Totally unrelated

Hi, everyone! It’s time to talk about why blog posts have been so sporadic and brief for such a long time. I try not to talk about myself on this blog, because this blog isn’t about me – it’s about fairy tales, art, writing, creativity, and inspiration. But today, it’s about me.

The honest truth is that I’ve been really overwhelmed, and failing at the work-life balance equation. Up until this past February (2011), I had a full-time job writing trivia for the Bing home page. On the surface, it might look like an easy job, researching beautiful photographs of exotic animals and places, then finding cool stuff on the internet to give people more information about them, then writing little clever trivia things, but appearances can be deceiving. One of the things I preach to my students is the lesson that the simpler the end result, the more difficult the creative process behind it.

In addition to working a full-time job writing stuff for millions of people on a daily basis, I train in aikido once or twice a week, take care of a high-energy dog (no back yard), have a relationship with a nice man who has a 5-year-old daughter, and try to maintain some semblance of a social life and give myself a little bit of down time. Plus keeping up with the blog, scheduling and teaching classes, and trying to get this illustrated anthology published.

So, you know. It’s a lot. And in February, while I was in the middle of trying to buy a house, I unexpectedly lost my job. Then my neighbor situation went crazy sour (there were bikers involved – bikers! From a gang!), and I had to find a rental house that would rent to an unemployed lady with a big dog, and I had to scrape together the money to move. Phew.

Now I’m finally getting settled into a new job that is a lot less stressful (though also less lucrative), and a new house in an amazing neighborhood. But I’m really tired. I’ve been burning it at both ends for two or three years now, and I need to rest.

What does this mean for the Fairy Tale Factory? I’m making a renewed commitment to the FTF blog, but classes are on hold until spring 2012. The anthology is illustrated, edited, and in layout, but I need to save money for an ISBN and printing costs. I’ve spent about $2000 of my own money on it so far (illustrations are expensive!), and I’m hoping to have it in stores for the Christmas shopping season, but I’m also trying to be very kind and gentle with myself about what I can afford, in terms of both time and energy.

Now you know. You can look forward to a lot more content on a regular schedule, but classes and workshops are mothballed through the holidays.

Thanks for reading and for caring!

xoxo
-amy leigh

BTW: I heartily apologize for November’s lapse in bloggery! Though the innernets are everywhere, the month’s events totally short-circuited all but my most essential functions.

To celebrate December, let us now enjoy a non-fairy-tale but ENTIRELY AWESOME collaboration between Kool Keith and Tom Waits. Not to mention the exquisite direction of Fluorescent Hill.

this video has nothing to do with creativity, fairy tales, writing, or any other useful thing. i hope you like it as much as i do.