Ojalá, Selah, Lateda

So there was this comment from M in Scotland after my comment about being a week behind the rest of the group in the Artists Way. It is haunting me. I can’t seem to think of much of anything else. She said…

“There is no need to catch up with the Artists Way just read the chapter and do one or two of the exercises. The thing to not skimp on is the Artist Dates. I’ve faciliated the Artists’ Way for over 10 years now and I’ve found the students who don’t make any progress are the ones who are artist date refusenick. Do nothing else but do an artist date and you are still on the Artists Way !”  

Oh no! I thought I was doing so well with my devotion to writing my morning pages and forcing myself to do as many tasks that didn’t sound as I did ones that did seem like they would be fun. But I must admit my Artist’s Dates have not been what they should have been. The first one at the bookstore was good, and the next one would have been great if I hadn’t brought my kids along, but then the next week all I did was go to the outlet mall by myself for an hour, and then I tried to count the Women of Faith conference as one even though I wasn’t alone for a second of it. I have compromised a lot and tried to justify why I haven’t been as true to them as I say I want to be. The biggest justifier I have used is that there just aren’t many places that are interesting to go in this tiny little town and that if I’m going to go somewhere neat and interesting then I should allow my children to be exposed to it as well. Plus there is the issue of my husband and I working almost opposite schedules and the price of gas and babysitters and my excuses can go on and on, and they are good excuses.  But I want to make progress. I want to start seeing some synchronicity. I want everything this book talks about. I really truly want to be on the Artists Way. Thinking Woman commented on my last post that there should be a version of this book for people with kids. I agree. Does anyone have any advice for me on how to actually get out there alone and take my artist self on a date?