Tag: Evey Brown

  • Z Is For… A Zen‑Like Wrap‑Up!

    Z Is For… A Zen‑Like Wrap‑Up!

    As April comes to a close, we find ourselves at the final letter of the A to Z Challenge — Z, the soft landing at the end of a month‑long creative journey. This year’s theme, The A to Z of Creative Practice, invited our community to explore the many ways we make, imagine, reflect, and grow as artists and writers.

    And what a month it has been.

    Each day brought a new voice, a new perspective, and a new facet of creative life. From Attention to Practice to Yes!, our members shared insights, stories, tools, and encouragement — a collective reminder that creativity is not a solitary act, but a shared ecosystem.

    A Month of Many Voices

    This year, we were fortunate to feature nine guest authors, each bringing their own lens on creative practice:

    • Tina Holland — Bravo, Education, and Travel
    • Rachel Wilder — Characters and Signs
    • Laura Rios — Demos and Discussions, Initiative, and Preparation
    • JaeSage — Gregarious Gusto, Journaling, Liberation, and Resilience
    • Nicole — Observation and Quest
    • Annette Grantham — Friction!
    • Alexandra Sissulak — Unusual Approaches
    • Carol Baxter — V Words for Writers and Xanthippes
    • Evey — Yes!

    And woven among them were posts from our in‑house contributors, including reflections on Attention to Practice, Kindness, and Noon & Wilder.

    Every post added a thread to the tapestry. Every voice shaped the month.

    What We Created Together

    Across April, we explored:

    • craft and craftiness
    • momentum and pause
    • friction and flow
    • signs, symbols, and stories
    • the ways travel, observation, and unusual approaches enrich our work
    • the power of community, curiosity, and kindness

    The A to Z Challenge is always a marathon, but it’s also a celebration — a chance to show up, share, and witness each other’s creativity in motion.

    A Moment of Gratitude

    Thank you to every contributor who wrote, drafted, revised, and hit “publish.” Thank you to every reader who followed along. Thank you to everyone who showed up in whatever way they could this month.

    Creative practice is built on small, steady acts. This April, we made them together.

    Z Is for… Zen

    As we close the month, Z invites us into a moment of quiet appreciation — a breath, a pause, a settling. The work continues, of course, but today we honor the journey we’ve taken.

    And if you’d like to keep the momentum going, remember: Writer Zen Garden sends out a community newsletter on the first of every month. It’s a gentle way to stay connected, catch upcoming events, and keep your creative practice nourished all year long. Click here to subscribe.

    Here’s to the stories we told, the ideas we sparked, and the community that held it all.

    Happy Z‑Day, friends.

  • Y Is For… Yes!

    Contributed by Evey Brown.

    You have heard the old adage, “Write what you know.”  Well that definitely limits what you can create.  Unless, you are open to every new thing out there.  May I humbly suggest that you say ‘YES’ to each opportunity that presents itself.

    That bird watching class offered in your neighborhood…YES

    A  Toastmaster’s meeting with your friend…YES

    A writing conference next month in Las Vegas…YES.

    That tai chi class offered at the local college…YES.

    Free Spanish lessons on Duolingo…YES.

    Creativity guru Julia Cameron recommends ‘restocking the well’.  A concept she describes as adding to our reservoir of images and memories we draw from when we create. Each new idea can become fuel for our creative fire.

    Some opportunities to learn appear by chance; I remember stepping into a candy store that displayed literally hundreds of different brightly colored treats in glass bins.  The effect was staggering;  so many colors, memories and smells in one small place.  New flavors, old favorites and foreign mixtures of sweetness.  I wandered the small area for the longest time, soaking in everything with my eyes, and some tasting as well.

    Others come from keeping your eyes open and ‘seeing’ what is around you. I scanned the vast expanse of the library. Ours is built as an open courtyard design that allows you to glimpse each of five floors going up, the shelves stuffed with books of every size and color.  Racks of magazines with glossy photos on the covers, paintings on the walls and statuary sprinkled throughout.  An oversized mobile hangs from the ceiling above, shiny pieces of metal cut to resemble books with wings, it sways gently in the open space. I couldn’t help but tip my head back and gawk at the sheer number of possibilities available to grasp in this relatively small space.

