I thought I’d play a little bit with video posting this time around. The gist: I encourage everyone to tell their story. When you do something from your heart, you just never know how it will manifest. For me, I’m starting on a new journey, speaking with different groups about my book CANELA. I met with students in Boston this past week — and I’m a better person for hanging out and sharing some stories with these amazing kids! I learned so much! They really are going to rule the world! So grateful.
Here’s a little quick video clip I made yesterday morning…
I’m a stutterer. I have been since I was a kid. Most people don’t notice. Only those that KNOW may see how I work around it. I remember being so sad in grade school and then being told that “…even James Earl Jones stutters and he’s the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars…”. Well, that changed everything! I became okay with stuttering. Maybe even a little proud of it because you know, Darth Vader stuttered too. I worked hard to get through it with therapists and such, but knowing someone else stuttered and “made it” — that was everything! How cool was it when I actually got to meet him on set and talk about our stuttering issues over a meal? Yeah, priceless!
I’ve never eaten Lobster in my life. I don’t eat shellfish, no sushi, rarely eat seafood at all.
I’ve run three marathons. I’m not a fast runner by any means, and my last marathon was in 2004, but it was on my bucket list and it was GREAT to scratch that off the list for sure!
I write in a journal every morning. I write – not type – with a pen and sketch book. I’ve done this since I can remember. It’s as normal to me as brushing my teeth in the morning. It’s my therapy/meditative time.
I’ve gone Sky-Diving and would do it again in a heartbeat! I used to be afraid of heights and thought this would help. It did quite a bit, though I still have a little fear of it. It was quite the adventure for sure! (Check out the Video here!)
I don’t like cut flowers. I love flowers, trees, plants – I don’t like that people cut flowers and put them in their home. I don’t like real Christmas trees for the same reason. Fake trees and flowers can be just as lovely and last forever! One of my pet peeves is seeing Christmas trees lined in the alley way near the dumpsters discarded and dead a few days after the holiday. Who knows how long those trees would have lived! I feel the same way about flowers (sorry Oprah). I know, it seems a little crazy, but I said “..things that may surprise you…”. Side note: yeah, never bring me flowers – chocolate YES, flowers NO.
I was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, but I do not have a Boston accent and never really have. Part of that is because I traveled the states so much as a kid, but get me around a Bostonian and I can, just as easily, drop a few “R’s” here and there.
I have always been a Sci-Fi “aficionado”. STNG over the original. BSG. Scully over Mulder. Only the original Star Wars…Eureka, Stargate SG1, Atlantis…you get the point if you enjoy the world. I’m also a fan of most fantasy – Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings… Oh and don’t get me started on Marvel, DC Comics. Yes, I love all of it.
For whatever reason, I cannot break eggs without a piece of shell landing in the mix. So, years ago I started breaking eggs in a separate bowl first so I can pick out any shells before adding it to any pan or recipe. It really kills me that I can’t do it. Oh, and chefs who break eggs with one hand? I think are genius! It’s a skill that secretly fascinates me! Ha!
And this is NO secret to most, but just in case any newbies are visiting: I published my first book CANELA this past June and I’m now working on the beginnings of my second book. Wow. I’m now an “author”. I’m still getting used to that!
I love reading about people’s “isms”. We all got’em. It’s what makes us all unique. Sometimes, it takes a long while to realize that. But once you do and embrace all that you are, it can be helpful, liberating and kinda cool! Being unique, or different, can be a GREAT thing! Sure, it can be challenging at times, but hopefully, always fulfilling – in the most positive ways ever!
My Creative Process (Enjoy the podcast or the transcription below)
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I was asked this question the other day when I was speaking to a group of women. The question was: What is your creative process?
I don’t know why I was so taken aback by the question. It’s a valid question, but I guess I hadn’t really thought about it as a creative process.
I think one of the most important things that you can do as an artist, in any way shape or form that doesn’t get enough credit, is daydream.
I go running in the morning down to the beach and I have a bench that I sit at that I absolutely love – and there are times when I’ll drive down to the beach even after I’ve gone for a workout or whatever and I’ll just sit on that bench and I daydream. The process of being able to sit quietly and just think things through — this is probably the most important thing that I do as an artist especially when it comes to writing and especially when it comes to writing my book. Those stories are pretty much real true stories that happened to me, but I had to decide how to tell the story.
