EVERYDAY MAGIC Coloring Contest Winner

Oh, the wonderfulness of the entries!

Thank you so much for all your gorgeous entries to the EVERYDAY MAGIC Coloring Contest. ALL the judges had a terrible time choosing...but we did eventually come to a winner.

Congratulations to Frantiska Stara! The judges loved the luminous, traditional style of this image!

This picture will be featured on the back of the Amazon edition of my newest release, EVERYDAY MAGIC.

Thank you all so much for entering! Your talent is just amazing.

Stay tuned! The book will be out shortly, with a special YouTube giveaway soon to follow. You can preorder the Artist's Edition on Etsy HERE

Congratulations again Frantiska, and thank you for your lovely entry.

Thank you very much Judy Cooper and Paula Martin Cohen for help with this very difficult choice.

xo Dea 

Your Work Style + Downloadable Shopping Page

Many writers and artists state that the first way to get things done is to have your butt in the chair. I think Steven Pressfield said it in The War of Art, and I took it very seriously.

In other words just be there, ready to work. I agree 100%.

I've had endless discussions with friends about this too--and we have come to the conclusion that you'll fail at everything you do not begin.

Of course.

But my question is: Do I get in the chair and STAY there?

After months of doing just that I find the answer is definitely MAYBE.

Actually it depends on the day.

There are days where I feel if I am interrupted I would cry, or at least be very upset at the disruption of the flow I am riding. Then there are other days where I feel if I don't get up and go somewhere I will get nowhere.

This is said after I did the butt in the chair thing exclusively for months. I fought every urge to go out for coffee, or meet a friend for lunch. I would not be able to jump up now if I were at an office, I would argue with myself. And I wouldn't. But that could be one of the reasons I do not work in an office, and was never meant to.

Don't get me wrong, I still get my hours in, but they might not be 9 to 5--in fact they may end at 2am, and that is fine with me. I do not allow myself to get distracted to the point where my work takes a back seat--I get my coffee, interact a bit, and get back to it. (Sometimes I get distracted by household stuff--pets, kids, bills, cooking, etc. Here is a shopping list page I created for myself to stay efficient, but I thought you might like it too. CLICK HERE to print :)

I think for some, sitting at the computer or canvas and working through a glitch works, for others the solution might be Starbucks or an episode of The Walking Dead. 

So to make a long blog post short, just because a famous writer or artist does their thing a certain way certainly does not mean you have to do the same.

Find your approach, and do it like a boss.

xo

Ah! Don't forget the art giveaway--click HERE to enter.