Hello readers and fellow bloggers!
My intermittent time on the blog has not been lost on me. When I started my first blog, I wrote almost every day. I was in college then and had A LOT MORE time than I have now. Inspiration came easy, like breathing air. These days, it seems to be a strange thing and this has become a very uncomfortable sense for me. I still make time for writing, it’s just harder to do these days, especially when using creativity in other creative hobbies. Creative writing has always been my passion and still is. I have noticed that the tide of inspiration and the level of excitement has either changed or it isn’t what it used to be. In either case, I have recently found myself wanting to not only return to that great level of inspiration and excitement but I’ve also found that I want to have both of those on a greater level.
I have recently found myself searching for ways to increase the creative flow with the hope that it’ll jumpstart my writing to a level that is greater than before. I find myself actively looking for ways to be open to inspiration and I believe that recent stress and lack of having sufficient alone time have both played a part in the current state I find myself in. I think also a certain level of jadedness has shown itself, which was something I didn’t think would happen in my endeavor to become a published author. I’m learning that in the pursuit of one’s dream, they have to guard against jadedness and cynicism. It can be easy to fall into when rejection is the main song being sung. One must find other ways to achieve their dream, even if it doesn’t look like how they envisioned it. This is also something else I’m learning.
In the meantime, while I continue to pursue my dream, creativity must continue. In my time away from this blog I have taken up learning Wing Chun Kung Fu. I’ve always wanted to get back into martial arts and so when I found an opportunity to learn a fighting system I have never heard of but was interested, I took the opportunity. I’ve been learning Wing Chun Kung Fu coming up on two years now and love it.
I have faltered a little bit but still maintain that I’m learning to play the alto sax. I played when I was in middle school and even taught myself with much practice and a handy playing book. So I figured I’d teach myself again and if I choose to do so, I can supplement with lessons. I have yet to supplement with lessons.
My most recent endeavor is starting a store on Zazzle to earn passive income from my creativity. It’s named for a brand I’ve been thinking about creating called Ever Prolific Muse. When thinking of what to call my store the word ‘muse’ kept coming to me. I think it’s a great way to express the idea of inspiration. It was also perfect since inspiration is something I’ve been struggling with as I stated above. Back when I wrote alot, I remember a fellow blogger saying that I was prolific and I didn’t know what that meant so I looked it up, lol. So when thinking about the brand name, I thought using ‘prolific’ would be perfect because the definition of that word I think embodies this idea that our inspiration (our muse) generates so much all the time.
Ever Prolific Muse is my way of reminding myself that inspiration is all around, it’s always present, and always generating. We just have to make sure that we’re paying attention.
So what I do is design on blank products with my own creations. Some of these creations are drawings/doodles (I’m by no means a skilled artist so they look cartoonist and/or imperfect in my opinion but hey), random photos that I’ve taken of things that I think are odd/beautiful/awe-striking/ etc., Other designs I have in mind are my personal sayings, thoughts, personal slogans, my inspiring messages, and my messages that challenge us (me included). As I am also a Christian, there may very well also be faith-based messages that will inspire and challenge.
Some products are already up in the store and there will be more releases in the coming week(s). You can visit my Zazzle store at: https://www.zazzle.com/store/ever_prolific_muse
So far the plan is to give it a try for at least a year and see how things go. When I first started Wing Chun, I was a little unsure about it. I’d never heard of it before but doing some research I found that Bruce Lee began his training in Wing Chun by Grandmaster Yip Man. I was familiar with both of these men and so I thought: Well heck, yeah! Let me try this. After my first session, I liked it and decided I’d stick with it. I’m glad I did. I hope this endeavor and others to come in the future will have the same response of “I’m glad I did”. Even if, in the end, it doesn’t work out (and I’m saying it won’t!) I still want to be able to say: I’m glad I did. ‘Cause at that point at least I tried and gave it time.
So anyway, that’s a quick update. I hope to have more writings on this blog in the future but no promises! I’m still hangin’ out with ya’ll even though it’s been a lengthy time away before I posted Days of Blister. Keep checkin’ in to this blog and check out Ever Prolific Muse at the link above.
Peace and blessings ya’ll!
Te'Kia Miller 