If you’ve read my past Monday posts, you know how I feel about Mondays. Blech. Mondays have never been my favorite day. I’ve always had a hard time getting myself in gear. Recently I started a new schedule with a goal of getting myself to work on Monday. Too many times in the past I’ve skipped over Mondays, letting work and to do’s slide. Even with the best of intentions, sometimes a Monday just slips past my nose – or rather I slip out of my desk.
It might have been the warm air or the sunny skies, but this morning I just couldn’t get myself to sit down and write those 1000 words. Wanderlust hit me but in the back of my mind there was a niggling urge to create something. It had been a long time since I visited my favorite craft store and with the way I was feeling today it seemed like the perfect solution. Spending time in my favorite place (after Barnes & Noble) seemed like the Monday motivation I needed.
I know there are several popular craft stores for those who like to get crafty. Though I know where the Joanne’s Fabrics and A.C Moore stores are in my area, I am a die hard Michael’s fan. I take my time cruising each aisle of the store, but when I’m ready to get crafty it’s the jewelry aisle that I spend the most time in.
It’s been a few months since I made anything new for my collection. It’s been some time since I had myself a good shopping spree in the bead aisle. The great thing about beading is that you can slowly add to your collection of beads and supplies over time. Today I found stone nuggets in amber, sapphire and blue that I had never seen before. Take look at these beautiful beads:
I haven’t quite decided on how I will be using them or how they will fit together but that’s half the fun, the joy of creating jewelry. Picking and choosing the colors, the shapes and the sizes and figuring out, like a puzzle, how they will fit together to become something beautiful. Like this necklace I made back in the early part of the winter:
After I brought home my new stash of beads and laid them out on the table it occurred to me that writing and jewelry design have a few things in common. In jewelry design you move your beads around, changing their position and where they fall in the design until it feels just right. In writing you play around with your characters, changing their goals and conflicts often, until they mesh perfectly with the story. Often times, your characters tell you the story. Many times I can almost hear a piece of jewelry telling me what’s not working. Sometimes you have to ‘throw out’ a bead because it’s just not meant for the design. Sometimes you have to just get rid of a character as they’re just not the right for the story. Sometimes I get so frustrated with a design that I leave it on the jewelry board and walk away, hoping a little distance from my creation will help me get some perspective. Sometimes a story has me so flustered I walk away from it and pick up something else to work on, hoping my subconscious will come up with the missing pieces. Writing and jewelry design are like putting together an intricate puzzle – sometimes the pieces fall right into place and sometimes we have to keep picking up piece after piece, jiggling and wiggling to see if it fits, and sorting through them all until we find the one that pulls it all together.
I had a great time picking through hundreds of beads today. I came home a happy camper, eager to play around with my newest additions to my bead collection. And I just remembered a small detail about my heroine that will wrap up the scene I’m working on and lead me smoothly into the next chapter. A little Monday motivation certainly did the trick!
When you just can’t get yourself going on a Monday (or any day for that matter) what motivates you and gets you moving?
Those stories of great men and women of faith could be about you. Relationship with God is supposed to be adventurous. Don’t limit yourself.