Blog - Melissa Dinwiddie | Create the Impossible™ | Innovation Keynote Speaker & Consultant

November 14, 2010

Weekly Review #32: The Post-Op Edition

So how’m I doing in my quest to re-invent my life, follow my evolving Blisses and create the life I really, really want?

I had a sneaking suspicion that my great plans for a blitz of writing productivity après surgery might be just a tad over-ambitious.

Um, yeah.

It turns out that convalescing is a lot of work.

Pain (I do not like it)

First, there’s pain management.

This mostly involves regular doses of Percocet (or, to be more precise, Endocet, which, it was revealed in a simple Google query, is in fact the “generic” version of Percocet, made by the same manufacturer in a sneaky maneuver to retain market share after their initial patent expired).

Two pills every 4 to 6 hours was not nearly enough in the first 24 hours after surgery, since the pain was waking me up every 2 hours. But Mom pointed out today that I’m now going 4 or 5 hours between pain alarm clock calls. So, improvement!

Percocet/Endocet really does help minimize (if not eliminate) the pain. However, it comes with a cost: extreme dopiness. I’m sure there are people who would pay good money for this drugged-out feeling (did I mention this drug contains a narcotic and is a federally controlled substance?) Me, I really prefer having maximum control of my mind and faculties.

Not happening right now. All fantasies of spending my days in bed writing reams and reams of blog posts have yet to materialize. Mostly, I’m lucky if I’m awake.

But all of you concerned for my well-being, rest assured that I’m allowing myself to enjoy my little “vacation.”

The Work of Resting

Then there’s the the Kodiak cold therapy machine, which requires restocking with ice-slush every 6 to 8 hours (this is where the minions come in very handy, since I’m not quite up to shlepping a 6-pack-sized cooler over to the sink on my own).

And most impressive, the Continuous Passive Motion machine, or CPM.

I’m strapped into this rather torturous-looking device as I type this, and it slowly bends and straightens my knee to the precise angle I specify. (Currently 50 degrees; I’m supposed to increase the angle by 5-10 degrees every day.)

The doc originally said to spend 6 hours a day in this contraption. Then the nurse at the hospital said 8 hours. Thankfully, I’ve been able to sleep in it, but I’ve also discovered that if I keep my leg out of it for any length of time, starting it up again really hurts.

So, another good reason to just give myself over to the full-time convalescent plan. Forget 6 hours, forget 8 hours; I’m just letting my leg be passively bent 24/7.

The biggest trip I’m taking these days

Except when I have to go to the bathroom.

Which, it turns out, is a bit of an ordeal: I have to unhook from the Kodiak (note: it’s very good to have a towel nearby to catch leaks), unstrap myself from the CPM, lift my leg up with one arm while sliding my awe-inspiring hinged Robo-Cop brace under my leg with my other arm (thank goodness I’m a yogini), then secure no fewer than 7 pieces of velcro.

All this (and none of it painlessly) before attempting to stand. Which also involves using upper body (mine and/or my minions) to lift and gently lower my leg to the ground as I swing and scoot my body around in preparation for standing up. (Which in itself creates a unique searing sensation in the incision site.)

Before any of the leg maneuvering, however, there is always furniture to move out of the way: tray tables with pill bottles, glasses of water, cell phone, etc.

What do people do who don’t have the benefit of minions?

Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude

Can I just take a moment to state publicly: I love you Mom and Dad! Thank you soooooooo much!

And I should mention that all of the above proceedings are carefully watched over by Chloe, the nursemaid German Shepherd, who appears to be the most concerned for my well-being of anyone. She spent both nights post-surgery sleeping in the door to the guest room, ready to provide soothing licks and/or protection from intruders at a moment’s notice.

As far as following my Blisses and creating the life I really, really want, this week has felt a bit more “holding pattern” than “forging ahead,” but some weeks are like that.

