[Place, writing] More Thoughts on Place, Community, and Connection

Posted on 02/13/2012 by catholm10

Along the lines of the last blog entry about place, I have been thinking about how I’ve changed (in subtle, and maybe not-so-subtle, ways) since moving from the city to a place in the middle of nowhere. On recent visit to the city, I got together with a relative who is familiar with a radio station in my neck of the woods. We were talking about the fact that I’d recently read from my writing on that station.

“Well,” said my cousin, half-joking, “it had to be better than that ______ (insert the name of a very local radio show where people call in to say they have stuff for sale).” And I cringed.

Community

I cringed because I can remember when I probably would have said the same thing. (Yikes.) At one time, these small town thingies seemed odd and silly to me; perhaps quaint or a waste of time. Now, I think they’re neat. It’s actually a form of community. I know the people who run the radio show. I might be interested in the objects for sale. Hey, maybe not everyone in the world gets turned on by skijouring equipment for free, or a beautiful $200 oak dining table and chairs (which I coveted, but didn’t have the money for at the time, sadly) – but I do.

My cousin means no harm by her statement. I cringed mostly because it reminded me of how much I may have changed. I could try and try to explain to my friends and relatives there that yes, I have a life up here in the woods. A rich life. But I bet some of them would never be convinced of it. And yes, every place has its pros and cons. Sometimes I yearn for things that are far away. I wish I could get to the opera without driving for hours. I miss the Ordway. I want sushi nearby. But I also love being able to ski outside the back door. I love the quiet, which helps me think. I love the stars. It’s all a matter of perspective.

Social Media as Small Town Community

I read something very interesting on my Kindle the other night. I had downloaded an ebook on social media marketing for writers. The author compared social media to small town living, because social media is all about relationship. I thought that was pretty neat. Finally, a way I can think about social media. Suddenly it doesn’t seem so cold and big. Relationships. Humans need these, even if they can’t always be face to face.

What am I doing? Trying to use social media more. Trying to give it the time it deserves. I like the relating.

How about you? Do you enjoy using social media, or find it another chore? (Quite honestly, I’ve been in both places.) Do you like the ability that we now have to relate to people in this way?

Till next time,

Cat

Posted in Life, Place, Writing | 2 Comments

Training recommendation: Yoga as Muse ™ 2012 Facilitator Training

Posted on 02/09/2012 by catholm10

Groundbreaking facilitator training is being offered: the Yoga as Muse ™ 2012 Facilitator Training. I have taken this training and recommend it. You can go directly to this page to read about the training in detail. I’ll give you a little background here.

Yoga as Muse ™ uses the very simple and effective tools of yoga (movement and breathing) to help writers and artists create and sustain momentum in their creative work. You can use the tools of Yoga as Muse to create momentum in your work, keep distraction at bay, and access a deep and subconscious level of creativity. It’s very simple, and very very effective. I use it every day in my writing work as well as my life.

If this sounds like a method you’d like to use to engage with people and to help writers (and artists and others) create and sustain creative momentum, then read on.

I can’t speak for other artists, but I can tell you that writing can be a lonely process! And more importantly, writing can be a sedentary process. When we sit for too long, we can lose momentum in our work. If we’re accountable to only ourselves, how do we keep going?

If you love working with people and helping them use their bodies and tap into their deeper awareness to create momentum in their own creative practices, consider taking this training.

Yesterday a good friend and I were talking about how important actual movement is. If we move our bodies regularly during the day, we create more momentum around what’s important in our lives. It never fails.

Movement is important for all of us. Awareness and movement are just a few of the gifts that the ancient art and science of yoga brings us.