So one of the things I would do, is kind of see that story in my head and imagine myself back there. And sometimes that’s a really good thing, and sometimes it’s a hard thing, but that’s the first part of my process. And I think sometimes we’re really mean to ourselves about daydreaming and about just having time to imagine, imagination and story-telling. In our own heads we kind of think we’re being lazy or you know that we should be automatically writing everything right now… that’s not how it works for me.
I spend a lot more time thinking about what it is I’m going to write — and then I am someone who writes in journals. And I prefer that texture of actual paper to pen — pen to paper — so I will write out those stories and I write every morning and it is long hand and sometimes it’s cursive sometimes it’s printing sometimes I’m just doodling, sometimes I’m writing just the name over and over and over again – Like you did in high school or whatever. Some people who follow my blog have seen some of my Journal entries. The reason why I don’t do them all the time is because I’m not always “journaling” about one subject and you know sometimes I’m venting or trying to process things because it is a Journal.
But I do enjoy that long-hand part, so once I write down that story or that part of the imagination or day dream that I had, then I go and I put it on the computer. I just basically try to put it into some type of form on Word and then I leave it alone. I leave it alone for a long time. And then I come back to it. It could be a month later, or it can be 2 days later, but I come back to it and make a decision on whether or not I’m gonna keep that or not. Then once I keep it, it is sent to an editor.
I tell people when I first wrote my book it was 664 pages. Now it’s not that at all, I think it’s like 160 pages now — but I wrote everything and then I went through the process of having three different people — that I will call editors – they were people who know me and who don’t know me – and I wanted them to just look at it for clarity. And then I had an actual editor work on it before it got published of course.
That’s the process of how I went about doing my book and that is the process that I’m going through right now with the second book that I’m writing as well. And in everything I’ve ever done, dancing, acting, any of these things — I do kind of the same thing: I daydream. I imagine, I dream and I try to conceptualize it in my head. And I honor that process — I honor the process of being able to sit quietly. And sometimes I think about nothing! Because sometimes, that’s when something pops and something makes sense, and something comes together is when you take the time to just BE.
So I wanted to share that. I thought it was kind of a cool question and maybe it’s odd, but maybe there’s a lot more people out there that do the same thing I did.
Thanks for stopping by. Have a sweet day and I’ll be back again real soon.
I’m not some great writer. I’m not even the most brilliant storyteller – but my story is interesting, and probably not so much the norm. My point in writing these true stories, is to remind us that who we are in the world and how we treat each other, matters. We matter to each other. And sometimes we don’t even realize it.
Every person I talk about in the book is someone who changed the way in which my life manifested after I lost my only parent. I ended up in some interesting, dangerous predicaments as a child and yet, I can say that I had the best childhood. I should’ve been a statistic – in a bad way – and instead I had a really great life and became “successful” because of these amazing people I met along the way. We need to be reminded that who we are matters — not just to ourselves and our families, but to each other. Every day. With everyone we interact with. When we do something, when we say something — when we are our best selves, we can change a persons life for the better. That’s what happened to me.
I hope you’ll read the book. Let me know what you think. Please don’t be too harsh! Either way, I hope you enjoy your visit to my blog – “my creative space” and that you’ll consider wandering over here again some time soon.
As I re-read this journal entry, I kind of laugh. Clearly, sometimes I should just put down the pen and drink my coffee. I try and pick the “best” of what I’ve written in a week to scan and post… Well, this goes off the rails a bit, but the point is Time is something I’ve been thinking a lot about – still am thinking about.
I go running in the morning down to the beach and I have a bench that I sit at that I absolutely love – and there are times when I’ll drive down to the beach even after I’ve gone for a workout or whatever and I’ll just sit on that bench and I daydream. The process of being able to sit quietly and just think things through — this is probably the most important thing that I do as an artist especially when it comes to writing and especially when it comes to writing my 
writes in journals. And I prefer that texture of actual paper to pen — pen to paper — so I will write out those stories and I write every morning and it is long hand and sometimes it’s cursive sometimes it’s printing sometimes I’m just doodling, sometimes I’m writing just the name over and over and over again – Like you did in high school or whatever. Some people who follow my blog have seen some of my Journal entries. The reason why I don’t do them all the time is because I’m not always “journaling” about one subject and you know sometimes I’m venting or trying to process things because it is a Journal.