Plus it’s always good to remember that, just like a seed germinating below the surface of the soil, profound changes and forward movement don’t have to be visible to be happening.

Which reminds me, stay tuned for some announcements and updates on the Thriving Artists Project and other endeavors. I’d fill you in now, but this post is already over 800 words, which is short for me, I know, but the Percocet is kicking in again, so I’ll have to keep you in suspense until I have full control over my faculties once more.

Have a great week!

November 12, 2010

Fear

Normally in a post about fear I think I’d be writing about creative fears:

Fear of failure.

Fear of success.

Fear that makes you resist what you know you want more than anything.

Today, however, I’m dealing with a more visceral kind of fear:

Fear of dying.

That’s at its most extreme, granted. It’s also fear of pain. Fear of maiming.

Fear of something really bad happening.

I think this is a pretty “normal” kind of fear to have when one is about to go into surgery. Most people don’t like the idea of sharp instruments cutting them open, and other sharp instruments sewing things to bones and stuff, which is what is about to happen to my right knee in 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Can I just say, “Ack!”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Okay, I feel a little better now.

I’ve been wanting to share all the cool stuff that’s been going on with the Thriving Artists Project, but the inevitable enforced downtime that this knee surgery is going to, well, enforce on me, meant a lot of scrambling to tie up a lot of loose ends to allow myself some rest.

Rest? What’s that?

Apparently I need something like a dislocated knee to get me to rest for more than a few minutes at time.

So, I sit here with my tensed-up back and neck, waiting out the last few moments before I get picked up to go to the hospital, anxious and scared.

And at the same time, I have to admit, kinda looking forward to my little “break.”

For which, by the way, I’ve packed an entire grocery bag full of library books on happiness (research for my Guide to Happiness e-course); plus my ukulele; a knitting bag with a 15-year-old partially-finished sweater; several journals to write in; and a borrowed laptop.

Someone apparently doesn’t know the meaning of the word “rest.”

I have, however, also packed a few DVDs, and will have minions at my beck and call to fetch me more, should I desire to just be entertained.

It could happen.

So, dear readers, enjoy your weekend. I’ll do my best to enjoy mine (thank GOD for pain meds!)

And next week I promise to share the latest exciting news about the Thriving Artists Project, which is charging ahead at full speed!

November 7, 2010

Weekly Review #31: Happy Birthday To Me!

So how’m I doing in my quest to re-invent my life, follow my evolving Blisses and create the life I really, really want?

Oh, my goodness, what a week! My birthday week, in fact, which was filled with all sorts of goodies and wonders.

Customer Love

It started with the first day of the #CustomerLove challenge on Monday, and wow, what a difference that challenge has made!

The mere act of consciously thinking about how I can love my clients has had a profound affect on me. Given that my overarching goal in life is to help people be more creative and live happier lives, running my business from the #CustomerLove perspective only makes sense.

I’d been wanting to offer something fun and helpful to my Living A Creative Life peeps. Something that would allow me to interact more directly. But exactly what that might be hadn’t quite crystallized.

Until #CustomerLove!

Scoping around on LaVonne Ellis’s The Complete Flake, I discovered her Stuckbuster Sessions. EUREKA! I thought (thought I), That’s IT!

An accountability support group that gets people working right now on their Important Thing.

The Sandbox Sessions were born, and lo and behold, people started signing up!

Maybe this internet thing has some promise after all…

Thriving Artists Project

Monday also saw an incredibly helpful consulting session with Lee Stranahan (who is also offering his own Customer Love: free consulting).

Lee is co-creator of Question the Rules [affiliate link], one of the courses (along with Chris Guillebeau’s Empire Building Kit [affiliate link]) that most inspired the Thriving Artists Project, so I used my time to ask his advice on how best to proceed with this enormous undertaking.

I told him what I’d done so far (a whole bunch of interviews, plus surveying my list to see what they want).

Lee’s advice: Ship!

