Starcat's Corner Reminder

Just a reminder, if you've found your way here, please click on over to my blog's new home at Starcat's Corner, http://www.starcatscorner.com.  Lots of great posts there for your reading pleasure! Thanks and blessings!

A Favor to Ask

Hi there! If you're reading this, I have a favor to ask. You see, I've moved my blog to my new website. You can get the same quality writing, fun photos, and other joyful silliness over there, I promise!

So, the favor: will you please click over and "follow" me at my new home?

If you're already a follower of this blog via Google or the RSS feed, please make the update now, while you're thinking about it. The new address is http://www.starcatscorner.com.

If you're seeing this on Facebook via NetworkedBlogs, I hope you'll follow me there.

Thanks so much in advance! I look forward to seeing you over at Starcat's Corner. Pour your favorite beverage, settle into a comfy spot, and let's get caught up. Blessings!

I've Moved!

Hi there, faithful reader. I have a cool surprise for you. This blog, Starcat's Study, can now be found over on my brand new website, Starcat's Corner! Find it here: http://www.starcatscorner.com

The reason for the move is that with my new book, Starcat's Corner: Essays on Pagan Living, coming out soon, I thought it should have its very own home and direct link.

I hope you'll come visit, follow the blog, and join the community! Upcoming posts over there include: this week's Starcat's Favorites, the story of how we got the awesome new banner photo (which involved an afternoon feline photo shoot!), and how I'm learning to receive the gifts of the Universe.

I'm so thankful to BlackLion for building the awesome new site for me, and teaching me how to update it. Also my thanks go to Merlin Lovecat, for cooperating with the impromptu cat photo shoot, and to ElvenTiger for helping with that process. Thanks, cool cats!

See you on the other side!

NaBloPoMo Success!

Huzzah! I did it! Even through a very busy and active month, I posted here every day! It wasn't really a burden. I had fun. I needed to be very conscious about remembering to post, but perhaps now, 31 days later, it's become a habit. We'll see how that goes. I hope you've enjoyed reading about my life and my thoughts.

The NaBloPoMo theme was "between," and that's where I am right now. It is Samhain, and thus begins the darkest time of the year. The space between Samhain and Yule is time that I set aside for renewal and a particularly strong focus on my inner life. Over the course of the next couple days I'll refine what that will look like, this time around. I know I'm going to do my usual sugar fast, starting tomorrow. But there will no doubt be other intentions to focus on during this between time.

For tonight, we've figured out our Halloween plan. Dryst is going to the zombie walk and movie viewing with his friends. ElvenTiger is going to become Wednesday Addams once again, and do some trick-or-treating. Then we'll head over to Mom's for some soup, treats, and our Monday night viewing of Dancing with the Stars. It'll be fun and mellow and suits me just fine. Happy Halloween and Blessed Samhain!

Eye of the Storm

I'm sitting here at the laptop with my cup of decaf chai tea (with soymilk and honey, mmmm) and taking a few moments to write today's blog. I'm really psyched that I've almost made it to the end of the month, and have posted every day! Especially given the fact that I've been so very busy. It's been fun, though! And at least one person has said that she hopes I'll continue to post every day (or at least close to that). We'll see what happens.

After this we're off to the final Dark Follies show. It's been so much fun! We have some friends coming tonight to see it, plus a cast party afterwards. Apparently we might get some (more) snow tonight. That's OK, the show must go on! I'm tired, but not exhausted. I think I've been pacing myself pretty well. I'm not one of those people with vast amounts of energy (activity-wise), but I have very good endurance and stamina.

Our vending at the Gorham Art Fair (for the Maine Wholeschoolers) went well today. Tomorrow morning I can sleep in (oh joy!!!) and then have time to prepare for the lovely ritual I'm helping lead. And next week will be a lot more reasonable as far as commitments and running around goes. I'm pretty pleased, overall, and hope you all have a lovely evening.

Bedtime Routine and The Between

October's theme for National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) is "Between." So I thought, since I seem to have taken up the challenge of daily blogging this month, that today I'd talk about one of the ways I use the term "between."

My bedtime routine goes like this: after brushing my teeth and changing into my PJs (really just a very soft oversize t-shirt), I climb into bed. Usually the window is open, at least a crack, to provide some fresh air. I grab a book from the stack next to my bed - I always have at least two books going at once, so I see which one is calling to me at the moment. I read for a while. It might be an hour or more, or if I'm tired, just for a few minutes. It's a rare night when I don't read before sleeping. Once I'm done, I make sure my dream journal and a pen are nearby, and turn out the light.

