I’m currently “doing” The Artist’s Way.  I say doing because it’s not a book that you just read.  There are exercises.  It’s kind of like a course.  A course in creativity.  You have to do it.  I’ve tried to do it before.  Probably about 8 times since around 1998.  I always get stuck around week seven.  Stuff starts to happen, I start becoming prolific and (gasp) believing in myself and my creativity, and then I get confronted and some task will seem too daunting and I throw in the towel.
Yeah, well, that was then. Â The last time I started was in 2010. Â I had just lost a son at 21 weeks pregnant. Â I was in a dark place. Â It was also winter, so the world was in a dark space with me. Â But since then, I’ve had a gorgeous baby girl, I’ve been diagnosed bipolar, and I’m figuring out how to do all of this with aplomb and grace.
So I’m figuring out what I want to be when I grow up (I’m 38 now) and I thought it was an appropriate time to do The Artist’s Way again. Â I pulled out my tattered copy and was instantly moved back to all the other times I’ve started the course. Â The time when I was living in London, and used to sit in Soho Square doing the assignments, for example. Â This book has been with me through many lives. Â
The way it works is that there is reading for each week, and then assignments and things to think about. Â One of the assignments this week was to think about five other lives you would have lived if you could have, and then take an action on one of them. Â So if you wanted to be a cowgirl, for example, maybe you could go horseback riding.
My five were:
– Nun
– Writer
– Choral Composer
– Museum Curator
– Shop Owner
The thing that draws me to either the museum curator or the shop owner is that I love the idea of having my own personal space filled with my favorite things, a curated collection of things I find interesting or love, and then having people come in to look at that stuff, and in the case of a shop, buy some of it.
There are so many things I find interesting, and want to learn more about. Â I figure one thing I can do that crosses off a couple of birds with one stone is to start a blog where I shall curate my favorite and most interesting things. Â It will kind of be like the Virtual Museum of Heather. Â This way I get to write AND curate information, a la a museum curator. Â Bam, two for one.
I bought the domain name kuratory.com because it combined curate, curiosity, and story; and the version spelled correctly wasn’t available. Â And I think it looks funky.
So that’s the why and the what.
When: as often as I can, within in the confines of having a year old toddler and a full time job. Â Hopefully several times a day.
Where: Everywhere!
How: The WordPress app, my curiosity,Â
There we go. Â Rather, here we go.