And you know what? He’s right. My dreams for the course are grandiose, but better to have a finished course on a somewhat smaller scale than no course at all!

Plus, as Lee pointed out, once I have an actual finished product I’ll be able to offer it as a bonus for affiliate sales, and I can give away individual interviews as a bonus goodie for anyone who signs up on my mailing list.

This is how creative marketers think, and if you want to make a living from your creative stuff, you’ve got to be creative at marketing too.

So, to that end (ie, the end of shipping), this week I interviewed painter Flora Bowley (wow, what an inspiration!) and fellow artist-on-the-path (and kindred spirit), Fiona Purdy.

Next up: editing and annotating the interviews. Then creating a membership site from which to distribute them.

Which Lee had advice for too. In fact, he said he’s almost done with a course that takes you step-by-step through this very process.

Sign me up!

Interviewee

It was my turn to be interviewed on Tuesday, when Dennis Charles invited me for a second time to be a guest on his BlogTalkRadio show, Build Your Career With Passion.

I’ve been enjoying playing Terry Gross, but I have to admit, playing Terry Gross’s guest is just as fun.

I’ll get another chance on Tuesday, when LaVonne Ellis interviews me for #CustomerLove.

Ladies of Jazz

I celebrated my actual birthday not by throwing a party, but by performing in a theater with three other jazz singer/songwriters. We call ourselves the Ladies of Jazz, and in the three concerts we’ve done since July we have garnered new fans and basically had a blast.

We’ve also learned that we really shouldn’t book venues that seat more than about 30 or 40 people. At least not yet.

Our first gig was standing-room-only, maybe 100 people. I sold 8 CDs, and we turned a nice little profit.

The next two gigs drew significantly smaller crowds, and left us in the hole.

As any performers out there know, building up a loyal fan base does not happen overnight.

Ah, well. Live and learn. At least we had fun, and so did the lucky folks who made it out to see us.

Anyone out there have a house concert space or other small venue? Onward ho!

Public speaking… for 5th graders

I finished out the week with a slide presentation this morning (and I’m talking old-fashioned slides, not PowerPoint) at Etz Chayim, a local synagogue, on the Art & History of the Ketubah.

Like the concert on Friday night, the crowd was enthusiastic… though not as large as one might have hoped.

And in fact, half of the audience was made up of the 5th grade class.

When you know you have to entertain 5th graders, you’ve got to be kinda light on your feet, ready for anything. The key to averting disaster, I suspected, was to focus on the 5th graders and everyone would have fun.

I was right.

Here’s what the Adult Ed Coordinator had to say:

I can highly recommend Melissa Dinwiddie as a speaker and as an artist. She spoke to a multi-generational audience at Etz Chayim which ranged from 5th graders to adults. She tailored the talk to match the diverse ages in the audience and kept everyone engaged in what she had to say and show. She delivered a very positive program about how art and creativity enhances and beautifies Judaism. Her Ketubah artwork is stunning and she presented it in an historical and personal context which fascinated the audience. I’m delighted that Melissa brough her Ketubah art and creativity message to Etz Chayim.
Ted Schachter
Chairman, Adult Education
Etz Chayim,
Palo Alto

Not a bad review, eh?

20 years ago (okay, maybe 25 years..) I would never have guessed I’d love public speaking so much. Turns out I’m just a big (kosher) ham.

Dancing with the Ideal Daily Template

I confess I haven’t worked on a piece of art in weeks now. But I’ve been writing every day.

Will this work for me in the long run? No. I do want to get back to making art.

But for now, my priority is to get 365 Days of Genius launched by Jan 1, and that means a lot of writing! Blog posts up the wazoo, plus dozens of creativity lessons for a free e-course that will launch the same day as the site.

It’s a helluva lot of work, and although according to my original Ideal Daily Template, I spent my mornings playing ukulele, making art and then writing, I figured out a long time ago that if I want to get something done it’s best to do it first thing.

