a year of living creatively

eight months ago i quit my job running the marketing department of a movie studio to spend more time with my husband (who lives in london) and to explore other areas of my life....this has been an up and down proposition. since i walked out of my office for the last time i have spent three weeks in new england, first at a writer's workshop, then at a high school friend's house in maine, and finally, in new york city, where amongst other things, i took an evening sushi course with a former colleague (who is also a friend).

in the ensuing months i have joined the board of a charity (remembering with a cringe when charlotte on 'sex and the city' claimed to have done the same thing when she quit her job), consulted on a few films (all the worst parts of my former job with none of the fun perks like free tabloids or a corner office), and knit, sewn, crocheted, beaded, attended craft fairs, haunted yarns shops, photographed interesting objects, and basically realized that i really want to make things.

i don't know why i want to make things. i am not sure the things i make or will make have any value beyond the joy of creating them, and i am fairly certain that the things i make will never bring me wealth or acclaim....so, at the suggestion of a very clever and interesting new friend, i have decided to create this blog. it's not for anyone but myself. its purpose is to document this year, a year in which i intend to give myself permission to drift from interest to interest and see what happens. the year started promisingly yesterday when my friend trine and i decided to spend the afternoon knitting doughnuts in my kitchen in hampstead.

when we were finished we met trine's boyfriend in notting hill for sushi. his first reaction upon viewing the doughnut --"what a pointless way to spend an afternoon."

this, you see, is the challenge i intend to tackle with this blog. is it a pointless way to spend an afternoon? is watching a soccer match and rooting strenuously for a team you neither own or play for any more productive? what constitutes a productive life? what is success?

i am reading a book about quilting (another beloved passtime of mine). in the book the author is looking at why society devalues the feminine pasttimes, cooking for the family, shuttling the kids around town, and then, in later life, when women are done looking after everyone else, why so many are inexplicably drawn to the pasttime that is somewhat derisively known in many quarters as "craft."

so, there you go. my first blog post. my first project in this year. i am now going to sign off and knit an ice cream cone. cheers!!!!