Remember how I spent October in Puerto Vallarta? Me, too. I didn’t want to come, if staying was an option I would have taken it in a heart beat. But it wasn’t, so home we came and, I’m sorry but, things have not gone so great since coming home. November was fine, I got back into the swing of pattern design and was feeling focused. Then December came around and things began to crumble. Continue reading
It could be the weather, perhaps the season in general, or it could just be life getting in the way but my creative juices, both desire and inspiration, are rather dry. Even getting a few scattered words out is a challenge. I’m feeling very blocked. While I am busy with other things, work and family which take up the majority of my time, there are hours in my week that could be set aside to create or at the very least write. Writing usually helps things along. Continue reading
I have been struggling with things to post these last few months. I never feel I have the time I need to dedicate to the posts I want to write. As a result I gather google results of things that interest me. Although I find these fascinating they aren’t what I set out to do and feel cold and impersonal. With Christmas coming up I have been working on a holiday post but it isn’t done yet and will have to wait for next week. It has been too long since my last post and I really wanted to share something. Jamaica has been heavy on my mind recently. Call it home-sickness for the home I have never lived in, or perhaps it is brought on by the winter temperatures – Mexico, Florida and California have also been on my mind. Continue reading
To the heart of the motherland
I plunged
Both eyes open
For the first time,
Lungs gasping for air,
Tears staining pale skin.
Water turquoise
Mud red
Skin dark
Faith deep. Continue reading
Happy half-birthday to me! September 27th marked the six month anniversary of this blog. Since my posts have not been very regular in their frequency or content recently I figured this was a good time to review, regroup and refocus.
@ the Cheaper Show, 2010. Photo by Lili Vieira de Carvalho
But first a side note
One of my favorite past times, even when I’m not blogging much, is obsessively checking my stats. I find it fascinating and somewhat random. The most rewarding part of this compulsion is watching the search terms. They tell me a lot about what content is attracting people. Apparently learning to crochet was great for traffic, blogging a tutorial, even better. But what do all these stats tell me? They let me know that at this point in my blog there is a discrepancy between what the people who are finding my site are interested in and what I want to be attacking visitors to the blog. But lets face it, I like readers who ever you are and however you found me.
My favorite search terms used to find me
Review
Before launching the blog I outlined what I planned the blog to be about. Looking back I have the same intentions. I still want to focus on my art works and working practice and, as I suspected, find that the more I write about my work the more the creative juices flow. Something happened that slowed me down, that stopped me from posting the posts I wanted to write.
Creating work and writing about process is very personal, very exposing. Sometime I need to let things simmer down before I can incorporate or reflect on them. This is what I believe has slowed me down. Or at least is in part (an awesome summer is also to blame).
If you follow my blog you may have noticed a recent surge in Mission related posts. There is a reason for this, it is part of my coping mechanism. My father who lives in Mission had a rather trying August. In the course of 24 hours he fractured his heel, bruised his ribs and suffered from his second heart attack. He has been in various hospitals and care centers ever since. I have spent the last six or more weekends up in Mission visiting my dad and refinishing his house. It is draining. Emotional, physically and spiritually draining. I have spent little time on much else and really am not ready to pull from the experience. The surge of Mission content has been my way of hinting at what is going on.
Top 5 viewed posts
Regroup
The outline I mentioned earlier has been a great resource. I helps me remember what I intended my blog to focus on as well as realize the areas I neglected or didn’t realize I would be interested in. When I look back over that list, which is essentially descriptions of the categories I intended to use, there are areas that I haven’t posted anything in yet. This is not to say that they are areas I lost interest in, I just haven’t gotten to them yet. The posts that I long for most are the how-to and instructional posts. Lack of time is the only thing that has held these back – it is time-consuming and rather annoying to figure out how things are done step by step. Yet, I am really looking forward to writing these. With a little luck and a chunk of free time posts on how to dye fibers will emerge.
My first crochet project
And knitting! How can I have neglected my love of knitting. Knitting and crochet will be making a push. The fall is a good time to bring out the yarn and needles anyhow.
The posts I have found the most rewarding, however, are the ones that relate my work to family history. Posts such as Conversations with My Grandmothers began dialogues between family members that I usually don’t have much contact with. These are the more personal posts that i have been struggling with recently and hope that once life calms down again will be more abundant.
My top 5 favorite posts
1. Doilies and Beyond
2. Covered in Doilies: DIY Mono-printed Bus
3. Jah Doily: Printing on my patio
4. Anansi was a spider, Anansi was a man
5. (am) My Middle Name = My Grandmother
Refocus
What would I change? I’ll strive to be be more consistent. Post more regularly and try to incorporate reoccurring topics. Perhaps shorten some posts or spread them over a couple weeks. Having posts pre-written for when I just don’t have anything to say, or can’t bring myself to write.
I’ll get back to the studio (in whatever form it may be). When I post regularly the ideas flow smoother. When the ideas flow and I’m creating things, I have more stuff to post. Makes sence. I just need to stick to it.
Set a calendar. I wrote how I had misplaced my day book which contained a post schedule, unfortunately I never got back to that schedule. Deadlines are crucial to me. If it isn’t due on a specific date, it’s not getting done. Case in point, I have been working on this post for close to two weeks. Seriously. five to ten minutes at a time, this post has been building for weeks, and lets face it, it’s not brilliant. But I hope it is honest.
That is perhaps my greatest desire for this blog, for it to be honest. For it to share who I am, where I came from, what I go through, all the things that make it into my work whether I intent to let them in or not.
Anastasia E White 