Then comes the Between part. I settle in and nestle my cheek down on the pillow, close my eyes, and let my mind roam. When I start to see images, sort of like dreams but more ephemeral, I know that I've reached the Between space, the magickal creative place between waking consciousness and sleep. It's a bit like dreaming, but I'm still aware that I'm in my bed beginning to fall asleep. Sometimes I take part in conversations there, or travel to interesting places. The imagery is vivid and fantastical, yet somehow not as easily captured as standard dreams. I like it there in the Between. I let myself drift down into sleep like a falling autumn leaf.

Sometimes upon waking, as I emerge from my dreams, I find myself once again in the Between. Or perhaps it's the reverse, since I'm moving in a different direction - maybe I'll call it the Mirror Between. Usually when I'm waking up, my thoughts are gradually organizing themselves. I'm focused on recalling my dreams so I can write them down, on what I'm going to be doing today, on the friendly household sounds, and on the weather outside my window as I emerge into the waking world once again. The Mirror Between is like emerging from a dimly lit room into the sunshine.

I want to learn how to capture some of the insights I find in the Between space. I'm currently reading "Active Dreaming," by Robert Moss, and he talks about how lots of creative people find interesting ideas, inventions and solutions in that liminal space Between waking and sleeping. Perhaps I'll see if I can jot down some of my Between notions. The trouble with that is, I get most of them when I am falling asleep, and if I wake up enough to make notes, I'll have to start over. Wait, that might not be so bad - I'd have even more chances to visit the Between!

To Blog or Not to Blog...

...daily, that is. I recently found out about NaBloPoMo, which stands for National Blog Posting Month, and the challenge is to write a blog entry every day. A couple of friends who have cool blogs have joined in, and so I'm contemplating whether I want to do the same. The rules are simple: "Post something every day for a month. That's all you have to do." And the theme for October is "Between," which sounds magickal and right up my alley. So what's a cat to do?

The pros: I've done something like this before, a couple years ago, with BlackLion, and it was fun. I already write every day, so sharing some of that with the world would be valuable, and more practice is always good. I recently read that in order to master something, you need to put in 10,000 hours. I've probably done that with journal writing, but certainly not (yet) with blogging as a specific art form. The writing prompts provided on the NaBloPoMo website look intriguing. It would get me posting more often, and probably taking photos more often, too.

The cons: Just one, really: posting EVERY day. No matter how busy I get. Eeek!

Well, I'll continue to contemplate, and keep posting. Nothing to lose! Either way I'm writing more and connecting with you, my Dear Readers!

300th Post!

Welcome to the 300th post on this blog! I started with the first post back in January of 2006. My thanks to JWL for helping me set it up, and for hosting it on the Freakwitch website for the first few years. I enjoy blogging, and having a place like this to share my personal musings and our family's adventures is a lot of fun. I've discovered summer is a bit of a busy time to keep up with a blog challenge, but I'm going to do my best to blog frequently anyway.

So, what's up today? We had some weekend plans, but for various reasons they were postponed. I was disappointed at first, but the book I'm reading has helped me just be present with what is. It's a fabulous book, "Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears" by Pema Chodron. I highly recommend it, and for those of you who don't have much reading time, it's only 100 pages long, so go for it! I've been doing some introspection this week, and feeling the beginnings of a new transformation at this turn of the seasons. This blog entry by T. Thorne Coyle asks some of the questions I've been asking myself lately.

Our new e-mail list, Making Your Life a Masterpiece, has already taken off and is blossoming. Please join us if you're inspired to explore spirituality in a fun online community. Not much else to tell, I guess. We enjoyed some strawberry picking this week, as part of our celebration of the Summer Solstice, and I think today we're going to make some strawberry gelato. Thanks for reading my blog! I hope you find it enjoyable! Have a fun and interesting weekend, all.

One Word

I saw this on Zenmomma's blog and wanted to play, too. Having a mellow rainy evening here. Skip-Bo, nachos, and e-town on the radio.

