Guest Post - Kristine Hall-Garcia of Meditations on Art

Hi everyone! My name is Kristine Hall-Garcia. I am a writer, and the creator of Meditations on Art, a website for creatives. I’m excited to have been invited as a guest on Kristy’s blog. She asked me to tell you a little bit about myself and my new blog.

As my first novel is nearing completion, I knew I needed to start thinking about building an author platform. That’s a difficult task for an introvert who hates talking about herself. Being a writer, one might think that I would at least enjoy talking about writing, but I don’t. The idea of starting a blog about writing sounded like something I would quickly tire of.

One thing I do love though, is art in all of its various forms. I love music, painting, dancing, film, crafts, sculpture, photography, etc. Art excites me. I love being exposed to new art and artists, and I never tire of seeking them out.

I find that as a writer, I am often influenced by other art forms. A Tori Amos song, for instance, inspired my novel. I wrote a horror story that was inspired by a P.J. Harvey song, and I know musicians who wrote songs that were inspired by famous paintings. I think all artists are inspired by other forms of art.

What I wanted to do was create a space online that would bring artists of all forms together, under one virtual roof. While I definitely consider literature art, writing is really more of a craft. It doesn’t always feel magical and exciting. In fact, a lot of times it just feels like work. I find that I need constant inspiration and motivation to put in my work everyday.

And that is what Meditations on Art is about, bringing inspiration and motivation to creatives. Every month I feature a new artist who shares insights into their creative process, the highs and lows of their career, and of course, their art.

You won’t find any Stephen Kings or Taylor Swifts on my site. Meditations on Art is for the struggling artists. The ones who haven’t made it big, might never make it big, but do it anyway because they love it. My hope is that you will find a future King or Swift on my site, though. If you are an artist, or just someone who likes art, come check us out!

Kristy is my feature artist for November. And the rest of the line-up thus far looks great! Thank you for hearing me out, and I hope you will come visit me by clicking here: http://meditationsonart.com

128. BILL WATTERSON: A cartoonist’s advice from http://zenpencils.com/comic/128-bill-watterson-a-cartoonists-advice/

So, I was looking around Facebook and found this amazing blog with this amazing post.  It rings true to me, which means I'm hopefully not doing the wrong thing with my life.  While I have looked for a few jobs, I've got a bit of a past and its not easy.  Not to mention, that I put my creative future ahead of another profession or an easier way of making money.

Check out below for Bill Watterson's advice on being a creative and following your passion.

128. BILL WATTERSON: A cartoonist’s advice from http://zenpencils.com/comic/128-bill-watterson-a-cartoonists-advice/

Kristy C

Who is this would be somebody?

Since I've edited this page down some, and just started to reshare it, you might like to know who the heck I am.

Well, its fairly simple really and to start, I'm going to share what I posted on my 'About me' page on FB.

I'm a creative who's been lucky to have 2 amazing parents for almost 29 years of my life. My mother passed away in 2011, but I still have a great father.
I'm a Klingon-Hobbit, descendant of the Brandybucks [Meridoc specifically] and ancestor to the house of Mogh [Worf].
I'm a geek, a chick, a sap, a tater and a general weirdo.
I like my life stable, but enjoy the random.
I'm a shy person who can't stand large groups and takes a while to open up... Then you can't shut me up. :D
I adore selling things to people, love designing and creating and hope to have jewelry in a TV Show or Movie and a Book on a best sellers list.
I'm complex, confusing and generally odd.
Mostly, I'm a unique person who deserves to be treated with respect, even if we don't agree.
I am, Kristy.

 That, in a nutshell, is me.  Sure, there's more I could add.  But I think its more fun if you ask me some questions.

So, fire away.

Kristy C

August is for Writing and Balance

I've struggled over the last year to get back into writing, as my jewelry business has become central in my life.  And its not that I dislike that, but writing is at the center of my heart.  Jewelry Design is special but not AS special.

At the end of July, I had listed over 200 items in my Etsy store, had close to 100 more made and not yet listed [due to fees] and was trying to save/raise money for a big trip at the end of September.  No shows or real plans for August at that point. I was out of a lot of supplies, so making things wasn't going to happen without funds and in general, the business would end up going on a sort of 'nap'.

I'd also received an email from the lovely Gabriela over at DIY MFA (Do It Yourself Master of Fine Arts) about an upcoming project/challenge they were doing called 'Conquer the Craft'.  For the first 29 days of August, you would receive a daily prompt meant to help challenge yourself in writing.  Most should only take about 29 minutes to do, but longer was ok.

The main goal was to push yourself AND get into the norm of writing.  I saw this as a godsend, since I wanted badly to write and just needed a push.

And there it was.

So I happily put aside the jewelry.  I had a few events at the start of September I could plan for, and figured I'd just deal with them when they happened.

But as we've passed the halfway point, I see that I was only half right.

I need to find balance in my muse.  Balance will help me to move on into the next few months, with 4 shows of various lengths, and keep my writing a thing.  A normal thing.

August is about balance.

Despite having no actual funds to buy supplies, I need to strive to build even pieces of jewelry or plot out designs, so when I can make that order I'm not floundering.  I need to work on my stories, even just background and time lines.

Instead of 30 min on my writing, I need 30 min on writing, 30 on the business, 30 on promotion and 30 here... TWO HOURS A DAY!!!

That's all my heart says I need to stress over.  Spend the other times cleaning, running errands, researching, do what needs to be done.

Grow past this broken place you've been in for too long.

August is about balance.

I'm not naive enough to know there won't be times when one overshadows the other.  Try as we might, total balance isn't in our control.  But I also know that I am tired of giving up halfway, tired of feeling trapped with one or the other and tired of barely getting by.

Tired of being only a WOULD BE Somebody.

Kristy C