I do a three day retreat every year. I take time to review the goals I set last year, check to see if my vision is the same, set new goals. I can get quite detailed. Some goals appear again year after year.
This year is different. I set aside time OK, but I have not even looked at last year’s goals. I cleaned house instead! What? Me? Clean house?
I’m clearing the decks for…what?
I don’t have a clear vision of what I want my business to look like. Illustration? I kinda gave up on that when the traditional publishing industry started going belly up and Kindle began to take over. I moved away from watercolor landscapes years ago; I have no faith that wall art will create an income for me. I love painting on silk, and again wonder if there is really a market for lit. I love creating hand painted silk scarves, yet that has never felt like the whole picture.
How can I bring all that I am, all that I have experienced, all that I know, into my art in a way that speaks to something deep in people, that tells their story as well as my own? How can I create art that meets a need deep enough to exchange it for the material things I want in my life?
I keep thinking that if I dig deeply enough, the answer will come, and I’ll have a complete vision to work toward. Instead, my future seems hidden in a slowly rising mist. Little by little, through trial and error, little bits and pieces are revealed.
There is a Quaker saying, “Proceed as Way opens.” I think that applies here.
Hi Suzanna, E.L. Doctorow said about novel writing: I think it was Ray Bradbury who said that “It's like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”
ReplyDeleteKeep cleaning, you'll probably find yourself in the back of the hall closet. That's where I always am.