Happy Thursday! It’s been a while since I checked in with a playlist, so figured it was high time to share my latest today! To be honest, I find the end of the year can be a slow time for new music, as a lot of artists aren’t releasing new stuff (and with the holiday rush, I generally don’t have as much time to scour the old stuff for gems). As such, this playlist is a little shorter than normal, but still some great tracks to listen to in the background at work or while making dinner! Bachelor obsessives might notice a track from this past week’s episode — such a random way to get introduced to new artists, right? Also: was it just me, or were you more interested in the singer than the Bachelor himself? As this recap says, Arie “has the emotional range of a faceless mannequin at Macy’s.” Ha! Something about that song kind of reminds me of the classic “Kissing You” by Des’ree. Don’t lie, you were obsessed with Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet same as I was.
Anyway. This week has flown by for me! I think it was due to fully being back in the saddle after the holiday break. I’m trying to pace myself and not over assign tasks, lest I burn out before I even start the engines. How has your week been going?
Other quick updates: I’m working on a post about cultivating minimalism that I hope I can share you with soon (maybe tomorrow?). I know minimalism is the buzz word right now, but I noticed something interesting about how it can take hold in your life when you least expect it, and want to tell you about it. What else? My first in the series of writing workshop classes was last Thursday, and it was really good! We had a homework assignment to free write in the morning every day this week, right when you wake up. No making coffee, no looking at phones, no checking email, no doing anything else — just wake up, grab your laptop and write. What did I learn? That I have a really, really hard time writing before I go through morning rituals. Part of this workshop teaches you about your own process around writing (or forming a process to begin with), and this has been eye opening for me. I feel like I need to have lots of things in place before I can create anything. Not sure there is any changing that, but I do wish it was something I could be more flexible with. Maybe practice will make perfect? Or maybe I just really need to brush my teeth first.
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Oh my gosh, that song from Romeo + Juliet takes me back to high school.
Interesting tip re: the first-thing writing – may try it out this week to see if I can bang out two pages of the novel I keep daydreaming about before diving headfirst into my coffee pot!
Ok, so update on this. We’ve learned in class that this won’t work for everyone. This week our homework assignment is to experiment with times of day — 8am, 4pm, 2pm on Saturday, whatever — and sit down and write for 15-30 minutes at that time. No excuses. Treat it like an appointment you couldn’t miss. See what works best and what comes up for you at different times of day.
One thing I mentioned in class was that writing in the morning was easier if I went through a ritual before I started. So, feed dog, brush teeth, make tea, get dressed…basically a routine that felt like I was going to “work,” just earlier, and on something personal. There weren’t many people in class who loved doing morning pages straight from bed…but after reviewing our work that we weren’t allowed to read while writing, everyone was surprised by a few good nuggets that we all produced while semi-conscious! :)