So I’ve adjusted my Ideal Daily Template to write first thing.

Before playing my ukulele, before leaving my bedroom, before turning on the computer.

And guess what: it works! Even if it feels like all I’m going to get out of my pen today is “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” after an initial Morning Pages-like brain-dump, ideas start to flow and gel.

54 days and counting. If I’m going to launch by Jan 1, making art may have to stay off the IDT for a little while longer.

But that’s the great thing about the IDT: it’s infinitely adjustable!

And to sum up…

God dang it I love my life!

As Fiona Purdy and I were saying in today’s Thriving Artists Project talk, the money situation isn’t exactly where we want it to be yet, but we’re thriving emotionally.

And that, people, is what it’s all about.

Happy Birthday to me, indeed.

November 3, 2010

By Popular Demand: Sandbox Sessions Now on Wednesdays, Too

Well, okay, the popular demand was really just that someone I think is really cool (ie, Mike) said he could really use the focus and kick in the rear and specifically requested a Wednesday.

And I thought, why not? It’s all about spreading the love, right?

Besides, I’ll be here working anyway, and it’ll help kick my rear too and make sure I don’t Twitter away my morning. (That never happens… Ahem…)

So, yes, you can now participate in Sandbox Sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, 9:00am to noon. And still free through the rest of November.

How’s that for #Customerlove?

Productivity and Creative Sandbox, here we come!

November 2, 2010

Stuck? Sandbox Sessions to the Rescue! (and Free in November)

Do you have a burning desire to create, but can’t seem to get to your projects, let alone get them done?

Maybe you have UFO’s (UnFinished Objects) languishing in your closet.

Or you’ve been working on a new offering for your business and can’t get past the dreaming stage.

Or maybe you’ve been wanting to write—a story, a song, a poem, a novel, an essay, or for your blog. Or spend time with your musical instrument. Or get your hands into some clay, ink, or paint.

You need to get into the Creative Sandbox

If you’ve been here before you know that one of my overarching goals is to be in the Creative Sandbox on a regular basis—playing, experimenting, just doing my creative thing—and to help others get there too.

Unfortunately, it’s way too easy to get stuck on the outside.

Maybe you find it hard to get started. Or stay focused. Maybe you find yourself distracted—by housework. Or email/Twitter/FaceBook… Or… other stuff?

I know.

For years, although I made my living from my art, I felt practically locked out of the Creative Sandbox. I almost forgot it existed.

That’s actually how this blog came about: I was fed up with being stuck, fed up with struggling through life and not doing the creative things that make me happy.

I got into my art business by following my Bliss, but over the years the Bliss I was following had evolved. I needed to reset.

I needed to get back to the Creative Sandbox!

The first step was realizing how important this was to me.

The next step was committing to making it happen.

These steps made a huge difference, but even though I knew how important this was, the making it happen part still had a tendency to get stuck.

Here’s what finally helped

Support.

Accountability.

Reminders from other people that this is important, and why.

Validation that YES, you get to do this. It’s good if you do, not just for you, but for the whole world.

The Universe needs you to be creative!

Nowadays, my life pretty much revolves around the Creative Sandbox. I’m mostly either playing in the Sandbox, or doing something to help me get back to the Sandbox.

Now I want to help you get into the Creative Sandbox.

How?

In response to LaVonne Ellis‘s #Customerlove challenge, and inspired by her Stuckbuster Sessions, I’ve decided to set up weekly Sandbox Sessions to get YOU into the Creative Sandbox.

What are Sandbox Sessions?

They’re three-hour group sessions, limited to 6 participants (plus me), where you get a chance to connect with other creative people before, during and after your work/play time.

Why? To create some support and accountability so you can get your important work done.

Instead of just thinking about it.

Instead of just planning what you want to do.

Instead of feeling badly about yourself for not doing that thing—you know what it is—that you want so much, but haven’t been able to get yourself to do.

