Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:39:38 +0000 More traffic in Costa Rica, www.carolineallen.com After receiving a few emails on yesterday's blog Give to Receive, I've decided to further explore the issue of support. First, why do we find it hard to congratulate success in others? We absolutely know in our souls that the more open and loving we are, the more that energy comes back to us. But still we close down.…

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:05:49 +0000 Dribble Doggie, painted by a 6th grader in a Lowell Public School, who swore up and down he wasn't an artist and had no artistic talent. He is and he does. I'm working on a project with middle schoolers in Lowell Public Schools in Massachusetts. It's my unenviable task to spend two 2-hour sessions with the kids and have a finished mural by the end…

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:59:39 +0000 Self portrait: When the Soul Feels Anorexic, acrylic on canvas, www.carolineallen.com A friend once accused me of hiding how hard things have been/are for me in my artistic process. I highlight the successes, rant at the small-mindedness of other people, but never really detail how hard it's been. At the very real risk of exposing my soft underbelly (especially in brutal New England), I'm going…

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:09:00 +0000 Yerevan market, Armenia, 2008 I am a feminist. Not a humanist. A down-to-the-core feminista. I'm a feminist because I believe as a writer a woman's search for voice is epic, is political, is a gender issue. I am a feminist because as a coach I'm determined to help women find and express their voice. Many of the healers I work with, many of the more…

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:33:53 +0000 One of the best techniques I learned in journalism school and later as a practicing journalist was the ability to see a piece of writing as 'the' writing instead of 'my' writing. With fiction writers, I try to convey this technique for successful revision. If it's 'the' writing, you distance yourself, your likes and dislikes, from the piece of writing and see the writing as…

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 17:14:23 +0000 Statue of pianist, Yerevan, Armenia, www.carolineallen.com I have this recurring vision when I work with writing clients. Sometimes, I'll see the client pull a long cord out of their belly. On the end of the cord is a three-pronged plug. I watch them as they insert the plug into my belly. They think I'm the one who is the source of their explosion as a…

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:58:18 +0000 Found object sculpture, made of tree branches, and a burlap sack, www.carolineallen.com I've just picked up James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, the 'memoir' that caused such a fuss a few years ago, because it wasn't a memoir but a piece of fiction. If you don't know what I'm talking about, click here to read a Vanity Fair article on Frey, Oprah and the book.…

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 12:53:42 +0000 Body portrait of me drawn by Deb Dixon, www.deborahdixon.com I am with my friend Stephen in San Francisco. We've been dear friends for a very long time, back years, back to when I was a fresh faced farm girl trying to make her way in Tokyo. We have the luxury in our friendship of being able to tell each other the truth, even if it's…

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 17:45:20 +0000 Doodle, www.carolineallen.com I posted this blog earlier today with a digital photo of verdant nature. After I finished the blog, my inner little girl artist mentioned in the blog below said it wasn't that she wanted me to hang up my 'professional' works of art around the house, she wanted me to hang the hundreds of doodles I make a week and usually throw away…

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 13:35:07 +0000 When you spend years writing, it is a process of amazing healing, powerful artistic growth, and the excavation of deep truths translated into sublime poetry. It is also mainly a solo process, at least at first (and sometimes for years), with few pats on the backs or promotions. It is also one of the most difficult undertakings of one's life, creating something from nothing, swimming…