this Sunday and I’ve got some stuff planned, so I may be posting again this weekend.

Technorati Tags: Staind, HMA PR, Section 1138

And something I can’t not think about.

Time seems to go by so quickly and before I know it, damn, it’s time to troll for more mentors?

Needless to say, the spring session is almost over. Summer starts in May and I was hoping to have Marketing and Program Planning mentors locked in.

One out of two isn’t bad, right? Found someone for Marketing but summers seem to be the busiest time for program directors/managers/coordinators.

Or they don’t have graduate level degrees.

Another downside to this innovative program. I get a lot of “wow, this is great, I would love to help, BUT…I don’t have a master’s degree.”

*sigh*

That makes it a little more daunting.

I’m thinking I’m going to have to scrap the Program course this summer and go with something else. With that being said:

I’m looking for a professional to mentor my Multicultural YA Literature course this summer. In order to be considered, you have to have a graduate level degree. As a mentor, the time you give will be considerable but valuable. And, as a thank you for your willingness to inspire and guide a student, you will receive a small honorarium fee from the school. If you’re interested, please send your resume to acolston [at] prescott.edu and I will be happy to provide additional details.

Anyhow, spring semester starts today and I’m only taking two classes. Recently, I decided to push back my graduation date to December. I would’ve been done in spring 2012, graduating in May. Instead, I’ll be done in September and the ceremony will be in December. I’m officially a senior now with a 3.75 GPA. That’s the best I’ve done in school. Ever. LOL. This semester, I’ll be taking Human Relations with the wonderful Chantal Sheehan, Exec Dir. of New Global Citizens, as my mentor. And Volunteer Management with Shoshana Ross, Volunteer Coordinator at Free Arts AZ. I’m pretty stoked to work with Chantal again (she mentored my Financial Mgmt class last year), and I think it’s cool I’m going to be working with someone from an organization that I volunteer for on occasion.

While I’m learning so much from working one-on-one with mentors, the hardest part about this program (other than going back to school after so many years and working full-time) is actually finding mentors. I’m a shy person by nature and asking complete strangers to mentor me has been daunting, to say the least. Not too long after starting school a couple of years ago, I joined the local Young Nonprofit Professionals Network. I submitted an ad for a mentor on their website. What I didn’t know at the time is that that ad appears in the newsletter they send out every month. I’ve been lucky enough to get a few bites from that ad. I actually found my very first mentor when I went to college orientation. It’s very time-consuming on the behalf of the mentor and the honorarium fee is small, but I’m so grateful for their willingness to share their knowledge. I’m hoping all my mentors will be able to make it to my graduation next year. It would be great to see their faces among the crowd.

What’s a little scary is that I realized I didn’t have a plan when it comes to this degree. The ultimate goal is to run my own nonprofit. I was going to graduate, find a job with a nonprofit, work there for a few years and then open my organization. Lisa, my supervisor/friend, and I went to lunch a couple of days ago and she asked me a lot of tough questions. To my embarrassment, a lot of my responses were “I don’t know.” I’m a pantser when it comes to my writing and I think-–stupidly–I had that same mentality about my plan for the future. I have this goal that I want to reach and what I want to do, but have no clue what steps to take to get there.

My thinking was “With this degree, I’ll have a little more knowledge” and then it went from that to “Well, if I can just get these two particular classes under my belt, then I’ll start looking.” Truly, I’m just afraid of leaving my job. I’ve been there for 3 years and there’s a security there. A comfort zone. But it’s not what I want to do with the rest of my life. If I wanted a career in records management, maybe, but that’s not how it’s gonna happen. And Lisa plans on leaving as well, and, really, the job wouldn’t be the same without her.

So, now I have a plan. For the first time since I jumped into school with both feet, I have a plan. It scares the shit out of me because it means leaving my job by the end of the year, if not before. I just have to keep in mind that the end result will be worth it.

