This is has been a long time coming, but here is my wrap-up for week 11 of the Artist’s Way. The focus for these past few weeks has been on rediscovering a sense of autonomy.

Here is my favourite passage from this chapter of “The Artist’s Way.”

“To be creative is to recognize the particular. To appreciate the peculiar… To ask the question ‘Why?’ To be an artist is to acknowledge the astonishing. It is to allow the wrong piece in a room if we like it. It is to hang on to a weird coat that makes us happy.”

“To kill your dreams because they are irresponsible is to be irresponsible to yourself. Credibility lies with you and God – not with a vote from your friends and acquaintances. The creator made us creative. Out creativity is our gift from God. Our use of it is our gift to God. Accepting this bargain is the beginning of true self-acceptance.”

I’m not religious, and I’ve shared my feelings about God in previous posts, but I just love that. Anyway, moving on to the wrap up:

How many days this week did you do your morning pages? How was the experience for you?

I am currently on a 39 day streak with my morning pages. I use a site called 750words.com to record my thoughts (I highly recommend this site), and one of the benefits of this site is that it gives you badges. One of these badges is the “NaNo” badge, and it is awarded to the writer who writes 50,000 words in one month. I am trying to earn that badge for the month of June, and so far have written 32,915 words. Perhaps this is counter to the true meaning of the morning pages, but writing 1,500 (sometime 2,000) words a day is definitely making me delve deeper into my psyche than I ordinarily would have. Once June is over, I’ll probably go back to the more manageable 750 words a day, but this has definitely been a valuable experiment.

Did you do your Artist date this week? What did you do? How did you feel?

For my artist’s date this week I went to a play. I attended the play “Proof.” It’s a pulitzer award winning drama written by David Auburn, and produced by Mnemonic Theatre. I went on the closing night, and stayed and chatted with the cast and crew after the show was done. I definitely stepped WAY outside of my comfort zone with this one, and the next day asked the lead actress of the show out for a coffee.

Did you experience any synchronicity this week? What was it?

I experienced A LOT of synchronicity this week. Where to begin…

1. Upon arriving at “Proof” I learned that the producers of the show were the same people who are directing ‘Romeo and Juliet’ – the play I auditioned for on Saturday. I had an opportunity to chat with them prior to the audition day, and this previous interaction definitely helped my confidence when it was my turn to go into the room.

Additional awesomeness… I GOT A CALLBACK. It was on Sunday, and I had so much fun with it. I won’t know whether or not I got it until next week, but I consider this a HUGE success all on its own.

2. A little while back I wrote a book review for The Tiferet Talk Interviews as part of a blog tour for the book. Of my own accord, I shared my review with the editor and author of the book, and shared my review on Facebook and twitter so that I could be entered a few times in a contest that they were running through their website.

I came in second place, and won a $50.00 gift card for Amazon.com. So, a review that I originally did for free has ended up paying me in the end.

3. Over the last 3 weeks I’ve started asking myself a question that has really turned things around for me. The question is “How will my life be different at the end of this week?” This question has helped me to focus on quality vs quantity, and it has completely changed my mindset in how I do my work.

Since making this switch, I’ve had one of the articles I wrote for examiner.com FEATURED on their health and fitness page.

Asking this question also makes every day a lot more exciting, because it allows me to be more open to the possibility that something quite spontaneous and wonderful could occur.

Were there any issues this week that you consider significant to your recovery?

I worked tirelessly on my Romeo and Juliet audition this past week, and one of the biggest obstacles I faced was seeing myself in that leading role. When I first saw the audition notice, I immediately discounted myself for the role. “I wonder if they’ll do any gender swapping for the smaller roles?” I thought to myself. Then I stopped myself in my tracks…”why not me?” Getting a call-back has been huge for me, because it has reaffirmed that maybe I can do this. Maybe I do have what it takes.

I honestly cannot recommend this book enough! I can’t wait for week 12.