Sunflower Seeds

Making connections

2009-07-09T15:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the wonderful Doris Stahl of http://art-affair.blogspot.com/ asked for my favourite line of my favourite song for a series of images she is producing based on a collection of peoples suggestions.

Without hesitation I sent her a line from Starry starry night, by Don McLean then looked it up on You Tube and found several beautiful versions with Van Goghs images set to the music. Looking at the images I remembered being in the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam when I was 17 (yes 30 years ago) and taking illegal photos of some of the images hoping i would not be arressted.

I then realised that I have had a beautiful minature enamel teapot for the last five years on my kitchen dresser with Van Goghs images on each side. And I also have a rather sick cartoon of Van Gogh having difficulty keeping his glasses straight that has been dog eared in my diary for years.

Then it hit me. Starry Starry night is about Van Gogh, whom I have been connected to since I was very young and my little ebook was called Sunflower Seeds, and of course, Van Gogh was famous for his sunflowers more than any other painting. Doh!

Never realised how connected the teapot is to my favourite song, the song to my favourite artist and the artist to my Little Book of Sunflower Seeds (and other bits of good news and happy thoughts).

It took a german artist living in Orpington who is on a mission to produce a prolific amount of work in time for an exhibition in August to highlight an Irish womans subconcious connection to a dead Dutch man!

If you want to listen to something really beautiful and look at something special at the same time, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkvLq0TYiwI and stop what you are doing for 4 mins and 20 seconds. You'll be glad you did!

A sunflower seed about to take root

2009-07-08T05:01:00.000-07:00

This morning I made a decision that has been germinating in my brain for a long time. In October of this year I will be having an art exhibition.

Not as part of a group, not in partnership with another artist but on my own and by myself.

The thought of it is as exciting as it is terrifying but there is no point whatsoever in encourging people to be themselves, do what they want and not putting my money where my mouth is.

And like all things big and scary, once the decision is made the motivation is natural and I have set a target of 35 paintings, of which I have 13. No pressure there then. At all.

I love to paint and the more I paint the more other work comes in and the more I find time to do the things I enjoy and having had two previous exhibitions in almost twenty five years, its high time I went for my own precious goal and see what happens.

The decision was crystalised in a coaching conversation with a colleague in fifteen minutes this morning (Fidelma Greene www.fidelmagreene.com, no point in being a coach if you dont have one!!!) who realised her own sunflower seed come to life recently when she delivered a powerful seminar called 'Leading with Spirit and Soul'.

Once Fidelma got clear on what she wanted the seminar to be about, her natural gifts and talents kicked in and she led a powerful day that will be followed up in September by an equally powerful seminar.

So today I am finishing the images for Sunflower seeds (getting copyright issues sorted) and buying 15 canvass's before I change my mind and spend another winter wondering if I should do this or not, assuming with total Colgate confidence that everything I need to make this happen will kick in and all I have to do is plant the seed in a sunnyplace and give it light and water.

Invites going out in September!!!

Sunflower Seeds, taking off....and a real challange.

2009-07-01T07:49:00.000-07:00

Having slaved for 3 years over a novel which I loved writing but can see why epics take lifetimes, I wrote Sunflower Seeds (& little bits of good news and happy thoughts) over two nights in 3 hours.

I sent it out in pdf as a little pick me up for clients/colleagues etc.

I am overwhelmed with the amount of people who want a print copy.

You have to laugh!

So now I have the challange of finding a printer that dosent want a kidney or a pint of blood to produce this simple little book, so I can sell it on my website/amazon/bookshops and anywhere anyone wants it.

Simple.

The book that is, the challange is not.

In the meantime, if you want a free copy of the ebook version before we hit the printers,

just email info@mcdonaldcoaching.com with Sunflowers in the subject line and you will have a copy in your inbox in jigtime.

This week continues to be miserable on the news, and beautiful on the beach across the road from my house, hard to reconcile chaos in the economy with a blue and silver tide and the smell of sweat pea.

In every recession there is an oppurtunity, in ours I think the oppurtunity is to look for ways in which we can help. Whether its clients, friends, colleagues, family or just people you meet, take inspiration from Arvind Devalia and see how you can make a contribution to make someone's day brighter. Check out his amazing work on Web: http://www.arvinddevalia.com/. and his latest book http://www.getthelifeyoulove.com/ which by pure coincidence, and ironic given that he is highly allergic to sunflower seeds, has a sunflower on the front cover!!

