blogging

The joy of the creative process, minute by minute, hour after hour, day by day, is the sublime path to true happiness. –George Lois

This blog went live three years ago today! I launched Creative Sanctuary well after peak blog craze with no desire to become an influencer and no intention to monetize this space. I had recently published my book and felt an intense need to step away from academic writing. It was time to channel some of my creative energy into brief, accessible passages about travel, tea culture, and cuisine. I admittedly post much less than I initially anticipated. In my ideal blog world, I would write every week. But given life’s pace, I am lucky to post once a month.

Blogging has been immensely satisfying. It allows me to continue practicing the craft of writing, my photography has improved, and I’ve done a tiny bit of coding. I seem to be finding my niche blogging on France as well as on personal, yet universal topics such as extreme rest.

Even when I don’t have time to blog, I’m always generating ideas. I’d love to write about my collection of vintage fashion prints, about ethereal Korean green teas, and I have so much more to share about Versailles! As I hoped, Creative Sanctuary has become one of my “creative sanctuaries.” Working on this blog is consistently joyful.

Creative Sanctuary has featured the work of young creatives, including the lettering of the fabulous Olivia Murrell. Over the next month, I will publish the work of fourteen students from my spring 2020 course Unlocking Paris. Their bright pieces will bring Paris to us at a time when the City of Lights remains largely inaccessible. Moving forward, my blog will continue to explore creative life in its many forms.

https://www.creativesanctuary.net/2102-2/

When I was eight, my grandmother gifted me my first diary. She must have ordered it from the Lillian Vernon Catalog. It was bright pink with tiny yellow and purple hearts. It had a lock and key. I was tickled.

I began writing in my diary on January 1, 1987. Since I hated boys and didn’t have any secrets to record, I wrote about my days. Math class-basketball practice-sleepover. Reading class-basketball practice-dinner with the neighbors. Math class-basketball practice-Connect Four with Beej and Trish. After a month, I realized that my third grade life lacked variety. My diary had become repetitive, so I set it aside.

In middle school the expected intrigues sprouted, so I began to journal. At about the same time, I became a prolific letter writer. For almost two decades, I penned three and four page letters on fine paper with fancy pens provided by my father. During those formative years, I filled pages and sent them to friends around the world. I loved the tactile experience of putting words to the page, of embroidering my stories on paper.

Several years ago, I abruptly stopped writing letters. I still have an abundance of beautiful stationery, and I sign important documents with Dad’s Waterman pens. Why did I abandon a beloved and soothing activity? I often hear people say that they just don’t have time to write letters, and although time is a consideration, I don’t really buy that explanation. We choose how to spend our precious time—with family, in front of Netflix, at the gym, or hard at work. Although I am nostalgic for the ambitious letter-writing me, I choose to use my leisure time differently. I want to take walks with my friends, and I want to share meals with them. For now, face-to-face exchanges with loved ones take precedent over letters.

Yet the blank page still calls to me. Its emptiness is an inspiring, potential space of creation. When I sit down in front of a blank piece of paper or a white computer screen, ideas shoot through me and chains of words form in my mind’s eye. Some of them make their way to this blog—a crisscrossed echo of the journaling and letter-writing I left behind. Happily, I am still “embroidering”.

Inspriations

My lovely friend Dana is a talented letter writer who blogs about all things mail on Save Snail Mail.

Thomas Mallon’s book Yours Ever investigates letter writing in the western world.

I once visited the delightful Musée des Lettes et Manuscrits where I saw several of Matisse and Picasso’s letters. Sadly, the museum closed in 2010.