Thursday, December 20, 2012

Looking to 2013



With just 11 more days till the turn of the year (and beyond!  No, I do not think the world will end tomorrow; lol), I plan to spend the time continuing with what I have been doing over the last month or so:  Re-aligning my vibration to attract the focus, physical flexibility and abundance I’ve decided, once and for all, I need and want.   As I near the end of the fourth decade of life, I’m getting a bit tired of living on the edge.  Really.

The end of November was quite confronting.  I sat down with the husband and looked at my actual income flow for 2012.  As busy as I have been with performing (as The Percussion Lady, Golda Meir and acting gigs)—the most I have ever been since I embarked on this life path—I have not brought in enough income to meet my minimal monthly budgetary needs.  For most of 2012, I’ve been about $200 behind every month.  No wonder I have felt like a hamster on a wheel in terms of financial stability!  Wow.  Confronting.  That’s why I’ve taken time off these past four weeks from my regular acting workshop and Taiko drumming classes to reevaluate and refocus.

So this is the plan:

Submit to commercial writing gigs.  I have resisted this idea in the past, because it didn’t seem perfectly creative to me.  But the idea has stayed with me since September 2011 when I took a Denver Woman's Press Club workshop on the financial viability of commercial writing.  I felt intrigued.  I have taught formal writing on the college level, and I have good solid skills.  Additionally, I have the experience and a Masters degree Education with a focus on adult education/instructional design.   Why not take advantage of these skills—on my own terms, as a freelancer—and make some decent coin?  So, since Thanksgiving I’ve been submitting for commercial and educational writing gigs, and I’m developing a WIX site specifically geared to writing.  And just yesterday, I snail mailed back a signed contract with an educational publishing contractor; I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed that I will attract substantive work soon.   

Continue with my creative writing efforts:  contribute to this blog and my cat blog regularly.  I’m pleased to have just posted my final kitty essay for 2012:   http://lifelessonsfromlumpsoflove.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/turn-turn-turn/.   In addition, I will look into turning my now 25 posts into an eBook; working title: Life Lessons from Lumps of Love:  Essays and Musings About Life and Living I’ve Gleaned From my Cats—Volume 1.  I might shorten the title, but I do love alliteration…

Continue to hone my marketing efforts for acting, percussion lady and Golda Meir.  These are good sources of income, but I will only accept terms that align with who I am as a person and performer.  This year has taught me that quality as well as quantity counts.   

Resume a regular yoga practice.  Last winter I took a tumble on black ice.  I fell forward this time (usually I fall back on the butt).  For a good part of 2012 I’ve been out of whack with my hips and pelvis, resulting in my right leg extending longer than my life (I’m sure there is a medical/physical therapy term for this) and a slight limp.  But even more distressing, I’ve had pain in my hips, thighs and knees and thereby have not been able to fully engage in the walking and hiking that I love without chomping on ibuprofen.   (Interestingly enough, I feel nearly no discomfort swimming and bicycling.) But I was able to swing (one bill just waited to be paid) one physical therapy session in September, and the exercises that I’ve been taught have been helping.  Then just last week I decided to add some standard yoga poses (like warrior two and triangle) to my routine, and I have felt a significant difference in a mere seven days!  So, 2013, I will return to the Iyengar Yoga Center Denver for weekly classes.   

And, finally: to resume my participation in the drumming and acting I love.  As I emphasized to the spouse last evening:  it’s through these efforts that I engage my creative reservoir.   Everything flows from my connection to this source of energy and love.

No comments:

Post a Comment