My 2015 reading

This is the time of year that the "Top [fill-in-the-blank] of 2015" lists abound.

For me it's booklists that always succeed in tempting me to click in. I love to see how many I've read or imagine which one will be the next great read. (Do you have a favorite book list? Send it to me!)

Inspiration

These are the lists that have inspired me lately...

• Elizabeth Gilbert's My favorite books of 2015 
• Popular books of 2015 on Goodreads
• The Best Children's Books of 2015 on BrainPickings (with links to the 5 previous years lists)
• The 15 Best Books of 2015 on BrainPickings
• The 10 Best Business and Productivity Books of 2015, Fast Company
• Gretchen Rubin's (The Happiness Project) book club board on Pinterest
• BrainPickings bookshelf
• Designers and Books website

So, inspired, I took a look at the lists of books I've read. I've been keeping lists for years and have read hundreds (but probably thousands) of books in my lifetime.

It's said that what you do every day matters more that what you do every once in a while.

Of all the daily habits that have defined my life, reading is near the top for most defining. (I don't count social media fluff-n-stuff, which soaks up so much time. This year less FB and more reading FTW! )

I do count the audio books that I listen to on my commute and while doing housework. Hearing a book read aloud is a powerful way to hear the author's voice or be transported back in time or into a new world.

I don't have a complete lifetime list, which makes me sad. There was a span of life where I didn't keep track...too busy, too tired, not reading much.

But I've started to add all the books I can remember reading to my Goodreads bookshelf. Some day I'll dig out all the old early lists and catch up...or not.

I have kept track faithfully over the last eleven years, though.

By the numbers

2005 Started to keep track again

32 Average books read per year over the last 11 

2010 Began listening to audio books regularly 

1-5 Ratings for each book: 1- hate it, 2 - didn't like it, 3 - OK, 4 - liked, recommend, 5 - loved it, must read. 

31% average for Rating 5 

In 2015...

41 books read or listened to (more if I had kept track of children's picture books)

11 books with Rating 5

66% Audio books compared to paper books 

Genres 21 fiction (11 sci-fi), 15 nonfiction (6 memoir/bio, 3 biz), 5 YA/children

Themes Creativity, sketch art and novels about art, Neil Gaiman, Ursala LeGuin 

Summer Reserved for light fluffy beach reads or YA/children's books or favorite book rereads...Crazy Little Thing, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Eat Pray Love

Overdrive App of choice for reading or listening, because it's free with a library card (I have 2). Downside, it's difficult to find recent books on audio, or you have to wait. Can now listen streaming on the web, though. I mostly download the books so I don't trash my data plan when I'm away from wifi. Sometimes I use Kindle, but finding good free books is harder.

I take notes or post gems of truth on my Twitter feed, @ellenking. I used to keep a notebook of notes and quotes and enjoy looking back through them, but it's very time consuming.

Yes, I read a real book with a yellow highlighter to catch the parts that ring true. No, I won't mark your book if you lend it to me.

I do love reading on my phone too. It's easier to read faster, just flicking through the screens quickly scanning the words. I feel like I'm making so much progress in less time. Downside, highlighting and bookmarking is possible by not convenient. And it doesn't have that book smell or weight in your hand.

Some of my favorites from 2015:

The Stoneheart Trilogy, Charlie Fletcher. Three books about a 12-year-old boy, Eddie, who runs for his life in London, and across time, to fight the strange powers that animate the statues and monuments. He finds friends and discovers his own power and strengths. This series would be a great read-aloud for your kids.

The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt, is about a tragic accident that allows teenage, Theo, to become obsessed with a work of art and risk so much for it. It drags a bit in the middle but listening to it on audio keeps it moving along and engaging. What part does fate play in our lives? How much can we shape outcomes? How do we handle tragic grief? What power can the love of art have in our choices? "A really great painting is fluid enough to work its way into the mind and heart, in ways that are particular to you. Yours, yours, yours."

The Element, How finding your passion changes everything, Ken Robinson, and The Crossroads of Should and Must, Find and follow your passion, Elle Luna, are two books about creativity, finding "flow" and discovering what your passion is. So inspirational and informative. Maybe I'm not unique in my fears and blocks, but I am unique in my combination of talents and passions. And so are you.

I was so motivated by these two books I ended up covering my wall with post-it notes in order to organize my ideas about where I spend my time and what I love and value. Highly recommended. (The books, not the post-it notes activity.)

We Were Liars, E. Lockhart, was such a page turner. Lie upon lie. It has a surprise ending that I didn't guess at all.  Couldn't put it down.

A Kiss Before You Go was a touching memoir of love and loss after the death of his wife, done by designer and artist, Danny Gregory. So honest, so vulnerable, so touching. Taking up sketching again helped him heal and move on. Sketching is good for the soul, just saying.

