patrick.net

"Except the peanut butter ones."

Blech. Yes. Awful. And licorice. Can't eat those either. There are actually lots of flavors I don't like, but I like the uniqueness of them enough to eat them anyway. Mainly I have buttered popcorn and coconut or whatever it is in this bag.

"The GOAT CHEESE pizza is in the oven, not to worry. "

LOL. Of course. I was going to suggest pizza. Also the food of the gods.

Uh-oh, so much for that slow growth policy...

"The popcorn ones are a little tweaked too Jamie. You are a weird one. "

It took me years to start liking them. I don't know why I kept eating them when I thought they were disgusting.

No, I don't have OCD. I just have a few minor tendancies in that direction, much more as a kid than I do now.

So do you think talking on this blog expends your creative energy and/or serves as a substitute for your painting?

Or is that just a complicated way of asking if you use it to procrastinate (I do, most certainly)?

Uh-oh, Jack abandoned me for pizza...

I'm just wondering, not trying to make you feel guilty or anything. ;-)

Actually this month has been a real dry patch creatively for me. I wrote a bunch of crap I don't want to revise, and I've been procrastinating a lot, but I think it's a combination of many stressors.

But then I think, there are really no excuses. I should just work through whatever crap is happening. That's what professionals are supposed to do.

But then sometimes my brain gets stuck on one train of thought, and I have to re-set it by focusing intently on something else. So I think this blog keeps me from re-setting my brain to focus on work.

Excuses excuses.

"It seems you always need to get going…or I never leave. one or the other. "

Hmmmm. No, I really just thought you'd disappeared. I wansn't hinting at anything. I'm watching the Simpsons.

Maybe we're having some kind of re-load delay issue.

Huh-huh. I said "load."

The computer.

Since you paint, do you find it harder to appreciate the work of other painters the longer you do it? Or does it not affect the way you view the work of others? Do you find it more enjoyable to look at other artforms (I'm guessing no since you listed mostly painters among your favorites)?

LOL, you're being really paranoid. I was just trying to think out my damn question!

I have not revisited that other thread.

Maybe we should move to the shed thread to keep from having these weird "hey you've disappeared" interludes.

Ah, jadedness, that's what I was wondering about. I know in writing, it becomes harder and harder not to deconstruct what the writer reads. Reading for enjoyment becomes more difficult an experience to have. I was wondering if it translated to art as well. But, there are some writers I can still get lost with--I just have a harder time finding them. Not that I know what the hell I'm doing or claim to be a good writer--it's just the process that leads to the deconstructing.

It's sort of like if a builder looked at houses and was only able to see the parts that made the house--not able to appreciate the house in its finished form.

LOL, no I did not see the other posts. You probably have low blood sugar or something. It's making you freak out a little.

So are there other art forms you enjoy besides painting?

Oh, those posts on the shed thread--you wrote those a little earlier right? I did see those but don't want to freak you out by disappearing from here to reply to them.

RE teaching, I disagree about the pay thing--they all deserve more money. Every age group has its challenges. Kindergarten teachers are some of the most satisfied teachers I know of. But I think all teachers have a responsibility to be role models. My high school teachers were by far the most positive adult role models I had and were a big part of the reason I thought for a while that I wanted to be a teacher.

Oops, I meant to say *some* of my high school teachers...

URgh, I just ate a jelly belly that tasted like...cactus flavor or something. Disgusting.

Interesting comments on the other thread about the different levels of college teaching. I went to community college here in So Cal about 12 yrs ago (and later to Cal State for a while), and I tutored English and political science. It was crazy trying to tutor English at the community college, to students who were still trying to grasp how to construct complete sentences. I mostly felt like a failure and went on to be an unhelpful computer lab girl instead, which didn't have the same potential for failure.

There's not much to say about my writing...

LOL. One big one-ness. I like that.

I think genre constraints can be creatively freeing in some ways. Or they can be a good creative challenge, especially for writers starting out. Too much freedom can be bad in the beginning.

I'm at a point now where I sometimes feel constrained by the, um, constaints, I guess. I want to experiment with different forms but it's hard to maintain earning an living and experiment too.

But that's not to say that the urge to experiment with other forms is necessarily a good urge. It could just be a way of procrastinating.

I think working with a flat canvas presents such an interesting creative challenge. I find it very daunting. I would always want to stick stuff to it, make it more dimensional. Mixed media collages.

The romance genre is very flexible, kind of all-encompassing in that it has many subgenres and hybrids. It's just hard to make the leap from one kind of book to another even within the genre, one publisher to a second one, etc. I just need to write faster, that's all. :-) And I can when my kids are a little older. Not right now though. So it's a choice of writing what is paying and steady right now, or writing something different and risk not selling at all.

Oh no, I'm watching Desperate Housewives! Help, my brain is shriveling...

You're right, all that really matters are the relationships. The rest of it is fluff.

ACtually I'm not really watching it yet. I"m Tivoing but am too lazy to turn the TV off. Maybe I will be twice as stupid if I watch it twice.

Um, no, unless you read romance already, you should not read my books. I'm guessing you're not a romance reader, correct??? ;-)

95 percent women and 5 percent prison inmates, LOL. Lucky for me I have not gotten any prisoner letters, but I have friends who have.

No, it's okay, if you want to read my books go ahead. I don't know why it weirds me out a bit when guys I know (like relatives!) say they've read my books. I just think of the audience as female, and they are most thoroughly women's fantasies. But I do have kind of an edge that I imagine appeals to men (at least certain parts, LOL), so it's no big deal.

I always tell me if they really want to know what women want they should read romance novels.

I meant to say I tell MEN, not me...

So I hope that was not your big brush with fame, LOL.

Prison brides are complete freaks.