Yourself: chillin'
Your partner: loving
Your hair: longish
Your mother: amazing
Your father: funny
Your favorite item: journal
Your dream last night: flowery
Your favorite drink: water
Your dream car: hybrid
Your dream home: larger
The room you are in: dining
Your ex: who?
Your fear: loss
Where you want to be in ten years: happy
Who you hung out with last night: family
What you're not: done
Muffins: raspberry
One of your wish list items: money
Time: plenty
The last thing you did: read
What you are wearing: sweater
Your favorite weather: sunny
Your favorite book: many
Last thing you ate: nachos
Your life: good
Your mood: relaxed
Your Best Friends: awesome
What are you thinking about right now: writing
Your car: Subaru
What are you doing at the moment: thinking
Your summer: grateful
Relationship status: complicated
What is on your tv: WoW
What is the weather like: misty
When is the last time you laughed: earlier

Proving the Rule

Well, they say the exception proves the rule. I guess if my blogging challenge was a rule, then the past week was the exception! I was so busy over the past couple of weeks that blogging wasn't the only thing that fell by the wayside. My yoga practice suffered, as did my daily journal writing. And it's just today that we've reclaimed the house from its somewhat, er, messy state.

Luckily, we now have a working camera, so we can share a couple of photos with you. The most exciting thing we've been involved with was the handfasting and wedding of a lovely couple who are dear friends of ours. I don't want to share any photos of other folks without their permission, but here are a couple with only my family appearing in them.

I called Water in the handfasting ritual, and ElvenTiger was my helper. Note the matching outfits! We're standing in the West, and you can see an example of the pretty dyed silk ribbons that decorated all the quarters of the circle. We helped dye the ribbons for Earth.

And here we are playing the drums for the procession. This photo shows us as we're about to exit the circle. From left to right, that's ElvenTiger, Quester, myself, and BlackLion.

We had such a marvelous time! It was a great joy to be able to share in the celebration of such a magickal and beloved couple. I'll write more later, but just wanted to say hello and share a glimpse of what I've been up to. I hope you're having fun, too!

Stormy Weather

Where was I yesterday? Why didn't I post a blog entry? What about the blog challenge? Here's a clue.

Today is feeling brighter. The blog challenge is still on. I wish you bright and sunny skies!

A New Blog Challenge!

BlackLion and I have created a new blog challenge for ourselves! Why? Well, because we're like that, I guess. The last time we did one was back in late 2009, and it was fun. So why not?

Our goal is to each blog at least five times per week on our personal blogs (here's a link to his), and to write three blog posts per week on our Feline Dreamers blog (we've been doing two per week for the last few months). So that means a combined total of 13 blog entries per week! A lucky number for a couple of witchy types, eh? Well, plus I've always liked the number 13 because I was born on the 13th (of September).

This is in addition to our daily journal writing, and other writing that we do for our business. I think it'll be a challenge, but in a good way. The more writing I do, the better I feel about the quality of my articles. And as I pointed out at the end of the last blog challenge, we seem to have no shortage of ideas on what to write about! I'll try to include more pictures, too, because they're fun - though I have to go pick up a new battery for my camera, first.

Please feel free to leave comments, questions, feedback, and ideas. And sign up as a follower if you like this blog! If you have a blog and I don't follow it yet, link to it and I'll check it out. I love to read even more than I love to write!

A Poem for Joy

I wrote a poem for my friend Joy, based on her writing prompt. It seems this is National Poetry Month. So I reached within and captured this glimpse of where I am at this moment...subject to change at will!

Nikki,
Transforming, becoming, allowing, in motion.
Who loves creating, dancing, being.
Who feels open, inspired, overwhelmed.
Who gives comfort, smiles, and stillness.
Who fears chaos, anger, and loss.
Who seeks wisdom, peace, and understanding -
Alive, transforming, whole -
I am Starcat, Dreamer.

Networking in My PJs

Yesterday I spent some fun time networking, while sitting here in my comfy home, still in my pajamas. For a few years now I've belonged to some online groups that I really enjoy, my favorite being Danya Martin's Radical Unschooling with Law of Attraction (RU-LOA) e-mail list. I'm also a part of Faerie Nation, as well as a local homeschooling e-mail list. I follow several blogs on various topics that I'm interested in (unschooling, creativity, food, spirituality, sustainable living).

Recently, I've increased my involvement with online networking. Part of my motivation is to find ways to creatively and ethically market my business, Feline Dreamers, and to learn more about how to get the word out. But I also find a wealth of inspiration by interacting with many different people and groups online. While I start with topics that interest me, I often find out about all kinds of things I wasn't aware of or new perspectives on topics that spark new ideas and fuel my creativity. So I thought today I'd share a few of my newest discoveries, in hopes of sparking your interest.