I have known Arvind for several years and he is a genuinly caring person, making a huge difference to the world. Now THAT is a REAL challange!!

The cost of sunshine.

2009-06-24T00:18:00.000-07:00

Today is one of those fabulous sunny days that we forget when we are in the middle of a recession. We may not remember today in the bigger scheme of things, but I suspect we will remember the state of our banks accounts, the size of our overdraft or the exact amount of the pay cut/loss we may have been presented with this year.

Pictured here is my mam, Peggy Faulkner, 76 year old stroke victim, who completed the 2007 marathon on an adapted bycycle to raise €3800 for the nursing home she now lives in and in doing so, made something fantastic out of a situation that was very difficult.

This week she won the Leinster final of Mum of the year with Woman's Way magazine.

She can no longer read the magazine.

She can no longer hold a converstation.

She can no longer do any of the things I take for granted and moan about, like putting a wash on firsth thing in the morning. She used to wake us with the sound of the washing machine.

She loves her life. Even now.

Although we fought like cats and dogs when I was younger, I am constantly inspired by a woman who continues to live her life and make friends in high places and revel in her new found media attention.

But she loves the day attendants as much as the celebrities.

And thats her gift.

So if the budget is tight have a look out side.

The sunshine costs nothing.

In fact, you might even be worrying that you have no holiday in the sun booked for this year.

This week, taking my cue from my mum, and in an attempt to counteract the constant barrage of misery and bad news that is constantly in the air, this week I wote a little book. Not a mindboggling literary masterpiece, just a little book of happy thougths and lovely images. The writing of it was pure fun, and the giving of it in e-book form to a few clients and colleagues took the click of a mouse in an email.

The response has been overwhelming.

I should have done it years ago instead of waiting until a recession hits.

What random act of kindness or creativity can you do that will put a smile on someones face and give you pleasure in the making?

What would be your own personal sunflower?

have a lovely day,

anne

New Day, New Name, New Approach

2009-06-12T11:34:00.001-07:00

Today I moved another step closer to my "ideal" life, finishing the artwork for the cover of my novel Poppies and Sky (see photo) , identifying two new products that will use creative writing and arty stuff and uncovering an untapped resource of passive income in the process!

One of the insights I had was that my blog was called "Clippings of Tin" as in living on feck all and my previous newsletter was called "Wing & Prayer". Although I like them and had great response to both, they were in fact, the very names of a poor existence, and as I always preach about making ourselves martyrs, I have ditched both and replaced the blog name with the name of my current book, "Sunflower Seeds".

I have a pain in my backside listening to the recession, depression, and bad news every time i read a paper, turn on the tv or listen to the radio.

If we all listen to bad news that is depressing then its only a matter of time...

So with that in mind, I have begun a little book of good news to be out mid summer and available in shops and on Amazon in time for Christmas (I know I know but these things take time).

So the next few weeks will be busy doing things I love, and singing the "My Lovely Horse" by Dougal and Father Ted whenever I hear something more miserable than has gone ahead already.

And hanging paintings in a gallery.....

and selling artwork in the design mart in Temple Bar...

and finishing Sunny Side Up by the end of July.

Who needs a holiday?

Time flies!

2009-06-10T09:32:00.000-07:00

It is no great surprise to me that its over a year since I last posted something on this blog (march 08 to be precise), as thats one of my least productive habits. It does, however, have a bright side as you can read the last post and be amazed at what has changed over the last year!

Apart from the obivious one year older, my family has been reduced by 4 kittens and 4 chickens, the former going to good homes, the latter being sent to heaven by some heavy handed kids.

The famous novel is finished and a proof copy on its way, and another book has been commissioned which is proving a joy to write, although the subject matter (an adopted womans search for her birth mother) is quite sad. It's a real challange to write someone else's story but although progress is slow, its great to know my job is in the writing, the promo and publishing is someone elses headache!

And on a similar note...

The Sid & Janey cards are now a real live product and I have a stall at a designers market in Dublin to sell cards featuring art (above) and cards, but I also have a student daughter who needs a job so I dont have to stand in the rain/wind/snow/baking sun selling!