How do Sandbox Sessions work?

Here’s what happens:

At the designated time we meet on Skype for a short check-in.
Each participant gets a chance to briefly share what they intend to work on, what it means to them, why they want to do it, and how it will make them feel to accomplish it.
Check-in complete, we go our separate ways for three hours of Sandbox time.
Half-way through the session, and again at the end of the three hours, we take a break and check in to talk about our progress (or lack thereof).
I offer encouragement and words of wisdom to help keep you moving forward.
Everybody helps and encourages each other during the check-ins, and on Twitter at the #sandboxers hashtag.

Why do you need Sandbox Sessions?

Support: You get encouragement from me, and from the other Sandboxers.
Community: There’s something about knowing that other people are working alongside you—even if they’re thousands of miles away.
Accountability: Yep! Rest assured, nobody will yell at you or make you feel badly if you’ve twiddled your session time away on Twitter. But just knowing you’re going to check-in with the group tends to keep people on track. Which is, of course, the point!

Who are Sandbox Sessions for?

Anyone who wants to make progress with their creative thing—or any project they want to complete—is a good candidate to be a Sandboxer.

You don’t have to be an artist. You don’t even have to work on a creative project. My goal is to get you into the Creative Sandbox, but anything that supports you in that is fair game.

If you feel that catching up on that pesky bookkeeping or cleaning your file cabinet is the best use of your time, go for it!

To make it super-clear, Sandbox Sessions are for you if:

You’re ready to do, instead of just planning
You’re willing to give yourself the gift of dedicated time for you
You have three hours to commit to working exclusively on your chosen project
You like to play
You could benefit from the support of a small group of committed people
You’re able to offer positive feedback and encouragement

If you have a project you’ve been aching to get done, or if you’ve just been wanting some playtime, Sandbox Sessions can take you from “maybe someday..” to “I did it!”

Who are Sandbox Sessions not for?

Sandbox sessions are not for you if:

You’d rather make excuses than get your important work done
You have a hard time being positive and encouraging
You like to whine and complain
You don’t want to take responsibility for your own happiness, and prefer to be a victim
You need to put others down to make yourself feel better
You can’t commit to three hours of working on your thing
You are not respectful of other people’s time and feelings

The logistical stuff

Starting in December, a month of once-a-week sessions will be $40 per month, or you can buy a single session for just $15. Peanuts, really, if you think about all the work you’ll be producing during our sessions.

BUT, for #customerlove, in the month of November, Sandbox Sessions are FREE.

That’s right, as my way of showing how much I want to help you get into the Creative Sandbox and get your important work done, I’m offering the Sandbox Sessions for no charge this month.

You either get four Tuesdays (November 9, 16, 23 & 30), three Wednesdays (November 10, 17 & 24), or three Thursdays (November 11, 18 & 25 ).(Because I’m seeing the knee doc about my other knee this Thursday, November 4, I won’t be around for a Sandbox Session that day :().

(Note: The Thursday, November 18 session will end an hour earlier than usual, to accommodate my follow-up visit after my knee surgery. If Sandboxers want to start an hour earlier that day, that’s cool with me.)

Ready to sign up?

Sandbox Sessions are limited to six people in each session (plus me), first come, first served. Priority goes to Sandboxers who sign up for the full month.

I have sessions set for 9am-12pm Pacific Time, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. (If those times don’t work for you, let me know and if there’s enough interest I’ll set up additional session times. Or check out LaVonne’s Stuckbuster Sessions.)

What are you waiting for?

Stop dreaming and start doing! Let’s get you into the Creative Sandbox!

Sign up by clicking on the PayPal link below. If there are no more Sandboxer spaces available I’ll add you to a waiting list.

$40 per Month FREE in November!	$15 Single Session FREE in November!

Remember, in order to keep the groups small and get the most out of each session I’m keeping the groups small, no more than six people per session.