Fly Thru the Chaos

Category: Personal Growth

  • Novel Announcement

    Andrew and I finished our first novel together.  The name is The Wind is High.  We have worked ourselves raw for six weeks, and yesterday sent the manuscript to the first beta readers.  I am happy to give it to anyone who asks.  I will post the first chapter (the weakest chapter, unfortunately) soon, here.  We finished the first pass…

  • Acts of Hope

    I have been thinking a lot about how to defend myself against despair.  During the pandemic, I realized that I needed a sense of self and a philosophy that was not tied to a certain future or stable external systems.  I read books on happiness, neurology and Man’s Search for Meaning.  I rode my bike…

  • Communication or Representation

    I think I am just starting to realize how much my art is separated from my source material.  There is a particular effect I’ve experienced that makes me think I may be drawing from my own mental model just as much as from a reference. I have no trouble drawing portraits in most circumstances.  But I have…

  • Just Wasting Time

    My husband asked last night if writing our book was “worth it.”   I asked “Worth what?” He said “You know… Our time?”   I just laughed and said “Definitely, our time is worthless!” Which, I know, seems like a flippant response for a moment of vulnerability.  However, I don’t think it’s helpful to give feelings of doubt…

  • Technology In Nature

    Technology In Nature

    My thoughts turned to the interconnectedness of our world today. The opinion of ecologists has long been that humans are an inherently unnatural destabilization of the natural balance. However, when I consider the entirety of the landscape—avoiding the division of structures into categories like ‘non-human’ and ‘development,’ the purpose of destabilization becomes clear. In my…

  • Creation Without Magic

    What is Creation without Magic?  Mere craft? Decoration? Assembly? When I was a teenager, I’ll never forgive my art teacher for breaking my concept of art.  To be fair to him, it was all in the best intentions.  And it wasn’t all his fault.  I didn’t have to listen. I had many flaws in my…

  • Fear and Trust: My Experience with Parable of the Sower and Braiding Sweetgrass

    Last week I had a very difficult experience reading the Parable of the Sower.  For anyone who would like to read the book, read at your own caution because I am going to discuss it in general terms.  Mainly it’s going to be centered around the general topics discussed and the tone and perspective of…

  • My Stroke of Insight: My Insights

    Yesterday I finished “My Stroke of Insight” and I just want to put it on my list of 100% recommend regardless of who or what you are.  Great book.  Now it irritates me when people give vague blanket support for something, so I’ll give some reasons. I am the sort of person that is very…

  • 2023: The Year of the Trickster

    Ever since I read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, I have taken a lot of what she said to heart. The purpose of the book was to discuss the perspectives people take on their art and creativity.  One of my favorite things that she wrote about was Tricksters and Martyrs.  When I was a little…

  • Perspective: Suffering is Optional

    So today I heard of Camus’s theory of absurdism and I loved it.  It fits well with Gilbert’s view of Tricksters and trickster energy.  I had no idea someone had laid out my philosophy before. The meaning of life, the eventual necessity of death, creates a conflict within us all.  Not only is our own…