While reading "Notes From the Edge Times" by Daniel Pinchbeck for my book club, I discovered and joined his alternative social network: evolver.net.

My online friend and blog sister, Wild Zen Mama, has just started an awesome online tribe: WildZen Tribe: A Soulful and Inspiring Grassroots Community.

Another great online community is the one being put together by The Organic Sister. You can join her to be included in her new plans.

There is a new wiki page for unschooling entrepreneurs and small business owners. I tried to link to it, but I guess you have to sign up for wikispace first. Contact me directly if you'd like more information.

And of course there's The Unschooler's Emporium, which has had a special link here on my blog for a while. We just added our e-book to their list of items for sale.

I also joined a mastermind group based on small businesses, that a few folks from the RU-LOA list are starting. It's a small private group, but I'll let you know how it's going as it gets up and running.

If you feel inspired to do so, share some of your own favorite websites or groups (or ones you've created) in the comments section. Thanks!

Tips for Creative Entrepreneurial Types

Over the past couple of days I've come across two great articles that appeal to my creative side.

The first one I found through a link on one of the blogs I read regularly, Blog of the Zombie Princess. She's been talking about doing "Morning Pages," and shared a link to an article written by Julia Cameron, which is part of her book "The Artist's Way." This month I've been doing a version of the morning pages that I learned from a writing teacher at Vermont Witch Camp a few years ago. I find it incredibly productive and inspiring. I'm not sure if it came from the same source, but either way it was great to read about the reasons behind it and the benefits of the practice. If this intrigues you, be sure to read the whole chapter, which is provided as a .pdf file.

The second interesting link came from my Mom, who recommended a story she saw on Good Morning America about bloggers making money by writing about their passions. That story led to a terrific article about using social media to promote your business or website. Like the Christine Kane stuff, it's very "creative person friendly," and focuses on content and connecting with people.

Enjoy! I hope you find them helpful.

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Blog Renovation Thoughts

I'm going to be doing some updates to this blog pretty soon. First, I'm moving it over to live on the Feline Dreamers website, as part of the redesign and updates we're doing there. As part of that process, I thought I'd update the look of the blog and also add some different types of content.

Over on the sidebar, I currently have a "What I'm Reading" section where I'm able to do little mini book reviews. As an avid reader, I thought it might be fun to add full-length book reviews as part of the blog. I could do one each week, or every other week. What do you think? The types of books I read most often are: fantasy and sci fi, modern novels, young adult fiction (with the kids), books on spirituality (Paganism, Eastern philosophy, self-help, etc.) and homeschooling, some classic literature, and a smattering of other stuff that randomly grabs my attention. Would you, O Faithful Blog Reader, be interested in a regular book review post from me?

I've also wanted to include more pictures, though for some reason the whole process of getting pictures from my digital camera into the laptop and posted up on the web seems to always take at least twice as long as I think it should. Maybe I can somehow streamline the process, and thus have more incentive to get photos posted.

If you have any other ideas about what you'd like to see here, please let me know!

Sweet Success!

This is the final post in our 30-day blog challenge! Sweet success! I'm glad we did this experiment. I thought for the last post in the challenge I'd share what I've learned and what my plans are for the blog as I move forward.

It was indeed a challenge to sit down every day and write something for the blog. The challenging part was usually just taking the time. I found that I tend to write in the later part of the evening, because that way I can write about things that have happened or that I've been thinking about during the day. Most of the time, coming up with ideas and topics wasn't a problem. That's true for my creative work as a whole - I have a ton of ideas, but making the time to follow through on them is what I need to practice.

I also found that with the focus on writing on the blog each day, the amount of writing that I did in general has increased a bit. I more often turned to my journal to jot down ideas and thoughts, particularly when I was away from access to a computer. I enjoyed the collaborative aspect of the challenge, too - BlackLion and I edited posts for each other, and I found myself more often reading other people's blogs to see how they presented their thoughts. Reading the comments and feedback on various entries (including which ones generated more responses) was fascinating.

The next step for this blog is...to keep blogging! I don't know that I'll do it every single day, but I do enjoy it and I've had positive feedback from readers. It's easier for me to do the plain text posts than to add the pictures, but I do want to include more pictures because I think it adds depth to what I'm describing or relating. So my goals for this blog are to keep up with making frequent posts (say, five per week) and to add more photos.

My writing goal in general is to take time every day to work on my writing projects. BlackLion and I are forming a further challenge along those lines. We're still figuring out the details, but we want to focus on our shared writing projects as well as individual creative work.