Technorati Tags: Chantal Sheehan, New Global Citizens, Shoshana Ross, Young Nonprofit Professionals Network

Mine turned out to be 3,800.

I did the best I could, people!

As part of the class, we had to keep a journal. For part of the last assignment, I had to reflect on what I’d learned based on the things I’d written in the journal. Here’s a snippet:

I went into this course knowing that short stories were not my forte; I always want to keep going, to add more. I thought it would be a tad easier because I was building on previously written material—the Prologue from Book One of my YA series. Despite having a little bit of a head start, it wasn’t as easy as I’d thought it would be. The biggest difficulty, and something I mentioned in the midterm reflection, was the disruption of my normal writing process. I knew what I wanted the story to be about, but it wasn’t coming together. I didn’t have my usual normal flow, my thoughts were becoming blocked, and I was afraid that the story wouldn’t be cohesive…

The short story is called “A New Beginning” and it’s a prequel to the DA series. Once I get that website up and running and move forward with the graphic novel route, I’ll be sure to post the story. Thank you, Mrs. Nancy Ullinskey for the challenge, the encouragement and the times you wished you could give me more than the maximum points. Taking this class was proof enough that I should really do my best to take more creative writing classes.

Unlike the online writing course at Rio Salado, my Fundraising and Resource Development class was mentored. Meaning, I actually had someone in the field teaching me about, well, fundraising. At the end of the course, we have to submit a mentor evaluation. I’ve had nothing but good things to say about all the mentors I’ve had so far and Maureen was no exception:

Out of all the courses I’ve taken thus far, I feel that this course was one of the most important to learn. I researched and profiled individual donors, corporations and foundations; outlined a proposal; created a membership plan, a fundraising plan for an event, and a fundraising page for my organization’s website. I also wrote many letters (annual, committee, acknowledgment, letter of intent, membership campaign, etc). At the beginning of this course, my future nonprofit was going to be a writing center for teens. By completion, my future nonprofit is now going to be for writers of all ages. Due to the variety of different assignments, the ideas for my organization became more defined and helped me to see which direction I wanted to take.

By giving me visual examples from the nonprofit my mentor works for, I was able to see the inner workings of her organization and specifically, her department. These examples became a guide for my assignments and I found it immensely helpful. Working with Maureen was a great learning experience and all the information I’ve gleaned will be invaluable when I open my own nonprofit.

I received an A in the class.

Thank you Maureen Baker, for taking time out of your schedule to be my mentor and for sharing your expertise. It really was a great experience and I hope to work with you again sometime. If any of you live–or plan to visit–the Phoenix area, be sure to check out the Musical Instrument Museum (where Maureen is the Manager of Individual Gifts), where you can check out 190,000 square feet of musical instruments from all over the world.

I get a nice long break until Jan 27th, when the spring session starts up. After we move into our new place next month, I’m going to enjoy reading all those books in TBR pile.

Technorati Tags: Introduction to Fiction Writing, Maureen Baker, Musical Instrument Museum

Fundraising and Resource Development

Intro to Fiction Writing

The first one is a mentored course, and I feel I’m going to be learning a lot from Maureen Baker, manager of Individual Giving and Events at the Musical Instrument Museum. The other is an online course at Rio Salado College and by the end of that course, I will have completed a short story. Short stories were never my forte, but I’ve decided to try again. The DA series has a few little in-between stories that could be told and the best way seems to be in the form of a short story.

So, just like the GREASE song lyric states, it’s time for me to go back to school again. Join me for the ride.

Technorati Tags: Maureen Baker, Musical Instrument Museum

I’m participating in the 40-day Inner Mean Girl Cleanse.. For 40 days, I am joining women around the world to cleanse my system of 6 toxic habits of my Inner Mean Girl (gossip, comparison, judgment, expectations, and obligations) and replace them with self-loving habits instead.

This week’s toxin is: Unrealistic Expectations

The Mission: To give up over-promising and perfection for the next 7 days.

