Tag: writing

Time Flies

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I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything on my blog since Thanksgiving. Winter sped by, and it dragged by at the same time. I started paintings but didn’t finish them. I stopped writing in my journal. I did work in my sketchbook, but am only just now figuring out how I want to proceed with my art and creativity in the future.

My winter brain, journal entry

Like most people, I get a bit of the winter blues, but these warmer, longer days are stirring up ideas, and that creative warrior spirit. I have been doodling. Gotten more familiar with my watercolors again. I remembered how much I love just drawing and visual journaling.

No idea, journal entry

Over the winter I got a new computer because my old one was no longer going to be supported by Windows. I’ve had a hard time getting used to the new one, getting files transferred, and getting my scans to look clear. I’m also frustrated by way WordPress blog host keeps “improving” their format. We may be getting a divorce soon. I know a lot of people are working on Substack now. I want one that’s easy to format and add pictures to. In the process of doing research for a good fit, I’m using up a lot of my creative energy. But I will get it sorted. If you have any suggestions, let me know.

I’ve taken a break from facebook and instagram for April. I find I spend too much time on them and want to redirect that obsession to this blog, and to committed readers like you who have subscribed to and support my blog.

My goal is to start doing a post at least twice a month, then start posting weekly, even if it’s only my photography or works in progress, things I’d normally just post on facebook. I want to write more stories and turn all the bright shining ideas in my head into not so perfect reality. We’ll see what happens.

I think one thing I’ve learned (actually I’ve learned it many times in my life), is that I work best if I have a daily schedule. I got an artistic block and needed a break. I felt like the well was empty. So much is going on in the world, so much discord and hostility. And the very nature of reality, or what we perceive as reality, is changing because of AI. I felt I needed to pull back from everything, to make sure I participated in the natural world, communicated face to face with real people (who after all are often quite lovely.) Social media cuts down a lot on the isolation that being disabled brings, but so much of it now is trashy and tricky, I think isolation would be preferable at this point.

So this is the month to plunge back in, not so much refreshed, as desperate for my creativity to be released. To not let the bastards grind me down.

So I hope you’re having a delightful spring.

I look forward to seeing what blossoms here.

And here’s a little bit from my visual journal:

Iris in vase, photograph

Ahhh, Spring!

~~~

Thanks for reading my blog. Feel free to share it, if you’d like.

This blog is brought to you by the generosity of people who support me on Patreon , buy my art, and who support me in so many different ways. 

If you’d like to make a one time donation, you can do so at paypal

Cards and prints of some of my art is available on Redbubble.  Also T-shirts and stickers and other odds and ends. When you click an image, in the lower right hand corner you’ll find a link to all the various products that these are printed on. If you have any trouble finding what you’re looking for, let me know. joyzmailbox@gmail.com 

You can subscribe to this blog by email in the link below this post.

If you find a typo, let me know, and I’ll send you a postcard.

Welcome 2025 – I Regret Nothing

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Here we are in the future. I hope you take some time today to appreciate all that you did this last year, and your whole life, to make the world a better place or easier for someone else. We get so stuck on improving ourselves and goal setting, we forget to appreciate who we are. When you see the goodness in yourself, you can encourage and grow that part of you, become more of who you are meant to be. Even our mistakes, contradictions, and misdirections are part of who we are, how we grew, what made us stronger and wiser — if we can let go of shame. We all contain gravity and grace, we all contain multitudes.

Last year, around this time of year, I wrote and posted this poem. I feel like it’s still appropriate for me and hopefully for you. Have a well-rounded year — look forward with awareness and do what good you can.

I Regret Nothing

by Joy Murray

I regret nothing.
I regret every day I don't write down what happened.
I remember everything.
Everything runs from my memory as if from a burning building.
I am responsible and well organized.
I loll around in bed wishing for eternal sleep.
I love deeply, a star sparking in every cell.
I close myself off to everyone, every sensation.

I am so afraid.
I am fearless.
I ramble freely through dangerous streets.
I can barely crawl across the room.

My wheelchair is a magic carpet that I steer heavenward.
People are in awe of my strength.
I get suck in bathroom doors, on muddy roads, and in dark corners.

What a waste of resources I am.
I have survived brutal mysteries and carry pain lightly.
I am so weak I can't speak my needs.
Every inch of my being is in perfect harmony with life.

When I lost you, music went mute.
A 24-hour feed screeched out every horror of life so shrilly
I broke into shards.

I am a shattered window letting the breeze in.
I am stained glass waltzing.

I regret nothing.
I Saw Delight, by Joy Murray, watercolor on paper

~~~

Thanks for reading my blog. Feel free to share it, if you’d like.

This blog is brought to you by the generosity of people who support me on Patreon , buy my art, and who support me in so many different ways.

If you’d like to make a one time donation, you can do so at paypal

Cards and prints of some of my art is available on Redbubble.  Also T-shirts and stickers and other odds and ends. When you click an image, in the lower right hand corner you’ll find a link to all the various products that these are printed on. If you have any trouble finding what you’re looking for, let me know. joyzmailbox@gmail.com

You can subscribe to this blog by email in the link below this post.