Here’s an excerpt from the Yoga as Muse facilitator training page that sums up whether this training might be for you:

This training is right for you if you’re a creative practitioner, yoga teacher, counselor, coach, physical therapist, or anyone with a creative practice ready to:

  • embrace this amazing creative life & what you have to share with your own right people
  • trust yourself and honor your unique gifts as a facilitator
  • deepen your creative tool belt so you’re equipped with extraordinary advantages as a facilitator, coach, consultant, or leader
  • learn substantial ideas and information that you’ve always been curious about regarding the body, the mind, creativity, and group facilitation
  • be part of a new field of embodied creativity and embodied learning

Again, go to this page if you’re interested in reading more about or signing up for this facilitator training. It is an intense experience that it well worth it. Creator and teacher Jeffrey Davis is a phenomenal teacher and you will leave the training fully equipped to give workshops and work one-on-one with people, using the Yoga as Muse approach.

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[Place] Thoughts on writing, belonging, and change.

Posted on 01/16/2012 by catholm10

I spent a few days in the big city, promoting My Heart is a Mountain. These are the cities I grew up in. I am quite comfortable there and I appreciate the easiness of everything. Food is a block away. Heat is turned up with a thermostat, instead of waiting for a woodstove to heat the house and hauling armloads of wood from the woodpile into the house. There are not a million things to take care of here – no gardens, animals, woods to take care of, food to put up, and the endless list of stuff that needs to get done on a homestead. I feel idle in the city. Sometimes I don’t know what to do with myself.

I’m comfortable in the city, but I had a patch of time on the last visit when I wondered what in heck I was doing there. Everything felt so…cold. And it was! The temp was hovering near the zeros. But worse, I felt anonymous.

There’s a line in my short story “Farmwoman” where the narrator says “I’ve become invisible in the city.” (She’s an older woman who was forced to leave her homestead and come to town and live in assisted living). That’s how I felt for an instant, in the city. I wandered into Trader Joes looking for lettuce. The store was full of people milling about, and it seemed that none of them were interacting in a meaningful way! For one moment, I wished I were in my small town grocery store, where I might actually run into someone I knew, who might actually stop and talk to me for a minute.

We’re complicated, we humans. I like to work alone, but I need my connections too.

When I first moved to the small town, many years ago, it freaked me out to go into town and get noticed by everyone. I wanted to be anonymous. Now, I don’t care for the anonymity in the city. How strange is that?

Stranger still, I can’t put my finger anymore on the personality of this city I grew up in. I really have “moved” to a different place. When I visit the city, I no longer feel like a native. I’m a visitor.

I think that Place can have a personality. The place where I live can have a stark personality, a personality of beautiful hardships, and knowledge of the land that simmers under the surface of the sameness of rural reality. The nuances of greatness are there if you know how to look for them. I think it takes some time living in a place to start to hear and see and sense these nuances.

I’ve completed a new short story collection that I will start sending out at the end of January. Like My Heart, it has to do with Place, but other themes emerge as well. Stay tuned!

Posted in Life, Living close to the land, My Heart is a Mountain: Book Promotion, Place, Writing | 7 Comments

[writing, youtube, My Heart is a Mountain] I read from my short story collection

Posted on 12/20/2011 by catholm10

Here’s a very short video of me reading from my story collection My Heart is a Mountain: Tales of Magic and the Land. Chester, the orange cat, helps me out!

Posted in Cats Cats Cats!, My Heart is a Mountain: Book Promotion, Writing, writing teaser, youtube | Leave a comment

Catherine Holm author events in Minneapolis on Dec 8 and Dec 9, 2011.

Posted on 12/07/2011 by catholm10

Dear Twin Cities friends,

I have two quick announcements of book readings that I’ll be part of, this week:

I’ll be reading live at the Loft in Mpls (www.loft.org) with Ann Iverson and Tony Bukoski at 7 pm on Thursday December 8.

I’ll be reading live at the True Colors Bookstore (www.truecolorsbookstore.com) in Mpls with Kathryn Kysar and Ellen Lansky at 7 pm on Friday December 9.

These should be lots of fun. The audience will get a mix of authors and genres – poetry, fiction, possibly creative nonfiction. Come and enjoy the written/spoken word.

I hope to see you or meet you there.
Thank you!
Cat

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[Writing Life] I love getting older because sometimes I feel smarter. :)

Posted on 11/28/2011 by catholm10

I do! I’ve had some real clarity lately around my writing life.