So I can write and paint and let someone else do the other stuff..how cool is that?

Now all I need is a pa, a housekeeper, a launderette and a chauffer and I'm sorted!

Feel the fear

2008-03-21T11:02:00.000-07:00

How many times have you said "read this, it's amazing" and handed over your latest inspiration or self help book??? How many times have you got the said inspiriation or book back?

The answser to the first question I suspect is "loads of times".

The answer to the second question is probably "rarely" or worse "never".

Over the last twenty years I have given away;

Women Who Love Too Much

The Artists Way

The Right to Write

Feel The Fear and Do It Anyway

Rich Dad Poor Dad

The One minute Millionaire

Sunscreen

and my latest ....The Secret.

So when I decide to have a look at some of the passages that inspired me to make changes I turn to my bookshelves and see not the book, but he space where it used to be.

And then I get irriatated.

Then I try to remember who I gave the particular book to.

Then I realise that by giving them away, I have left myself short.

Oliver Plunkett is alive and well (see previous post)

So over the last week, I have bought AGAIN;

You can heal your life

Suncreen

Feel The Fear

One Minute Millionaire

and done the unthinkable.....written my name on them! I hate defacing books but realise this is one of the only ways I can lay claim to the book I bought and possibly hold on to it for when I NEED IT!

One of the nicest things I discovered is that reading some of these books after twenty years, they are as relevant now as they were when they blew my brains all those years ago, and instead of The Secret book, I treated myself to the Secret desk calander so I have a daily fix of good stuff to ponder on just inside my left eye radar.I can see the Sunscreen as I type and Lousie Hay, Mark Victor Hanson and Susan Jeffers are on my beside locker.

I look foward to being a healthy, fearless millionaire shortly!

And now I have to practice "this is a great book...you can buy it on Amazon!"

Janey's country and western career was coming along nicely.

2007-12-06T16:21:00.000-08:00

When I was ten, my father thought it would be a good idea for me to learn to play the banjo. Mainly because somehow the family had acquired a banjo and the two older sisters cleverly kept their heads down during the discussion. I went for the first lesson. The teacher was a well known traditional musician in Drogheda, Co. Louth, from a well know family of musicians. Within one hour I learned to play the scale.

The following week I forgot to go to the lesson. Being ten I have no idea why but I do know it could have been a birds nest, making soup in a tent with my mate Pat (and burning his eyebrows off lighting a camping gas fire in the process) or any one of a number of things Pat and I got up to, most of which landed us in trouble.

Dad was furious and cancelled all subsequent lessons. No big loss to a ten year old you would think. Two weeks later, the teacher died. Died of an early heart attack and there was a huge funeral in the town with all the major Irish musicians attending, some singing, some playing and some reciting poetry at the graveside. I felt terrible.

All these years on I still remember Brian (his name), not so much what he looked like but the fact that he got someone like me who truely hasnt a note in a bucket to play the scale on a banjo. I have no idea what happened to the banjo but to this day I love the sound it makes and have often thought of taking it up as a hobby. Except I think it might be torture on my fingers.

Instead I look forward to my ten year old son getting an electric guitar with amp for christmas (oh yes!) and a set of drums for his birthday in March. When he's at school and hubby is at work I have the great good fortune to work from home and can sneak a blast on the guitar or a drumming session and lose myself in Jimi Hendrix heaven( I actually have the hair) and Cozy Powell mode and I will think of Brian, killing himself laughing in heaven if he was'nt dead already!

Cant wait for Christmas.........

The long sufferring Pat declined my offer of marraige at ten on condition that he stop picking his nose and instead became an ordained born again christian minister...funny how things work out eh?

Janey had an idea what Sid's present for her might be.

2007-11-29T06:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I got two gifts. One was the correct link to my redbubble page http://www.redbubble.com/people/annemac curtesy of the techno savvy Marion Ryan (thanks Marion!) and the other was the gift of a colleague who rang to confirm she had just plucked up the courage to ask a prospective client for five months work. Her enthusiasm made me smile for the rest of the day, and with both gifts I didnt even leave the house.

