Blythely Dancing

I wrote my first novel! Well, really it’s in progress and not complete, but I did write fiction every day in November and have at least the bones down on my first novel. The plot-line and characters in their current form are already serving as a libretto for a ballet that I’m choreographing, and I also will go back and edit and add on to the story to flesh it out as a standalone work once I’ve had a break to get perspective on it. I took on the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) challenge in order to fuel my daily writing habit and to stretch myself creatively in a new way. It worked splendidly! With all I had going on last month, I committed to working on my book for one hour per day, every day, and not to the full official word count of at least 50,000 words. Maybe next year… It was thrilling to go around imagining characters and settings, key scenes, and dialogue. Getting inside the heads of different people and their relationships, what’s important to them an...

I thought I'd try something a bit different in my blog today, and start sharing some of the poetry I have written. Poems have gotten me through some of the most elated and most depressed points in my life, and have a magical way of distilling the spirit of a moment. It's a bit scary sharing such a vulnerable creation, but since the point of this blog is to be transparent and share my process and hopefully inspire others on their path, then it makes complete sense to share such works. I wrote this poem when I was starting out in my teaching credential program a couple years ago, by way of introduction to an important object that represents my path. Pointe Shoes For me it was pairs of pointe shoes, which fueled my teen ballerina life. Objects requiring my talent and passion. Doors to other dimensions, to taking flight. I traveled far on a quest to understand, Sought masters of the art. Strived and rose and sunk and soared, Endeavoring to play the part. They...

Today is Germany Unity Day, so it’s an important holiday in my new home. This commemorates the events of 30 years ago, within our lifetime, when East and West Germany were reunited. Usually I teach a couple of ballet classes on Thursday afternoons, but today I took it easy and thought I would also post this blog, the start of what could be a series about how I came to know this beautiful country. My history with Germany and German culture is actually pretty new. Back when we were in college and dating, my ex-husband visited friends who were studying abroad in Freiburg I believe it was, but I couldn’t join in at that time. He had a blast and I thought maybe we would go together someday. Myself, I studied abroad in Italy one summer, then subsequently travelled to other European countries, including France, the UK, Ireland. I’ve also greatly enjoyed other parts of the world I’ve had the privilege to explore: New Zealand and Peru. I first visited German just over a year ago, in July...

[I'm using this habit tracker and also year & monthly planner templates from www.atiliay.com] Wow, what a month of accomplishment it has been already! I  obtained my freelance Arbeitsvisum (hooray! I can stay and work!), applied for a tax number so that I can invoice the companies I freelance with, started teaching ballet officially at Tanzschule Tanzraum and Tanzstudio Odenthal , began my Volkshochschule (VHS) A1.1 Deutschkurs, and took yoga classes in German at Yoga Loft. I'm so glad I've already found some dance-loving, hardworking students to teach ballet, and I've learned so much from them already. Ela and I have even started taking West Coast Swing together at Tanzraum. There has been lots of paperwork & bureaucracy, but also lots of growth, and tons of fun! On a personal note, I’ve been building consistency with my yoga and meditation practice, gratitude, writing (morning pages), publication (blog), making new friends, and still cultivating friend...

Last year, when I was just getting to know my girlfriend Ela long-distance having met in Cologne in the summer, she went on a beautiful bicycle journey with her stepdad’s family, the Wassers, and I enviously looked on. Turns out they do a tour every year, rotating the planning to different family members each time, and the destination is a surprise to all but the organizers. Once we officially began dating, I hoped that I would have the opportunity to join in the future, and indeed, I did! The Radtour was as glorious as I had dreamed of, everyone welcoming towards me and the cycling delightful! My “new” bicycle is an 80’s silver Hercules which we got out of the basement, one of Ela’s ex-girlfriends brother’s cycle corpses collected there in years past. We tuned “Herc” up for the mission with a bath, lubed chain, new tires, and a new saddle and she performed beautifully. I got to put my rusty-but-recovering bicycling skills to the test! I do love to ride and this was my...

Somehow Friday the 13th has always been a positive, good-luck day for me. Maybe it’s my anti-superstitious, contrary nature, but I find that good things tend to come on this day. Well, and most days, since I’m also positive by default. But this blog is to uphold my commitment to checking in weekly on my habits and adventures.  How are my habits going? I have tried various methods of tracking this year, including hard copies (pictured) as well as the Coach.me app for a few months, which was convenient, but not as motivating for me.  What I know about making commitments is that life has a way of jumping up to interrupt. In this case, there was the bicycle tour that I was so looking forward to over the weekend, and after that I came up with a cold and then started up with my German course (more on that soon!) as well as my teaching schedule. So a look at my visual tracker is a peek at a profoundly human experience. It isn’t perfect! But it’s still motivating me to get b...