If you’re trying to make sustained progress on your creative projects, you need to find what works for you. And here’s what I’m finding for me:

1. A little bit of structure. Just enough structure in the rest of my day so that I am forced to make the best use of my allotted writing time.

2. Complementary income-producing work. This is a biggie! I once wrote and produced a magazine for a client. I didn’t have enough creative brain left during that time to do ANY creative writing. It sucked. Now I stick to editing (mostly) and tutoring, which I am finding that I really enjoy. Teaching yoga is also a great way to move (after all the sitting), deal with writerly angst, and get with people!

3. Belief. Even if there’s a day where I only get 15 minutes in of creating, it still feels good. It still feels as if I am contributing to something much bigger than 15 minutes would seem to indicate.

4. Discernment. I’m getting better at this. What can I let go of? What is important and what is not?

Keep writing! Keep creating.

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gratitude — a graceful survival skill

Posted on 10/25/2011 by catholm10

I went on a little spending spree the other day — why? Because things are tight! Hmmmm…makes sense, right? Money is tight, so…spend money!

Fortunately, I came to my senses once I got home. I’m going to return the stuff today. And it’s cheap stuff! It won’t last. This is not like me. But it’s funny what stress will do to us. I bought home two (cheap) dining room chairs that need to be installed and were not made in the USA. I got them home and realized that — ugh — I didn’t want these chairs. ‘They’ll probably last two weeks,” my husband said. We HAVE chairs…that have lasted for 30 years. Yes, they don’t look that great, but I could refinish them, one chair at a time. It doesn’t have to be hard. I’m not a hoarder (in fact, I love to get rid of stuff) but I am increasing learning, that sometimes, older stuff is better built. I can’t WAIT to return this stuff. The spending spree felt good — returning it all feels even better. Funny the places where gratitude comes from.

And here’s a purrr for you today. What  brings you gratitude?

 

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I’m reading from My Heart is a Mountain, Wednesday, 9/14, Magers & Quinn, Minneapolis

Posted on 09/13/2011 by catholm10

I’ll join two other northern Minnesota authors (Becca Manlove and Sheila Packa) tomorrow night (Wednesday, September 14, 730 pm) for a triple reading and signing at Magers and Quinn booksellers in Minneapolis. Stop by for a great evening of poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction!

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Writing — Creative Clarity and Conscious Choices

Posted on 09/12/2011 by catholm10

I got real clear about something this weekend. Writing must come first in my life (along with family, of course). When I say to myself “Creativity First,” I remind myself that I do best when I turn my attention to writing first, each day.

Of course, there are days when other things happen first. And I also try to be flexible and not get twisted about this. The important thing is that writing keeps happening. Creating, revising, or something that contributes to my writing — keeps happening.

This isn’t the first time I’ve had this thought. But each time I re-remind myself and stay on course, my path gets stronger.

Having My Heart is a Mountain come out has strengthened my efforts and given me belief in myself and momentum in my efforts. But you don’t need to have a book “in print” yet to find this kind of determination.

Make conscious choices about your time and your day. For example, I don’t watch TV. I am careful about how deep I dive into social networking, simply for the time factor. Conscious choices, and what Patrick Ryan calls “a good state of effort” will get me farther than running around like a nut, trying to do everything and doing it poorly.

Figure out what’s important for you. Then, make conscious choices about what areas you want to live well in — where you want to put your precious, directed efforts.

As far as we know, we may only have one life on this earth. How do you choose to show up here? How will your creativity contribute to the world?

Need help clarifying your creative efforts, or creating momentum? I’m a life coach who works with writers and helps you stay strong and focused on your creative path. Contact me at cat@catherineholm.com to find out more about coaching and for a free sample session. I also offer editing and mentoring services, and Yoga as Muse ™ for writers and others.

 

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Yoga as Muse sample workshop and booksigning — tomorrow night!

Posted on 08/03/2011 by catholm10

I’ll be at the Grand Rapids (MN) library tomorrow night at 7 PM, giving a sample Yoga as Muse workshop and reading from and signing my book. Stop by — this is an incredible library on the banks of the Mississippi!

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