When my friend told me about Prescott College, I thought “Well, this school sounds perfect for me.” I browsed the website for hours, reading everything about the program I was thinking about entering. And then the next thing I know, I’ve decided to do it. I’ve decided to go back to school after 17 yrs and finally get my degree.

This time, I’m going back for me, and the degree isn’t going to be English. It’s going to be Nonprofit Management.

I attended the 3-day orientation and felt slightly overwhelmed, but excited about starting. Excited and apprehensive because I had to step outside my comfort zone and ask complete strangers to be my teachers. My original grad date was Dec 2011. If I took 3 classes per semester, I would graduate in Dec 2011. It seemed like a reasonable goal at the time.

Until I actually started school.

Two classes.

And promptly had a teeny, tiny, breakdown 2 months in. Seriously.

I couldn’t figure out why it was so hard until Babendude pointed it out.

“It’s because you didn’t have a job.”

Ah. And the light bulb clicks on.

When I was going to school, I had been going full time. My parents wouldn’t let me get a job until I transferred to ASU. And even then, it was on campus and part time.

I took three classes for the first time this past semester.

And it nearly killed me. Emotionally.

Graduating in Dec 2011 was a nice goal, a nice expectation. But an unrealistic one, I now realize. My life was different back in the 90′s. I’ve grown up since then. Which is why my grad date is now Summer 2012, taking two classes per semester. I agonized over that decision, too. I felt like I was letting myself down, letting Babendude down. I really wanted to finish next year. But I’ve come to terms with my limitations and have to compensate for that.

No over-promising for the next 7 days? Hah. Nooooo problem.

Technorati Tags: 40-day Inner Mean Girl Cleanse, Prescott College

Edit: I received the signed mentor eval for my CWII course: and it’s an A! Woot!

Happy Labor Day! Today officially marks the end of my summer session. I survived 3 classes. Barely.

Sustainable Financial Mgmt: A+

Creative Writing II – Revising Your Novel: Not sure yet. My core faculty hasn’t signed the eval yet.

Advanced Children’s Lit: C+ (despite being a writer, I’m not good at writing nonfiction. Essays and research papers suck!)

The first two were mentored courses and the last one was an online course through Prescott.

Georgia McBride, founder of YALITCHAT, for being a great CWII mentor. I learned so much from her and will be able to carry it through to my future books. Even go back to DA Book One and work some magic there.

Chantal Sheehan, former-CFO-now-Executive Director of New Global Citizens for being my Fin Mgmt. At one point during this course, I felt like I probably should’ve taken a basic accounting course before jumping in to this class, but she still did a great job. I’m looking forward to working with her with her again in spring 2011.

Thank you ladies for taking the time out of your busy, busy schedules to mentor me. My experience with you will be utilized in the future. I swear.

I have a 12 day break before the fall semester starts up again and I plan to enjoy it. From here on out it’s going to be 2 classes per semester. That means my grad date will be pushed back to about summer 2012, but I don’t care. My sanity will remain intact. And Babendude with thank me for it. LOL.

Technorati Tags: Georgia McBride, YALITCHAT, Chantal Sheehan, , New Global Citizens

I am so tired of school right now it’s not even funny.

Today, I busted out an assignment two hours before I had to meet my mentor. Didn’t give a damn if it sucked or not. She said I did good.

One–or both–of my mentors for my Fall semester may or may not be approved by my core faculty. I was worried about it for, like, a day.

Now, I don’t give a damn. I could probably use the break.

I have a 10-page research paper due on the 5th and I haven’t really started on it. Earlier this month, I had to change topics when I couldn’t find enough academic resources. I stressed about it.

But now, I don’t give a damn.

The summer semester ends Sept 6th. The fall semester starts 10 days after that.

Right now, that little window of Education Freedom is lookin’ like a slice of heaven.

I’ve got stack of 9 books in my TBR pile and I’m gonna spend that free time reading my ASS off.

Technorati Tags: Carolyn Brown