It doesn’t seem like it’s been since July since I last posted here. Two things kept me away from blogging. I was in the lull of summer. The heat just does me in. It was particularly warm here in Portland, Oregon, and the heat held until yesterday. Today a soft rain is falling, it’s 69 degrees and I feel a renewed sense of energy.
The other thing was a bit of post-ARTum depression. Do you ever get that? You finish a big project, you’re happy with it, and you’re glad it’s done. Then you sink into malaise and can’t focus on anything. I finished writing the 12 Lessons for Greatness and had a great list of things I wanted to do. What I wound up doing, though, is reading like crazy. It’s such a good way to cure that feeling of being drained. I need to plan for that period of malaise and restoration after each project. There’s no need to rush into another project without properly resting and refilling your creative spirit.
Although I’ve written the material for the 12 Lessons for Greatness, it’s inspired a new interest in helping parents find resources for teaching their kids values. The word “values” has been politicized so much in the past decades, and yet we yearn for intelligent creative ways to teach our children lessons that will help them as they grow and work. Fortunately, the YuhuHugs company is committed to making it easier to find playful ways for children to learn. I’ll be posting news concerning that effort soon.
For the blog, I will continue to post my own experiences with my community, Bridge Meadows, where I work with kids who have been adopted out of the foster care system.
I’ll also post stories and illustrations as I create them. I’ll share links to cool websites I find.
I had stopped reviewing books for a while because I had too much going on. I keep reading great things, though, and will be re-starting book reviews. I’ll lean towards reviews of children’s books — from picture books to young adults. I also have a fondness for books from independent presses. I love illustrated books of all kinds. I’ll be reviewing old books, too — even out of print books if I find a particularly lovely gem. If you have a book you’d like to see reviewed on my blog, please let me know. Almost all of the books I review will end up in the Bridge Meadows community library, so it will be appreciated by many.
You can read some of my previous book reviews here.
For now, it’s a rainy afternoon, and I must get on with my reading. I’ll write again soon.
joy murray art~stories~life 
Great to hear from you again, Joy! I get that “malaise” every time I finish a big project too. For some reason, I seem to forget that, and each time it recurs I get frustrated and struggle to shake the fear that I'll never climb out of it. Guess when they passed out “memory” I was off looking in the fridge or something =]
I complain to my friends and they remind me 🙂 If I'm starting to complain, though, I'm usually on my way up. I suppose even complaining can be a creative act. The important thing to remember is that we do emerge from the malaise every time. Thanks for reading my post.
I never realized the need to renew the creative spirit after a big project, but I can relate. I love the turtle reading with the curly hair and that fresh air that came in today. Nice to read your post 🙂
Glad to see you have found your blogging mojo again after your break Joy. Must be lovely knowing you created something that will help others. It is something to be very proud of. Loving your reading turtle.