    Possibilities abound buried in your past; they could be as simple as that huge box of 64 Crayola crayons you had as a child. With names like Burnt Umber and Cerulean; sometimes I had more fun discovering the names than actually using them on paper.  Last year I found they have neon and metallic versions.  And new this year, Easter Pastels!

    Technology can bring you close to almost anything you have an interest in.  Virtual tours of the Louvre Museum, interviews with people of note and access to almost every song and form of music that has ever existed. If you’re not out there exploring, the fault is yours.  Consider saying yes to the next opportunity that presents itself, you could find inspiration for your next story, painting or dream.

  • X Is For… Xanadu!

    #AtoZChallenge 2025 letter X

    Contributed by Evey Brown

    “In Xanadu did Kubla Khan, a stately pleasure dome decree…”  In this poem we see that even the mighty Kubla Khan needed to take a break from conquering the world to relax.  The same is true for us, in the midst of personal growth, there must be pauses to rest.  There must be places to meditate, look inward and catch our breath before more progress can be accomplished. I am suggesting you find a small place in your home where you can build your own Xanadu.

    When you close your eyes and imagine a perfect spot, where are you?  In a fairyland meadow, at the beach, or maybe Grandma’s kitchen table?  Can you relax and just for a moment forget the cares of the moment and center?  Then you’re off to a great start.  Let’s build one together.

    Your own personal ‘pleasure dome’ could be something as grand as a whole room, or as small as your bedside table. A window sill or your half of the bathroom counter would fit the bill nicely too.  I suggest you fill it with objects that help take you there through your five senses.

    First, Touch.  A lace doily, a strip of satin, a woven placemat of jute.  Or maybe you would prefer some faux fur?  Imagine touching it, stroking it, does it take you to that happy place?  Driftwood worn smooth by the waves, the pearly sheen of the inside of a seashell with the gritty outside for contrast would give you double the tactile stimulation.   I suggest finding these items at the dollar store, a quick trip to goodwill  or maybe you have something already.  I found an out of style velvet skirt for four dollars and turned it into a table runner. There is no reason to spend a lot of money on this.

    Second, Sight.  Have you or a loved one sketched a favored drawing?  Maybe that Christmas card from Aunt Sue with the snow falling around a cabin.  Or you found the perfect sunset online.  Frame it, and choose a frame that elevates the scene.  The dollar shop has a nice selection for, you guessed it, a dollar.  You could double down and match it to your touch item.  I have a picture of my Grandma Etta on my strip of velvet.  She always had a red velvet table runner on her windowsill.

    Third, Sound.  Can you hear the ocean in that seashell? Maybe a small wind chime that tinkles when you touch it.  You could use a crystal bell, a metronome, or the sound of your purring (or snoring) cat at your feet.  Don’t forget technology; download an app that could help you find the sounds of rain, ocean waves or soothing music.  My Grandma Etta’s house was seldom quiet but when it was, the sound of her heavy wooden mantle clock was special to me.  The dependable ticks, the Westminster Chime that went off on the hour sounds like peace to me.

    Fourth, Smell.  This one is as easy as buying a candle, a wax warmer or incense.  There are air diffusers, sprays, and essential oils.  My favorite option though is breaking out a package of cookie dough and tossing it in the oven.  Nothing is better in my experience than chocolate chips and vanilla in real time.

    Which brings us to the fifth sense, Taste. When my cookie dough is done, I can eat it too. Make a plan to have something that tastes like your personal Xanadu in your cupboard.  Lemonade for the beach, hot chocolate if you are going for the Christmas vibes, and sweet tea would fit nicely into an outdoor garden theme.  What was your favorite food as a child?  Banana slices in red jello?  Chocolate pudding?  Grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup when it rained?  My grandma had Worthers candy.  Why not add your fifth sense and a little nostalgia into your escape from stress?

    In the long run you may only spend five or ten minutes relaxing in your personal ‘pleasure dome’ at a time; but that break, that rest will make your continuing efforts to grow and improve yourself easier to continue.  I know it has worked for me.

