Greetings fellow travelers, I am happy to be a part of this Artist's Way Circle...as I am a part of all three other Artist's Way Circles. I am combining all the unity of all four Artist's Way Circles together. The Yahoo! Artist's Way Circle is the oldest circle of 10 years with a message archives. The Facebook Artist's Way Circle is newest Artist's Way Circle. Beliefnet Artist's Way Circle is the second Artist's Way Circle and I like the emphasis of the site being based on spirituality. Wurlwind is a growing Artist's Way Circle. Each has it's interesting features and it's been fun to learn about how to best use those features. I am going to each of my Circles and asking them what direction would they like their Artist's Way Circles to go. What direction would you like to see this Artist's Way Circle to take? * Would you all like to do a 12 week Artist's Way journey together as a group? * Would you like suggestions for Artist's Dates? * Would you like me to make videos going over Artist's Way topics from the book? Let's hear your ideas of the direction you would like your circle to take? Love, Buffy

Buffy's Check In Greetings Fellow Travelers, It has been brought to my attention that some of you are going on your Artist's Way journey and are struggling. I didn't know this because I am not receiving regular check ins from you or an email expressing your frustrations. Please use the Artist's Way Circle. It's here for support that's what the Artist's Way is about. Reach out to someone, it doesn't necessarily have to be me. There are many people who are willing to help. Send a message to the group expressing your challenges as you go on your journey. Please don't suffer silently. I wrote 6/7 Morning Pages this past week on college ruled paper. I am starting to get the hang of writing 45 minutes each day. I am toying around with different ways of storytelling. What if you could tell a love story from two perspectives in the same story. The girl's version and the guy's version. How would that meld together? I have been writing down pages of discussions in my Morning Pages this way. This conversation between a guy and a woman. It's actually coming out quite beautiful. It kinda appeared awhile ago and it seems to keep growing these conversations. My Artist's Date I went to my favorite women's spirituality and wellness sanctuary and had some Jasmine and Passionflower tea while listening to the sound of the water fountain. I pulled a meditative quote from a box that comes from a Conversations of Miracles. Sometimes I crave adventurous artist's dates and other times I crave quiet reflective artist's dates. A major synchronicity was finally meeting Sonicsuns after over a year of hoping. It actually came together! After awhile I questioned whether it would ever happen, however things finally fell into place. Finally, my dream has come true! Recovery issue for this week not to doubt yourself. When I first came across Sonicsuns in 2008, I was so starstruck by his videos that I was afraid to even leave a comment let alone dare to send an email. Back then I didn't get that people on YouTube were approachable. I kept thinking it was like tv where people were harder to connect with. I should have sent Sonicsuns an email when I first encountered him. I should have said what was really on my mind when it was happening. Instead I doubted myself and held back for 8 months. Finally, I mustered the courage to take a chance and I sent that email. Ironically, what lead me to Sonicsuns was his Artist's Way video www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdFpkW5ZTw8 Which the Artist's Way was the topic of his email I wrote to him. I think it's cool how the Artist's Way brought us together! I love the Artist's Way! With Love, Buffy

Buffy's Week 12 Check In Dear Fellow Travelers, I finished completing my 9th 12 week cycle of the Artist's Way! And I celebrated with a party with my face to face Artist's Way Circle. We had pizza, taco dip, lime corn chips, Doritos, three different kinds of soda, and Oreo cookies. I gave out cards with heartfelt messages thanking everybody for the things they taught me and I handed out colorful certificates. I made a video of this week's Artist's Way check in, but there's some sort of error with the uploading so I couldn't share it with all of you. And it's too big to attach to this email. I wrote 5/7 Morning Pages. I have been adjusting to writing 45 minutes a day. It was kind of frustrating at first, but I am actually starting to enjoy the extra writing time. In it I am exploring the idea of true love that I am writing in my novel. I have been thinking that instead of true love being a destination or a person, I was starting to evision true love as a process or journey. Kind of tying it in with my vision for myself that I am a lover and a creator. That true love comes from me and that's it's from the inside. I am a creator of true love. My Artist's Date was putting together the 7 cards for the Artist's Way Circle party. I wanted beautiful images and loving messages to go inside of each card. I wanted people to walk away and feel that they had an impact on the Artist's Way Circle. That they were valued and appreciated. The synchronicity of the week I liked the pretty certificates the members received, and then I was presented with my first Artist's Way Circle certificate of my own. I received a certificate with flowers on it thanking me for my talent, creativity, and inspiration for guiding the Artist's Way Circle. It now proudly rests on my entertainment center in my living room. The issue of recovery was to never give up. I have been following the life coach's suggestion about feeding the creative well through songs, videos, poetry, movies, and books on love. I feel I am really growing in the subject. I know I am also writing alot about my novel in my Morning Pages. I always am. I am trying to decide at this point do I want to continue to focus on my current novel, or do I want to start a new novel for the NaNoWriMo National Novel Writing Month challenge NaNoWriMo.org? There is something special about the camaraderie of writing a new novel alongside a bunch of other writers. But I really also want to develop my first novel. NaNoWriMo is next month already. I need to make a decision. With Love, Buffy

