The Threads I See

Hello again, it’s been a while! I hope your summer is going well!

I’m usually happy with my unconventional workflow, but sometimes it just feels like juggling “this and that” atop a new project and below the tail end of an ancient one, all while humming the tune of another idea that’s somewhere in my peripherals…

Ah, well. Normally the flow is soft and fluid, but sometimes it does feel a bit like the circus described above. There is a sick thrill I find in the chaos though—one that leaves my brows perpetually furrowed in frenzy, but also grants me a level of satisfaction I rarely see on the day-to-day.

I’m doing it. I’ve got this. I’m crying but damn it all, I’m doing it!

And these days I’ve come to learn that these seasons are cyclical. They come and go, rage and flow. Some chapters are soft and intuitive, others more by-the-book. I’m currently in that former category.

Here’s my “book” as it stands:

• Write blog posts (attempting one right now)
• List ALL stock on Etsy
  ≫ take and edit photos, write descriptions, etc.
• Finalize artwork for the winter exhibition (and possibly a second show?)
  ≫ print photography entries
  ≫ wire paintings
  ≫ make more paintings?
  ≫ submit an inventory list
• Create and upload music for Insight Timer
  ≫ three premium music tracks, at least one regular
• Write another chapter for my novel

I’ve mostly been tackling the “list ALL stock to Etsy” checkpoint, which has been a fun change of pace. I have about ten crystals listed on the site, with about forty to fifty more to go. It’s fun work. It feels like soul work. I hold the items in my hands and I’m a kid again, gawking over the mineral display in our town’s public library.

And I’ve just realized—I’m selling crystals, incorporating them into my fictional story, and submitting photographs of them to upcoming art shows. My projects are random and eclectic, but there are clearly themes tying it all together. It’s just hard for me to see that on the day-to-day.

I struggle with “my identity” and seeing myself as a “whole”. I tend to see all these different parts of myself, all these different interests, as if they’re separated—detached from one another somehow. Sometimes it’s hard to see how they all fit together constructively. But then I see a silver thread, linking one part to the other. Crystals and minerals are in my art, writing, and business worlds. A thread to tie it all together and show me a glimpse of myself from a wider perspective.

So that’s what I look like…

Anyways, another week is underway and I’m feeling good despite the juggle. I hope to home-print some of my photographs and get them approved for the winter exhibition. I love painting, but I feel even more connected to the world behind a camera. Fingers crossed it works out!

Also, I have been picking away scenes for the novel, though I’m afraid it will be slow going until I finish some of these other, more time-sensitive projects. I’ll share an update soon though!

Well, wherever you are in the world, I wish you a wonderfully inspired day. Rest when you need to, bury your toes in the grass when time permits, and kick ass when work time comes ’round.

We’ve got this!
~ Sam

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Explore This Post’s References:
Crystal Curations
Music
Manuscript #6 Update
Summer Projects