2022 Creativity Project – Day 5

Today, I return to my original format used with my first creativity project online, found on Chronicles. I have included my handwritten journal entry for this date.

Prompt
If you have not tried journaling, do that. You may wish to do freeform as above, or you may want to give yourself a topic each day. If you are doing specific creative work, a journal may also be used to work out glitches and problems in what you are doing. Include what you wish; a journal is like a friend whose feedback is in your reading again.

Recommendation
I have listened to the Audible version of Sandman and am listening to Sandman 2. I am usually not a fan of audiobooks, but I find these extremely enjoyable. Both employ a cast of voice actors and required sounds, and it may help that I am already a fan of Neil Gaiman.

READING SUGGESTION
The first book I have completed in 2022 is Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I read this book in 2011 when it originally came out, and I am afraid much reading since fogged my memory of some portions. Since my son, Alex, often references it, I reread it.
It is a good book about computers, simulations, the 1980s, the present, friendship, romance, lost love, and even has some murder thrown in. It is a book with a broad appeal, as relevant now as at its initial publication, maybe more.

1
Maybe, those dreams past
We can make real if we take
This time to attend
To things we began before
Warnings dire started to flash.

2
Who could you become
If you trusted yourself more
Than you have before?

3
We can never buy
What we want most, try we may
But days, past decays.

Gratitude List
I am thankful:
1.
For holidays, and
For average days when routine
Takes hold, and things are
A bit less bold, and one can
Be a comfortable self, like:
A quiet volume,
Not opened to reveal all
The story it hides,
But sitting dreamy waiting
‘Til some hungry soul arrives.
2.
For clever devices
Technologies some devise
Adding joy to lives.
3.
My ability
To read and maybe write,
With some expertise.
4.
These dogs, who call me
Theirs, who willingly share space
And the air freely.
5.
Friends and family
I have had, happily known,
Those lives still present
And those now gone, just away,
Or to their heavenly home.

A gratitude list, made poetry? Not entirely sure what happened there, but I also seem to speak in rhyme from time to time, so I guess I will not worry over something so sublime.

I am afraid all this went a little long, but I hope you enjoyed your time here. If you like, use one of the available methods to follow the site, or come again when you will. I would be most pleased to have you like this post and the others you read. If you have friends who might find this worthwhile, your recommendation is always appreciated.

Everything here is © Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

2022 Creativity Project – Day 4

My son, Alex, gave me this book for Christmas. I was surprised because he complains about the number of volumes I have. Looking at this gorgeous knowledge base, I understand.

Coming into a new year, one is often hopeful for change and positive outcomes. I am mapping out what I hope to accomplish.

Settling into today with a steadfast commitment to dreams with a probability of success.

Be the rebel, maverick, that shakes the floor and elevates everyone toward the ceiling.

Happen: because you are to be.

1
The music trembles
The body mumbles, rumbles, soft
The beginning comes;
Wonder captures wanderers
Somewhere delight shakes, titters.

2
Wherever fear lives
We must courageously find –
Evict the squatter,
No derelict habitude
Has consequence in our lives.

3
Waifs, wayfarers, flit
Like honeybees everywhere
Spites, spirits, going
Somewhere, elsewhere, forever
Temporary wind home.

Gratitude List
I am thankful:
1. I finally tried the wireless earbuds I got for Christmas and like them a lot.
2. Still getting used to the old-style keyboard, but it is getting easier.
3. Glad I decided to do a Creativity Project again.
4. Beginning to accept losing my Facebook account. Trying to like the new one.
5. Wookie and I are getting along somewhat better.

PROMPT
What is one creative thing you can do now that will get you closer to where you want to be before the end of the year? Implement this immediately. {My plan is to create something and share it here every day. I hope to come back and collect some of it.}

Call to Action
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A Voice, Recalling

When we lose someone, we lose a world. Like pulled dandelions, what we shared no longer grows, and memories begin their inexorable progression toward erasure.

Loss is not a welcome thing, but the world relies on change to bring new worth. We are only brief figments here on earth.

I remember playing with the cigar box full of marbles as a child. They were of different sizes, colors, like jewels to me. I made them families, heroes, nobles, gave them ages, dispositions, names. One would sit in the hole on the clipboard’s clip and tell the others what to do. Each globe would, in the different voices I contrived and assigned, live life in child-time.

When my son was small, I got him Weebles with their cute rounded bodies and affable faces. It occurs to me today why I preferred Weebles to the other brand: the marbles influenced me.

What life deposits in our hands, heads, hearts, pockets, shoes, we may not recognize until some complexity pulls it into mind. The sea awash within a brain is a many furrowed swell; the trenches have their heads and tales to tell.

I am not fond of goodbyes. Usually, it is me who must go away, and life goes on ever else. Death, though, is another story. All that is left to hold are anecdotes, pictures, memories we wrote. The pain is like a hammer to the brain, the million shards left of the heart; together, these foist into life oceans of tears. Even as the years go by, there are days when all fails, but the sobs that will not stop.

I would go back to the marbles if I could, but they left my inventory’s grasp somewhere in the years. Like so much along the way, I only have recollections of what I believe was yesterday. Without artifacts, there are questions, questions arresting and bold.

Today is, we can
Maybe, make a memory
Shining beautiful,
So the mind will forever
Keep it safely untarnished.

Reading books can be a treasure of inspiration.

As a prompt, take something you are reading, pick a phrase, let it marinate in your consciousness. Then write until your soul exhausts the subject, at least for a time.

Gratitude List

I am thankful:

I am here; there were many near misses.
I still learn and am teachable.
Technology astounds, confounds, and fascinates me.
Color adds so much to our lives.
Electricity keeps the world going on.

If we all work together separately, we can bring the world into a state of art. Creativity is a portion of love.

Sweet Surprise

I returned an item to my Sister-in-Law, Linda, this afternoon. We had some pleasant conversation. I was happy to visit.

Then she said this is a birthday/Christmas present, and gave me these lovely things. I was surprised and joyful. I mean, WOW! I cannot wait to finish my current journal, though sadly, it will be a while.

We talked about church, and I said I was not going. She invited me to come to her church, which was my church before, and that may happen.

I need more personal interaction. I have very nearly become a hermit.

Anyway, beautiful things given to me by a very dear person.

Simple Reviews – Books

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August – by Claire North, has 417 pages. Harry keeps living and dying, and the end of the world is coming sooner. Finding the problem becomes a needful thing. Five Stars.

The Miniaturist – by Jessie Burton, is 419 pages. I initially checked this book out from the library when it was new. I finally got around to reading it on Kindle. The story follows a household headed by a shipping magnate. Many strange and interesting incidences occur. Five Stars.

Heaven and Hell – by Bart D. Ehrman, has 346 pages. Not what I was looking for, but the research is relatively solid. The statements at the end of the book tainted the thing for me. Still, it is well-written and information-packed, so I give it Five Stars.

The Witching Hour – by Anne Rice is a hefty tome at 1043 pages. I am a big fan of Vampire Chronicles, but I have avoided the Mayfair Witches for years. I finally read them. Anne’s style with detail and character development is top tier, and the story is enthralling. Five Stars, but yeah, it should have more.

Piranesi – by Susanna Clarke, is 243 pages. This book I read in June, and recently it has won significant accolades. I read this author years ago, and she always delights. The story is between magical realism and puzzling horror. Five stars or you could give it all the gold ones in the package.

Reviews are strictly my opinion. Your experience may vary. Reading is an art, like writing, that illuminates the soul—approach books with care. What is within can be like a tsunami to your notions and your life.