  • O Is For… Opportunity

    #AtoZChallenge 2025 letter O

    Contributed by Evey Brown

    Personal growth is a wonderful thing.  Goals and resolutions are helpful; but is there something amazing out there that you have never even considered,  waiting to grab you and push you into a totally different direction in your life?  Remember the old adage;  “Opportunity only knocks once”?  My question is, have you been paying attention?  Have you looked around, searched the web or thought about returning to school?

    A friend of mine recommended I join MeetUp online; plug in some of my favorite activities and see what’s out there. I found not only a club that loved to watch movies, but free yoga in the park a block from my house, a writing group that meets just downtown, a dog walking club and women who knit all in my  neighborhood.  I was shocked to find so many other people out there interested in the same things I am and they are just minutes away!  I joined my movie club and now can’t imagine weekends without them, discussing and watching old shows.  They are my new tribe, it is so wonderful to geek out with people who love what I love.  One of my sons joined the writing group and loves it as well.

    Another day I searched for tai chi lessons near me, wanting some low impact exercise that helps with balance.  I was rewarded with literally pages and pages of not only businesses that teach tai chi but also free classes in the city.  The Senior Center has one every Saturday morning.  On the Senior Center page I noticed they also have online ballet lessons and exercise with one of the dancers in our local ballet company.  These are recorded and can be viewed at any time, focusing mostly on posture, balance and strength and are geared to people my age.  This dancer also comes to the Center monthly to give live lessons!  Who else can brag they get in person lessons from a professional ballerina?  And for free?  They also pointed me to local hikes, parks, and sightseeing tours I was not aware of.  There is a long list of places to volunteer based on your interests and free swim and gym times for seniors.

    What if I’m not a senior, you ask?  The city park and recreation site pointed me to local festivals, classes on gardening, sewing, blogging and scrapbooking.  There are lists of museums, 5K races, chili cook offs, art shows, free days at the zoo, botanical gardens, historical farms and the planetarium.

    The library, county and city, each offer multiple classes in foreign languages, writing, poetry, drawing and reading tutoring.  Bring your kids to the music festivals and story time.  Enjoy free computer time, interviews with authors, public and political figures and classes on bicycle and personal safety.  Rent a movie or check out a book, a real one or on your tablet.

    Don’t forget continuing education, night and weekend classes in a variety of courses at multiple campuses.  Learn to prepare your own taxes, cook like a chef or get your GED.  And meet other people with similar interests.

    The local pages of the newspaper list speed dating nights, plays at theaters, art shows, movies and restaurants nearby with reviews.  Concerts, rodeos, firework shows, equestrian events, you name it, they have it.

    I am sure you can think of other places to look for something new to help you grow and expand your mind. Start with this list and go find your next unknown passion.  Unless you look you will never know what opportunities are out there and available.

  • K Is For… Keep It Going!

    #AtoZChallenge 2025 letter K

    Contributed by Evey Brown

    Everyone is interested in self improvement, growth and resolutions.  On January 1st we all make resolutions but how many of them are still in effect now it’s April?  That is the subject I want to address; how to keep your personal growth up and make these resolutions into permanent healthy habits.

    1. Remind yourself about your resolution.  Let’s take going to the gym for an example.  You could put little sticky notes at your desk, bathroom mirror, or the  dashboard of your car.  Make them positive; “I get to go to the gym today!” or “Treating myself to some gym time!”.  Decorate them with stickers or bright colored pens and markers.  Or you could simply set your phone alarm.

    2.  Involve some accountability.  Phone a friend the night before, then again after you finish.  You are more likely to follow through with someone aware of what you are doing.

    3.  Reward yourself for following through.  Take an extra long hot shower before you leave or buy yourself a tasty and healthy drink.  After a week of success, buy yourself a new pair of workout shoes or sweats.

    4.  Track your success.  Put a tick mark on your calendar for every day you make it to the gym, make your own poster totaling up the amount of minutes and hours you have invested in this goal should help you remain interested.

