{Photo taken in Santa Monica, California last month.}

News Ticker ~ My latest interview for Global Inspirations is now up on CreateMixedMedia, and I am thrilled to have a great review of Desire to Inspire in the current issue of Inspirational Woman Magazine. See what else people are saying right here.

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There has been an idea floating around my head for more than a year now, which is to write a book about my family. Less a memoir and more a testament to the best that we are capable of as humans (lofty, I know), my vision is that the stories would be so compelling and meaningful that the name of the author ~ Christine Mason Miller ~ becomes irrelevant. In other words, I’m not particularly interested in “sharing my life story” so all kinds of attention can be turned towards me. I am interested in giving the world a glimpse of what my family and I have created and nurtured and worked for, because I believe our stories are powerful beyond words. And I think the world needs more examples of blended families that not only work, but soar.

This idea exists in a fairly crowded space, where I have already pitched two more book ideas to my publisher, have visions of two major art shows, and am about to work some mixed media magic on a piano (more on that later.) It would therefore be woefully easy to decide, “I don’t have the time, so that is that,” not only because that statement would be true, but also ~ and more importantly ~ because I really don’t know what this book would look like, how I would write it, and whether or not I would even be able to pull it off. How on earth can I write a compelling narrative about the journey I have taken towards and with my family that doesn’t spill too many personal details about those I value more than any other on earth? It would be a tricky exercise in balance, restraint, discernment, and language, one that requires focus, commitment, and time. That feels like a pretty tall order when I look at my laundry pile every week.

To get my creative mojo going for this at least a little bit, I ordered Jen Lee’s Telling Your Story at the end of last year, and just started diving into it. And I am thinking about a story I once heard that swooped into my ears and nestled itself in my consciousness like the aroma of woodsy smoke that lingers in my hair after a campfire. I don’t know who told me this story, or when I heard it, but it speaks to this very dilemma I keep thinking I have. I’m not sure I have the details of the story quite right, but here goes…

A man walks into a small shop and sees a painting of a rooster on the wall. He asks the shop owner who created it, and the shop owner replies, “I did.” The customer, thinking he is just a simple shopkeeper, doubts his claim, so the shop owner pulls out a new sheet of paper, and proceeds to paint another one, even more beautiful than what was on the wall. “How on earth did you do that so quickly?” asks the customer. The shopkeeper takes him behind the counter, and then back behind a curtain to another room, where dozens and dozens of paintings and drawings of roosters were posted all over the walls, and the shopkeeper says, “Practice,” and proceeds to explain that he has been doing one drawing or painting of a rooster every day for the past year. Just one a day, every day.

I love this story for its very simple yet potent message ~ that if anything is to be done well, or done at all for that matter, all it takes is a willingness to do the work, which can be done a little or a lot at a time. It doesn’t matter that I’m unable to devote eight hours a day to a book about my family, what matters is that I make a commitment to do something. Now. Because if I let 2012 slide by saying, “Later, later…” then all I will have done is lost another year when I could have at least given this a go.

I have written about this before, and have, in fact, done some writing and brainstorming and note-taking for this project. I am not starting from nothing. But with Faryn now in our midst, I feel even more inspired to get these stories on paper, especially considering the profound impact she is already having on all of us. And maybe that is the nudge I needed to release all the excuses I’ve conjured up to keep me at arm’s length from this idea ~ someone who has been with us for just a few days, who I already love beyond words, who deserves to know the legacy her extraordinary family is creating for her. Funny how such tiny beings can exert such a powerful influence ~ one day I was sailing along with a gentle wind at my back, and then a new light poured in, and suddenly I saw the possibility that had been hidden beyond the horizon.

Slight change of course, full steam ahead.