I ran across this plaque on the wall while poking about my neighborhood Art Center for the first time, and it struck me so much that I had to take a (slightly lopsided) picture of it. I’m still teasing out the exact implications of these words, but I suspect that “disciplined freedom” is a useful approach to the page as I come back from the holidays refreshed and ready to tackle new projects. The article on Melusine is clipping along, there’s a conference paper on magic and Melusine in The White Queen waiting to be written, the novel has finally been wrestled into a shape ready to be seen by beta readers, and as far as I know my story collection, A Lesson in Manners, is still coming out soon. Added to that is a full slate of upcoming reviews for femmeliterate and a second story collection to polish up and send out. All of which stands me in need of enough freedom to tap into what is creative, wild, necessary, nutritive, and enough discipline to form it into useful channels and eloquent shape. It sounds lovely and exciting and I’m not sure I have any idea how to achieve it. But if Sukuzi is right and Zen mind is Beginner’s Mind, then I don’t mind beginning again. Happy New Year, new projects, new inspiration-breath to all.