    5. Prepare for success.  Set your gym clothes out the night before, put your gym bag on the kitchen counter so you can’t miss it.  And after your workout, put those clothes into the washer first thing when you get home so you don’t have the excuse that you don’t have anything to wear.  You could also put a fresh bottle of water and healthy snack in there to munch on as you drive there.

    6.  Mental imagery can help.  Professional athletes are trained to meditate about what winning their events will look like, how they will feel after.  Are you feeling that runners’ high as you finish, more awake and alert through the day?  Don’t hesitate to let these thoughts spark your ambition.

    7.  Admit to yourself there will be lapses.  You are only human.  But getting back into the swing of things is important.  If you slept in and missed the gym, you can take a short walk during your lunch at work, do some squats while you are cooking dinner, do some wall push ups as your favorite TV show plays.

    8.  Prevent boredom.  Vary your workout.  Add weights, use different exercises and try some sports.  You might find something you can’t wait to get up and do every day.

    Personal growth is just that; personal  Your journey will be different from anyone else’s and hopefully these suggestions will help you find yours, and keep it going.  One step at a time, one day at a time, new habits, new you.

  • How to Create an Oral History for your Family; or Unforgettable and Unfortunate Things my Kids have Done

    How to Create an Oral History for your Family;  or Unforgettable and Unfortunate Things my Kids have Done

    by Evey Brown

    It happens almost every time my family gets together, someone says, “Mom, tell us again about the time…” and a certain child is singled out for embarrassment.  The whole family laughs and the forenamed child groans in pseudo shame.  And then everyone sits back as I retell the tale that has become a part of our family history.

    Like the story when Brad put a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in our VCR just like it was a tape.  (Yes, I know some of you are a little too young to know what a VCR was, think of them like very fat CD’s.)

    Or when Kris took a hammer to his bedroom wall just below the light switch so he could see why the light turned on and off.  I was secretly proud of his curious mind but at the time couldn’t overlook the hole.

    And who could forget the time Jenny lay on the couch and played ‘airplane’ with the dog?  She lost her balance and managed to toss him right through the huge picture window of our house.  Luckily the dog was fine, but it cost a fortune to replace the glass.

    There’s also the day Alex put an arrow, yes I said arrow, through our computer monitor.  In his defense both the bow and arrow were handmade and he says his brother put him up to it.

    Holly never likes it when we talk about how we broke her of her tattling habit.  She entered my bedroom and informed on her sister who had hit her, “Just like this,” she said and whacked herself hard on the forehead.  My husband called Jenny in and had Holly repeat her accusation, and yes, she hit herself again.  This was repeated over and over with each of our children until Holly finally said, “Hey… are you teasing me?”

    Max’s story is more recent.  He was playing video games with his girlfriend when I came in and addressed him as ‘Princess’.  In ‘my’ defense, okay, I don’t have a real defense, but the name has stuck.  Poor boy.

    These stories are still as accurate as I can remember but in all honesty I am sure they have become exaggerated over the years.  I need to put them all on paper so they will not be forgotten.  And there are new ones being created each day.  In the meantime, we tell and retell the stories together.  They make us laugh and bind us together and what could be better than that?

  • Things My Grandpa Taught Me – O for Orion

     

    I spent my summers on my grandfather’s farm, a truly rural place that seemed to be on another planet.  There were six street lights down the only paved road in town, one general store and a school house that combined kindergarten through ninth grades in two small rooms with twenty students.  There were 130 residents there Grandpa would say; if you counted the sheep and cows.

    I worked in his store during the day and made dinner at night while he and my grandmother worked the garden.  It seemed to me like a hard life for a twelve year old that had only done a few chores and then played with friends on previous summers but I was away from my parents and siblings on what seemed a grand adventure so I loved every minute of it.

    It was dark there at night and the stars were clearly visible in that huge expanse that loomed above the world.  After all the work was done Grandpa would show me a new constellation each night in his heavy astronomy book then we headed outside to find it in the sky above us.  He would turn on his huge flashlight and point out the designs so I could see them too and I was amazed as each night the sky seemed more familiar to me.