Buffy's Check in Week 11 Greetings fellow travelers, How is your journey going? What new and luscious discoveries are crossing your way? What people have appeared on your path? What new vision do you have for yourself? What are your dreams? What are your goals? What steps are you taking to make them happen? What new stories do you have to tell? Next week is the last week of my Artist's Way Circle at the Mental Health Center. Last year, I had a dream to start the first Artist's Way Circle there because I strongly believed it was needed especially there. The time just flew by and now next week is week 12 and our party celebration. I was honored when one of the Artist's Way Circle members there made me pair of hemp and bead earrings and matching keychain. I have made a wonderful and life alternating connection! I brought all your experiences and wisdom that you all taught me in this circle over the course of 9 years. Thank you for helping me to help others. I got brand new notebook to write my Morning Pages in. It's got GLITTER! Lots of pinks, blues, purples, and brown. Not so gung ho about brown, but it works with these colors quite well all sparkly! lol I was in the grocery store, I was pushing a cart of groceries, and I just spotted this notebook from the lower shelf. It like jumped out at me! It popped! I had to get it! In my excitement I didn't realize though that it was college ruled so now I am writing more in my Morning Pages at 45 minutes than the 30 minutes I normally write with wide rule. I suppose after 12 years I could graduate to college rule.lol Lately, I have been writing conversations in my Morning Pages from two voices back and forth. It's the most strangest thing. I actually hear a two part conversation going on. One asking questions and the other answering back in a different voice. Not quite sure what to make of it. I have been filling up page and page writing these conversations back and forth. It's kind of fun. My artist's date I made the Love Mandalas & Rose video www.youtube. com/watch? v=hlWIapx6qUA . My Love Mandalas were made using an older version of Paint Shop Pro. I meditated about love the whole time I made them and would finish pieces that resonated with me in that loved filled moment. I also had previously recorded using a computer microphone to record me singing the song "The Rose" written by Amanda McBroom in my bedroom. Out of frustration of not having a video camera I yearned to still create a video. I discovered that I have Window Movie Maker on my computer and began to play around with putting my song, love mandalas, video effects, and transitions together. It was quite frustrating at first because I lost my work three times and it finally came together on the fourth try in the end. The feedback I have been receiving through various comments and emails has been so amazing. I am up to 6 subscribers on my Youtube channel. I laugh when there were people who commented to me that they never even known I could sing. lol Now I would like to get a computer mic and sing more songs. I especially want to write a song about how Creator is funny. I started writing some words to this song in my notepad yesterday. I want to make another video. Strange synchronicity! I had just previously moments before been watching videos with multiple parts of the same person one with 6 parts of Beaker from the Muppets singing Ode to Joy & 4 parts of a guy singing about Star Wars. I just posted both on my Facebook. For some crazy reason I decided to view a video of a member of the Artist's Way Circle I hadn't seen & randomly selected one. When I saw it was a 4 part of the fellow Artist's Way traveler singing I busted out laughing by the coincidence. Recovery issue is creating a vision. So far My Vision Is: I am a lover and a creator. I play with life. I am a child of the Creator. Creator is funny. I am a writer, artist, singer, dancer, and more. I am a creator of true love. With Love, Buffy