I appreciate you reading my thoughts and ideas in this forum! And an extra thanks to those who have taken the time to leave comments. You rock!

My Media

I thought it might be fun to list what "media" I use regularly, and why. I'd love to see your list, too. Put it on your blog if you have one, or just leave a comment. By sharing, we might discover new interesting things to inspire us! (Note: I haven't included books, simply because I read so many. I do have a list of my current reads on the sidebar)

Magazines and Newsletters:
Yoga Journal. After I attended a yoga retreat last year, the retreat center sent me a free one-year subscription. It's a great magazine, and I do want to renew for another year.
Home Education Magazine. I've read HEM for several years now, and I'm still finding useful ideas, book and website suggestions, and fun articles.
EarthTides Pagan Network newsletter. I'm a volunteer for EarthTides and I write for the newsletter. But I also read it, and enjoy hearing what other Pagans in Maine have to say. Lately we've been adding new writers and more content.

Radio:
My number one station is MPBN. My favorite shows are A Prairie Home Companion, World Cafe, and the Friday night jazz lineup. I'm not keeping up with the news as much lately, but when I want to do so, MPBN is my favorite source. I also listen to WCLZ sometimes, and this time of year I listen to WHOM because they play Christmas music. I don't like the commercials, though.

Movies:
We go out to the movie theater occasionally. Some of the things I've seen this year are: New Moon, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Julie & Julia, the latest Harry Potter movie, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. My favorite genres are fantasy, science fiction, comedy, adventure (though not the really gory violent stuff) and cartoons. We'll more often use our Netflix account to get those types of movies.

TV:
I don't have regular TV, but we do watch a few series on Netflix and one with my Mom. With Mom, we've been watching Dancing With The Stars, which is a fun thing to do as a family. The kids got me really into the series Avatar: The Last Airbender, and we've seen all the episodes (there will be a movie of the series next spring!). I watch the series Heroes with BlackLion. Now that we've seen all of the Avatar shows, we're trying to decide what series to watch next as a family. Our close friends recommended Legend of the Seeker, so we may do that one.

E-mail lists:
My favorite by far is the Radical Unschooling with Law of Attraction list run by Dayna Martin. It's a very positive and supportive online unschooling community. I also get daily Notes from the Universe, weekly horoscopes from Rob Brezsny, and a weekly Live Creative newsletter from Christine Kane. Another great list is the e-newsletter from my friend's Rite Food & Company website - her articles are super, as is the podcast she does with her daughter. I get the daily public radio show The Writer's Almanac as an e-mail, too.

Websites and Blogs:
I'm most often on these websites: Yahoo (to get my e-mail), Google (for online research and our family's shared calendar), Webkinz (I love my cute virtual pets!), Facebook (a cool way to connect), MPBN (mostly to get the weather) and Blogger (to post here).

The blogs I follow more or less regularly are: BlackLion's Den, our own Feline Dreamers site, The Sparkling Martins, a friend's blog that she hasn't made public yet, Nurtured by Love, Do Life Right, JWL, The Pagan City, Wiccan Life, Snowhawke's Druidry Blog, Surviving the Suburbs, and Witchy Mom's Homeschool. There are some others I look in on occasionally, mostly unschool ones. Oh, and as a bonus for fans of Garrison Keillor: The View From Mrs. Sundberg's Window.

OK, that's all for now. I hope I've provided you with some inspiration, food for thought, and entertainment!

Inspired to Blog

We had Girls' Night Out last night. What fun! Four of us went out for Chinese food, then to see the movie "Julie & Julia." Awesome movie! The best films, in my opinion, are the ones that make you laugh aloud. We were totally cracking up. And the timing for my friend LM and I was perfect - we two and BlackLion have co-authored a cookbook, which is right now in the publishing process. So to see Julia Child and her friends going through some of the same things was funny and touching.

On another level, the modern story of Julie inspired me to blog more. She was able to challenge herself and connect with others who were in turn affected by her journey. I checked Facebook when I got home, and saw that a friend had made a post on her blog that showed up directly on Facebook. Given the current interest in Facebook, and the quick and direct feedback one gets there, I thought that sounded very cool. She told me how to do it, and this morning I signed up.

No promises at this stage, but I'm thinking of creating some kind of challenge for myself, that will get me blogging much more frequently. I mean, I write in my paper journal every day, so why not online too? More to come as I figure it out. Meanwhile, off to the beach to body surf on some of these big waves.