You Are Stardust, Kelsey and Kim, is a beautiful children's book that reminds us of our place in the universe and our relationship to the earth. Wonderful illustrations and poetic writing. A gem to share with your child and cherish yourself.

Currently I'm finishing up Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert and loving it. I like her writing style and I'm really absorbing the ideas. We think creativity is reserved for a talented few, but if you're human you're creative. It's part of what makes humans human.

This has been fun summing up my 2015 reading. Every once in a while it's good to take inventory of the things you love. Now it's time to get back to reading.

What should I read this year?

Ellen

Quoteable:

 “A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic,” Carl Sagan asserted in his iconic Cosmos series, admiring the “funny dark squiggles” that have the uncanny power to transport us, across time and space, into the mind of another.

Also read, Galileo on why we read and how books give us superhuman powers, at BrainPickings.

I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve. ~Montesquieu

My Pastry Box article is live

On a whim last New Year's Eve, and with encouragement from a friend, I pulled together some thoughts on Sketching. It's just been posted on the Pastry Box! Check it out.

While my writing skills have improved a lot over the years, it remains a challenge to get what I want down on paper. See if you think it's coherent.

I'm a bit disappointed in the quality of the cover photo. Ah, deadlines and technology.

All in all I'm pleased. Hope you are too.

10 Ways to Sketch More

Sketching is good for the soul

At least it's been good for my soul lately. So it makes sense to sketch more.

Pablo Picasso said,

"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls."

So let's wash some dust off and get more art into our lives.

Draw/paint/sketch/photograph something that inspires you

Be inspired by the ordinary, by the light on the patio after a rain, or by something you already love in the corner of your world.

I love that my phone is my camera and always with me. I love taking pictures of the ordinary and elevating it to art by finding an interesting composition, color, angle,  or close-up. Then I sketch it. Right then or later from the photo.

Inspiration is anything that makes me say "that's cool" or "that's interesting", or "I'll bet nobody has really looked closely at that." Maybe you like flowers, cats, architecture, lemons or cars. Draw it. You'll see it in a new way and love it more.

Let go

In another life I used to paint and craft, but other priorities took over for a time. I so missed being creative. I didn't realize how much until I started in again. So, I recently let go of a few things...a long to-do list that was never done, house-cleaning expectations, home cooking (not my thing), too much media, others' ideas of how I should spend my time and the need for perfection...to take up the pen and paint again.

Let go of anything that doesn't feed your soul. (And, no, sleep doesn't count...get your sleep.)

Start small

I bought a cheap sketchbook and a travel set of paints and a water brush and began to work the dustiness away, by doing small sketches. Use what materials you have, try different pens and pencils and paints. Do several small studies. And embrace wonkiness, and imperfections and learn from them.

Share with friends

Begin sharing with social media friends on Instagram or Flickr or Facebook. Your friends will say encouraging things or "like" it and that will give you a boost. Share the good...

... the bad and the ugly. It keeps you humble and learning.

Sign up for an online class

I signed up for an Alisa Burke online class, Flower Power, last spring to do something simple and unintimidating. She explores so many different styles and is full of never-ending creativity. Her classes are reasonably priced to get started with.

I know that my motivation comes from a class-type setting where lessons and assignments give me something to look forward to and goals to meet. 

I love learning about the other class members from all over the world, and from seeing their styles, and trying to emulate them.

Find inspiration in unusual places

These reading notes from a (rather dry) book on the golden ratio, The Story of PHI, just had to have a sketched illustration. I love math, and combining it with art made sense to me.  I definitely looked very closely at this sunflower as I was drawing it, and even counted the spirals of seeds. Yes, 34 going one way and 55 the other.

Draw something you love already, but might not be related to art.

Make something you'll see everyday

Stretch beyond the paper. Make a craft. Use different paints. Paint big. Paint on wood or fabric. Bloom where you are planted.

Get away from home

When you travel you get a bump in creativity. Neuroscientist Jonah Lehrer, in his book, Imagine, says "when you escape from the place you spend all your time, the mind is suddenly made aware of all those ideas previously suppressed. You start thinking about obscure possibilities." My mind is definitely in a good place on vacation.

So this makes sense now too..."a relaxed state of mind allows us to look inward toward a stream of remote associations in our right brain...insights come in the shower, when we are in a positive mood, when we are not looking for an insight." 

But really it's just that "Life is better at the beach". --Kitschy sign from the beach bum store

There's nothing to do but sit and listen to the waves and the wind, and enjoy the sun. (Ah, letting go of that to-do list again.) Get away to a new place and sketch what you see.

Experiment with a different technique

White sharpies are thing? Yes! This is just a piece of cardboard with drippy sloppy colors (let dry), and then a crazy white doodle on top. Batik-like. Just for the fun of it.

My birdhouse gourd (that has yet to become a birdhouse) was a last minute purchase from the farm market. It's done with acrylics base paint, then black paint and Sharpie used to make the look of lace.

