Caroline Allen
From my Dissolve Series: Cave Painting III. Almost every evening here in Oregon, a family of deer appears in my front yard. I watch them out my living room windows. "Deer TV". Recently two fawns have joined the full-grown deer, trailing happily behind their mothers. I was walking from the house through the woods to my yurt studio one morning, and on the path was one of the fawns. Its stomach…
A few weeks ago, I met up a social worker in her 40s in Portland who worked with at-risk youth. She was interested in writing a book. We talked about the writing process and she told me a bit about her work with addicted teens. "I admire that you're able to do that kind of work. I've tried, and it emotionally overwhelms me," I told her. "Oh no, you could do…
For more than two decades I’ve been honing the scheduling around my creative practice. And I’ve been helping book clients and others do the same. As a novelist, visual artist, and coach, I’ve had to learn the magic of transition from helping others to working on my craft. I’ve had to figure out the best schedule for my creative energies on a daily, monthly, seasonal, and annual basis. And as is the…
Clearing the Residue of Past Lives Can Help You Own Your Creative PowerI am lounging in a lush green recliner in an office near Greenlake, Seattle, a narrow pillow over my eyes. Urban mystic Judith Laxer has one hand on my ankle. In the other hand she's shaking a small gourd rattle. Her eyes are closed. Every once in a while she opens them to write notes on a pad. Photo by Estee Janssens,…