    My first constellation was Orion, three stars in a sort of straight line formed his belt, there were others around it that represented the warrior’s arms and legs and weapons.  The following nights I learned Canis Major and Canis Minor, his two hunting dogs that stood beside him as the three of them faced off against the rearing bull, Taurus.  That monster was clearly recognized by the red star that formed his eye.

    There were other constellations depending on the time of season, Scorpio, Draco the Dragon and Andromeda; but Orion was always the starting point; everything new was related to Orion’s position in the sky. It was our signpost, our go to before we struck out to learn any new constellations.

    It’s been years and Grandpa has passed, buried below that vast star-filled sky in rural Utah where I’m sure he gazes at the magnificent view of the constellations he loved each night.

    I seldom visit that small town anymore but even today, in the big city where only the brightest of stars are visible, I glance up and search for Orion.  It’s the landmark that lets me know that the world around me has changed but the heavens remain the same.  It acts like an anchor for me, a stepping off place before I explore and the light on the front porch when I’m heading home.

    And for that sense of peace I will always thank Grandpa.

  • Is It Inspiration, Invention or Insight? or, Where Do You Get Your Story Ideas?

    2016-04-11 Letter I

    When people ask me where I get my ideas for stories and I have no answer for them except; I keep my eyes open and “it comes to me.”

    It’s true, there is nothing new under the sun, no unimagined ideas, no unshared topics.  There is however an unnumbered ways of viewing those experiences.

    Take Romeo and Juliet for example – of course Shakespeare penned it back in Elizabethan times but it was re-imagined in New York City’s gritty neighborhoods with street gangs instead of feuding families and ‘voila,’ West Side Story.  I’ve seen other versions, one set against the backdrop of World War II where an American girl falls in love with a Japanese boy and the Disney entry that showcases Pocahontas’ and John Smith’s love as their people fight openly in the background.  In fact, isn’t every romance story ever written about two people that fall in love and must struggle to find a way to become one despite their differences, their worlds, their friends and family?

    The basic idea of love resonates as a ‘universal truth’ that most humans face at least once in their lives and each new author reflects that story onto the page through the filter of their own individual reality.

    In “It,” Stephen King brings two now grown teenagers back together as adults and forces them to confront an evil they fought in their youth.  As they battle this monster, they remember their love for each other and come together in the end.  Yes, I said it; Stephen King rewrote Romeo and Juliet as a horror story.  That is his own view of the world, or at least the one he uses as he writes.

    So, back to me.  I write what I know, what I see, what I’ve experienced; and that means I need to keep my eyes open for that element that will bring me to the page.  I may be outside looking at the stars above me or watching a preview for a new show on CBS but both of those acts have brought memories or emotions to my mind and inspired stories.

    So, it’s important I keep my mind open; that I observe and not just exist.  In the Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron calls this idea ‘filling the well.’  Do something fun, something new, or something you love.  And keep your mind open as you do.  Fill your consciousness with the world around you.  There are so many beautiful, and yes ugly and painful things around you.  These are the things inspiration is made of.

    Take that ‘inspiration’ and find its meaning inside you, this is where the ‘insight’ part comes in.  Then invent something with it; something very individual, something your very own.  The universal truth is there as your inspiration, but the other two ‘I’ words have turned it into something new.

    I believe all three must be present to create.  Why don’t you give it a try?

  • “C” is for Crayon

     

    I remember the joy that a new box of crayons would bring when I was young. The snazzy yellow box with the signature green stripes on the sides always took my breath away. The sight of all 64 colors in perfect order was like a magical glimpse of the rainbow made real in my hands.

    Burnt sienna, sandalwood, magenta and salmon; they were words I’d heard but these crayons were my first exposure to the real thing. To this day I can see in my mind’s eye the lower case black lettering on the side of the crayons with that newly learned shade.

    Today, many, many years later, there are new colors; purple mountains majesty, macaroni and cheese and fuzzy wuzzy brown; very descriptive and tactile. I’m sure they were chosen to help their newest consumers learn the shades of the rainbow.

    Now if you’ll excuse me; I’m feeling the need to go get a box and right now and create something. I hear they sell boxes with 120 different shades…