Another favorite writing spot at the library

I was invited by the wonderful Patti Jarrett from A New Day Dawns to join in the fun of a Blog Hop Around the World.  I told her I would join in but as I write this I am not sure how great of a post it will be.  Typical Beth Ann fashion—I jump in and say yes without really thinking it through but I will give it a good ole try.

I guess the hardest thing for me was to think about what “creative” thing I wanted to focus on in this post.  I do a bit of writing, a bit of photography and a bit of card making so perhaps I will incorporate all 3 of those.  I am definitely an amateur in all of them but that is what makes it fun. As long as I enjoy doing it and don’t “have” to do any of them for pay or with deadlines or restrictions it means it continues to be fun.  So here we go.  I am sure my answers are going to be riveting.   🙂

How does my creating process work? When I write something for a blog post I usually just sit down and write.  I keep a list on my phone of ideas for blog posts and sometimes put them in a draft form on WordPress so that I don’t forget what the idea was.   I find if I do that I have more chance to actually get that post written.My favorite writing spot is a certain table on the 3rd floor at our library.  When I take pictures I don’t spend a lot of time setting up the shot or making sure it is the perfect setting.  I just click.  It usually works.  With digital pictures it is so much easier because you can delete anything that is not up to standards. When it comes to card making I usually think about the person that I am making the card for and go from there.  A lot depends upon what time I have available to make the card.  If I procrastinate the card is less fancy.  That is why I like to keep a nice supply of cards already made up that are suitable for any occasion or person.

One of my favorite writing spots at the library!

When i write at home I sometimes have company which makes it a tad difficult.

How does my process differ from others in the same genre?  I am sure that I am less organized than most folks who write or create.  I have not really gotten into the habit of writing every day at  a certain time or for a certain length of time.  That is one of my goals.  If I want to be more serious about writing I need to dedicate that time to it. Not sure if that is going to happen.  Life gets busy, doesn’t it?   As far as doing photography —pretty simple.  I don’t really think about it much.  I usually have my camera with me and take pictures whenever I see something photo worthy.  When I make cards I make a huge mess.  Getting one thing out leads to getting a couple more things  out and before I know it I have a room filled with containers of scissors, punches, rubber stamps and stamp pads, embellishments, ribbons, tape, paper and all things craft related.  It isn’t pretty.  At all.

One of my neater areas when I make cards for Hospice.  And yes–that is a crown.  Because all creative people need to wear crowns when they create.

What am I working on?  I currently am just trying to keep the blog posts coming and that means making time to write, gather pictures and pull those all together.   I also like to try to do one post a week that I can talk about on my radio spot on Tuesday mornings.   I am also working continually on making sympathy cards for Hospice of North Iowa. When volunteering on a weekly basis became difficult because of traveling I offered to make sympathy cards for their bereavement program.  We agreed I would make them for a year and then evaluate.   To date I have delivered 400 cards to them for distribution to bereaved families.  I still have probably another 250 to make to keep them supplied for the year.  The great thing is that I have managed to make each card a bit different.  I have the same basic design with each one but with different papers and embellishments they all come out a bit differently.

Why do I create what I do?  My blog has become a great avenue for expressing myself as well as sharing with others my thoughts, travel adventures and of course, my teapot collection.  I get a lot of personal self fulfillment from being able to have the platform to share what I have written. Will any of it go down in history as examples of perfect writing?  Most likely not but it is a great way for me to express myself with the bonus of “meeting” some amazing people that I never would have connected with before.  When I create cards it is a personal way to share my sincere thoughts with someone else.  Especially with the sympathy cards that I do for Hospice.  I love that each family that has lost a loved one will get a hand made card from Hospice that tells them that they are in their thoughts.  To be able to be a small part of that is the best feeling in the world.

Part of the World Blog Hop was to “tag” some other bloggers to share their process.  Well guess what?  Everyone is too busy to be able to do it.  If I missed you and you want to do this on your blog please FEEL FREE!   Let me know so I can share with everyone else when you post.

Thanks, Patti for tagging me and letting me have the chance to share a bit of my creative process with you!