However, like most people, these are few and far between and I still have without doubt, the ugliest candle holder in black metal that I got from a well meaning husband last year. I havent the heart to throw it out, I would'nt be bad enough to give it to someone and I know that as congruence and integrity are major components of a professional life coach, them I am doomed to the big hot oven if I dont do something.

So, in a damage limitation excercise I am trying to make sure it dosent happen this year. By writing a list of possibles, some costing money, some none (like the "clean mam's car" voucher I asked the ten year old for in November, its still manky), but all of which I will use of find useful.

Most important, I will do this without judgement.

My first present to my husband who was a fisherman out in all weathers at the time was......a glass bowl with floating candles in it. He stuck a few oranges in it and used the box for loose change.

My second was a silver candle stick.

My third was a suade coat that looked like something out of Only Fools and Horses. I wore it for a long time.

He started his own business several years ago as a builder. That year I bought him a DKNY watch.

This year for our anniversary also in November, I bought him a silver acorn shaped antique nutcracker. I am sure it can be used.

So when my list is done and I have handpicked all my possible presents its becoming obvious that I may not have the monopoly on crap presents.

This year I was thinking of getting him a "Build Your Own Boat" set....

Sid loved the comforting strains of the violin.

2007-11-26T10:48:00.000-08:00

My brother in law plays the violin. It sounds like he's cleaning it.

Tommorow both the men in my life are travelling across the Irish Sea on board the Ulyesses (dont laugh!) then on to Old Trafford to watch Man Utd. play.

Yahoooooo! For two whole days there will be no massive amounts of detailed information about WWE from the younger, (I feel I know the Undertaker, John Cena, Batista and Eddie Gerrerro intimately) or the finer points of the long range weather forecast from the elder ("she's giving it windy for the next four days").

So myself and my teeange daughter can eat no meat, no potatoes and watch no documentaries about fishing for lobsters in the snow or grand slam sweaty men in tights fighting it out for a rubber belt.

And there will be no smoke. No sneaky "I just put it out before you came in" smoke, no "my pocket is about to go on fire" singey smoke, and no "I swear I didnt smoke in the bathroom" which has no bloody windows!!!!

I hope that when the much longed for son is gone, and the much romanced husband is far away, the reasons why these are the top men in my life will become blaringly obvious, and I will focus on other aspects of having a clean, tidy, quiet, peaceful house.

In the meantime I will try not to look at the tins of paint in the hall (promise of painting it before Christmas), the dustcoats under the stairs and the ladders inside the front door. It will be me, Sinead and a large bottle of Fabreze!

Writing was always prefarable to killing someone.

2007-11-25T16:36:00.000-08:00

Over the last twenty years I have read every kind of self help book I could lay my hands on, some I loved (Women Who Run with the Wolves, Tuesdays with Morrie, All the Julia Cameron and Robin Norwood Women Who Love Too Much) and some I just dont get so have bought them and left them somewhere just out of reach and almost out of sight. (Power of Now...just cant get it). I had to read Ulysses when I was in college and lost several years of my hedonistic twenties in the process. Fair balls to James Joyce, he published in France so I presume they thought it was some kind of quaint folk oirish dialect and we all ate kidneys for breakfast and had very long soliloquys about bedposts.

So given that the last year of my life has been largely devoted to my twin passions of writing and painting, I have decided to read only stuff that A, I can follow, and B makes me want to read more. So I LOVE Brick Lane by Monica Ali, The Shipping News by Annie Proulx and The Kite Runner and A Thousand Spendid Suns by Khaled Hosseni.

So having written the novel and finding an agent that was a real person who then lost it and then couldnt find a home for it (dont ask, see earlier post!) I decided that I would continute to be professional and proactive about getting it published.

Dear Sweet Jesus was I naive??

I can either donate a lung and pay a self publishing house who will wreck my head with typeface and fonts, all the time reassuring me that any mistakes in the finished product are indeed my responsiblity, or put my ego in my arse pocket and print out many many copies of the first few chapters and post them to agents who will not read them but send me back a lovely little rejection slip.

Unless, that is, I have murdered someone and boiled their liver to be fed to Pigeons in Regents Park, lived a double life as a high class hooker and a mother of two speicalizing in making bread and imposing pain whilst simultaneously singing Danny Boy, or fess up to the fact that I was, in fact, the feet in Michael Flatley's Riverdance, with his body superimposed on top of mine.

