TANGO! Review February Power Word

TANGO! Dance around the bullies and be your creative self!

This is an odd way to relate to this month’s power word, TANGO, but it’s something I feel pretty strongly about.

Recently, someone close to me experienced bullying at his middle school. Remember middle school? I do. I hated it. Well, that’s probably being a little harsh, since there were many things I enjoyed. But most of my friends weren’t in my “block,” and I had scoliosis, which means I had to wear a brace for a year and a half of the junior high hell (the brace wasn’t visible, but I felt like it was).

To show him he wasn’t alone, I asked the Twitterverse to share stories of bullying experiences in middle school. And WOW was I surprised when my Twitter feed blew up and I received over a hundred responses to my request. From editors to authors to even a rocket scientist, many had felt the sting of being the “odd one out.” And a common theme—many times the bully was getting bullied herself.

Then a friend sent me an email about how her previously trusted group of peers had been talking about her behind her back and treating her poorly (since she’s one of the sweetest people I know and considering her situation, I’m thinking it could be a jealousy thing). She decided to break with the group, but it wasn’t easy. They had been together for years. It made her question her own self worth, and that, to me, is unacceptable.

When bullying rears its ugly head beyond the primary school years, how do you handle it?Maybe it happens when an artist perceives himself as blocked, as if blocking others leads to revelation or success for himself. As in middle school, sometimes it’s the bully who is getting bullied. As adults, though, it surprises me still that this happens. Why hinder when we should be supporting each other? I can’t think of anything more detrimental to the creative self than being dragged down by naysayers.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve learned to keep circles of trust around myself. No one gets into the circle unless invited—no one tangoes with me (no one puts Baby in a corner?) unless I really, REALLY trust them.  They’re the only ones who can actually affect my perception of myself. I don’t have energy for the rest.

So tango around those who aim to hurt you. Create your circles and block the bullies. The dance will be much more enjoyable for it!

TANGO! A LOVE and HATE Relationship

As they dance across the floor, he grabs her tightly against him. She slaps him and starts walking away. He grabs her arm and pulls her in.  She falls to the ground. He walks away. She grabs his leg as he pulls away, dragging her with him.   He stops, looks down and picks her up, and they dance together again.

This is how I see my relationship with my work.  There are times that I love and could spends hours working on it and then there are times that I just don’t feel inspired.

I sit on my computer looking at the screen waiting for something to happen.  Some creative inspiration? God’s voice? Anything would be better than nothing.  I get frustrated and walk away wondering why I’m I putting myself in this situation.

Other days, I’m in bed and at 2:00am I wake up with an idea.  I have to get up and write it down before I forget and then can’t wait to start working on it.

My issue as a mother, wife and student, finding the time to sit when you are inspired is very, very hard.  You try to schedule your time thinking “ok, once I pick up the kids, get them fed and working on their homework I have one hour to sit down and work on my documentary, before I have to get up and make dinner.”  But how can you tell your creative side “hey, it’s time to turn on your creative juices and get busy.”  No, these are the times that I hate, because–trust me–there are no creative juices coming out of me.

But then there are those times that it just flows from me, and I don’t want it to stop.

So my question’s to you, readers.  How do you do it?  How do you keep your creative juices going on all the time.  Because at the pace I’m going, I will never finish.

I do have a love and hate relationship with my work, but I hope that like the tango, in the end my work and I could dance together as beautifully as the couple doing the dance.

TANGO! It Takes Two

This is what it looks like when I’m dancing…in my dreams

I love to dance.  So many kinds of dance I’ve enjoyed – ballet, jazz, lyrical, club, two-step and so on.  But I’ve never done the Tango.  It sounds exciting, intriguing, perhaps even…dangerous.  I do know one thing about the tango, and that is, as the saying goes, “it takes two”.  It’s not something you can do by yourself.

Neither is writing.

But all I want is time to myself so I can write, you say.  Make the world go away for a little while, so I can write, I beg of you!

I sympathize.  Believe me, I do. But even when we are alone writing, we are not alone.  If we are writing something we actually want someone to read someday, then there is always one other person present.  Our dear reader.  Is our writing not a dance with our reader?

One of my writing challenges is pacing. This month, I’m going to think about dancing with my reader.  Am I leading them with a quick enough stride here, a slow enough pace there to catch their breath, a pause just…long…enough…to…create anticipation? I love it when that perfect tension is created with a dance partner.  That is what I need to create with my reader.

I think I’m ready to TANGO!  How about you?

February Power Word: TANGO!

Turn the heat up on a project close to your heart.

Do you remember when you first fell in love with your project? The butterflies. The intense longing to be together with it. Having trouble thinking about anything else when you were apart.

Have you lost the height of pleasure you once found in your relationship with your project, your art, or even your artistic self? Then join my 4 Chicks this month in falling back in love. It’s time to TANGO!

The tango is not a tepid dance but rather a hungry expression of passion. It is not for the half-focused or half-committed. While you tango every fiber of your being is engaged. The energy between you and your partner-project is electric. With small controlled steps, your deep inner yearnings resurface, intensify, and turn to sweet satisfaction.

Woo your artistic self with lots of love this month, and see if your project doesn’t respond, too.

What project do you want to get closer to in February? Get ready to turn up the heat and move with it. Put on your red-hot dancing shoes and think: TANGO!