Commit to sketching often

It wasn't until a friend encouraged me to #sketchmore during the month of November in support of her NaNoWriMo goals, that I realized how much I could get done, how it's helped me improve, and how good it really is for my soul. Do something every day.

Bonus tip: Do what you like

Be yourself. Enjoy your own style. Don't care what others think. Choose a quote from one of these philosophers to remind yourself...

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. --Oscar Wilde

Wanting to be someone else is a waste of who you are. --Kurt Cobain

Where is your will to be weird? --Jim Norrison

Just be yourself, there is no one better. --Taylor Swift

This one is my favorite because I'm my own worst critic.

If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. --Vincent Van Gogh

So silence the inner critic, dust the daily life off, see how it feels. Good for the soul?

Can haz puzzle

Oh hai ther. Im in ur box.

Every once in a while I get into a jigsaw puzzle mood. This winter I did four puzzles. I like overall complex designs rather than scenes. I like that they are challenging to my "seeing" skills and "strategerizing" skills. I like that they are slow and do not involve technology.

I can haz all the credit?

Puzzles are a great way to relax and while away the stormy winter hours.

Puzzles give my brain a rest, and yet sometimes that's where I get unusual insights.

A relaxed state of mind allows us to look inward toward the stream of remote associations in our right brain...insights come in the shower, when we are in a positive mood, when we are not looking for an insight. (Imagine, Lehrer, p. 31-33)

Sometimes I put on a favorite movie or TV series, or album, and listen while I work.

When it seems that all I focus on is important life stuff, I can stop and do something unimportant, with no deadline, no worries, no making a difference in the world, no demands. Kinda nice once in a while.

My cat thinks I should be paying attention to him, though. I mean what could possibly be more important than feline felicity?! But, he knows how to creatively encroach on my work and get my attention.

I will stay here, I promise. Well maybe just polite perching. 

Oh, oh, I have a cramp and need to stretch. Ah heck, it's nap time anyway.

Why do people do jigsaw puzzles? What's the draw?

You know, its just plain frugal entertainment. Puzzles are inexpensive, good for all ages and abilities, and can involve social interaction. Family members of all ages can participate in some way. Real-life, in-person conversation (remember that?) can happen.

Every Christmas break, when it's slow in the office, a coworker brings in a large challenging puzzle. I've learned so much from and about colleagues I've worked with for years, in just those few (many!) minutes of working on the puzzle together.

I learn about their families, their likes and dislikes, and even their hopes, dreams and fears. I see their way of seeing—"I need a piece with a little green and blue stripe on it", or "I'm looking for a piece with a small foot and a sharp right shoulder." I learn how they solve problems, with singular concentration or chatty collaboration. Some take it seriously, even competitively. But there's no schedule, no budget, no quality assurance, no revenue lost or gained, just a conversation and a needed break from the routine.

This is the hardest one I've done...every piece just little strokes of blue, yellow or brown.

It's good for your brain

My favorite reason for doing a jigsaw puzzle is that it's good for your brain.

Puzzles are an excellent activity for keeping your brain sharp. They challenge your dexterity, spatial reasoning, and logic. Even better, they work both sides of your brain simultaneously, something few other activities do. The creative side works to see the finished product, while the logical side works to fit the pieces.

I like that. A workout for both sides of your brain that results in a fun piece of art.

It can make you feel good, improve your memory, and create a memory with a loved one.

Each success with the puzzle—placement of the pieces as well as completing the puzzle—encourages the production of dopamine, an important neurotransmitter in the brain that regulates mood and affects people’s concentration and motivation. Dopamine plays a large part in the pleasure/reward pathway, memory and motor control. (The Intentional Caregiver)

 Bring on the dopamine!

I can haz table now?

Quotable:

There are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle.  ~ Deepak Chopra

More:
11 Reasons to Do a Jigsaw Puzzle
Jigsaw Puzzles Benefit the Brain
A Thousand Pieces of Greatness
BBC: Delay dementia
American Jigsaw Puzzle Society

Why do you love jigsaw puzzles? Shout out your answers in the comments.

e

I love attending conferences

In February I attended An Event Apart in Atlanta Georgia. Since I love learning (hence the blog title), I love conferences. I learn from the whole experience.

I love being in a new place.

Looking up...

looking down...

looking outside...

looking inside,

 and seeing art everywhere, even on the ceiling.

I love eating in new places... 

meeting new people...

...and thinking new thoughts.

And, if I'm lucky, experiencing some great art. 

[High Museum of Art...amazing and varied collection]

I especially like thinking new thoughts...

gaining new insights about my work...

...and myself.

It's so good to "get out of the house", to clear my head and re-energize. The unmeasurable conference "effect" for me is a certain clarity the comes about issues not even related to the conference topics or events.

Does that happen for you too?