Patti Edmon Artist

Wow, I've been so caught up in One World One Heart that I've neglected to post; no one may have noticed, but as a former writer of fiction (avocation) and non-fiction (vocation) I certainly sense the lapse. The forming of thoughts, selecting words for both meaning and inflection, the editing... I suppose the point is that it's a lifelong habit and still a very necessary part of my new existence - unable to work at the company I founded in 1990, instead focusing on my passion for art. Almost as often as I've gotten generous, thoughtful comments about the art photos I've posted, mention has been made of my writing. It has inspired, informed or just resonated with another who is paddling whatever boat I'm in at the time. Lately, I have been wallowing in a creative funk. I did not recognize it as a gestation period, a hovering, waiting for the way to become clear. I was nearly frantic after a couple of weeks of either not producing or resisting the temptation to use...

Who would have thought that two weeks in a row I'd be able to participate in the Inspire Me Thursday challenge . I didn't have a lot of studio time over the summer so photography has been the creative outlet of choice, one of my favorites, I might add. Even though my kids are older (7th and 8th grade) and don't require the kind of hands-on supervision that toddlers do, opportunities were scarce for collage, painting, altering and serious journaling. I didn't mind though, because like my kids, I'm old enough to understand how limited my time with them is; for years I've heard about the dreaded adolescent phase when they won't be caught dead at the mall with me, my opinion will carry as much weight as a grocery list, my witty sense of humor will no longer be funny but a freakish side show, only to be outdone by my lack of style, good taste and tact. Why am I so sure this is imminent? Probably a little media influence, some recall, a bit of reality. Right now I...

I've kept a written journal nearly all my life, dozens, no hundreds, of notebooks -  from the 89-cent spiral bound notebooks (for morning pages) to hard cover books - zillions of letters forming  a record of my life, the better and a lot of the worse parts in detail that I don't think could be any more vivid, even if I had known how to draw. I made money writing, ad copy, articles, public relations and marketing campaigns, technical copy, video scripts.   I made the leap from personal essays to writing short stories and an entire universe opened up. In search of help I wound up with teachers who are among the best in the country, the list of authors they've edited reads like a literary Who's Who; they've taught at Iowa Writer's Workshop, edited Esquire Magazine, published novels... How did I get in that program?? Naively, of course, by responding to a classified ad for editing services in Poets & Writers, sans credentials. It wasn't until after I'd s...