So I was thinking, what if I made up some amazing background and name, sent the same chapters out to several publishers and see what would happen? How ethical would it be? Or would it be good fun to see the response?

Of course, I would probably have to invest in some cooking pots , a leather pinny ( size large) or a pair of good stout Irish dancing shoes (can still do a passable hornpipe if pushed).

So watch this space for the first novel by Shiela O'Breatheheavy, "My life as a pair of sweaty loafers!"

Oliver Plunkett is alive and well!

2007-11-19T18:43:00.001-08:00

When I was a child, we were brought to visit the head of Saint Oliver Plunkett in a church in Drogheda, encased in a glass case, burned black and looking remarkably like my uncle Sean. This was after Irish dancing, long before Riverdance and usually before a visit to a smelling damp antique shop with a granny long on detail and very short on patience.

A famous saying of our mothers was, I kid you not, "I'll hang, draw and qaurter yez!" a direct reference to the martyrs down fall in Tyburn in England in the year, 1681, July 1st. Bless her she could be obtuse at times.

A part of the display was also the door of the prison in which he was held, with a small opening at the bottom where food was delivered, and if you knelt down on ten year old freezing knees you could never see inside no matter what angle your eyes chose.

I know now that there is a touch of Oliver Plunkett in us all. None more than at this minute as I type this waiting for the cat to come in and it is 2.45am in the morning here in Ireland. Its not that I dont trust who she is out with, nor do I care if she is taking drugs in a laneway with some skanger cats. Its that there are four kittens in a box in the sitting room, four weeks old and shortly going to look for feeding.

I never realised that the comforts of double glazing would be far out weighed by the lack of a cat flap! The dog has that look that says "dont ask!"

Rejection

2007-11-19T10:35:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, I sent my fantastic second novel to an agent for review. She sounded happy and enthusiastic on the phone. "Great Stuff" I thought, and printed and posted my precious chapters off in the post in the rain with a song in my heart.

Some weeks passed.

No word.

Sent an email.

"Sorry for the delay, will get back to you over weekend" said the agent.

Great stuff.

More weeks passed. My 45th birthday came and went.

No word.

Sent an email with a cheery tone, asking if I was about to break into the big time or should I take a christmas job in Tescos.

"Sorry for the delay, found envelope, but cant find the chapters, would you mind emailing them?" asked the agent.

"No worries, chapters attached"

No word.

"Cant open the attachment, can you send them in the body of an email?"

"No worries, here you go".

All landed safely and I spent the last weekend knowing at least my words got through.

Guess what??????

She found it, she read it, she couldnt find a home for it.

"Great writing, not sure where it would find a home, best of luck with your career"

Ho Hum.

Taking comfort in the fact that only writers get rejections and she didnt puncture my granny's wheelchair I did the only decent thing and started a new one....

When I am a hugely successful published authour I will look back on these days and smile.
Not just now, but soon............

Where did they all go?

2007-11-19T10:28:00.001-08:00

This is not the first time I have set up and posted a blog. I have set up several cleverly titled, smartly written witty ditties, then saved and lost them in spectacular fashion!

They are in cyberspace somewhere with several chapters of my current novel (saved under a date, in a file, god knows where) several memberships of fabulous sites gaurenteed to make me a fabulous income writing, all from the comfort of my own home and the first branches of a very scraggy family tree. Not to mention a great e-book called "dressing up for sex" !

I start them all, sign up for everything and save stuff in places only I would know where it is. That is usually the last I see of them!

My last blog had a nifty little post called Walking Women, based on a true observation of women powerwalking past my window, whilst I was reading the paper and drinking tea.

I was reminded of it yesterday when fifty women powered past on a charity walk to raise money for breast cancer, some demanding cups of tea, others hard cash and one even demanded a group a photograph, (this is a local village in Ireland after all).

They raised a ball of cash, the photo is a bit shaky but the blog I was reminded of is gone forever.

So here it is. My new one, my latest and the one I promise to keep going, mainly because my german friend Doris Stahl has told me she will bully me every day until I do. So I am/will.
Trusting that in the process some of my precious ramblings will find their cyberwings and come back to me.
in hope...
anne